Real speedster owners-Heads Up!

[YellowTRacer]

Alright let’s be honest. If you consider yourself a legitimate real “speedster nut” and you’ve never been on a Santa Clara Valley Model T Ford club speedster-race car endurance run at least once, you’re still in the novice class, you haven’t achieved stardom. I know it’s tuff for those of you that exist out of California, to make that long trip but man, it’s really worth it, and you gotta do it at least once.! The one coming up this year on June 8th and 9th would be the perfect opportunity. It’s gonna be a “killer event” through the Santa Cruz mountains over to the Pacific coast and that majestic Pacific Ocean shore line. Just the starting line ceremony alone and the drop of the green flag with a burst of acceleration as the whole herd of speedsters takes off is worth it all. It’s almost indescribable. Now’s the time to become one of us. Just go to the www.scvmtfc.org and you’ll find all the details fill out that entry form in your first step at becoming a living breathing real, legitimate speedster nut.

Ed aka #4

[AndyClary]

You tell ‘em Ed! I received my entry confirmation yesterday. I finished the chassis work today and the body goes on tomorrow, I’m determined to be there.

Andy

[AndyClary]

By the way, my wife and I are third car back on the right in my dad’s speedster.

Andy

[Dan McEachern]

Just counting the days!! #45 will be there!! It's gonna be heaven on earth!

[Tim Williams]

# 36 is in process of getting a new engine. I am bummed that Rich and I will miss this year. I love the santa cruz mountain routes.

Tim

[AndyClary]

Cmon Tim, couldn’t be worse than this.

Andy

Granted that was a couple months ago, body going on today.

[Dan McEachern]

Tim- tell Rich that speedsters don't sink- shame on him!!

Dan

[Tim Williams]

Dan- I will do that.

Tim

[Tim Williams]

Andy- Good point.

Tim

[KeithG]

Ed, Any chance that the start could be videoed so that those of us who can't be there could at least see the the send off? It sure would be nice....perhaps the next best thing to being there.

Thanks, Keith

[YellowTRacer]

Keith, can't promise that, but thanks to you I think we can get that on the agenda (Maybe it's already there.) Never enough manpower, but Ivan Jorgenson is the miracle maker for stuff like that, so he might be able to pull it off.

Ed aka #4

[Cbhirdo]

We are planning on having a couple of people video the Opening Ceremony start and finish! A local veteran, whose worked on a number of VA projects, was also asked by the VA to video our event this year. The VA offered to share any videos they take with us. You'll miss the smell of the exhaust and rumble in your chest when the speedsters fire up there engines, but at least you can watch them take off! Here's a picture of the flag-lined driveway where the speedsters start their epic run!

[babychadwick]

I just wish it was a longer event, it's a long trailer drive for a "day"

[DHort]

A short little run of 7 miles and another short little run of 8 miles. Barely long enuf to get the pumpkin warm.
At least that is what is shown inside the registration packet.

Should be at least 70 miles so it takes half a day.

4400 miles round trip just to get out there.

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

A short little run of 7 miles and another short little run of 8 miles.

WHAT??? Is that for real?

[AndyClary]

Those are just the directions to the BBQ and start. The run on Sunday is in the Santa Cruz mountains and is one of the prettiest in the area.


Andy

[Kevin Pharis]

Typically the run is about 170-200 miles. Actual route is unknown to participants until maps are handed out the morning of the event

[YellowTRacer]

I'll tell you how long it is.....not! But by the time you finish you'll feel that you've have earned the certificate of completion award that you receive.

Ed aka #4

[babychadwick]

Has there ever been any thought of doing another 2 day run like when it went down to monterrey?

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Typically the run is about 170-200 miles. Actual route is unknown to participants until maps are handed out the morning of the event

That makes more sense. Thanks!!

