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Coast to coast in a Ford A

[alert type = 'success'] UPDATE 24/11: Mission accomplished!
 
UPDATE 22/11: Tudor Rose tries again.
It came out today, we'll see how it does this time.
 
UPDATE 16/10: Tudor Rose failed. Crankshaft
said goodbye to the height of Amarillo, Texas. Good luck next time! [/ alert]

Last night at 00:01 the Australians Rod Wade and Michael Flanders left New York's Ocean Drive for Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, with the aim of setting the United States coastline record in a Ford A. They have set out to arrive before sixty hours, at which point they will pour a bottle of collected water from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific and finish their challenge.

As did the also Australian -although based in the United Kingdom- Joy Rainey in April, who drove a 1903 Oldsmobile Curved Dash the distance from California to Florida, Wade intends to emulate the ancestors who in that year became the first people to cross the Land of Liberty on the back of a car. They were H. Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker, who bought a Winton and a Bulldog - a dog - and hit the road.

Their journey was not from east coast to west, but in reverse, and we assume that Wade and his team have decided to vary the itinerary as a result of Rainey's feat. On the other hand, there must be some controversy around who were really the first to get the challenge, because the aforementioned Rainey spoke of Whitman and Hammond, who also traveled in 1903 from one end of the nation to the other and in the same sense .

Cutline
Before leaving the adventurers took the opportunity to wander around New York

Be that as it may, Wade and Flanders have to cover 4.700 kilometers in XNUMX hours. That is, they cannot stop driving because they have a pre-war utility vehicle and have to maintain an average of almost 80 km / h. Even in the face of this tiring journey, we do not believe that they will be overcome by circumstances.

Rod Wade grew up in a humble rural family in which he learned to repair everything and is dedicated to irrigated agriculture. His wife and daughter suffer from chronic kidney failure, so he is very involved in the palliation of this disease; in fact, during the trip he will try to raise funds. An experienced traveler, he has traveled Asia and Africa and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the highest peaks in the world. He plans to upgrade to K2 in the near future, and lastly, he maintains a collection of vintage vehicles - which also costs his share.

Regarding Michael Flanders, he is a mechanic forged in Ford and with extensive experience in the V8 Supercars Championship of saloons, an international championship held mainly in his country. On a more commercial level, he has worked for Ferrari and Maserati and, to this day, carries out restorations and preparations.

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This Ford A was born to suffer

But let's go to the machine, which is what really interests us. The Ford A that bears the worst part in all this is from the year 1930. They nickname him TudorRose, and recently he has successfully undertaken the Peking-Paris Rally, probably the toughest endurance test for classics on the planet. Apparently, and to give you an idea of ​​what he had to endure, when he returned home he underwent a heart transplant: the engine, directly, was replaced by a new one at the request of its manager Ora Landis -Yes , a woman!

It is not a unit in a strictly original state: the brakes are modern, as are the dampers and lights. Likewise, a little more comfortable seats have been installed than the standard ones, something understandable if you go to live inside. However, apart from these modifications, the car is FIVA registered.

The truth is that we wonder if at least something has not been done in the gearbox to impose the average of almost 80 km / ha that we referred to before.

Lastly, it is quite possible that although A successfully completes the coast to coast, it still has its greatest challenge pending. And it is that Wade plans to move from London to Cape Town in search of a new record to add to his resume.

For now, you can follow their adventures in their profiles Facebook y Twitter and in on the web.
 
 

 
 

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Written by javier romagosa

My name is Javier Romagosa. My father has always been passionate about historic vehicles and I have inherited his hobby, while growing up among classic cars and motorcycles. I have studied journalism and continue to do so as I want to become a university professor and change the world ... Read more

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