Have heard some interesting stories lately of tops being blown off, paint being sandblasted by grit etc... What are your experiences?
I've been on tour in Tucson when it was 115 degrees at noon.
Been on tour in Cincinnati when it was snowing and sleeting. We went to opening day at Cincinnati Reds ballpark, and it was bitter cold and we had snow delays.
The heat is easier to deal with than the sleet / snow. I have side curtains but some of the other fellows did not.
Speedster tour in Nebraska in 2011. Riding the ridges with 30+ mph winds and rain. We all got wet and had to lean right or left to counter the winds while driving.. Had lunch. The sun came out and dried up all the rain.
I guess that meant the spider crawled up the spout again.
Tour of Speedy Bill's museum was the highlight.
Travelling back last month from the Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally through 90km/hr winds. It came on relatively suddenly and ripped the side of the hood from the bows. My wife and I folded down the hood, folded down the windscreen, donned water proof jackets and sunglasses and drove the remaining 40 odd kms to our accommodation.
Warwick & Bill Landy take the cake and drove through the same storm in "Barney", his old 1922 tourer with no hood at all!
Gee, aren't we Ford'T' drivers crazy folk??!!!
Hurrying home from work ahead of a cold front, on the highway. At one point, wind got so bad the front of the car was momentarily lifted off the highway. Then came sideways rain and hail. Of course, no top and barely a windshield.
Got home with a case of the shakes -- but it was still a blast.
1998 Greatrace: Steamboat to Littleton via Ft. Collins and desert around DIA. High of 35 all day, mostly sleet, some hail; enough to break the skin on John's nose. This was in June.
1998 Greatrace, last day: Syracuse to Johnson City area, then on to Boston and Haverhill. Nine inches rain that day, but not too cold. Bikers say you get soaked to the skin eventually, no matter what. Yup.
Open cars have a 30-40 degree wind chill, so hot not so bad.
The worst I can remember, had 70 miles to home one night, no problem I say after leaving the party with my brother. He was in his 25 roadster pickup, me in my 27 roadster. Well the first 30 some odd miles no problem. We knew a cold front was coming but didn't expect much trouble. Well it was pitch black that night and then the rain came, from all directions. My brother was on coils so I was a little concerned. The rain never let up so we were looking for cover, after 20 or so miles we passed through a ghost town where there appeared to be an old abandoned gas station. We managed to both fit under the awning and wait for a while. Since this was the age of cell phones I was bringing up live doppler on my phone and it looked bad. Finally I spotted a break in the radar and we went for it. Well we hit more rain for a while and then it ended. We thought we had it made, until we started trying to cross flooded roads, the water was high enough that it flew 20 to 30 feet from the car when going through it. Again those coils had me worried. Somehow that ignition system held up. We were 8 miles from home when we came to underpass below a railroad that we were unsure of. We sent our friend, the youngest of the bunch to go investigate by pulling up his pants and wading in. About this time a local policeman informed us we could go around and told us the route. The rest of the way home was no problem and boy did we have a story to tell when we got home.
Worst I ever drove in was on the CO/WY III tour (thanks Dave H.). We got hit by a hail storm/cloud burst. That's hail on my running boards
Be_Zero_Be
Last year on our overnighter tour, we had a pouring rain on the first day. I had a few drops of rain drip on my shoe. My way of getting back at being teased about owning a sedan.
In the rain I rolled up the windows on the sedan and sat it out. In the cold I put on some warmer clothes and kept going. We ride a lot of snowmobiles here in Wintersota so we all have ways of staying warm and dry. But last summer on the 4th of July when it was 104 degrees fahrenheit in the shade and the humidity was 90% and I couldn't keep my fanbelt on the sedan. It darn near got uncomfortable. And the heat coming up through the floor boards from the engine and the hot air through the open windshield didn't seem to help much. But that darn old engine never overheated for a second and that was without the fan running. There's no way anyone can convince me I need a waterpump. And all together that day we put on well over 100 miles.
this was kind of cold, but fun!!!
