UPDATE - A DRIVE HOME: LeMay Museum, Tacoma To Detroit Auto Show- Chapter Two - On The Road With Steve Purdy

A DRIVE HOME – Chapter 2
Three old cars go from Tacoma to Detroit in the dead of winter

By Steve Purdy
Senior Editor
The Auto Channel
Michigan Bureau
Photos By Bob Giles

The caravan of three vintage cars left their retirement home in Tacoma, Washington a couple days ago right on schedule for the cross-country drive to their ancestral home in Detroit. While that may sound like a risky project it really is well planned. A cadre of volunteer mechanics at the LeMay Museum, America’s Car Museum, prepared the cars well and Michelin shod them all with new snow tires.

William Hall, a journalist from Hemmings Motor News drove these first two legs and noted some compromises. The Chrysler’s steering gear was purposely left a bit slack to prevent too much stress on it and the Mustang’s starter bendix was not consistently engaging.

And, it seemed the Mustang was not real happy at the low speeds required by the snowy roads. Otherwise the old cars are running great. They are even getting better than expected fuel mileage according to Dale, the mechanic in charge.

Snow tires were a great idea. Within hours as they headed south toward Portland the group hit snow that became more serious nearing Mt. Hood. The roads were littered with stranded motorists and even our intrepid old cars gave some quarter but the grizzled veterans soldiered on to the first night’s stay in Bend, Oregon.

The drive from Bend to the second night’s stay in Boise provided less drama but still some snow blowing across the road.

I was getting a bit worried as they arrived rather late to the hotel in Boise but they stopped for a leisurely dinner on the way.

I join the drive today as the caravan leaves Boise and turns south to the next stop in Salt Lake City. We’ll start out on clear highways but plenty of snow here makes it looks like a winter wonderland with the ribbons of highway passing through a monochromatic landscape of pure white snow.

On The Road With Steve Purdy - From Lemay Museum Tacoma To 2016 Detroit Auto Show

Chapter One - December 28, 2015
Chapter Two - December 29, 2015
Chapter Three - December 30, 2015
Chapter Four - December 31, 2015
Chapter Five - January 2, 2016
Chapter Six Final Chapter - January 10, 2016