Ok...50 years since filming, not release, but you all get it.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen the movie, so always dreamed of a time when I'd be able to take the route and hit some of the filming locations.
At the beginning of the year i got to a point where the car was done and probably the most road worthy it would ever be.
Then COVID!
After 6 months of no work vacations, I needed to use up some weeks.
Then the world went on fire, both figuratively and actually!
Call fellow member Floyd...hey, do you feel like taking the Challenger to Nevada? He's in! So, we make plans.
The car is my U-code 70 R/T, 4 speed, 3.54 Dana car.
I'm not getting any younger, and I need to jump on this moment.
A road trip is probably the safest I can be, we can see God's creation while going to the locations where Mr. K was filmed!
Left Saturday from Wisconsin...in the rain. Nice start!
Sunday in Denver, pick up Floyd at the airport.
Monday AM at the location where Argo's garage was, and he left Denver.
Then to Glenwood Canyon, where he ditched the motorcycle cops.
Then to Rifle, where he out runs the cops in the first town.
Tried to capture the car at the locations below.
Tomorrow...Utah: Cisco, Hanksville, etc.
I'm 1300 miles in, average mpg is 10.2!
More to come as we progress. Stay tuned.
It's called living the dream.... have a great time!
:twothumbsup:
Sounds like a great idea for a road trip. Hope that you gents have a great time. :woohoo: :burnout: Keep sending updates. :cheers:
Very cool! I'll be following this thread. Good luck on the rest of your trip.
Wow, what fun, I'm envious! Enjoy and thanks for taking pictures!
Terrific adventure. Good for you for just doing it!
:twothumbsup:
What a cool trip , I bet some other members would have joined on the trip having known about it !
Somehow I'd want to do that trip alone though.
8) Cool!
Safe travels. Anxiously awaiting updates...
Great idea! Have a great trip and stay safe
Having a great trip and things are going great.
Left Grand Junction this morning, went to Cisco (Utah, as this was the film site for the 'end'), went towards Hanksville.
The home of Angel and his girlfriend were supposedly near Goblin Valley Park entrance. Nothing left, but saw the area.
On the way to Hanksville is the site where Angel takes the motorbike off the roof of the Challenger. The road has been identified as Black Burn Draw, but we could not locate it. Unless former visitors were wrong when they identified this road as east of 24. We did see the airport tower that shows up in that scene. The airport tower is on the west side of 24.
We wanted to catch a picture on that gravel road but couldn't find it.
Also near Hanksville is the site where the Jaguar tumbles into the creek. The roads and bridges have been changed since then, so we had difficulty locating the exact place.
A recommendation from another blog was to take the scenic byway, hwy 24, west of Hanksville, and that was a stunning drive. Beautiful.
Got to Richfield Utah for a late lunch and headed to Ely, Nevada. That is where we are now.
Highway 50 between Delta and Ely is beautiful but incredibly desolate.
Tomorrow is Austin and Tonopah and Goldfield.
To the question above about letting others know, this all came together at the last minute and I didn't want to worry about coordinating all the details.
I have to say you guys are very inspirational and confidence taking theses old cars across the country. I bet some Of the roads traveled that you don't see another car for many miles.
Well today we left Ely and drove to Austin, Nevada. Picture below.
Unfortunately, the cool picture of my car coming down the hill by the church wasn't possible because all of Main Street Austin is under reconstruction! It was a mess!
Drove towards Goldfield next. Of course through Tonopah. Along the way were locations where Kowalski picked up the hitchhikers in this area but the actual place is fairly nondescript. Also stopped in Carver where he gets gas. That is simply a concrete slab. See picture below.
The most exciting portion of the trip was the return back to Ely from Tonopah. 167 miles. My cars getting about 10 mpg. Made it, no problem.
Saw incredible beauty. Enjoyed it with a good friend. Drove a 70 R/T Challenger across the desert!
Inspirational? Thanks for the kind words, but I guess having a really nice car you only look at and polish gets to be drag. For many of us recalling the day when we actually drove these cars is a treat. So, all I would offer is...enjoy them, whatever that means to you.
