Made it to the Daytona Turkey Run ... and back!

[Lonnie in Orlando]

The Daytona Turkey Run at the Daytona International Speedway every Thanksgiving weekend is a car-nut's Mecca.

Jo Ann and I decided to drive our '54 Chevy PU to the event this year. It's been sitting in the garage for ten years. I drive it a few miles about twice a year. The rest of the time it collects saw dust from the shop side of the garage.

I got a new master cylinder, new tires, tightened up the steering box, polished it up, and headed out with our fingers crossed.

Shame on me for having doubts. The truck ran great. We took the "back way" on state roads to avoid I-4. It was a pretty drive. We occasionally had a train of cars behind us, since I only went about 40 MPH. We caught rain on the return trip ... no wipers on the truck. Rain-X is your friend. Water just beaded up and blew off.

There were over 3,000 vehicles on display in the infield of the track. We parked near the third turn, raised the flag, mounted our info poster, and saw perhaps 10% of the cars.

By the way, our anniversary was this weekend. Pretty good gal to celebrate it with me at the track!



- Lonnie

[jackellis]

Very nice looking rig. I'm envious on the one hand, and glad I don't have to worry about all the bad things that could happen to it on the other.

My wife had a '68 Camaro (the first car she ever owned) that was also gathering sawdust in our old home when I used the garage for a shop. A nice toy to own but it wasn't being driven at all and without shoulder harnesses, neither of us felt particularly safe in it. She finally sold it about three years ago for a pretty nice price. I'm sure the new owner will use it more than we did.

[FL Buckeye]

Sounds like a good time. I've always wanted to go to the Turkey Run, but don't enjoy the crowds anymore, and I'd probably get infected with the desire to buy something. Did you see much for sale? I had a '51 Chevy 3100 for a few years. Your '54 looks good. Thanks for sharing.

[Pappy]

Nice looking truck. From the post, I'm guessing she is pure stock. How much of the resto did you do yourself?

I have a '65 C-10 waiting for a frame off rebuild. Plan is to keep the body stock with some modernization to the guts. Probably going to end up a retirement project.

[Lonnie in Orlando]

Thanks for the interest in our "adventure". It was a fun day.

jackellis:
I was going to sell the truck for the same reason that you sold the Camaro. So I started working on it to fix it up to sell. I enjoyed wrenching on it so much that I decided to sell it "next year", or maybe later. Funny how we feel strange driving a vehicle w/o seat belts. Glad the safety features are built into newer cars. Do you have a vintage plane? That would be a great project.

FL Buckeye:
There were a lot of cars with for sale signs. And there was a separate corral for "for sale" vehicles, too. Good place to go to get an idea of values if you are looking for a rod or old car. It's a pretty laid back event; bet you would enjoy going.

Pappy:
The truck is pretty close to stock. The restoration was done by a previous owner. It still needs detail work, so I'm doing that plus general maintenance. I have a 1954 shop manual and assembly manual which show me just about every thing I need. Buy them for your C-10 when you start the restoration. I also have a restoration pack from Chevrolet with good reference material - don't know if they are available for 65's. Make sure you check in at "The Stovebolt Page" http://www.stovebolt.com/ It is an excellent source of info, plus forum members can answer just about any question you can think of. Well run forum. Reminds me a lot of the quality of people on BT3Central.

- Lonnie

[pelligrini]

Sounds like it was a fun event. That's a very clean looking truck. Ought to drive it a bit more though.

I'd love to get an older truck again someday. I used to have a '69 Dodge A100 longbed. I got that after I wrecked my '69 GTO (the goat is a big jigsaw puzzle now). My '69 Camaro is still my daily driver, been that way since '89-'90 or so. Sure wish it had AC though. It needs a whole lot of work, mostly paint & body & interior. It's been needing a paint job for 15 years. The drive train is really solid. Some work on the suspension is coming soon too. I don't enjoy working on them as much as I used to, it just seems to cut into my shop time too much. The concrete floor seems farther away now.

There's a pretty nice '56 that will come through our neighborhood sometimes. I like the lines on the '54 better though, especially the shape of the hood and fenders. The beefy look of the painted front grill area is nice too.

[Pappy]

Pappy:
The truck is pretty close to stock. The restoration was done by a previous owner. It still needs detail work, so I'm doing that plus general maintenance. I have a 1954 shop manual and assembly manual which show me just about every thing I need. Buy them for your C-10 when you start the restoration. I also have a restoration pack from Chevrolet with good reference material - don't know if they are available for 65's. Make sure you check in at "The Stovebolt Page" http://www.stovebolt.com/ It is an excellent source of info, plus forum members can answer just about any question you can think of. Well run forum. Reminds me a lot of the quality of people on BT3Central.

- Lonnie

Thanks for the link. Looks like some good info to be had. "Classic Trucks" runs a lot of good 'how-to' articles but, like most magazines, they are written around high $$$$ aftermarket parts. Looks like this site might get into some tips on boneyard parts. Have to dig around a little and see what I can find.

There used to be a site dedicated to 60-66 Chevy Trucks but it went away. I think there is still one for the same yr GMC's.

I have the GM info package as well as a number of parts catalogs and have been accumulating parts. ('72 350, '85 700R4, '83 complete front cross member, extra bed and drivers door, custom seat...) Just need the time and money!

I have had mine on CL a few times. If someone wants it at my asking price, it's for sale.

[capncarl]

Lonnie
A lot of the vendors for the Daytona car show stop in Moultrie Ga. the week before the Turkey event for a big car corral and sale. I catch this one every year, and it takes me 8+ hours just to walk every row of vendors and not look at the cars. I can not imagine just how large the Daytona vendor display is. I also can not imagine how much grief I would recieve if I went to a car event on Thanksgiving weekend. I did notice that a lot of the vendors seem to be owned by the same outfit, selling the same items a different locations in the show.
capncarl