My take on the Route66 Centennial Parade:
The idea of this trip came from Youtube's Vice Grip Garage mentioning it in a video and I started planning. My first choice was my dad's 1970 C3 Corvette, one of my grandpa's friend's 1993 C4 40th Anniversary Corvette and last was taking the 1972 C30 that belonged to my grandpa. Luckily, my dad was on-board so we pulled his C3 out of storage where it has sat for ~17 years. We started in March by replacing all the rubber components (hoses, belts, plug wires, plugs & brake hoses) and upgrading the points to HEI. I washed it and cleaned the glass and dad cleaned up the interior. Next was getting a rock guard for my equipment trailer...called 5 fab shops & only 3 called me back. The only one that had availability to meet my deadline was going to charge ~$1,200 which was out of my budget. So we opted to build one from 3/4" plywood and pressure treated 2x4s. I painted the exposed parts with oil enamel to keep it alive for ~1.5 weeks on the road and "allegedly" tested it at ~85 mph and it didn't budge. I pre-tripped the trailer by adding more lights, a new emergency brake plunger and greased the bearings. Changed the oil on the F250, greased it, pre-tripped it, purchased new belts, coolant hoses & air intake and had the engine inspected at Performance Diesel where it was given a clean bill of health!
Left Albemarle on 5/26/26 @ ~9:30am with ~191k miles on the F250, topped off diesel in Locust, filled up again in Atlanta. I think it rained the entire way through Georgia! Topped off again at Buc-cee's in Leeds, Alabama because why not? Breezed through Tupelo, MS with no issues and ate dry rub ribs at Corky's in Memphis, TN. Called it a night at a Holiday Inn in Memphis and parked the F250 & C3 in a gated lot for the night.
Left Memphis and stopped at the Big Dam Bridge (4,200' long & 90' above the river) in Little Rock, AR to walk across it, take some pics and have a quick bite for lunch. We then progressed to Fort Smith, AR for the National Park; but before we could get there, I ran out of fuel ~0.5 miles from a station. A quick 1 mile walk and a highway robbery deal for a $17 dollar 2 gallon tank later, we were back on the road. A new road trip rule was implemented...fuel up at the 1/4 tank mark! Fort Smith was interesting and the bottom fell out as we were leaving. Made it to OKC and had ribeye's at Anton's Craft Kitchen. Checked in at a Courtyard for the night and are possibly planning to head a bit further West to drop the C3 and 'leapfrog' Route66 to Tulsa on Thursday.
Drove to El Reno, OK to Fort Reno which was closed. Trailered the C3 in to town to a restored 1930s filling station where we unloaded it for several pictures and started driving Route66 towards OKC and then to Tulsa. Got detoured onto I40 and took an exit to get back on Route66 when the C3 started sputtering; when I exited to surface streets it cleared up and we assumed some trash made it's way through the carb. Switched drivers in OKC and dad started driving to Edmon where it stopped running on a 4 lane highway with no break down lane. Hooked a strap from the trailer to the C3 and towed it to a business park to let it cool off. We assumed it was vapor-locked and after 10-15 minutes got back on the road. Another 2-3 miles it died again and dad was able to pull into a cemetery parking lot. We got the C3 partially loaded before it died again and decided to let it cool off before fully loading it and trailering it to Tulsa. A few minutes later Joey Sims (LEGEND!), Service Dept. Manager for Bob Howard Chevrolet/GMC walked across the street to see if we needed a hand. He offered to help push it on the trailer, but we were able to bottle feed the carb with starting fluid to get it loaded. Trailered it across the street to the service department and the service guys helped us diagnose a clogged cartridge filter and offered us a truck to make a parts run. We declined that generous offer and disconnected the trailer to drive my F250 to O'Reilly's for an inline filter and NAPA for a cartridge filter. When we got back the service guys had already drained the tank of the old/bad fuel and had given us a 5 gallon can to top off with fresh 91 octane. Got it back running a drove around the parking lot a bit before loading up and trailering the next 2 hours of Route66 to Tulsa after splitting an onion burger. We stopped at Pop's Soda Ranch and found some Cheerwine...drove all the way to OK for a soda made ~30 miles from where we left! Passed the Round Barn before we could get any pics and kept driving Route66 to Tulsa where we had to park in the loading zone overnight. Cold beer and big burgers for supper were a just reward for a long day!
