Let me begin by introducing myself. I am #99 – a bright shiny red 1955 Thunderbird. I am completely restored from bumper to bumper and look absolutely marvelous if I do say so myself. I was so excited. I was going to be driving 5000 miles across the United States, from Jacksonville, FL to Monterey, Ca on the Great American Race. This would be two weeks of extremely hard driving on a brand new car, much less than one that was almost 50 years old.
My adventure started on June 19, 2004. I had joined 96 of my fellow automobiles. We were all going to drive across the United States together. There was everything from 1919 to 1960 model cars. As we left Jacksonville, FL with my red paint shined up and glowing, I had high hopes of finishing the race in the lead. On the second day out, I developed a leak in my transmission. My dreams of finishing the race were fading fast. I pulled over the side of the road and waited for the support truck. I knew he would have to drag me to the closest town. How humiliating!!!
The support truck, a 1951 GMC COE named Bertha, came driving up behind me. The driver came to check my problem. As I sat dumping oil on the side of the road, he said, “I think I can fix you up!” Yeah right!!! What was he going to do here on the side of the road? I watched as the driver reached into his truck and came out with a bottle of Lucas Stop Slip. He walked back over to me and crammed the bottle into my filler tube. I said to myself, “what good is this stuff going to do?” Hesitantly, I fired back up and proceeded down the road. After four miles we stopped again. My owner raised my hood and checked my transmission fluid. I was one quart low. He added a bottle of transmission fluid and away we went.
After 50 miles of hard driving – up and down hills – my owner stopped and checked my transmission fluid again – STILL FULL. What had the support truck driver done to me? It was miracle!!!
Along the route, I saw a friend. Car #100 (a beautiful 1919 Essex) sat on the road with her hood up. She had broken her oil line and as completely out of oil. Again, Bertha the support truck stopped. I watched in wonder as the driver grabbed a pair of pliers, pinched the oil line off and added two quarts of Lucas and two quarts of motor oil. I asked myself, “What good is that going to do? She has a blown engine.” As I traveled on, I wonder how my friend was doing. I was amazed to learn that car #100 drove two more days before changing the engine, just to be safe. What were the products that support truck driver put into us?
On our 5th day, I saw another friend, Car #9 (a beautiful 1932 Plymouth PB) dead on the side of the road with fuel problems. I said to myself, “Where’s the support driver and let’s see what miracle he can pull off today?” Bertha the support truck stopped and grabbed a big jug of Lucas Fuel Conditioner and poured it into #9’s fuel tank. After about 5 minutes of sputtering and popping – the miracle happened. She cleaned up and finished the two week race.
Along the way, I saw other friends Car #44(a 1939 Pontiac Deluxe 2 door sedan), #60 (a 1955 Nash Rambler) and #63 (a 1929 Ford Model ‘A’ Speedster) being fed Lucas in their oil and gas tanks. All finished the Great American Race. I am convinced that none of us would have finished without the help of Luca Oil Products. The race should have been called the Lucas Great American Race. Thanks Lucas!!!
Story by Tom Hudson – Support Truck Driver on the 2004 Great American Race.
