Clubs
Clubs are sub-groups of our community. Currently, we use these to allow members to organize localized events, discussion, etc... For example, our Southeastern Club is for members local to the southeastern US and post events, information and discussion local to their area. Find your local club today or start your own!
NOTE: In order to post in a club, please be sure you click "Join Club." Once you've joined the club, you will be able to post. It's 100% free to join!
About This Club
General discussion, images, events and questions about what's going on in the Great Lakes States of IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI.
Location
Great Lakes
What's new in this club
-
Be a good time to flush the brake fluid as well. always overlooked.
-
POCI Convention starts tomorrow. Another busy / silly week for me with tons of commitments and activities. Not sure if I will have too many photos to post for the first few days. Mostly set-up, registration, tech inspection and some welcome events. Friday and Saturday are the big days with the Friday parade with grand marshall Christy Lee, and the main show event on Saturday.
-
Engine was flushed a few times according to the mechanic. Long term I will have to replace the radiator to get all the rust out.
-
When the Bird sat for a number of years needing an engine rebuild, the coolant turned to jelly. We had quite a discussion about coolant and it was the Water Wetter I mixed in. It lived up to label on the bottle and dropped the overall operating temp over 20 degrees. BUT, You can't mix red or green together (as we all know) or it turns to jello. Found it's the same with additives. The only time I've seen babyshit like that has been in the junkyard removing parts. Class.. Class... SHUTUP! Thank you. Now change your coolant. Van Halen......While your at it, might as well jump.
-
Ha! Joe and I were right! You do attract bad ju-ju!
-
That's not coolant.... That's babyshit..... trust me I know babyshit N JustaG6 can back me up on that claim. You are soooo lucky that didn't happen on the racetrack or anywhere on the power tour. Glad it all worked out. Moto medic is a great place. Workin on one of the girls cars I needed to pull the A/C to get to whatever I was doing. Moto drained the A/C in their catch tank and put it back in the car when I finished the job. Saved me alot of $$$$$. BTW...it WAS my fault. Justa teach you a coolant lesson. Class dismissed.
-
42….at least that’s the simple answer.
-
Hitch hikers guide to bringing a old ponti back to life..... change ya rubber !!!! and ya fuild
-
Thanks Joe! I think …..
-
That was not the skid mark I wanted to see. lol
-
Day 2 - Rantoul IL - the former Chanute Air Force Base complex Today started like yesterday, more Route 66 and a few side trips before heading toward Rantoul. So I beelined from Joilet to Bloomington/Normal via I-55 to save time since I have already done Chicago to Bloomington in the past 2 days. Plus it got me ahead of the Power Tour traffic. A In Atlanta IL, I found a restored gas station with more highway giants Some of the history of these giants - it's kind of fascinatring. Does this big guy look for familiar? He should! Inside the station are more giant artifacts.... Notice the picture of the Indian figure on the right. That is the Indian figure now located at the Pontiac Transportation Museum. The PTM has the original "Harry on the Hill" figure. It was restored with three feathers, instead of the original two. Apparently one Indian figure had a full head dress too. This place was truly interesting. Another Muffler Man giant near the gas station. I came across this one room school/church. It sits near a strip mall. Another restored gas station An old abandoned restraraunt An old abandoned motel Ronald looks content. Heading for Springfield..... Welcome to the capitol of Illinois! Who is Springfield's most famous person? Let me give you a hint. Miniature version of Lincoln Memorial (in Washington DC). Abe is buried 10 feet below his headstone - in solid concrete. Between his death and his final interment here in Springfield in 1901, he had been buried and moved 17 times! There was a real threat of grave robbers trying to steal and ransom his body in those days. Abe's family is buried directly across from his headstone, except for one son who is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Sadly, Mr. Lincoln's direct family has died out. This 1955 game show program is a rather interesting watch too. It's time to hit the road and head east into Rantoul and the former Chanute Air Force Base. I was here over 30 years ago on my way to Champaign-Urbana to watch Michigan beat Illinois. At that time, Chanute had recently been shut down by the US government. It had an Air Force museum. On of the base's function was to train new B-52 crews. The museum had a full size cockpit trainer you get go into at the time. Here is a closer look at that $188k Corvette This red Tahoe is Mike Cotten's. He told me these wheels are billet from the 1990s. He said they were sitting the Motortred warehouse and no one wanted them. He is very much into the Pro Street and 80/90s look, he grabbed them. So ends Day 2 - I am off to my hotel in nearby Champaign.
