Once again Boulder Bob braved all of the harsh elements of mother nature to bring you this report. Of course this year was a little different. Instead of the usual '29 Ford Roadster with lots of power and pazzaz, we went in "The Coupe", a 1946 Ford with lots of that good old power and pazzaz but more importantly it had a great Air Conditioning system from Vintage Air, an improved ride from Air Ride Technologies up front. This was so I could look ultra cool and low yet still cruise down the crappy freeways at the legal limit. The car also features a great sound system from Kenwood including a 10 disk CD changer. I added a Bazooka subwoofer for that extra added dimension of sound. For full details of the construction of "The Coupe" please go to The 1946 Ford Page.
Tour #2A, Starting Point, Roy Brizio Street Rods, South San Francisco
Destination Snowmass Village, Colorado 1181 miles later...
This picture was taken off the balcony of our condo.
Day one, destination South Lake Tahoe
We arrived at Roy Brizio's Street Rods around 9:00 AM for a 10:00 AM departure. I was a beautiful day for a drive. The only glitch in the trip happened on the way to Tahoe. My third electric fuel pump decided to quit. Fortunately, behind use was one of Brizio's friends with a pickup truck sweeping for stragglers like me. He had a brand new Holley (the red one, please) electric fuel pump along with him. He crawled around in the dirt installing the pump and refused any money. He just asked that I replace the pump when I got the chance. I replaced it the next day by stopping by Summit Racing's new store in Sparks. Oh, there was another glitch, there were three of us when we left Brizio's. By the time we left Tahoe, there was only two left. It seems that one of my friends (Bill Funk) decided he really didn't want to cruise across America in a street rod. Some people! Here's a shot of a truly great car on the road giving "The Coupe" his seal of approval. It wasn't until years later that I discovered who owned this car. Bruce Meyer a very famous collector from Beverly Hills. Here's a shot of Mr. and Mrs. Brizio in their brand new Roadster. Here's a neat picture of the three of us in the trunk of the fatti.
Day two, destination Wendover, Nevada
We (now just Steve Salnick and myself) left earlier than the rest of the cars to get a fuel pump in Reno. Actually a guy at a Firestone store in Reno told us of a new speed shop in Sparks but he didn't know the name of it. Turns out it was Summit Racing. They have a huge new warehouse with a nice retail store attached. Here a shot of "The Coupe" in front of their store waiting for it to open. The distance from Tahoe to Wendover is over 500 miles. Kind of makes you wonder if the folks at Rod and Custom Magazine have ever looked at a map. Especially considering that we spent the next three days just crossing Utah. Just to show everyone that we always were spot on as far as speed is concerned, here's a shot of the gauges. Please note the everything else is as it should be too. We were supposed to have lunch in Lovelock, but it was too early so we pressed on to Winnemucca. I thinks that's where we had lunch. I should really take notes or something if I'm going to write this thing. After lunch we high tailed it to Wendover. John Hanson, the manager of the Stateline Casino, did his usual great job of making sure everything was ready for us. Including a $25.00 room rate and a $5.00 buffet breakfast the next morning. Here's a shot of the parking lot at Stateline Casino. John Mumford of Portola Valley seems to be having a good time in this picture. I took this picture of "The Coupe" early in the morning at Wendover Air Field built during WW II.
Day three, destination Salt Lake City, Utah
First stop on the way out of town was a small museum of mostly Bonneville memorabilia. Next stop of course was the Bonneville Speedway itself. Here's a picture of Dick Munz (right) with Don and Melanie. You can see Dick's '35 Phaeton in the background. Here's a picture of a good looking group of cars, that of course, includes "The Coupe".
This is really two pictures spliced together. Too many cars at Murry Park. The coupe is at the splice.
Day four, destination Moab, Utah
As usual, Steve and I left the group early to get to Moab early. The weather was very hot somewhere around 100 degrees during the day. Although the coupe did great in the hot weather, I was still concerned about overheating it. We arrived in Moab in the early afternoon. Steve and I actually when site seeing at Arches National Park. Here's a shot of Courthouse Towers. The rest of the group showed up much later in the day. There were planned activities at a bobsled run/water park or you could visit Temple Square in Salt Lake. I opted to leave town. Moab is a small Utah town that's primary industry seems to be tourism. We again left early the next morning but went through Arches one more time on the way out of town. Here's a shot of the Coupe and a mighty big rock!
Day five, on to Snowmass
Snowmass Village is a small winter resort area just outside of Aspen, Colorado. Condo's on a ski run go for a half $million. The show was rather confusing at first. I didn't learn until I got home that the Rod & Custom folks had sent some rather important instructions and information after we had left. There were three locations to show your car. One location was where the cars were judged and the other two were overflow. I really didn't like the way it was set up this year. You really didn't get the feeling of a "show", just a bunch of strangers spread out over a large area. Here's a picture of the coupe with a couple of it fellow '46 Fords. I don't know if you have read the article in Rod & Custom on the Americruise, but the guy who wrote about the Brizio tour, Tony Thacker, wasn't even on the Brizio tour for most of the trip. They left our group and joined the Vintage Air tour out of Texas after Wendover. Why does Rod & Custom do this? If they have a writer assigned to a tour you would expect that person would write about THAT tour. Of the eleven pictures taken of "Tour #2", five had the car the writer was riding in, Pete Chapouris newly completed '32 hiboy.
The BIG Show
Having the show at a place like Snowmass was really not nearly as much fun as the past events held a State Fairgrounds. We still had a lot of fun and there were plenty of great looking cars. Here's a Classic Packard done over into a streetrod. Here another '46 Ford done by Sam Foose. The top is chopped like mine but it's not raked towards the front. Here's a picture of a car that I'm not really sure what it is. I know I like it! Speaking of knowing I like it, here's a Nash "Bathtub" from the early '50's. I think it's terrific!
This page is currently under heavy construction please return for updates!
Please feel free to send questions or comments about this page. Send E-mail to Boulder Bob. 
Boulder Bob's Links Page.Back to Boulder Bob's Roadster Page
Back to Boulder Bob's Americruise '97 Page This page was created on November 22, 1997.
You are visitor number ,
since November 22, 1997.
This page was updated on January 3, 1999.