I had my '19 touring in a Labor Day parade in 2011. My 93 year old front seat passenger (a 1918 model) was the oldest direct descendant of the village's founder.
The parade started out beautifully but by the time we got to that corner it was sprinkling significantly and a couple hundred feet later it turned into a downpour......
Luckily the old top didn't leak and it wasn't blowing so we didn't get soaked.
Less than four months later the guest of honor passed away.
This past Wed. morning I went to breakfast with the "old car guys". It was cold and damp when I left but on the way home I had to use the hand wiper to keep the snow off the windshield so I could see. Had I known it was going to snow I wouldn't have driven this car. It's a 1919 Touring without the side curtains on. This was in Hamburg, NY which is about 15 miles south of Buffalo
heavy rain in a speedster! it was great! no windshield, no monocle worst thing i have ever enjoyed didnt rain very long but enough to soak me to the bone.
I would say two times. I was near Lytle Texas with my 12 and no side curtains and it was 112 Degrees. The locals were saying it had been 117 degrees. The grass was so dry it was like walking on breakfast serial. The Second time was just the opposite. I was in Saratoga, Wyoming checking on motels for one of the Colorado/Wyoming Tours. When I woke up in the morning there was almost a foot of snow on top of my 24 coupe and still snowing hard. When I left Saratoga I had to drive uphill to get out of town. I fish tailed all the way to the top but when the highway got flat is was fine. The snow was dry so driving was easy and the Wyoming snow plows were out. When I got to Encampment, Wyoming I drove up the main Street. There was people standing in fromt of the Post Office. I was fish tailing all over main street trying to get up to the top. I could not find a cafe so I went to Riverside, Wyoming. I stopped in Riverside for coffee and met a guy that was building a 26 roadster. He bought my coffee and role and followed me out of town and took some picture of the coupe in the snow. For some reason the picture is so large you will have to move it around to see the coupe.
My coupe has a manifold heater so I was warm and comfortable. I was only worried that I had to drive over Cameron Pass in a blizzard but when I got to the Colorado State Line the snow stopped. I made it back to Berthoud that evening. I drove over 200 miles a good part of it in heavy snow.
Freezing rain on way to Florida winter tour.
I think you win Dave.
I was driving my 1922 tourer home from a campout run with a howling northerly wind blowing tumbleweeds across the road in droves. We were 20 miles out in the Murray mallee and 20 more miles before the next settlement, when the dust storm hit. We could see it from miles back and when we came up to it, it was as thick as pea soup. All the modern traffic was halted in the dust, windows wound up, sitting there unable to see their way forward. One guy had lost a windscreen when he drove into a load of timber on the trailer in front.
We dropped off the road and crawled along through the saltbush and gibbers on the roadside, picking our way slowly. Within a couple of miles we were out of it! Looking back from the top of along hill, we could see a huge paddock which had been fallowed ready for next years crop, literally being blown away.
Two hours later , some of the vehicles stopped in the dust pall made it through our hometown on their way back to the city.
Allan from down under.
Going over Trailridge Road on the 2009 Co/Wyo tour the wind was blowing my car all over the road and the blowing snow was coming in through every crack and it is a closed car.
Rick
Rick,
I was on that tour in my speedster. It got downright nippy for a while. The rest of the tour was great if you missed the downpour we had one day. I got real lucky and hit some wet roads and lots of dark clouds but almost no rain until we got to the motel. Those Colorado/Wyoming loop tours are superb!
Walt
I think it is all relative, if you live in Alaska, then you expect snow, if you live in San Diego then you expect perfect weather every day. Don't worry we pay a sunshine tax. However as we live in San Diego, even rain can seem bad so how about this picture of Heather, who hates snow, on tour near Alpine in Northern Arizona.
Heather thinks SHE is the winner....
I've driven in colder weather than last night but only much shorter journeys. While the Foothills Model T Club down in Calgary was enjoying a sissified evening of fellowship and fun, the REAL men in Alberta were driving a '24 Speedster 20 miles into the country. At night. After dark. in -15°c/5°F weather. At 35-45 mph. With a look-over-the-top windshield.