-
Well, you left your mark on the event, Frosty. Just not the mark you want to
-
Thanks Joe!
-
Okay let's start the picture extravaganza. This year's Power Tour had a much different feel to it. Last year, there were known celebrities scheduled at each stop for autography and photograph sessions. None announced this year, although I did run into and talk with Lucy Costa and Mike Cotten at some length. They were the only "celebrities" I found all week, mind you, I was not looking very hard either. This year's tour was more about Route 66 and less about the stop venues (to me at least). So that is what I concentrated on - Route 66 and side visits and less on the venues, the pictures will show that. On with the show, this is it! Day One - Joilet IL - Route 66 Raceway Park On my way to the track, I decided to make a little side trip before I got there. If you are fan of the original Blues Brothers movie, you will recognize this place. This is old Joilet Prison, that was used in the movie. You can tour the prison. I did not, but judging from the cars in the parking lot, I was not the old person on Power Tour to think of coming here. Jake and Elwood on a nearby parts store wall. "We gotta' go see the penguin!" "We're on a mission from God!" LOL! Here we are at Route 66 Raceway. It was a cluster getting in though. It seems that Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway share the same access road. So those folks that didn't pickup their credentials on Sunday, or single and/or multi-day participants still had to go to Chicagoland first before going to Route 66. So the traffic getting in was twice as bad, since traffic handlers has to determine who was going where. I did run into Lucky Costa while I was there. This is the same Peak car that was built on one of the last episodes of Hot Rod Garage. The green Corvette is the top of the line ZR1 with a flip flop color (it shows green now). This Vette convertible is $188k as built! Woof! The Power Tour swag truck showing the 2026 PT route. Cars in the vendor areas. I see this guy on PT and Roadkill Nights al the time. He always has a different female cop model with him. Lucky Costa - before I chatted with him. The Power Tour motorhome. This is the closest I would get to it since taking a photo with your car next to at the end of Power Tour in Tulsa is out of the question for me. Lucky's Ford Galaxie wagon from HRG. It is Coyote powered now. He's done a lot of work to it. He's documented a lot of that work on his YouTube channel, if you follow him. A Charger EV The only thing on the track at the moment is the lane dryer. They started drying around 12 noon. As I was leaving around 2:30 pm, they ran a couple of races and then (as I was still walking to my car) it started raining again. I have no idea how many races were actually run that day. Some of the folks waiting in the staging lanes - waiting for the track to open. Back out onto Route 66 - On my way to a place I missed yesterday. Welcome to Wilmington IL - home of the Gemini Giant The Gemini Giant is a re-purposed fiberglass "Muffler Man" statue from the 1960s. They are all over the USA. Some we will see later too. You can read about it's history on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Giant Did I mention it rained some more? A quick drive by of the Odell Standard Oil Gas station. Heading south. RR tracks to the left, I-55 to the right. This old Texaco station had a broken down Fox body Mustang. I offered to help but they said they had it well in hand.....okkkaaay. Off we go. Onto Memory Lane park..... Very cool mailboxes! The Kicks Restaurant on Route 66. Nice play on words. This gets me to the end of Day 1 - just north end of Bloomington-Normal IL. Tomorrow PT will come through this area before turning east towards Rantoul IL. I can run down to here in the morning and head towards the state capital, Spingfield.
-
Here’s frosty, pulling in no leaks yet.
