Ashley 750
2001 USA Grand Tour
In the late 1990's,
David Croucher owned our local pharmacy and we became good friends. He was
always on about cars and in particular about a 1932 Austin 7 chassis he owned along with a 1950's
Ashley sports car conversion kit that had never been used. He was always going
on about what he was going to do when the car was finished and of course I
didn't believe it ever would be finished, so used to pull his leg and make
crazy suggestions.
crazy suggestions.
One day I came up
with a classic idea; we both lived in Ventnor, Isle of Wight and both our
houses overlooked the English Channel, where
the old liner Queen Mary used to sail past. So, how about shipping the
Ashley over to the USA, to our unofficial twin town, Ventnor City, New Jersey
(a couple of miles south of Atlantic City) and driving it across the USA
to Long Beach, California, to see the old Queen Mary in her current resting
place. To my horror, David jumped at the idea.
There was no getting
out of it and after about a year costing and planning the adventure, we had
agreed the route and solutions to many of the foreseeable problems. Being
in the medical world, David thought we should use the trip as a fund
raiser for MacMillan Nurses and he found a pharmaceutical
company willing to pay the shipping costs of the car from Southampton
to New York
and back.
2001 and the start of
our adventure was soon upon us. Accompanied by my wife Jenny and son
Christopher, I went out to Ventnor
City in time to arrange collection of
the car from the New York
docks. We received tremendous help from Ventnor City
Council, especially Bill Melfi, their head of emergency
planning. He really smoothed the way for us, pulling strings wherever he
could, dealing with the customs clearance and getting a trailer to deliver
the Ashley 130 miles to the start point. Friends accommodated us and the
Mayor was keen to show support, so arranged a civic send off from the famous
Boardwalk.
I had to find a
suitable motorhome to buy as a support vehicle that we could also stay in on
our overnight stops. I eventually bought a 32 foot Winnebago Sun Cruiser from
one of Bill Melfi's friends and it served us well on the journey, it's big old
8 litre Chevvy V8 giving us just over 7 mpg! . The car arrived
safely from New York and David and his wife,
Chris flew in from England.
Fuelled up and rarin' to go we left Ventnor
City with an escort from
the police and fire departments, sirens wailing.
Heading west, our
first stop was Intercourse, Pennsylvania
in the heart of Amish country. Then, Roanoak,
Virginia, where we stopped to
visit the greatest show on earth (Ringling Bros. circus). Next, on
through Nashville and then Memphis, Tennessee
where we visited Elvis' home, Gracelands. Then we carried on west through Little Rock, Arkansas and
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
I think it was
somewhere near here that I made a terrible error. We had VHF radios and CB's to
keep the two vehicles in touch, but we had not thought of a contingency should
we lose contact completely and lose one another. As usual David was a few
hundred yards ahead when he radioed to ask if I needed to stop for gas. A
quick look at the gauge seemed to show we had plenty so I said we'd stop later.
Almost immediately we were out of the built up area and I had second thoughts
as the fuel gauge already looked lower. It looked quite a desolate
area ahead except there was a gas station sign.
I called David on the VHF but could get no answer, the same with
the CB, so I slowed right down hoping he would realise what I was doing
when I pulled up the off ramp. He didn't, he carried on oblivious that we
were not behind him. After getting gas, we pulled up every off ramp on the
interstate hoping he would be waiting for us, but not a sign of him. Eventually
around midnight we pulled over and parked in a Wall Mart parking lot, our
usual favourite. After only about 20 minutes David appeared and parked
alongside us. He was understandably not happy with me, but what an amazing
thing that he found us. We agreed then that we should 'phone Bill Melfi if we
got parted again.
We crossed into the Texas panhandle and past
a restaurant selling 72 ounce steaks. Eat it all including a baked potato, half
a dozen Jalapeno peppers and a pound of strawberries and the meal was free! We
did not try, but about 50,000 people had and 4000 succeeded. Through Amarillo we were
impressed by hundreds of armadillo skeletons on the roadside, I guess they
were too slow to cross the highway safely.
David had found that
if he was following a big truck he could call the driver on CB and ask him if he
minded the Ashley pulling in tight behind him. David could then
almost coast along in the trucks slipstream, saving fuel and giving the little
Austin 7 engine and David, a rest!
One day this risky manoeuvre nearly led to disaster. The trucker didn't respond to David's CB call but David took a chance and settled in behind the truck. The trucker can't have approved, because he slammed on his brakes. David very smartly avoided running into the truck, but the sky went black with rubber smoke, lumps of rubber were hitting my windscreen 1/4 mile behind. The truck itself nearly went out of control and snaked madly over the whole width of the carriageway as it rapidly slowed. A very close call.
One day this risky manoeuvre nearly led to disaster. The trucker didn't respond to David's CB call but David took a chance and settled in behind the truck. The trucker can't have approved, because he slammed on his brakes. David very smartly avoided running into the truck, but the sky went black with rubber smoke, lumps of rubber were hitting my windscreen 1/4 mile behind. The truck itself nearly went out of control and snaked madly over the whole width of the carriageway as it rapidly slowed. A very close call.
Through new Mexico, we were into northern Arizona,
we stopped at the meteor crater, about 2300 miles into our journey and
a few miles east of Flagstaff.
A spectacular and worrying example of what happens when 100,000 tons of iron
slams into earth from outer space! It was also the first time the Ashley
broke down. Luckily just a minor fault being a broken throttle cable.
Quickly fixed we were on our way again. Cameron Navajo Trading post near
the Grand Canyon is a great place to stop for a night, before driving the south
rim of the canyon next day. Then onto old route 66 to Selignam
where we met up with and joined the start of the annual route 66 rally of
over 700 old and classic cars that would drive the longest remaining stretch of
route 66. At Kingman, Arizona we found a street with drag
racing under way which was very exciting. Next day it was on through the
old gost town of Oatman
where wild donkeys roam the streets and the west is still wild. The rally
ended near the Colorado river at Topock,
AZ and David was awarded a prize
for the entry travelling furthest to take part.
We went up to Las Vegas for a couple of
days but didn't break the bank there. Finally we drove into Las
Angeles and arrived in the Queen Mary car park, around midnight having driven
about 3000 miles. A lone trumpeter, a friend of David's was waiting with a
fanfare to greet us, but otherwise the dock was empty. We parted company that
night, us heading for Tucson,
Arizona where I was to park the
motorhome for a holiday the next year. David and Chris left with their
trumpeter friend and flew back to England the next day.
The Ashley eventually
returned to the IOW via Galvaston,
Texas. MacMillan
nurses got around £2000. On 11th September that year the world went
mad, so we never went back to use our motorhome again. David became
a Roman Catholic Deacon and retired from the pharmacy. They sold their home
overlooking the English Channel a few years
ago and moved to Ross-on-Wye. We hear from then now and again, but David
is very busy with the Church. We still have our old house looking across
the sea where Queen Mary 2 now crosses the horizon on her way to New York. I
still visit the USA regularly and drive about 3000 miles a year there, mostly
on the east coast, between Ventnor City where we have maintained our
friendships, and Canada with the same wife and the son who is now 21. I
am currently converting an old Dutch trawler into a tall ship that I hope David
will join me on for another adventure.
Supplied and written by: Alan Philpott
Many thanks for the story Alan
I hope the Tall ship goes well
Supplied and written by: Alan Philpott
Many thanks for the story Alan
I hope the Tall ship goes well