[YellowTRacer]

Chad, as you know our Endurance Run is a gigantic undertaking for someone to volunteer to be chairman of, and the amount of volunteers needed to pull it of successfully is also a major task. A two day run isn't out of the question, but that decision would have to be made by a chairman willing and able to do it, and most importantly, still maintain the quality of the event. A lot to ask.

Ed aka #4

[walber]

I don’t know if I’m speaking for others or not but –

Considered “Not a real speedster driver”, I’m not sure if I or my speedster are considered not real or if it’s the package. In any case no thanks for the moniker.

Over the past 30 years on the road with my speedster I have occasionally considered taking the 850 mile trip to participate in your event. Then, checking the rules, I’ve often found that my car wouldn’t pass inspection – More modern distributor – oh, bad. Later rules changed and that would have been OK. Then add in my visible oil pump and filter, ‘60’s steering box and juice brakes and of course a dreaded alternator. Then I heard maybe they might be sneered at but I could participate. I fully understand it’s your club your rules and your choices and that’s fine but many moons ago I decided not to go where I wasn’t wanted.

I’ve driven my car on 20+ 200 mile endurance runs, a bunch of MTFCA National tours, a wide variety of regional and local tours in almost all of the states West of the Mississippi. I built my car from scratch and there are no bolts or fittings that I have not installed, loosened, replaced and/or tightened over the years. I typically drive 2 to 3 thousand miles a year on the car and enjoy the heck out of it.

Am I real speedster driver or just a rookie? I know where I fit in my world and I frankly don’t care about yours.

[Wayne Sheldon]

Antiques? Or modern era doodle bugs? How much is too much?
The simple FACT is, that the SCVMTFC Endurance Run nearly ended several times twenty to thirty years ago! The rules weren't strict before, and they got more and more loose as time went on.
Maybe it was a regional problem? Maybe other parts of the country wouldn't have done what did happen there. The more "modern" adjustments they allowed, the more that were demanded by people that had no real interest in anything close to an authentic restoration, or even a remote representation of an era car! You wouldn't believe the ridiculous garbage people wanted to run! In addition to that, the arguments over really bad construction! "Don't tell ME that my welding isn't good enough to hold the chassis together at speed on a dirt road!" Several cars were literally falling apart on the Run because of bad modifications. The club was rightfully concerned about liability which is bad enough for such meets under the best of conditions.
Many owners of great mostly era correct restored speedsters wanted nothing to do with a run with arrogant misfits. "Opening things up" by allowing almost anything had the opposite effect of encouraging participation. Earlier Runs had often had forty to sixty speedsters on them! For nearly ten years, nearly every year had less than twenty speedsters show up.
Due to family issues, I had no running speedster for awhile. But I went to see the cars. One year I went just to see the cars, and only fourteen speedsters were there. Only two of them were decent enough to be worth walking across the street to look at, and both of them were owned by friends of mine that I could go and see almost anytime I wanted. The next year had twelve cars show up, and only ONE (a beautiful car owned by a good friend!) was worth crossing the street for!

At that time, the twenty-fifth Run was coming up soon. They almost didn't have one! A good number of owners and drivers of good to great speedsters talked it over. "Can we really let the Run end?" They discussed reasons why none of them had gone in several years, the reasons were mostly the same. Bad cars brought bad behavior. Nobody wanted to look at or watch the bad cars, and most of the people with good cars knew each other, but agreed they would love to have a nicely run Endurance Run!
The twenty-fifth Endurance Run was incredible (I had gotten my original boat-tail roadster done enough in time and went on it!)! But the troubles weren't over yet. Discussions continued for a few more years about where to draw the lines on what was or was not acceptable. While the rules keep changing a bit from year to year, not many in the club really want to go back to the trash free-for-all and about a dozen cars on a poorly run Run.

Some people on the forum like the acronym (technically initialism) YMMV for "Your Mileage May Vary". I rarely use it myself. But in this case I think it is warranted. Maybe where you live wouldn't have so many people using toilet seats, totally modern materials, methods, and decorations, coupled with an arrogant attitude that you HAVE TO allow their completely unsafe construction go on the road? But that is what happened here, and no decent speedster aficionado wants to go back to that!

