senor honda

The drop off The pickup

senor honda

After getting through Scottsville, we began snaking through the mountains. There was a small rain shower that dropped the temperatures even more and it seemed like it was in the 60s most of the way. I love the mountain roads and all of the curves. Even at normal speeds, they're a lot of fun in a blue box with 50 year old suspension technology.Wet mountain roads are slightly less than fun.The "rear view mirror shot" is a Power Tour staple and Tara's getting pretty good at it

Our lunch stop was in Baxter, TN at the All American Diner. It was a restaurant in a steel warehouse. It didn't offer much for décor, but the food was excellent. There were several locals eating there and assured us we couldn't go wrong with whatever we ordered. Since we passed a catfish farm, Tara decided to get catfish. She said it was excellent and, unlike the place we stopped at a few years ago, it was already filleted.

After lunch, it was back on the road. We had to make a detour because the road ahead was closed due to a regular truck rear-ending an Orange 1973 Camaro and pushing it into a gold Dodge Dart. The car was smashed up pretty good. From news reports, it sounds like none of the Power Tour folks were hurt. They were both at the gas station with us a few miles down the way. If it hadn't been for a long bathroom line, we could have been in the thick of it.
Gas stop. The orange '73 Camaro is on the right. Tara was standing next to the Dart.
We pulled off at a really cool scenic overlook that was chock full of Power Tour cars. Tara saw it at the last minute and we, and most the group were able to slow down enough to get in. My parents were in the left lane, so we just met them a little farther down the road.

senor honda

Adding Power Tour scenery to a scenic overlook

It was a really nice trip, right until we got to the off-ramp and turn into our venue: Chattanooga State Community College. Traffic was stacked up and it was not moving. We also lost an hour by re-entering the eastern time zone and it was nearly 4:30. After sitting for 20 minutes in a left turn lane, we skirted back onto the road, went right, hung a U-ey and went straight across the street into the venue and even more traffic. They were trying to merge 4 lanes of show cars into a single meandering lane with nowhere to go. Cars (and people) were overheating like crazy. The 1970's Corvette in front of us stalled out and wouldn't restart, so I switched seats with Tara and got out to push. The Acadian engine temp began to climb to worrisome levels, but I popped open the hood a decent amount and it cooled down a lot.

Traffic into the venue was so bad that after another half hour, I ended up jumping out grabbing our and my parents' credentials and running down the hill to make sure we got punched in and get our magnets. This year they have done away with the punch clocks and instead are using different shape hole punchers each day. They are trying to cut down on "cheaters", but it's ridiculous and I'm certain there are going to be some pissed off Long Haulers if they got so stuck in traffic getting into the venue that they missed a punch. There are already plenty of frustrated people who had trouble getting into both venues so far.

senor honda

This venue wasn't a great one to walk around and see cars since they were scattered over many different parking lots throughout campus. Instead, we looked a the cars near us and then sat and watched the cars slowly roll by. You can actually see a lot of the Power Tour by sitting along the entrance or exit and where we were parked was basically in the middle of both.1969 Z/28 Camaro

senor honda

1956 Chevy drive by The Magnuson Camaro that was ripping up the track yesterday.

This guy must be from Texas!
We left the venue around 7 and headed to our hotel in Downtown Chattanooga. It's a Sunday, so not much was going on, but we had a great dinner at Hi Fi Clyde's, a big bar and music venue. While we were there, we ran into Ron and Dustin with the 1969 RoadRunner that we met in Bowling Green and also some guys with a 1967 Nova that saw us back in 2012 and recognized the Acadian. Their Nova didn't make the trip (hole in the radiator), but they were there.

