Flatrod
GT Owner
Hopefully Joe will get one, but I won't be reapplying. Then we can see if Joe is brave enough to drive a NGT up the road!
2018 Last Frontier Alaska Cobra Tour
- Thread starter lc2006
- Start date
Sinovac
GT Owner
Flatrod
GT Owner
They had a little rain but most of the time they were in sunny weather. Driving had to be good on the northern part but did see some rain going down towards Valdez. Those guys can say they have driven on every major road we have here!
Lee, maybe you should explain the hard hit that Dave is wearing.
Lee, maybe you should explain the hard hit that Dave is wearing.
Sinovac
GT Owner
My Dad worked for Ford from the time that I was born... there was never a chance that I'd have anything but Ford Blue in my veins! I even named my teddy bear Henry Ford!
Is that you, Dennis?! You don't have to answer that.
The hard hats....
Well, we took the ferry across from Valdez to Whittier. Once in Whittier, there are two ways out: the ferry or the one-lane tunnel that is shared among cars/trucks/motorcycles and trains. We figured that we would scoot right through the tunnel as soon as it was time for vehicles to use the tunnel. The cops, however, had other ideas. All four Cobras were pulled over by the cops. The cops told us that no convertibles are allowed in the tunnel unless they A.) put their top up, or B.) wear an approved helmet... no exceptions!
Tom and Dave K. were carrying ragtops, but Dave W. and I were not; and there wasn't going to be another ferry for a few days. I tried to explain to the cop that a dried-out 54 year-old convertible top was going to provide absolutely no protection from falling rocks inside of the tunnel. (Note: Falling rocks was the concern; hence, the convertible top/helmet regulation.)
Realizing that we would get nowhere with the cops, Felicia and I jumped into the Cobra and sped back into town to find helmets. We conferred with a couple of locals who agreed to loan hard hats to us for the trip through the tunnel. The locals rounded-up two hard hats, wished us luck with the cops, and told us that there was a certain ice cream shop about 20 miles past the tunnel, in Girdwood, where we could drop off the hard hats. You can't make this stuff up!
Anyway, with only two hard hats, we had to do something with Felicia. So, Dave and I drove our Cobras through the tunnel wearing very stylish hard hats, and Felicia squeezed into the passenger seat of the Karpik/Rice Cobra with Katy for the ride through the tunnel! Problem solved!
GTJack
GT Owner
Sure. I am only about halfway through my trip, though. Once I return home, I will sort through the photos and post any half decent ones on Dropbox.
Sinovac
GT Owner
Safe travels Lee. Thank you for sharing your trip. It’s really cool to see people using those cars the way they were intended to be used.
Flatrod
GT Owner
Even if I kept my plan of delivery in Alaska I would have trailered it to Washington & then drove to California. Maybe Joe might drive a NGT down the Alcan!
Ed
PS I know Ic2006 would do it! LOL
Okay, now that you are unmasked and I know who you are, Flatrod...!
Everybody on the Forum should know that Flatrod, whom I had never met nor spoken with before arriving in Anchorage last month, saved my ass just prior to the start of the Last Frontier Alaska Cobra Tour!
Not to go into another story, but this one definitely deserves to be told... it is about a longtime Ford GT Forum Mark II Lifetime member!
Dave Wagner and I stopped in Kitwanga, British Columbia when we were en route to Alaska. We decided that this might be a good spot to pull the Cobras out of the trailers and to make an over 300 mile run down to Prince Rupert and back.
It turned out to be a great move; it was a sensational drive! Unfortunately, however, CSX2393 developed a squeaking noise at the left rear wheel toward the end of the drive back from Prince Rupert. It seemed as though it had to be a wheel bearing, but the bearings had been replaced less than 5,000 miles previously. After additional analysis, Dave W. concluded that it had to be a wheel bearing, as improbable as that might be.
Great, I thought, we are in the middle of nowhere en route to Alaska for a 2,000 driving tour, and I have got a bad bearing... the Alaska Cobra tour is over for me before it begins. I cannot even begin to describe the sick feeling that I had in my stomach at that moment!
Luckily, Kenai, Alaska resident and Cobra Tour participant, Dave Karpik, alerted us that he has a friend with a shop in Anchorage. Dave K. told us that we could take the ailing Cobra to his friend Dennis's (aka Flatrod) shop to make all of the necessary repairs!
Dave W. and I still had a few days of driving before we would arrive in Anchorage. While we are driving, however, another Cobra restorer, Drew Serb, sent the bearings -- and the special tools needed to pull Cobra wheel bearings -- to Flatrod's Anchorage shop via overnight courier!
Dave W. and I arrived at Flatrod's shop, pulled CSX2393 out of the trailer and into the waiting shop bay that Flatrod already had all set-up for the wheel bearing surgery. Not only that, Flatrod, an expert machinist and engine builder, assisted with the wheel bearing change!!! I kid you not, the wheel bearing change was completed within two hours and fifteen minutes of our arrival at Flatrod's!
Were it not for Flatrod, CSX2393 would not have been on the Last Frontier Alaska Cobra Tour. Can you imagine that? Tow a Cobra 5,000 miles and then you don't participate in the tour!
All of us on the Last Frontier Alaska Cobra Tour cannot thank Flatrod enough! Not only did he save the day with my Cobra, but his shop served as a base of operations for our entire time in Alaska. We stored the Cobras in his shop before and after the Tour, and we stored trucks and trailers there during the Tour.
Additionally, we had a great time swapping stories with Flatrod! He tells some wonderful stories about the Alaska car scene from the 60's onward! There was A LOT more car stuff going on in Alaska than we in the lower 48 would have ever imagined! Great stuff!
And the best part, is that just like all of us on the Alaska Cobra Tour, Flatrod is an absolute Ford nut!
Here are some photos of the wheel bearing fiasco and repair. The last photo shows a smiling Flatrod... he is probably smiling because CSX2393 is rolling into the trailer for the trip OUT of Alaska!:
Flatrod
GT Owner
Yeah... just a "little!" Lol!
All of us on the Tour would not have enjoyed ourselves nearly as much as we did without your gracious involvement and unwavering support! Heck, my Cobra would have covered zero miles in Alaska were it not for your assistance!
DakotaGT
GT Owner
Sinovac
GT Owner
I’m not surprised at all. Dennis is good people. He graciously gave me and my family a tour of his shop during one of our trips there. Trivia: he has the smallest and largest engines Ford ever made. Who can identify them?
Howard
GT Owner
Sinovac
GT Owner
Yes, Ed, Flatrod's place is super-cool! It is nirvana for any Ford guy or gal!
As you know, it is in a secret, nondescript location. Nonetheless, Fort Knox has nothing on Flatrod in terms of security!
Lee