Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
I’ve written several stories about driving my Studebaker on Route 66 in 2015. I wanted to drive it through all eight states, which I did. I also wanted to drive through all of the towns mentioned in the lyrics of the song “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” song written by Bobby Troup. We made it through all of the towns except the last one, San Bernardino. We were travelling with our friend Mel from our Studebaker Club local chapter. He was pulling a trailer loaded up with his Avanti.
This was a big trip for our classic car and it was a maiden voyage after an extensive restoration complete with multiple updated modifications. We would drive it over 5,000 miles when done, and I was a little nervous about having a breakdown somewhere along the way. Having Mel behind us with a trailer was our backup plan. If the car broke down, we could take his car off the trailer, and put our car on it, then we could be on our way with Carlene and I driving his Avanti. The trip to St Louis was uneventful and other than trying to keep up with Mel, we made it just fine. We did have some issues with the rain seeping into the car but that ugly fact would not become evident until we made it to the car show in Missouri.
We started having some electrical issues that haunted us on the way home. That was the Route 66 portion of the trip. My power door locks were not working, my power windows would not open, and our A/C wasn’t doing its job. Lucky for us I changed my mind about having the side vent windows removed during the build. Those vent windows made it possible to withstand the heat on the way home. The car seemed to run okay, that is until it rolled to a stop about eight miles outside of Santa Rosa, New Mexico. I first thought I had run out of gas because the gas gauge was another electrical component that was not working. No need to swap cars as I called AAA and they brought some gas from Santa Rosa. After putting the gas in our car, it still wouldn’t start. So, we had the Studebaker towed into town as there was a shop there that knew how to fix these modified classic cars.
Imagine my reaction when the tow truck pulled up to the shop with a huge sign that said, “Bozo’s Garage”. But the story only gets better from here. As it turned out, Bozo was a highly respected member of the community and has a great reputation for his classic car skills and
abilities. He also owned the Route 66 Museum a couple of blocks away from the shop. We were in good hands, but my car was a mess. There were some serious problems with the wiring in the car and they took two days to get it in good enough condition to complete our trip back home to California’s central valley. It made it home but I was a nervous wreck. And that’s why we didn’t make it to San Bernardino. Mel turned to head home from Barstow and I didn’t want to chance not having my back up plan following me. So, we also went home from there.
That’s the story, and the breakdown in Santa Rosa just made for a better read. It was scary in real time but fun in retrospect. My daughter Jillian and her husband Tim are very familiar with this story and when they drove to California to spend Christmas with their California loved ones, they stopped in Santa Rosa at the Route 66 Museum to look for that “special” gift for me. They found this coffee cup and a T-shirt from Bozo’s Garage. My face lit up when I unwrapped it yesterday. We just postponed celebrating our Christmas until they got back to Oklahoma and put the farm back in order. I love getting these wonderful, thoughtful gifts. It is special that a significant emotional event that happened to me almost 10 years ago, in a town that they would normally take little notice of, that she and Tim picked up a gift that I will treasure for the rest of my days. When they say, “it’s the thought that counts”, this one is a home run. I hope y’all had a great Christmas too.
