Every spring there is a pilgrimage of hot rods and custom cars that set out to the deep heart of our country, and it’s in Texas where we meet at the show called the Lone Star Round Up. More of a gathering of hot rod family than anything else, I talked with a few friends with the hopes of organizing a get-together and road trip, just as so many others do across the US. Fortunately I was able to put together a solid group of folk who I also consider good friends: Lucky Berton of Lucky’s Speed Shop, famed artist Chris “Coop” Cooper, an all-around celebrity of sorts, Joe Creep and Piero from Mad Fabricators Society/Motornation TV – all guys who put the wheel to the pavement for the movement. The plan was to drive straight through to Albuquerque, NM from SoCal, take a leisurely cruise to Wellington, TX for a little festive BBQ at Owens Salvage Company (where Bob Owens always puts out a massive spread for his friends) and finally land in Austin, TX to meet up with the rest of our friends. We made the decision to leave bright and early; Monday morning at 7a sharp. It seems we’d gotten cars together from nearly every era, ranging from the ‘30s up to the ‘60s – what a stroke of luck; my old van happened to be the newest in this bunch of old cars. With nearly 800 miles to cover and a 12-hour timeline for us to make the trip by, we gave ourselves a strict schedule to hit the ground running. The thought of breaking down is always present, especially when you’re running on the road flat-out with so many old cars – good thing we all remembered to tune our cars prior, so that got us rockin’ and rollin’. On one trip I took about a year ago with my wife and kid, I remembered what it was like to go across this great land of ours; I’d kept track of spots along the way where we could take a load off and fuel up. As soon as the desert started opening up with plenty of vast landscape, I could tell we were coming up to our first stop at Needles, right off the I-40. These old cars make it a leisurely trip any way you slice it, and your surroundings change just about every couple hundred miles. But once it does change, you want to immediately stop and enjoy it for a minute. It was super nice having some great company along for the ride to enjoy it all with…but more on the cars. Lucky had his ’31 Roadster in tow for the trip as it was freshly built and the bugs weren’t all worked out quite yet. It’s one of those perfect little hot rods that just screams tradition. He was anxious to get it off the trailer and on the street, and I’m sure he’d rather be driving that instead of his truck. Coop brought his ’46 Ford sedan; it looks like a relic of days old but it packs heat where it matters most. He had just finished putting in a brand new interior before the trip, and the car fit so well out in that desert landscape just screaming down those ribbons of road we call an interstate. Joe Creep pulled out his trusty ’59 Ford truck, a real crowd pleaser that got attention everywhere we stopped – “Sell it to me” or “It’s perfect just the way she is”, all commonly heard phrases throughout the entire trip. After our stopover in Needles, we quickly set our sights and hearts on Seligman, AZ, the birthplace of historic Route 66. It’s a great little stop off the bustling interstate and offers a few routes in either direction to travel down the iconic path. The gas stations and curio shops along the way are filled with smiling faces and anything you need that ails you. Hitting a bit of a time crunch by this point, we couldn’t take any further detours; we needed to get to eastern New Mexico – and fast. Before I could leave, though, I wound up running into a guy who happened to be friends with another friend I was supposed to meet in Albuquerque the next day; it’s funny how you can meet friends of friends out of nowhere and in the middle of nowhere. We wound up landing at Albuquerque late at night. Having already travelled quite a distance, we slept in a little longer before shaking off the cobwebs in preparation for more lush scenery en route to Santa Rosa. It wasn’t a place we had to stop at but it was a great place to go scouting around and relax. Santa Rosa is one of those places I’d stop at again; it has a ton of old architecture left virtually untouched, with plenty of signage still standing in front of businesses closed long ago. Here, we peeled Lucky’s roadster from the trailer to shoot a few pictures and drive it around to “stretch its legs”, so to speak; we also took some time to do work to all the cars before heading off to Amarillo, TX. I swear, every time I cross the Texas line, I feel like I’m coming home again. Seeing it in the springtime with all the wild flowers and Blue Bonnets in bloom is the best time to see this state; it’s just beautiful. Once we arrived at Amarillo, we made sure to stop off at the Cadillac Ranch once again to leave our mark. A few of the guys had never been before, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t stop for a spell if we were already traveling through. It’s essentially an art installation that’s always changing – I swear, one of these days I’m going out there sometime with a compressor so I can completely flake one of those Caddies; it would be so much fun. Plus being in Amarillo meant we were that much closer to Flat Top Bobs, which only meant we were that much closer to getting tasty BBQ and suds. We hit Wellington in a flash, carving country roads up in places where country living is still simple and everyone knows each other. Here, we found one of the best wrecking yards I’ve ever been to and it was barely a quarter-mile down the street from our motel. If you’re an old car guy like me, you’ll find yourself drooling at the possibilities strewn throughout his acreage. Separated by make and model, the owner, Bob, was kind enough to give us a true Texas drive in the back of his pickup, taking us through the yard just as the sun was setting. I wish I had an entire week to hang out and do some picking of my own; my Chevy is in dire need of a few items I know he has. Being at Bob’s is sort of a car guy’s wet dream come true as there are several handfuls of cars that none of us would consider kicking out of bed, plus he’s got a very historical roadster just waiting its turn in line for restoration. The garage is more museum than any garage I know, and there’s auto-related memorabilia from all over the world; Bob’s a good resource for those hard-to-find parts to complete your project vehicle, and he’ll ship anywhere across the world, literally. Our final leg of the trip started off super late and not without its share of mechanical problems: first, I had some braking issues on the rear, which seemed to go away after hitting it with some brake cleaner. Next, Lucky’s Dodge decided that it also had enough; its water pump let go, which would’ve been a simple fix had a replacement part been in stock to pick up. Though it wasn’t a serious problem it did keep us from cruising down to Austin with Bob. As soon as we were able to get back on the road, we sped down to Texas, each one of us eager awaiting to see what was in store for us at the Lone Star Round Up.
So, What Is This Lone Star Round Up Anyway?
At first glance, the Lone Star Round Up might just be another dang car show – I mean, it’s a parking lot of cars, a few bands playing and a swap meet. Oh great, just what we needed, another parking lot show, right? Well, it’s a little more than that… What started out in 2002 by the Kontinentals CC Austin on a football field has turned into one of the best shows for hot rod and kustom enthusiasts in the US. Now in its 13th year, it draws owners from all over to get in their cars and make the long journey to the Texas. It’s no easy trip, and we welcome the punishment it puts our decaying cars through to experience southern hospitality and so much more. For my friends and I, it’s the best place to see our extended family, and there’s so much going on from start to finish. This show is always ranked high on my repeat destination list and I hope it’ll make yours, too; heck, I have friends who moved to Austin after going to the Lone Star Round Up! Shop tours, shop parties, garage crawls, reliability runs, bands, cruising and a show at the Travis County Expo – they say everything is bigger in Texas and in this case they’re right! Info: Lone Star Round Up, www.lonestarroundup.com
