Rockin' Rods

Sunny February & Is It Really Too Early To Put The Top Down?

2010-02-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

We've had some wonderful warm, for us, weather this month and there are flowers popping up everywhere that must think it's spring.

"...So get yourself a car

Drive it all alone

Get yourself a car

And ride it on the wind

Get yourself a car

And drive it all alone

Get yourself a car

And ride it on the wind, yea..."

Getaway Car by Audioslave

Game Day

2010-02-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

There is a ball game of some kind today.....

Backtracking to Summer 2009 ~ HAWAII-A-WEEN

2010-01-22T14:38:00.001-08:00

This was a fun event

even though we somehow missed the dress-up as a Zombie pre-instructions for attending.

Maybe this summer we can vamp it up

before we head out to Voo-Doo Doughnuts.

There were a handful of vendors....

The Face Painting gals seemed to be doing more business than anyone....you can see why by checking out this inspiring ghoul...

Unfortunately, we didn't make it to this, even with the temptation of Jake the Alligator Man.

Goth Dogs.... for real.

These ladies had some fun clothes that were featured in the fashion show.

Rock and Rolling in the Parking lot of Voo-Doo Doughnuts

Dead Elvis showed up to 'perform' ....

A group of the pin-up girlie's before the fashion show.

How cute do they look?

Ghoul pin-ups

As far as the car show part of this, there were maybe five. So, don't go thinking you're going to a car show. I was disappointed that the Coffin Cruisers didn't have older hearses. As it turned out there were more vintage cars parked outside the gated area.

the end ~

Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

2010-01-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

This is a very easy recipe.

So easy, you can't really call it a recipe - but it's good, so why quibble with words, hum?

We do like bacon....

consider it one of the basic food groups.

You need to fry up about ten pieces of bacon - less if that's all you have on hand.

All I could find not currently frozen was about 7 pieces.

Don't cook it crisp, it will be in the oven shortly and finish up there.

Open up a can of the big refrigerator Cinnamon Rolls - 5 to a package size.

Unroll the dough and place a couple of slices of bacon on each one and re-roll (that's a word, isn't it?)

Place them in a 9 inch cake or pie pan.

I like to add more cinnamon and other spice or get lazy and just grab the 'pumpkin pie spice'...the scent of these baking in the oven will wake up your family even on the weekend.

It takes about 18 minutes at 375 deg. according to the package directions, which is what I did here.

Of course you need to add the frosting while they are fresh out of the oven so it melts in like, well like melting icing...

Be forwarned this only makes 5 bacon cinnamon rolls and one usually is not enough ....

besides they warm up great for dessert later with ICE CREAM.

Snow Day

2010-01-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

We had a surprise snow day here on December the 29th.

I was with my mother and had to get her back to her apartment and was caught in the first part that was bad enough that Brian called and offered to come pick me up...

but I was brave or crazy and pushed on through and made it to my house.

We ended up with a couple of inches of snow here, which doesn't sound like much,

but it was really wet and made the roads more like skating rinks. In less than two miles from my house to Brian's, he saw about ten accidents, some multiple

and others just cars that had slid off the road.

The next day, when these photos were taken, it was warming up enough that by

afternoon most of the snow was already gone...

except for a few melting snowmen.

Everyone on TV the radio seemed to have a snow story to share

with some people stuck in traffic for four hours and more to go less than 20 or 30 miles.

It made me feel lucky to only have had my 30/40 minutes or so to go about five miles and only a very short time of that on the freeway- which was locked up until late into the evening.

I forgot to post this on Christmas and decided it was too good of a
rockin' wheel shot not to share.
hope your holidays were good ~

The Countdown to Holidaze

2009-12-22T14:34:00.000-08:00

listen? ...

do you hear that?

the holidays are sneaking up on us

faster than a cat being called out of the room

on yet another secret mission.
( I do think they all wear pagers, we just can't see them )

the only snowmen in sight today are on the tree

no angels this time,
but the house crow seems quite content to watch over the tree ...

Ho, ho, ho .... hope you're nearly ready for the big day ~

Tardy Packard Update

2009-09-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

To get at the split hoses, and replace them, this had to come off ...twice.

One more time ...

Always the critic, Joey questioned the whole bother of it all.

