Power Tour

Welcome to Day 4 of the 2015 Power Tour. It’s Wednesday, which means we woke up in Memphis staring down the barrel of a 270.6-mile blast to Birmingham, Alabama. We were down one Holloway, as our Mom Tour 2015 ended with yesterday’s leg. But we still have our own Jim Holloway on hand to get us ‘Bama bound behind the wheel of our ’59 Sedan Delivery. We started the day by topping off our tanks, checking fluids and air pressures and cleaning windshields. Our friend Brian Thomson must collect a lot of critters on the windscreen of his 950hp Chevelle. This is exactly why we hooked him up with some of our Mothers® revisionTM Glass+Surface. Meanwhile Forrest was unsuccessful in his bid to get us a private tour of Scottsboro, Alabama’s famed Unclaimed Baggage center and museum. We deviated slightly from today’s route opting instead to open up our cars on a beautiful stretch of interstate for a bit. We’re not entirely sure what our friend Glenn Reed does for a living. When we pressed his son, Eli for an answer, he would only utter, “finance,” before changing the subject. Given the family’s preponderance for murdered out rides, my guess is that Glenn is Batman. It’s hard to tell if this Cobra is the real deal. A sure fire way is to ask the owner, which usually works, except in this case, when the owner was barreling down the highway at 65-plus mph. Van Biamonte’s very clean ’40 Chevy Deluxe looking good on the run. We were pleasantly surprised to roll up on the Chevy Motor Medics on the route today. The Motor Medics were part of a larger convoy that included all of the Chevy display vehicles. No trailer queens here. We’d like to thank our friend, Matt Boice for buying all of us Mothers lunch today. We’d like to thank him, but we can’t, because we need to claim this lunch on our expense account. And if Amy from accounting is reading this, we totally paid for lunch. Totally. I really need to figure out how to incorporate this set up into our Commando 9000 rental Yukon XL. Our Power Tour coverage would be so much better. Or not. But I would be well rested and that really is all that matters, isn’t it? I’d like to say I arrived at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium well rested, but that would be a lie, since I had no pillow or Stuffie to nap with on the road. Ahem, thanks for nothing, Shane. Our own Andrew Campos takes his attention to detail very seriously. Our coverage of this stop went much more smoothly since Matt Boice hooked us up with a golf cart to get around the venue - although I did feel like a bit of third wheel rolling with these two lovebirds. As a representative of a leading car care company, I can assure that it will not. Dan and Jody Nagle brought their ’68 C10 all the way from Davenport, Iowa to Birmingham, Alabama to run with the Tour. Since I know little to nothing about flyover state geography I had to get confirmation from Forrest who says that’s nearly 750 miles. Not bad at all! At least, I thought 750 miles was a good stretch until I met these two blokes. This is Billy Preston’s 1955 Pontiac Catalina Star Chief. That’s Billy on the right with his mate, Michael Pharma. They came all the way from New Zealand to run in the Power Tour and the Star Chief went even farther still. Billy originally found the Pontiac in Oakland, California and had it shipped to New Zealand. Just five short weeks ago, he shipped it back to the States (Eau Claire, Wisconsin, specifically) to Fast Freddie’s Rod Shop for a serious amount of work, including a GM Performance Connect & Cruise 480hp LS3. Fast Freddie’s finished the upgrades just in time for Billy and Michael to long haul the Power Tour. After we hit Baton Rouge, they’re going to swing right and head out to California, before shipping the Star Chief back to NZ. Good on ya, mates! Allow me to interrupt this Power Tour coverage to bring you this picture of Courtney Hansen and Miss Hot Rod, Kristian Mill. I also wanted to show you the ’35 Ford pick-up that Kristian built herself, but for some reason, I couldn’t get it in the frame (seriously, can you blame me?). I really want to stage a grill-off Iron Chef-style, between Doug Evans in the Hot Rod camp and our boy Scooter here. I also want to volunteer to judge said competition. ‘Bama Power Tour tikes are ready to rock. Should I say, “Roll low tide,” here? This is the Mississippi Mopar club standing next to their Mississippi Mopars. And this is Alabama’s Team Corvette. I couldn’t get the crew to pose for a picture so I had these Team Corvette Alabama flags and poles made as stand-ins. It was expensive, but totally worth the shot. At least that’s what I’m going to tell Amy from Accounting. Okay, I’ll admit it. Gary Killeen’s 1963 Dodge 440 wagon has just a bit more swagger than our Commando 9000 Rental Yukon XL. 1956 Cadillac Firemaker custom by our friend, Murray Pfaff. ’63 Impala done right. 1954 Pontiac Star Chief. Raymond Borgman’s 1969 Plymouth Barracuda. This is Vincent Bruno’s spectacular 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz that he built with Edgar Barron at Cahaba Custom Cars, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. You can’t see the GM Connect & Cruise 430hp LS3, but you can see the stunning paint and bodywork finished off in a PPG Ferrari Azzuro California Blue Pearl. I want to wrap up our Day 4 coverage with this shot of Brian Scotto’s Napalm Nova. Brian is the Chief Brand Officer for The HOONIGANS and he had an epic thrash just to get this one on the Power Tour. The road was not kind to Brian and his girl, Ashley Baker today, as they had to endure 130-degree temps in the cabin. I totally understand, Brian. One time when I came back to our Commando 9000 rental Yukon XL, Shane neglected to pre-cool my “Chairconditioner” (name TM pending by Shane Christman) and it was really warm for a minute or so. The things we endure for the Tour, am I right? We’ve already racked up 1,041.8 miles in four days and we still have 467.7 miles to go over the next two days. We’ll pick up tomorrow for a 298.7 mile sprint to Centennial Plaza in Gulfport, Mississippi.