Trailered the C3 to the Expo Square in Tulsa on Friday for dad to get checked in and get all his stuff and we ran into a father/son pair that drove their 1969 C3 convertible 1,300 miles from NJ! Met VGG again and got some clarification on his wipe on clear coat for the C30 and possibly the F250. Drove around the Expo Square a bit more just taking in all the cars and got several pictures. Covered the C3 up and left it & the trailer at the Expo Square and took the F250 back to the hotel. Plan is to be at the Expo Square 6:30-7a on Saturday to check fluids, unload, crank up and get in-line for the parade!
Left the hotel on Saturday around 6:30am for the Expo Square, cranked and unloaded the C3 which was running rich. Popped the hood and pulled the air intake and the carb was flooding. Dad wanted to pull the carb apart and I was going to let him do that solo so I couldn't be blamed for it not getting put together correctly. He was worried about taking it apart in a parking lot and we ended up tapping around it and it turns out it was the needle and seat being stuck open. Let it warm up and pulled into the first staging area and talked to a bunch of folks parked around us. Around 8:40am we moved up to the final staging area before driving on the street. We sat there for 5-10 minutes before entering the parade route which took ~30 minutes to drive ~6 miles. We finished the parade and parked the C3 at the hotel so we could walk to watch the rest of the parade. When we got there a police officer said they still had 2-3 hours of cars in the parade so we only stayed there for 30-45 minutes before heading back to the hotel to cool off. We then went to Lowes to get a spare key made and they couldn't make one for a GM car so we headed to a local burger place. While at Lowes a '66 Mustang had lost its mechanical fuel pump so we helped push him on this trailer so he could head back to Texas. Burgers were good and it was nice to cool back off again!
Left the hotel around 9am on Sunday headed for Kansas. Stopped at the blue whale in Catoosa, OK...that was really cool! Hit several attractions along the way and made it all the way through KS. We turned around for one of us to drive the C3 through KS on Route66 and the other to drive it back, but the carb was having issues again so we thought it best to load it back on the trailer. Once we made it to Joplin, MO we took the main highways and Interstates to the Bass Pro Shops HQ which was massive and had a lot of historical information. We started winding the day down with supper at Big Whiskey's in Poplar Bluff, MO. We then drove a little over an hour to Cape Girardeau, MO where we called it a night. We should be in Bowling Green, KY tomorrow around lunch to tour the Corvette Museum and have lunch at the Stingray Grill. Hopefully we'll be in TN tomorrow night and back in NC on Tuesday or Wednesday!
Slept in a little bit on Monday because I'm 40 now...old bones and what-not! Drove through IL to KY to tour the Corvette Musuem in Bowling Green which was awesome! We went to unload the C3 to get some pics of it at the Museum and it keeps flooding so we took some while it was on the trailer. Headed south for dad to have an apple pie old fashioned at the Dueling Grounds Distillery in Franklin, KY. While we were there we made a plan to clean the carb overnight in the hotel and head to the Tail of the Dragon with the goal to be there around lunch. We filled up at Buc-ee's in Crossville, TN, got new fuel filters at an Advance across the street, supplies from a Dollar General and called it a night at the local Hampton Inn. Progress Update - we think the original float absorbed ethanol in modern fuel which caused it to sink and swell which led to the carb flooding; we are going to try and get a new brass or plastic float tomorrow on the way to the Tail...fingers crossed!
No carb parts at any of the speed shops I called in TN so we headed back to Albemarle on Tuesday and had supper with the family after driving ~2,800 miles in 1 week. ~5,700 cars were registered for the parade and ~1,400 were turned away at the gate due to poor planning and lack of traffic control. Guinness counted ~3,500 cars due to gaps in the cars and some cars not qualifying as a 'classic'. Vice Grip Garage is planning another world record attempt in 2027, but not in Tulsa...might have to participate in that one too!