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

This looks like a really nice event. I wish I could bring my speedster to it. Just too far away. Too bad this topic had to get bitter. I don't know Ed personally, but I have never seen anything from him that would lead me to believe his choice of this topic title had anything to do with elitism. I think it was just about his enthusiasm for an event that he and others love to attend.

[babychadwick]

Ed,
I totally understand. It was just an idle question out of curiosity for those of us now far away to make the trip a little more worth while. The other thoughts I've had is something like another club or group doing a tour or even a motorcamp the weekend before. I must say we did the motorcamp out in Indiana last summer and it was a blast, the next one they were discussing is tentative 2025 western US. That would be a BLAST, come out do a motor camp (motor campers doing lowland tour) then cruise in for the endurance run. Different clubs working together to schedule events where you can work from one to the other without having to choose. . .

[DHort]

I think Ed's title to this tour sums it up nicely. To me attending this tour would help complete a speedster bucket list.

I am in Milwaukee and 4400 miles is a bit far for a one day run. Anyone east of me it would be even farther. You really need a 3 day event for someone to drive that distance. Would be a nice feather to put under my cap. I know they are looking for cars and some of us who own speedsters might consider coming out if there were seats available, just to see what it is all about.

I also see one rule is the need for 10 inch high numbers on the car. My speedster does not have numbers and there is no place to put any. I'm not taking off decals and installing numbers for just one day. So I am out anyway.

I wish you the best. I would love to be out in southern CA for a ride in my speedster with the rest of you. I think the NW group has a similar run and maybe they are timed so after you head to southern CA you drive up to WA, and make it one big circle trip. Maybe hit a few national parks on the way.

Thank you Ed for inviting us.

[AndyClary]

This would have been the year for you Dave. Santa Clara endurance run on the 9th, then mosey down the coast for the national tour outside of San Diego.

Andy

[walber]

Wayne - Sorry your club went through it's troubles. Can happen to the best of them for many reasons. I wish it success but my presence or absence would make little if any difference in that regard.

On a bit with the thread drift, the Michigan 3 day tour was almost on my list for this year but didn't work out. If it were timed reasonably close to the Speedster Reunion in Nebraska it would be easier to justify the trip.

[Wayne Sheldon]

Walt, No worries here. But people need to know that there are reasons for the rules.
The SCVMTFC is a great group, has many wonderful activities every year, and for most of the past fifty years now had many volunteers to work on and manage the Endurance Run. The exception was the period when the rules relaxed and the worst cars were taking the fun out of it for everybody else. Besides, who wanted to put the kind of effort into a big event only to have a little over a dozen cars show up? Better to just get five or six people together for a free weekend and do a favorite drive together. Only the agreement to enforce stricter rules got the club to pull together again and keep it going. And believe me, deciding and agreeing to where to draw the lines was one of the hardest parts!

And at the risk of offending good friends by not mentioning a LOO-ONG list of names of people that should be all mentioned, so many club members that did so much year after year? Since his name was mentioned by someone else farther up in this thread? I do want to say that Ed Archer did more to make the Run great for more years than anyone else! He and a handful of friends planned the first one, and he chaired many more Runs over the years following. He had a great knack for rallying the club and getting the most and best to make the Run great! And he devoted a great deal of his own time into many many years.

[DHort]

Walt

What is unfortunate is that the Midwest Speedster Rally is always the same weekend as the International Speedsters Trial and Reunion. Not sure why that is and why it is not changed. So in odd years you have to decide which tour to go on. I think the Montana 500 is also that week.

The Midwest Rally also has no sponsorship. Someone has to grab the reins and set it all up. It is a lot of work for 2 people to put a 3 day tour together.

Andy is correct. This would have been a good year to try and coordinate with the National tour if I had thought long and hard about it, and maybe someone else said 'Lets caravan out there together'. Road trip and a run.