A guy named Paul Brandt wrote the most definitive Alberta song twenty years ago.
He released it in 2004—it was about a guy heading home to Alberta, but it was more than that.
It was an anthem to the best place on earth.
Jerry Sutherland
You don’t realize how important seeing the first Alberta sign is until you’ve done 5300 miles in a ’63 Plymouth. That’s a test that most people won’t face because we swerve towards what’s comfortable in life and we swerve away from challenges.
An old car is a challenge even if you only take it to the weekly car show–most guys leave it at that. That’s fine if you’re not a gambler because your shop and tools are only minutes away.
A long-distance run is a much bigger deal. You have to plan for failure, so the first thing you do is load up on parts like alternators, fuel pumps and water pumps because you don’t want some parts guy in off-the-grid Oklahoma scratching his head and saying, “I ain’t seen one of them things in years”.
Save yourself the pain and get the stuff you need before you hit the highway. The best thing is you’ll need those parts down the road—figuratively and literally speaking. Unless your car is a trailer queen.
Know your car and know your own limits. Some guys are naturals at drilling down to the problem—Jim and I aren’t naturals when it gets into the fine details of a car problem, so it’s at best an educated guess based on past disasters. In other words, I can narrow it down to an electrical or fuel issue and try a few things.
Remember this—cars like a ’63 Plymouth don’t come with plug-in diagnostics. There are no shortcuts in old tech—you’re on your own. Also–before you head out, carry some kind of roadside insurance that gets you at least 200 miles on a tow.
The other thing is traffic. Most major highways on the Route 63 road trip were 80 miles per hour and that’s a suggested speed because many guys like to run a little higher. If you’re not comfortable doing that in your Edsel Citation, then think about secondary roads and a more leisurely pace.
One more thing. Old cars aren’t like new cars so the ride, the wind noise and the handling are from a different era. If you talk a non car person into a 2000-mile joy ride in an old car, you’ll see the complaint factor go up ten-fold and a fistfight is a certainty. Trust me, you’re not going to turn your accountant into a car guy because you took him on a major road trip in an old car. In fact, he’ll curse you with bigger fees when tax season hits.
I’d like get back to the subject of Alberta again because there was a problem with the trusty old Plymouth. A gas station just south of Helena, MT, decided to sell diluted kerosene instead of gasoline, so the old Belvey decided it was time to push back—especially on hills.
The Plymouth quit on the first traffic light in Great Falls, MT, but thanks to a really helpful young guy we got it into a hotel parking lot a half block down the road. It didn’t look good because the exhaust smelled like varnish mixed with chlorine. The gas filter was filled with crap from the shady gas station’s fuel.
Fortunately, there was a Home Depot right across the street that had carb cleaner and the best gas treatment stuff ever made—SeaFoam. That—and premium gas was enough to get on the road, but the Plymouth fought all the way back to Alberta.
The ’63 huffed into the border crossing and spooked the border guard because he thought Jim had just bought it and pointed Jim to the commercial sales office. That was cleared up, I gave him a card to read the Route 66 series on MyStar, and the Belvey huffed into Alberta—that’s when ‘Alberta Bound’ spirit kicked in.
Winning moment —the Road Warrior ‘63 Plymouth didn’t come home slung over the saddle like a dead bank robber in the Old West.
It’s great to be home.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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