How cool is this, Buford and Candy Cane at the same car show in Redding CA. Just looking at the registration cards I'm guessing over 2K cars and trucks in attendance at the Kool April Nights car show. Buford got the "Baddest Truck" award, A big Congrats to Behemoth!! Seeing Buford in person was totally awesome and I got a ton of ideas for the Candy Cane, Great conversation and idea swapping. We where the only 79's at the day of the show (I think...) and we drew a good sized crowd around our trucks. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year, this time I'll get there much earlier so I wont miss out on the cruise.














Just a footnote, Candy Cane's freeze plugs held up during the long road trip. It only drips when she sits for a week or so. Still planing the replacement and now more projects to come.

 

Wow. I would say the show was a huge success!
Congrats to everyone involved and especially to Behemoth for the award .

 

Great looking trucks. Congrats to Behemoth!!

 

x2...those Dents are beyond compare!

 

Congrats to Buford on the win
Candy Cane looks great as always...by the way
where was Mountian dewd during this photo shoot? ? ?

 

Awesome. Both, amazing looking trucks!!

 

Congrats to you both. Glad to hear the freeze plugs held up on the Cane. Did Candy Cane win any awards? Cause that truck certainly should have. Who is that with their hand on Candy Cane? I would've wanted to chop that hand off if I were you. (Assuming you were the one taking the pic.

 

Yeah me too, I was kinda worried that I would get in trouble but all was fine. I still have a dry garage floor. Thanks for the complement, I didn't expect to get anything but I'm sure glad Behemoth walked away with one. The judges have good tastes.

Interesting that some people just had to touch the bed liner, mostly it was fine although there was one guy who just had to put his hands everywhere, drove me crazy. I kinda shined him on so he left quickly then I had to wipe down all the hand prints.

 

I just hate it when people can't keep their hands to themselves. You're a better disciplined man than me. Cause I probably would've been leaving the show wearing some shiny new to me bracelets. And I'm not even joking about that.

 

Well, I know I'm a little delayed in my response, but I wanted to thank you guys for the kind words. It was a good show, and I was honestly surprised to get noticed considering the company I was in. From the pictures below, you'll notice there were some pretty nice trucks (pretty weird ones too).......while I know this sounds treasonous, I really did like that old Dodge Power Wagon. Regardless, the show was fun, and I enjoyed myself getting to talk to Steve, and finally setting eyes on Candy Cane in person. That was how I was able to figure out who Steve was......I was walking around looking at cars, and happened upon the Candy Cane, and said, "I know this truck!" So, I approached the gentleman behind it and asked, "Are you Steve?" to which he responded that he was. He asked who I was, and I said "Behemoth", which he didn't recognize..........but when I said, "Maybe you'll recognize 'Buford'"....and his face had a look of instant recognition, and said "Yeah, I know Buford!" We chatted for a while and I took off to go see the cars. My friend called me while I was out snooping to say, "Hey, you might want to get back to your truck". I asked why, but he wouldn't say. So, thinking that someone was messing with Buford, I hauled booty back, and found this gentleman asking if the truck was mine. I said it was, and he said "Congratulations on winning 'Baddest Truck'". I stood there kind of dumbfounded, and said "Okay, well thank you!" and he left.

The next day, I had to show up for what they call the 'parade of champions', which is basically another car show of just the category winners, which was kinda nice. Eventually, they have you drive up and over the building overpass, and hand you your trophy, and then expect you to get the heck outta dodge. I spent the afternoon getting Buford ready for the trip home, which is where my troubles began.

This is why my response has taken so long. The next morning, I loaded up the truck, and went to get on the freeway, and the truck died. I did hear a belt, so I got out, and tightened up the alternator belt, as the truck was acting like the battery was dying. I checked my voltage, which was 14.46V and everything seemed hunky dory. Buford fired right up, and I was on my way. While heading north through the mountains, Buford started running a bit rough. It was weird, as if I was in the primaries on my carb, it ran like crap, but when I hit the secondaries, Buford ran like a beast. I couldn't figure it out, but when I was coming out of the mountains, Buford was simply not running right. I limped into Ashland, Oregon, and dropped into a Napa. I popped the hood to find the primary inlet on my fuel log was leaking all over the place (really lucky I didn't go up in flames). I took care of that, and fired up the truck, which seemed better. I started down the road, but it still wasn't right. I stopped into a Les Schwab to see if there were any shops in the area to help. The first shop was a complete pit, as there were junk cars everywhere. The guy told me he couldn't help that day, so I left and drove through town to the other shop I was told about. I got them to take it into the shop so we could take a look. I knew it had to be some sort of fuel delivery problem on the primaries, as the engine ran fine when you got into the secondaries. Well, the short of it was that the fuel filter I was using was letting all sorts of garbage by, and it gummed up my carb something awful. I knew I couldn't run it that way for another 11 hours to get home, so I was in a bit of a pickle.