We got the car running...for a few blocks. Then limped back after taking off the air cleaner, hitting it with starting fluid multiple times. It would die. More false starts.

finally made it back into the drive way...

Checked the Internet for answers and found that getting a 'new' fuel pump for a 1956 Packard is pretty much impossible, but one kind soul told us to try a Ford model. Well, after ordering and waiting for that, we (using the term loosely here) put the new fuel pump into the Packard.

That worked ....kind of. We managed to drive it all the way down to my house where it now rests. Now we seem to have more problems, possibly have to pull off the gas tank or something less invasive ( I hope).

There is no time line on when this might happen, because the main mechanic AKA Mr. B is off recuperating from surgery that repaired a few things for himself.

Grandpa's 1956 Packard

2009-08-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of my Grandfather Burt Nation. He was chief of police for Hermiston, Oregon from 1945 - 1948.

He bought a new beautiful blue and white 1956 Packard Clipper in Yakima, Washington. It's been in the family since then and when my father died, I purchased it from my mother. This lovely classic car has spent he majority of it's life living in garages. It had a few wicked encounters with other cars while my uncle owned it, but still... it mostly sat in his garage and was completely embarrased that it was used to store clothes inside of it. When my uncle died and my father, Bill, the youngest of the Nation children bought it from my aunt, he had the seats reupholstered. Other than that, not much has been updated or changed or even keep in very good repair.

This is the actual mileage...

41,906 miles

Things will change now...

I picked up the car last week from my previous house in Walla Walla to bring it back home to Oregon.

It's hilly in much of West Linn and I live on a street that should be a one-way, because if you meet another car, one of you will have to back up or find a driveway to duck into. So we had to find a flat large parking lot to get the car off the trailer.

As it turned out, getting the car off was the least of the problems. After driving it from one end of this lot to the other, mass quantities of liquid began pouring from under the car....that greenish color that makes you go...Oh, No!...or something more colorful...

After several trips to the auto supply store, added liquids, refreshed carb parts and too many failed attempts at driving it ... some quite frightening involving a steep hill and backing up in busy traffic...

we called AAA.

So, now it rests in Brian's garage and yesterday, I learned how to take off the heater core.

Clipper Valve Cover in a lovely shade of green...

We only have the best of help.

This is Mr. Joey. Although, he had to be chased away because of the danger of draining liquids, he is available for leaving personalize cat prints and clouds of hair on all surfaces.

Heater core. Not the most fun thing to remove. There were screws holding it in place, in places that were impossible to reach...so, we ended up cutting through one of the hoses to get this monster free.

The hose we cut is the (now) short one the right- on the left side of the photo. When the heater core was out, we could see there was a lovely gash in the part of this hose that was behind the core where the fluid was leaking. How you are suppose to actually replace this hose without removing the heater is a mystery.

These aren't my hands ... nor are they small.

The ancient hose clamps were fun to deal with...small hands and a good vice grips seemed to be the ticket, so this was one of the places where I was able to help and I have the grease stains on my fingers to prove it.

Our furry helper relaxed and we ran off to Milwaukie to Harbor Freight tools for new hose clamps, a cute new vice grip (there is no such thing as too many of these) and then onto Auto Supply for new hose to replace the poor old damaged lines.

This will be an ongoing project....but that's all in the fun of owning a great old classic car and this one has more history than most.

A Clafoutis in a Pear Tree

2009-08-22T10:56:00.001-07:00

I have this lovely old pear tree in the corner of my yard. I've only lived in this house for just a year and didn't really notice the tree last summer until the pears started to show...and fall and fall and fall.

Well, they still fall, but I managed to get out and pick a couple sacks full yesterday. One sack I left on the porch of a neighbor, the other became a clafoutis.

and what is a clafoutis? it's a simple dessert, very custard like with no crust...

most times the pears are sliced and placed neatly in a pattern ...I chopped mine into bite sized chunks, because the pears were quite firm. Plus, there was no way these funny shaped orbs would have ever looked even with all the carving away that was needed.

This is the final results... sprinkled with powdered sugar, drizzled with maple syrup...
it was delicious.

~ * ~ * ~
Pear Clafoutis

4 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3-4 large pears, peeled, cored, sliced or chopped
powdered sugar
Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 325 deg. F. Butter and flour a 9-inch pie plate.