Thanks for sharing the pictures !! Looks like a lot of fun exploring :bigthumb:
A two lane highway just is right for these cars.
when watching the movie, I always wonder about the poor California guy that never got his Challenger delivered.
A shot from Hwy 50, "The Loneliest Road in America"
Ok, maybe last update from the trip.
We forgot to post a picture that we found unbelievable because we could not have made this happen if we wanted to.
In the film they actually filmed the scene where he crosses into Nevada on a section of road near Tonopah. As we were driving there we came across state employees striping the road! Too funny
Last picture is a shot of 'trophies' from the trip. I will likely spend all winter cleaning the car.
We were left with great memories. We saw some incredible sites.
We still have a big chunk of drive home time coming.
A few observations:
- I forgot how sticky and sweaty a person gets sting on vinyl seats
- with the mileage we got, and Kowalski would have gotten, the cops should have just waited at the next gas station!
- we had tons of people come up to us at gas stations and elsewhere, and meeting new people is always a treat.
Bye for now
Thanks for sharing :bradsthumb:
Painting the stripes ... tooo funny !!
Well, got home later last night. Total of 4100 miles.
Stopped at the American pickers store on the way back. Saw this poster, see below. Thought it was fitting for the adventure.
Here's a final picture of Hwy 2 running along the Rock River in Illinois.
Thanks to Bruce and my brother for joining me for portions. It was great to have someone along and enjoy the trip with.
A shout out to GlenRay, I never had any cooling issues.
Also to Dixie Restorations, I never had a charging issue.
Lastly to Andrew at Apex for dyno tuning the carb the car before I left, it ran awesome.
Cleaning this beast will be another adventure!
Man that car ran well! There were some crazy long stretches with no signs of human settlement and no cell service, just humming along at 70 mph with the windows down.
Ever wonder about taking a vintage car through the Rockies? Here's a shot taken at the Monarch Pass Continental Divide, elevation 11,312 feet.
Thanks for letting me tag along. It was a fantastic experience!
Epic memories. All my Mopar memories involve driving them.
I also forgot to add that while the adventure for the trip was incredible, it was also very interesting to put these scenes from the movie in their various regional context.
Of course, we know this is a Hollywood movie. Scenes are staged and rehearsed. The locations are not linear for an actual trip.
There are stunt drivers and numerous camera angles that can make anything seem more interesting or different.
And of course, this wasn't some great historical event, like Washington Crossing the Delaware!
However, watching the movie the next time will be more interesting as I know now what the locations and backgrounds actually look like! (A note about 'backgrounds'... Due to the wildfires in California and other places the mountains were all in a various levels of haze for most of our trip.)
Quote from: Floyd on September 22, 2020, 05:47:47 AM
Man that car ran well! There were some crazy long stretches with no signs of human settlement and no cell service, just humming along at 70 mph with the windows down.
Ever wonder about taking a vintage car through the Rockies? Here's a shot taken at the Monarch Pass Continental Divide, elevation 11,312 feet.
Thanks for letting me tag along. It was a fantastic experience!
Kudos to you guys for making the trip. It had to be a blast. :twothumbsup:
A 70 Challenger at 11,312' altitude. You guys could have probably caught the unburned fuel coming out of the tail pipes and put it back in the tank. :rofl: :burnout:
Looks like a Great trip!!! Enjoyed the read and pics!! :bradsthumb:
Awesome! Great pics.
Thanks for letting us live vicariously. Movie aside, I would love to drive some roads like that. Nice scenery, open road and best of all, no traffic!
How fast did you take 'er up to?
Nice car btw.
What a great idea. Just need to wait until my little ones graduate from school so around 2035 I can hit the trail. Thanks for sharing.
I've just found this thread.
Looks like it was a great time! Glad there was no trouble with the old cars.
Next time yal run through Salida, give me a days notice. Yal literally stopped and had lunch one block from my house. I can see the restaurant from my front yard.