The short of it was that I couldn't get the carb rebuild parts in enough time to tear down the carb and rebuild it right there. Plus I'd have to stay in hotels until the parts came in, and my boss was expecting me back at work. So, being in a fairly untenable situation, I did a little homework, and by sheer luck there was a transport company nearby. They had to come and take Buford, and are shipping it back to my home............needless to say, I've NOT been happy about any of this, and haven't slept or felt well since this has happened. I'll be better once my truck is home, but apparently I had to learn my lesson the hard way. So, a piece of advice to you guys...........you know those cool glass fuel filters where you can change out the filter element? They're found in the hotrod section of most O'Reilly's or AutoZone's. Well, do NOT use them!!! They do not filter out enough stuff, and can eventually screw up your carburetor. I have since ordered a new Aeromotive inline filter that will filter down to 10 micron, so that should solve that little issue. I've also ordered the carb rebuild kit so when I get the truck back, I can fix the problem. I know it's an easy fix, but this really put a damper on my trip. Basically, after the first breakdown on the way to the show (bad fuel pump in Oregon), and having to break into my own toolbox to get my tools, the hotel bill, the transport bill, and whatever else, this little trip ended up costing me about 4 grand......NOT my idea of a good time.

Anyway, now you know why it's taken me a while to get back to you all. Regardless, I want to thank you all again for the kind words.....I do appreciate it! I've posted a few pictures of the trucks at the show, so that you'll see that Steve and I were in good company. Enjoy!

 

You coulda stayed in the secondaries the whole way home and still not spent $4k!

 

Not really.........kinda tough to stay in the secondaries through speed zones under 50mph......well, unless I'm tach'ing at 5000rpm in 1st gear. Regardless, the 4k wasn't just for the transport home. It was a combination of hotel stay (mostly expected), $750 for the transport, and $1300 for a new tool box. You see, when I broke down on the way down to the show, Buford died in central Oregon in the woods. After I got him to the side of the road, I got out to get my tools out of the box, to find that after I unlocked the box, the handle wouldn't move. Something inside the box had settled in the way of the lock mechanism, and wouldn't let it move. So, having no way to re-settle the box, I was forced to do something I really didn't want to do. In the cab, I had a backpack that I refer to as my "Oh $#!t" bag, where I had what is called a "Truckers Friend". It's a combination of a hatchet, hammer, and most importantly, pry-bar. So, I got it out, and had to destroy my custom built tool box in order to even get to my tools. After I got in, I put a new fuel pump in, a new filter, and I was on my way (as I had spares)......but the box was pretty well toast. That box cost me $1300 four years ago, so i'm guessing the replacement will be around $1500 now. Anyway, now you know why the trip was so dang expensive.

Believe me, I thought about trying to stay in the secondaries the whole way, but there was no way I was going to manage that for another 11 hours, and have the engine come out of that ok. So, I opted to save the engine, and just get it trucked home so I could fix it. Spendy? Yes......but probably the adult thing to do.......(man, I hate being a grown up).

 

Geez you weren't kidding about the competition at that show. I love that black 72 highboy. And that suburban. That's one of my 3 favorite styles for the burbans. Sorry to hear about the issues with Buford. And that toolbox.

 

Good times huh? I used to have one of those fuel filters and it did the exact same thing to my carb. Somehow I got lucky and did a roadside quick clean of the fuel system and carb. Eventually I figured it out after being stranded too many times and one time about 60 miles from home. I replaced it with a real 10 micron fuel filter like yours, problem solved.

My own travel story (Although not as exciting as Tim's) While I was traveling to the show on the 80 merging to the 505 North Bound a young lady who was 2 cars ahead of me decided that she wanted to stop in the #1 lane of a 2 lane connector ramp to exit. We where traveling at 55 to 60 MPH. There was traffic in the #2 lane so the car behind her hit the brakes hard and behind me was a 1 ton dually towing a large hose trailer. I hit the brakes and clutch so hard that my back end started to hop as I skidded to a stop. The truck behind me jumped the curb to my left (Trailer and all) and plowed through vegetation to avoid hitting me. My $4K camera hit the floor pretty hard so I gave chase to get the license number of the first car just in case there was any damage. Later I eventually caught up with the guy in the truck behind me and gave him a very thankful wave and bow of gratitude.


I am glad that I am patient and don't have an issue with Road Rage but she never made eye contact with me as I passed her by. I'm just thankful that nobody got hurt and very thankful to the guy behind me.

It was actually one of Behemoth's post mentioned that he was going to the car show in Redding that gave me the idea to attend this show. I enjoyed walking around and checking out all the great cars and trucks. I traveled by myself and I was going to travel back home after the show so I had all my tools, overnight bag, laptop, and my camera case sitting behind my truck so I didn't venture too far and if I did it was only briefly. I did make friends with my neighbors so they knew I had my stuff out but still I don't like to impose on anyone to watch over my stuff. I do have a tool box for my truck but for shows I take it off. It was a lot of fun and next year I will head up a day earlier so I wont miss out on all of Friday's activities.

I have to say when I got back home I uploaded all of the photos I took of the Buford and came up with a plan to add some more power and beauty to the Candy Cane's power plant. Some I will do right away and others will be done in the winter. In any case Summit, DC, LMC and Macs auto parts will be very busy running up my credit card. Thanks Tim for the great conversation and lets do it next year.

 

Can't wait to see what you have in store for the Cane Steve. That truck certainly is one of my favorites on here.