MAA50TH The meaning behind the license plate

33,000 on a 13 year old car is still very low mileage. Was great to be able to buy it with 13, 14. Mine had 102,000 when I got it.10 years old. But I paid a lot less than You would have. At 33,000 , there is enough miles on it that you putting 3 to 5 K a summer isn't going to hurt it value wise but driving across North America is another thing.
 
Ohtobbad;n1893 said:
give you guys credit, not many people I could drive with for that far, different cars, ok.
same car not so easy. :)
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Gerry and I had spent a lot of time together before the trip camping and canoeing, the tent we often used has a floor area less than a double bed, so we knew we were reasonably compatable
 
Because I can only post 4 pics at a time



We're sitting in our room (Best Westernn btw) in Kingman when there's a knock on the door and this British voice asks if we have anything to do with the Mustangs parked out front. When we replied that yes they were ours, he then asked if we were the crazy Canadians he had heard about in Winslow and a couple of other places along the way. Obviously our reputation was following us and we had made an impression with people along the way. He was interesting, his day job was working on cars hat his boss brought back from the US to Britain
 
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When I clicked on a few of the images , I was taken to a photobucket account where I was advised that the images had been moved or deleted.
 
TrueBlue02058;n1966 said:
When I clicked on a few of the images , I was taken to a photobucket account where I was advised that the images had been moved or deleted.
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Fixed, I had reaaranged some stuff in my bucket
 
Time to leave Kingman - time for another detour . We are headed south west to Cool Springs and Oatman on the old RT66, now named RT 10. Originally the highway went through Oatman and on to Needles. Now that I'm this close I've got to take a picture. We stop at The restored Cool Springs rest stop, we must have spend a half hour outside moving the car, getting the shot set us the best we could and finally we were satisfied. Photo's completed we went into the building which is a touristy store with old RT66 info . The gentleman who ran the place greeted us but had a strange look on his face as we looked around the store. As I walked to the counter with a few items he looked down then looked me straight in the eye and said " I owe you guys an apology " I aked why? Well he said I watched you move the cars and take the pictures and said to myself, thjose guys are going to get their pictures and just drive off, they wont even come into the store, why do I bother fixing the place up, no one ever comes inside - - but I was wrong and here you are !! I said "Apology not needed but accepted " and a half hr conversation began !

I had met the gentleman with this 1965 when I was on the MAA run in 2009 Liked the car , reminds me of another one 40 years later

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Next on to Sitgraves pass




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Now on to Oatman, this road is almost as much fun as the Tail of the dragon - just not as good condition. I can only imagine the cars of the 30's and 40's winding their way through these hills as people moved westward
 
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Gerry's teh main author, I'm just annotations...

One thing to remember when driving in parts of Texas and the Arizona and New Mexico is that they don't fence the land in to keep cattle and other non-squishie stuff off the road.




Cattle have the right of way This is on the way to the old gas station

There's also tons of old trucks with good sheetmetal just sitting there, they just don't rust out in the dry air



Chevy at the RT 66 musuem



Rt 66 Museum




Sitgreaves Pass, Elevation 3550 ft. The cars being fuel injected and computerised had no trouble with the lack of oxygen at even higher elevations, such as at the Grand Canyon. I can't say the same for us humans,
 
The road into Oatman is crooked and not in the best of shape, lots of cracks and bumps as you saw in Rich's pictures but worth the drive. This is one of those towns that looks like it is still in the 1940's ,wooden sidewalks and old weathered store fronts. It survives as a tourist place. We met some of the locals - seems a pack of donkeys have decided tourists equal food so they show up each day. One, then 2 then a whole group roaming the main street.

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Soon were to meet up close!
 
AS we returned to the cars we found a gathering of donkeys
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Close up of a Donkey

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Another set of close ups

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Seems My car got Special treatment An Oatman car wash !


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There must have been some salt residue left over from the first day of driving. I thought I had washed the car well, but not well enough! . I'm guessing the donkeys saw this as a big black salt lick- and lick they did !! . I'll just say that removing donkey slobber that has baked on a black car in the Arizona /Nevada sun is no easy matter. It took lots of time soaking to get rid of the slobber at tonight's stop before the car wash !