-
What until the convention next week Ringo. We have over 850 people registered. A max of 300 cars for the parade, and we expect something close to 500+ cars between the points judged, popular vote, and road warrior sections. Kiwi - the '74 GTO was the last year for the GTO before the 2004-06 resurgence. The GTO was moved from the A-body (Lemans) platform to the X-body platform (Nova/Omega/Ventura/Apollo) in 1974. It was the best power-to-weight ratio GTO until 2004. However, it is one of the rarest. It is the only GTO that came with a shaker hood. Now back to the Dust Off...... A Canada-oly Parisienne with a Chevy Stovebolt straight six! PTM dousent, Smoke Signals columnist, and still a GM employee with over 50 years of seniority - Dmitri Toth - talking - as usual! LOL! A Cadillac LaSalle - at a Buick/Olds/Pontiac/GMC show. Go figure. Cool none the less. This Olds was very cool with it's partial glass hood and dual quad Rocket V8. Sometimes I think that the Buick GSX is the most badass factory muscle car made. I know I am bias but still, it is badass. Now here is a very cool car. This is one that ol' Frosty had not seen before today..... This is a 1936 REO Flying Cloud. REO stands for Ransom E. Olds, same man who founded Oldsmobile). From 1927-1936 REO produced cars but after 1936 switched to making trucks exclusively. So this is not technically an Oldsmobile, but a sibling of sorts. Still very cool car. Up until now, there are two cars I have not shown. That is the FP contingent of the show - Indyman Joe and me - since Justa and JustaG6 were off lollygagging at some sort of wedding instead. I blame Justa for the bad luck that followed since he wasn't there to absorb it, like he usually has lately. LOL! Here is Indyman's DIrty Girl..... .....and there's Black Beauty..... ...who decided, as I literally pulled into the show, to blow the water pump and bleed out all that rust colored coolant. I was not happy to say the least. That is the original water pump, it's 40 years old. I thought, well I am at our patron dealership. I can ask them to replace a SBC water pump next week and I don't need a tow truck. I talked to the service manager, they started to write it up, then I was told they don't work on "classic cars". They don't want the liability, WTF? It's a SBC for goodness sake, not some complicated, transverse mounts Asian disaster. No luck - so I gotta find my own repair place.......Grrrreeeeeeaaaaattttt! So here are the dealership employees and a club member moving BB to a safe spot at the dealership until I can figure out what I am going to do with her. Fellow club members suggested a place in Dryden Michigan where a young member of the club works as a master mechanic. However, the soonest they could even look at it was the Tuesday, June 23rd, I need BB running and driving for the POCI convention next week! Monday morning, I found a place, literally across the street from the dealership that could look at it this week. So I grabbed some anti-freeze, topped off the radiator and ran over to a place called Moto Medic in Lake Orion MI. They said they could look at it Wednesday. They looked at by the end of the day on Monday! It was definitely a blown water pump. They really had to do a lot of serious flushing of the cooling system - there was a ton of rust in the system. The pump has been replaced, new coolant was put in, and I picked her up yesterday afternoon. It was not a cheap repair, it cost almost $1k. They said I need to consider eventually replacing the radiator since there is still a lot of rust in the bottom of it but they said they got quite a bit of rust out of her and she is holding coolant now. Before anyone asks, I suspect the rust came from BB sitting for over a decade in my buddy's pull barn without being run. Mind you, since I brought her out of storage in 2021, she's been on two Hot Rod Power Tours (as far south as Pensacola Florida), and over 5K miles in those years. I have replaced tires, shocks, brakes, spark plugs, plug wires, and rear spoiler since then. So cooling system work is not that surprising - especially with a 40 year old car. I hope you enjoyed the Dust Off and the drama.....
-
What a great show!
-
i have never seen a 1974 gto !!!!!!
-
After a robust 3 hours of sleep, after cannonballing nearly 1,000 miles from Tulsa Oklahoma back to Davison Michigan, I was surprisingly awake and alert. Mind you, the thermos of coffee I made before leaving the house probably had something to do with that too. So here is the 37th annual MIchigan WIdetrackers Spring Dust Off.... In all, we had 93 cars registered with 4 no shows.....Justa and JustaG6 were 2 of them. Something about a wedding in Indianapolis. Jim Larson's 8-lug Grand Prix One year only '67 Grand Prix convertible. Nice. While you would look at this car and say it's a 63-65 Riveria, you would often be right. However, I first saw this car a couple of years ago. It says Pontiac 2+2 on the side. This appears to be some sort of engineering study Pontiac did with the Riveria platform. Notice the 8-lug wheels and Poncho powertrain? This is unique for sure. I can only dream at this point..... Gorgeous '59 Olds Royale 88 A rare 74 GTO! More tomorrow.
-
Glad y'all made it back in one piece!
-
Goodnight Violet! You did well all week and exceptionally well today! Daddy is proud of you! Sleep well little lady! You’ve earned it!
-
Sorry to say Frosty I don't think I will make it this year, what started out as a toothache 2 weeks ago turned into a very bad sinus infection, and a slight case of pneumonia about a week ago. Feeling a bit better but still coughing but not nearly as much as earlier in the week. Have fun and say hi to everyone for me.
-
I recon it looks a bit like chuck berry
-
That would be Rat Fink, by Big Daddy Roth
-
Anybody going to guess who the statue is?
.thumb.png.2115b4e28e0a2e10573e576ff1ad40fd.png)