After dinner, we parked at the hotel and jacked up the Acadian to see if we couldn't address a squeaking ball joint. We couldn't do much in the parking lot, but are going to run it by the Motor Medics and see if we can't get it off the ground a little more and squeeze some more grease in. It's not a big issue, but the creaking is bugging the hell out of Tara.Posing in front of Honest Charley Garage in Chattanooga
It's an early night tonight since we lost an hour and are planning to leave by 7 am for Birmingham. We are going to detour off the route at Gadsden City and head a bit out of the way and check out the Wellborn Muscle Car Museum in Alexander City, AL. It's a Mopar Fanatic's heaven and since we are this far, what the heck. Ron even called and made sure they'd be open since they are usually closed on Mondays (We'll double check on the way).

senor honda

senor honda

This slice of Mopar Heaven used to be a Chevrolet dealership."How are we the only ones here?"The Wellborn was incredible, even for non-Mopar people. Still, we figured it would be a 45 minute- "look at the cars and go" stop. Boy were we wrong. Alton, the caretaker/mechanic of this most impressive collection of high end, rare Plymouth, Dodge, and even a Chevy and Pontiac, met us, locked the door and gave us and 3 other guys a private tour. He took us through the history and significance of most of the cars in the museum. He then took us through their parts rooms stocked floor to ceiling with NOS (New Old Stock) parts, most were in their original boxes. It's hard to describe the collection as there were many extremely desirable cars. There are 3 1971 Hemi 'Cudas worth well over $1M each, a 100 point perfectly restored 1968 Hemi Charger and original Mopar dealer neon signs. One of the most interesting things was a 1970 'Cuda that they dubbed the "paint chip 'Cuda. Half of the car was wrapped in white and then strips were painted of each color that was available for 1970. The other half was left the original green. We were there close to an hour and a half.Alton giving the Tour. The Paint Chip 'Cuda

senor honda

A NASCAR 1969 Dodge Daytona and the "consumer version" $5M worth of 1971 'Cudas.Once we finished feasting on the Mopar magnificence, we asked Alton for a lunch recommendation and hit Big Bs BBQ. In the parking lot, there was an AMC Pacer that was, for lack of a better word, adorable. It was also for sale, but I think it'd be kind of like those novelty T-shirts in Key West that seem like a good idea in the store window, but you know you'll likely never really wear it. The couple who owned it were Mopar fanatics from Eastern Alabama and we talked with them a bit about a show that Tara has been dying to go up this way.It's sooo cute. After lunch, we zipped back up 280 to the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. As we got there it looked like it was going to pour and the temperature dropped, but the clouds broke up and it ended up being really nice. We got there around 3:30. On our way in, we saw many cars leaving, but there were plenty still at the venue and more coming in on a fairly steady basis. Aerial view of only part of the venue. Courtesy of someone on Facebook
We got parked and while my dad, Scott and I got clocked in and picked up the day's magnets, Tara headed over to the GM Motor Medics to have the ball joint in the Acadian looked at. The Motor Medics are GM engineers from Milford who take the week to travel with the Power Tour and help diagnose and fix cars that otherwise might be sidelined. All you need to do is bring them the car and the parts and they'll install them for free. It's really cool. They helped us with a brake shoe issue back in Madison on the 2015 Power Tour and one of the guys remembered the car. We had hoped it would just be a ball joint needing grease, but it looks like a lower ball joint is bad and putting stress on the upper ball joint. They offered to fix it tomorrow. All we need are the parts.

senor honda

Once we had a diagnosis, we spent some more time checking out the cars, talking to people and wiping the Alabama clay dust off the cars. Before we knew it, it was time to head to the hotel for the free wine and beer happy hour. We got a great spot for the Acadian at the hotel, so we hopped in my Corvette and it was off to Advance Auto Parts to buy two ball joints to take with us to the Medics. For dinner, Tara and I met up with Ron and Dustin with the 1969 RoadRunner.

Two Pesos, the Mexican restaurant they picked for dinner, was conveniently located literally around the corner from the parts store. The food was good and we talked cars until well into the evening. Then it was time to head back to the hotel and gear up for tomorrow's run. We snagged the last parking space in the hotel lot.

Here are some other interesting pictures from the day:Horseless carriage. You should always have a road flare in case of emergency I have no idea what this is, but I like it.

senor honda