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The ride across America and what a ride!
Tour 1A started at Roy Brizio's Street Rod Shop in South San Francisco
And ended up 1670 miles later at the State Fairgrounds in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Here's the Red Roadster in Lincoln.
Starting point, Brizio's, South San Francisco
We arrived late in the morning Sunday to check in, have a sandwich and a soft drink and a tour of Brizio's Street Rod Shop. Here's a shot from the parking lot of some of the cars going on the trip. The red '32 Roadster was a brand new, Brizio-built car for a guy from New York. The shop is spotless and the work is absolutely first class. Shortly after noon we hit Highway 80 for the trip to Nevada. Here is a picture of us being passed by a '32 highboy. Roy was driving his '32 Roadster featured in the Ford SVO ads with different wheels and tires. He was a great tour leader always making sure everyone was still there.First stop Carson City, Nevada
We checked in at the Mill House Motel late in the afternoon on Sunday June 23rd. The Karson Cruisers had a dance party at, of course, the A&W Root beer Stand. Yes, that's actually a photo of the Karson Cruisers lip sinking to something by the Shirelles or Chiffons. It was great! The next morning we visited ASAP/Mallory/Erson. The whole group of companies is owned by the same people, including Super Shopps. By the way, the red '32 Highboy with the blower scoop sticking out of the hood is about 800 horsepower and hauled ass! Here's a picture from the parking lot of our expanding group of cars. ASAP is a new company competing with companies like Summit for mail order speed products. They have a first rate organization and seem to know what they are doing.Next night stop, Stateline Hotel/Casino, Wendover, Nevada
This was by far the best place to stay on the trip. The room rate was $38.50 and John, the manager of the Stateline Hotel/Casino and fellow Americruiser provided a great buffet breakfast the next morning. John's car is the black '32 Roadster next to mine in the picture taken in Lincoln. They had a car show at the Casino the day before we got there so we picked up quite a few cars, A very special car was Boyd Coddington's Boydster. Here's a picture of the parking lot at the Casino.Lunch Stop, Murray Utah
High Performance Coatings put on a nice lunch for us at a park in Murray Utah. Murray is just east of Salt Lake City. We were supposed to have the lunch at their shop but there were just too many of us at this point. Here's a shot of our growing group. Yes, that is the original X51, '51 Ford Custom featured in Rod & Custom Magazine in 1958. Here's a picture of Boyd driving his Boydster with an old friend.Night stop Rock Springs, Wyoming
We arrived at the Holiday Inn late in the day on Tuesday. I must say at this point that the only major glitch in the whole tour was the travel agent that Rod & Custom Magazine had us use. Elite Travel out of Thousand Oaks, California, usually didn't answer their phone, never replyed to fax's when they said they would and managed to have us pay higher rates than someone off the street. In Rock Springs we paid $85.00 for the room and people that didn't have reservations paid $54.00. I hope that Rod & Custom chooses a different agent next year. Here's a shot of the roadster with its top on early in the morning at Rock Springs. Here's a shot of Boyds little chase vehicle in case of rain or breakdown.Lunch stop Lamine, Wyoming
Wyoming Technical Institute sponsered a lunch and tour of their street rod school. Yes, that's right, I said street rod school. They have classes on every aspect of building a street rod with a complete shop for hands on experience. They even fixed a problem of automatic and unwanted lane change problems with a Model A Sedan. Lunch was the normal familiar fair of BBQ Beef sandwiches, potato salad and beans.Night stop Ogallala, Nebraska
This place was so memerable that I don't think I took a single picture. But here's one of Painless Wiring's new truck. I think we first met Dennis, a founder and owner, in Ogallala, or was it Rock Springs?Lunch stop, Gibbon, Nebraska
This was the last stop before the final trip into Lincoln. Boyd put on a great BBQ with again the normal lunch fair. Here's a shot of Andy Brizio doing one of the things he likes best, talking to friends, old and new. We were joined at this point by the group from Southern California and Texas. Have you ever noticed that the license plates on Texas trucks, say TEXAS TRUCK. Did you know that the trailers say TEXAS TRAILER. How come the cars don't say TEXAS CAR? Here's a bunch of '32's at the park in Gibbon.THE BIG SHOW
We rolled into Lincoln late in the afternoon on Thursday. This was the only place we encountered real rain. IT POURED for about 10 minutes. The roadster had water pouring in from around the windshield, behind the dash, through the doors and in through the sides. I had side curtains made before the trip but they were such a pain in the ass to use, that I had them in the trunk. After this brief downpour the sun came out again and the temperature reach it's normal 97 degrees with the humidity somewhere in the 90's. You sweat all the time!
The next morning we went to the Fairgrounds to wait in line for the show to open. I didn't really take that many pictures in the show. Only a few really choice cars. Here is by far the most outrages, a '59 Cadillac PRO STREET. It has a blown big block and is tubbed. The rest of the car's body was left orginal. Then there's this 46/47/48 (?) Ford Coupe that was about the cleanest thing I've ever seen. The carpet rolled up in the trunk to reveal a plexiglas covered rearnd. Here's Don in his '32 Roadster just finished by Randys Rods out of Williams, Oregon. It took "Best Deuce" at the show. Pretty impressive considering the shear number of '32's at the show. Here is a great looking Chevy that later made the cover of Street Rodder and other national magazines. We stayed at the show most of the day on Friday. That afternoon we visited the Smith Museum and Speedway Motors. The place is full of old racing engins, old peddle cars, etc. Take the time to visit if you're ever in Lincoln. The next morning we waited in line again to enter the Fairgrounds. I caught a shot of this cool little Willys Coupe as we were waiting to get in. Take a look at this Studebaker spotted on Saturday. Good parking spots being at a premium on Saturday we parked right in the Hot Rod Magazine space. They didn't object. The green '32 Vicky was near us several times. It is a beautiful car from Michigan.
And now, on to Americruise '97!
Click on the Americruise logo for a report on '97 Americruise. The '97 Americruise was held in Sprintfield, Illinois at the State Fairgrounds. Dates were July 18, 19 and 20. Yes, Boulder Bob was there. This time with a fellow Hot Rod enthusiast, Steve Salnick, instead of a "significant other". Besides, Susan moved out shortly after the '96 Americruise, but that's another sad story. We once again took the old reliable Roadster. The Roadster now have well over 40,000 miles on it. Whith the exception of some rough running at times caused by either bad gas or the density of the air in the Midwest or the altitude, she ran great! The site of Americruise '98 has been set! Snowmass, Colorado. See Boulder Bob's '98 Americruise page.Lanny is ready to go!
Lanny Netz of Grass Valley, CA sent me this picture of his just completed '57 Olds. Another great job by Lanny. This was his third Americruise. Lanny with his wife and son, picked up the Brizio tour group on Hwy. 80 near his home town. Lanny talked be into buying a CB radio that we never used. Now what do I do with it Lanny?Please feel free to comment on this page. Send E-mail to Boulder Bob.
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This page was created on July 21, 1996. You are visitor number
This page was updated on December 26, 1997.