All in the name of a good story

Back to Kingman and begin the travel to Las Vegas, Nevada. Time for another couple of detours. We could easily drive from here to Corona but the Hoover Dam and Shelby's new shop in Vegas were on the "like to see list if there is time " We have Time so off we go.
 
AS you approach the Nevada border you no longer cross the Hoover Dam, A new Bridge takes you over the river ,high above the actual dam. We stopped for a dam tour and were able to cross the dam with the cars and take a few pictures from the Arizona side. Quite a feat of engineering for the day. The guide explained how the concrete was cooled to allow the pouring to continue.
"Cement was mixed onsite and hoisted across the canyon on one of five 20-ton cableways, a fresh bucket capable of reaching the crews below every 78 seconds. Offsetting the heat generated by cooling concrete, nearly 600 miles of pipe loops were embedded to circulate water through the poured blocks, with workers continually spraying the concrete to keep it moist.​

"
Capable of irrigating 2 million acres, its 17 turbines generate enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes.
This picture shows the new bridge, Hoover Dam and Lake Meade. The water level is at its lowest since the dam was originally built - see the white marks on the banks of the lake. Top of those marks were the high water level. The dam ​

structure stretched 726 feet from base to top,
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Inside the tunnels

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From The Arizona side

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At one time all the traffic on I93 crossed this bridge - one lane each direction. After 911 there were crossing inspections done several miles before the bridge on both approaches to try and prevent attacks. The end result was the building of the bridge.
Off to Las Vegas! or close - seems like the Country Music Awards are in Vegas this weekend. I've been watching the hotel prices rise over the last 2 weeks. We decide to stay in Henderson . We have spent over 8 hours getting from Kingman -Oatman-Kingman- Hoover Dam - Henderson but only traveled about 200 miles ! We are really playing tourist these last couple of days. Time to Clean up - Walmart run - clean the donkey slobber and get some rest . Rich's travel service found us another good spot Another Holiday Inn - This time for 2 nights- First time since we left home that we will return to the same hotel !
Supper at Appleby's - didn't eat at Dennys or Subway for 2 days in a row ?? What's up with that !
Off to Shelby's new location tomorrow -Tim to meet Russ and Arlene as well​
 
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Off to Shelby for opening time ! We found Russ and Arlene already parked so we too the chance for another photo op
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Once Inside the full spectrum of what Shebly had been involved in was ready to be viewed.
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A portion of the display is used for Cobra's of various styles, the Dodge years and - the Mustangs !

This is the original Car #1 , I'm not sure if anyone knows how many times it has been painted. Carroll would change the colour each time he showed the cars to investors to make them think he had built several cars. AC cobra powered by ford
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Who remembers the GLHS!

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I'm partial to that polished aluminum Cobra version . I never realized how many versions were made, different tank locations for race tracks, flares, no flares, engine combinations. Lots to see.

More to come
 
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Some Mustangs
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only wanted $140,000 US dollars for this one Its a "one of one" prototype

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A shop tour was part of the visit. Lots of cars being prepared for new owners. I was surprised to see the number of wide body kits being installed when we were there. Must me a great Job - working on new -rust free vehicles. Not something I'm used to for sure.
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One last look before we headed outside. I tried not to drool too much. Pricing and availability of items on display in the Shelby Display area meant we didn't spend a lot of money here. We took a few pictures outside and then headed North. Time to visit the Vegas Strip. We found parking easily and then traveled on foot. Wasted a few dollars in a casino and took in the sights. To say there are lots of sights to be seen would be an understatement. Some sights were worth seeing - some left you shaking your head in disbelief. It is truly the land of excesses. There are the rich, those who pretend to be rich, those who want to be rich and those who are dirt poor, standing on the corner handing out business cards for anything you can imagine - and more. We had arranged to meet Big Daddy - Richard L for supper so we checked out the location then headed back to Henderson to get cleaned up. Supper started as a small affair at Dicks - only the 5 of us - then a group from Alberta showed up and a few from Texas- Soon there were 20 of us around the table and the Canadians had the majority! Lots of laughs had at supper but very few Photo's taken - you know - what happens in Vegas --- Stays in Vegas !!
 
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