2. Beat eggs, sugar, salt to blend in a medium bowl. Mix in flour. Add milk, butter, vanilla & maple extracts and spices. Mix until smooth.

3. If you sliced your pears, arrange them on the bottom of the pie plate, if you cut them into chunks ... let the pieces fall where they may. Pour the custard over the pears.

4. Bake the clafoutis until it is set in the center and the top is golden, around 55 minutes.

5. After removing from the oven, let it set a few minutes to firm up and then sprinkle powdered sugar over it and serve with maple syrup drizzled over.

This would also be good with a soft whipped cream, dusted with fresh ground nutmeg. Other fruits can be used, I've also made this with plums and I need to try it with cherries, too.

Blues at Trail's End in Oregon City

2009-07-27T00:04:00.001-07:00

July 19th was the second anniversary for the Ward Stroud band hosting the Sunday Night Blues Jam at the Trail's End Saloon in Oregon City, Oregon. He invited some great people to come sit in and the place was packed. I'm embarrassed I don't have all the names here, but I'll try and get the missing ones next time we get to see them.

Yes, you aren't seeing things, that is Ward on the didgeridoo...something you have to hear to believe ...and then probably hear it again used to give a Blues song something no one probably tried before.

That's Vince Adame on the drums behind Ward.

It also happened to be Darlene's birthday and she joined the band in their rendition of the Bobby Bare song "Marie Laveau"

James Miller on Bass.

Frank "Paris Slim" Goldwasser and James F. Miller, these guys were amazing.

Frank Goldwasser

Robbie Laws is one of the 2009 Inductees into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

2009-07-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

Both Brian and I have read this book, in fact we've read everything that Chris Moore has written and loved them all. This is one we have on CD and over the course of several road trips -not in the Mercury or Chevy, but in a car with a CD player and where we can hear without shouting ... we've laughed our way through many hours of road time. Today we heard the last couple CD's of the book and had totally forgotten the more than wonderful description of this car.

Please enjoy:

"The 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was the perfect show-off of death machines. It consisted of nearly three tons of steel stamped into a massively mawed, high-tailed beast, lined with enough chrome to build a Terminator and still have parts left over, most of it in long, sharp strips that peeled off on impact and became lethal scythes to flay away pedestrian flesh. Under the four headlights it sported two chrome bumper bullets that looked like unexploded torpedoes or triple-G-cup Madonna death boobs. It had a non collapsible steering column that would impale the driver upon any serious impact, electric windows that could pinch off a kid's head, no seat belts, and a 325 horsepower V8 with such appallingly bad fuel efficiency that you could hear it trying to slurp liquefied dinosaurs out of the ground when it passed. It had a top speed of a hundred and ten miles an hour, mushy, bargelike suspension that could in no way stabilize the car at that speed, and undersized power brakes that wouldn't stop it either. The fins jutting from the back were so high and sharp that the car was a lethal threat to pedestrians even when parked, and the whole package sat on tall, whitewall tires that looked, and generally handled, like over sized powdered doughnuts. Detroit couldn't have achieved more deadly finned ostentatia if they'd covered a killer whale in rhinestones. It was a masterpiece. "

Classic 1957 Mercury Commercial

2009-06-28T23:05:00.000-07:00

Part 2

Crusin For Hope

2009-06-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

The June 13, 14th “Cruisin for Hope and Hydros on the Bay” event was to raise money for the Wishnofske family. Two of their children are very sick, one with cystic fibrosis and the other brain cancer.

The Milwaukie Amercian Legion provided the color guard the beginning the event.

Brian was asked to help with the judging of the cars, so besides arriving early to enter the 57 Mercury, we saw each and every car in detail. I think the final count was over 125 entered, besides the other cars, etc. just there to be shown.

* Blue Dot Tail Light*

Taking a break at the fountain ...

stay tuned, there are way more photos to post...

Cruisin for Hope & Hydros on The Bay

Temporarily Sidelined

2009-06-28T15:40:00.001-07:00

We had to replace the original radiator, of course it was around 50 years old. We'd been getting by adding stop leak to it, but decided if we're going to do any distance driving it had to be done. So this new Ford model will help keep the temp down and we won't always have one eye on the gage... well, maybe.

The belt still acts like it's loose and probably needs to be replaced, also. By this time we'd made several trips to various auto parts stores ... it's always just one more thing, isn't it?

