Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

Thought I'd capture my little trip this week down south to the Mid America Chevelle show this week in KC.

I had planned on driving the Chevelle down to KC on Thursday, but work dropped in a meeting in Spirit Lake, Iowa so I drove there this afternoon for a dinner meeting then meetings in the morning until about 11 a.m.

The car ran good, and I drove in and out of rain at high speed with no water inside the car!  I made it to Blue Earth, MN on I90 from the Wyoming office on about half a tank, so felt pretty good about that.  I'm going to check it tomorrow, but I think I'm getting close to 18 mpg and that's driving at 75 mph.

Had three people tell me 'nice car!' when I got gas and checked into the hotel. You just don't see old cars as daily drivers anymore.  

Anyway, checked into the hotel and then a T Storm rolled through and now it's over.  Supposed to get more rain/storms tonight and tomorrow, then driving into 90 degree temps as I head south.  At least until Fri./Sat. when it's supposed to be in the 70's in KC.  

I'll update more tomorrow on my little journey.  Wish I had some other Chevelle's to caravan down with me.  

Jon H wrote:

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Have to read the whole thing:

I had planned on driving the Chevelle down to KC on Thursday, but work dropped in a meeting in Spirit Lake, Iowa so I drove there this afternoon for a dinner meeting then meetings in the morning until about 11 a.m.

The car ran good, and I drove in and out of rain at high speed with no water inside the car! I made it to Blue Earth, MN on I90

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 I saw the Blue Earth, but missed the Spirit Lake reference. I don't do corporate speak very well with the "dropped in" part...

Made it back yesterday with no issues.  It was a perfect weather driving day too.  Got over 18 miles to the gallon at a constant 75 mph and through the hills of northern Missouri and southern Iowa.  Drove the car almost 20 hours total and put on about 1400 miles.

Had a great time reconnecting with all my KC Chevelle friends, and even came back with some trophy hardware for Top 3 participants choice for '71's, which really surprised me.  It didn't hurt that there were only seven '71's in my group though.  Lol  Glad I didn't have a '70, as there were 23 there!  They had 100 cars total for the two day show.

There were some awesome Chevelle's, Malibu's, Elky's, and Sprints.  This is a must do if you are into Chevelle's at all, so hopefully I can talk a few of you into a road trip next year.

Only had 3 issues on the trip with the car:

1.) The AC quit working just on the north side of KC.  It had been running cold for about 5 hours, then suddenly got warm air out of it.  I looked the next day, and there is refrigerant oil on one of the fittings at the evap that had run down the line and on the evap can.  Then I noticed there was a lot of oil with green dye on the underside of the hood above the compressor.  I'm not sure which came first, but I'm guessing it lost enough freon that the safety switch cut in, as the compressor doesn't kick on at all.  At least it was nice and cool driving back, so didn't need it.  I'll have to get it looked at.

2.) When I pulled into my friend's driveway after arriving at his house, it sounded like I had a cow bell at the back of my car.  The chrome exhaust tip that had been tack welded in place had a broken weld.  A small self tapping sheet metal screw later and it was fixed.

3.) When backing out from a parking spot at the hotel in the dark during a rain storm, the passenger rim kissed the curb and put a few light scratches in the outside of the rim.  It's hard to see, but now I know it's there...

Otherwise, the car ran really good.

I added some pics for your enjoyment.

Derek69SS wrote:

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Cool pictures Stan! Looks like a good show with nice weather. :)

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Thanks Derek.  Friday was overcast and actually quite cold due to windchill when the cold front came through with a gusty 20-25 mph NW wind.  Had shorts on, so had to put three layers on top to stay warm. 

Forgot to add...the pics of the cars lined up were from the Friday night cruise around a nearby lake, then we had brats and burgers for dinner when we returned to the venue parking lot.