Hello, Kitty!

This is what happens when you leave a wing window open...Joey Cat invites himself in and then wonders how in the world he'll get free.

Rickreall Auto Swap Meet June 7 2009 ~ Polk County Fair Grounds

2009-06-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

The Rickreall Auto Swap Meet was also a show and shine, but there were many more swap vendors.

really good gas mileage .....

tick, tock ...

...... see the glass parts?

.. shortened up a little, with extra parts included....

filler' up ....

quite a contrast between the vintage toaster and the $3,000 Nitrous injection system

gotta' love the leather driving helmet

well, it was a swap meet... need some boots?

what a combination....

I wanted to take this home, no idea what I would use it for... it was just interesting

a really, really big fan....

Even with the clouds threatening, the weather held out for the show or at least as long as we stayed. It was well worth the drive and it's on my list for next year.

27th Annual All Ford Car Show and Swap Meet

2009-06-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

Mustang Wranglers of Oregon hosted the All Ford Car Show and Swap Meet June 6th

The weather wasn't exactly promising....

The Roses along the freeway weren't complaining...

Time to check the horn....

Candy striped seats, yum...

A sweet rare Ford import....

Yes, it's a Ford, too.

We were late ... so the parking lot was where we "showed" the Merc....

You'd have never guessed it was June...of course it is the northwest so I guess a jacket is something we need to carry at all times.

Northwest Vintage Car and Motorcycle Musuem 6th Annual High School Show and Shine

2009-06-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

The show put on by the Northwest Vintage Car and Motorcycle Museum took place May 30, 2009 at the Western Antique Powerland in Brooks, Oregon just off I-5, 8 miles north of Salem, Oregon

This car was build from the ground up by high school students from Roberts High School in Salem, Oregon. Mentors from Northwest Vintage Car and Motorcycle Museum work with students to rebuild a fully functional 1920’s Model T-Speedster car.

Besides the High School Student cars, there were also many other great classics that attended this well organised show.

The following is a sample of the many classic, muscle and antique cars, trucks, a few motorcycles and one sweet little teardrop trailer that were shown.

I love the lines on this ...

amazing engine ....769 HP

this Dodge has 600+ HP

(you can always click on the photos to enlarge them)

This is such great tail light, wonder if that's where Adidas got the idea for three stripes?
It's from the Buick Skylark.

This sweet pink 1958 Mercury happens to be for sale....

I have the contact information, if you are interested.

I just love the pink umbrella used to hold the hood open....

being an English car, I should probably call it a bonnet with the trunk being the boot.

If I heard right, this Glasspar did win an award or two.

gotta' love the nod to the movie Death Proof ...

Is this a hood ornament anyone could ignore???

This Ol' Skool Bus has some great ghost flames and I think it won best of show in the Collector's contest.

An Army Harley Davidson from way back, not exactly built for comfort.

Here is our 57 Mercury riding real low next to the raised red pick up.

This cut-away engine is in the museum and is a great teaching aid.

I do love gages of any kind and this tester was part of the display in the service station museum.

I need to figure out how to fix the spacing on all this, which is making me crazy.

I'll try and get more photos at the next show, which if everything goes as planned will be the Annual All Ford Show and Swap Meet on Saturday, June 6 hosted by the Mustang Wranglers of Oregon in Hillsboro at the Washington County Fair Complex.

See you there!

Who we are ....

2009-06-02T00:50:00.000-07:00

We'll be trying to get to as many of the cruise in and car shows in the area to let you all know who and what we are...

These are two of the vehicles you may find us near-by....

This lowered 57 Mercury with it's very own 58 head lights and tail lights. The previous owner liked the look and who are we to say that's wrong. It just would have been nice to have actually hooked the lights up so they worked...and the wipers, too- it does seem to rain even when you don't want it or expect it to. A few other things we need to add, like seat belts -very important! They are next on the list. Just some of the many small adjustment and lessons learned.

This is our 68 C110 Chevy pick-up. Brian added a sweet visor to it that we decided should be red. I'll put up a more current photo, soon.

This last weekend we attended the All High School Car Show in Brooks Oregon at Antique Powerland. We meet some great folks and I took quite a few photos that I'll get posted here in the next day or so.