Cruisin' with Deerslayer

DEERSLAYER LINKS including vendor sites for parts and tools as well as sites for old truck and hot rod organizations

TINKERING WITH DEERSLAYER chronicles the day-by-day maintenance and improvements episodes for Deerslayer, a '37 Chevy farm truck hot rod.

CRUISIN' WITH DEERSLAYER Roadtrips, cruise-in's and truck show stories and tall tales.

TONY'S DUNGEON Tony Pascarella's forum entries at OldGMCtrucks.com regarding Deerslayer, particularly the 302 GMC engine build in his farmhouse basement.

DEERSLAYER MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines specifically developed for Deerslayer, including required tools, materials and procedures.

PROJECT NAILHEAD Chronicles the rebuild of a 1954 Buick Roadmaster 322 nailhead engine as a future replacement for Deerslayer's Jimmy 302.

4. Billetproof Florida 2012

I haven't been on any roadtrips out of Florida since my segment of the economy cratered in 2009. I had planned not to attend any long distance events this year either until Sam Gagliano put a bee in my bonnet regarding the Billetproof Show a couple of months back. They were holding it at Big Daddy's in Ocala this year and many of my south Florida friends were planning on attending. I bit the bullet and pre-registered for the show and made my hotel reservations. Then I determined to make the Deerslayer roadtrip worthy again. I managed to finish the work on Deerslayer the nite before the run.

Sitrep

I'm up before dawn on departure day (hell, I'm up before dawn everyday) and I wuz cleaned up, packed and out the door before nine. We were to meet up at the Pompano Service Plaza of the turnpike at ten. I topped of the gas tank and was the first one to the service plaza.

PRE Check

1.	Date and Time	March 16, 2012 9:00 AM
2.	Odometer	127,095
3.	Emergency Supplies	Cellphone, AAA+ membership, reading glasses, my lucky WWII Army Air Corps style mechanics cap
4.	Roadtrip Supplies	brake spoon, qt. of oil, spare spark plugs, wrench and gapping gauge.
5.	Prep	Mount navigator and sunpass transponder

Engage

While waiting for the others to show up, I crawled underneath Deerslayer and adjusted the driver side rear brake adjuster with the brake spoon I brought along. This wheel's drum was a bit hotter than the other when I arrived. Just as I was finishing up, the first of my companions rolled in: John McGinnis in his three-window deuce coupe. John topped off his gas and took up stationkeeping in front of Deerslayer.

Next to arrive were Paul O'Keefe and Sam Gagliano in Paul's '47 Ford ragtop. Close behind them was Rich Martin in his '46 (I think) Merc' ragtop. We stood around talking and wondering how many more would show by the ten o'clock deadline.

Last to appear were Bill Carroll in his '50 Chevy custom and Carl DeMarco in his five-window deuce. They lined up in front of John McGinnis and we waited a few more minutes to see if any others would show. At ten, we headed out with Bill Carroll in the lead. We made good time, running between sixty-five and seventy-five as traffic would allow. The turnpike is two lanes each way north of Pompano and the only close call happened when we came up behind a woman who was only doing about forty in the left hand lane. We all had to slow down quickly and that's when I found out that my brake job was working.

When we stopped for gas, Bill said a friend of his would be meeting up with us at the next service plaza. We didn't pull into the service plaza. Bill mustuv' sycnro'd with his friend, Dave, over his mobile phone because when we passed the service plaza, a maroon '33 or '34 Ford three-window coupe came rolling down the exit ramp and merged with us right behind Bill's Chevy.

We pulled into the Sleep Inn host hotel in the early afternoon and got squared away. Paul and Sam were staying at the Microtel across the main drag. Bill, Carl, john, Dave, Rich and I walked over to the Cracker Barrel next to the hotel and had lunch before setting up in the parking lot with lawn chairs to watch the rods rolling in and renew old aquaintences. Late afternoon, Sam called me. He and Paul were at the Nowhere biker bar for the pre-party. None of the guys at the Sleep Inn wanted to go over there so I jumped in Deerslayer and went solo.

Nowhere Biker Bar

The crowd at the Nowhere bar was about two-thirds the size it was three years ago. Lots of well-lubed locals staggering around too. Beer could be ordered on the porch without going inside the bar. My friend, Paul O'Keefe, pulled what I considered a bold move. He went inside and sauntered up to the bar. When the bartender came over, Paul ordered a chardonnay in his New England accent. He caught the barkeep by surprise and got his drink. She wouldn't serve him after the first time 'tho and Paul had to switch to beer.

I ran into John Carey. He was with his older brother whom I have not met before and a previous boss. Both these guys were hotrodders too. Saw a nice nailhead, one of the few at the show. After darkness fell, Paul and Sam decided to go back to their hotel. That seemed like a good idea to me too. At the Sleep Inn, everybody was out in the parking lot, drinkin' beer and shootin' the bull. I ran into fellow Saints-n-Sinner Johan. He came up with another friend and Masonic lodge brother, Tony, in Tony's '53 Poncho. Another good friend, "Model A" Dave Brown had made the journey and come over to the Sleep Inn also. We chewed the fat until about one-thirty, then drifted off to sleep.

Show Day

We all got up fairly early. The same crew that ate at Cracker Barrel the day before went back for breakfast. A bunch went to get a table and the rest were to follow a few minutes later. I waited at the hotel entrance to go with the followup group but, when they came out, they didn't see me and I didn't see them and I got left behind. I ended up not getting breakfast, just hotel coffee. When the guys got back and Paul and Sam came over from the other hotel, we lined up and went to the show. Registration was smooth as could be and we got parked together in the same row.

We all stayed near our rides fer awhile, some doing some last minute detailing. When everyone else started wondering off, I went in search of the swapmeet. It was still early and a lot of stuff wasn't on display yet. I was looking for cowl lights as possible candidates for turn signals. I was also on the lookout for door mirrors and, of course, nailhead parts. The arms of Deerslayer's mirrors have become spotted with rust and the driver's side mirror head has achieved rust thru. I found a pair just like Deerslayer's for five dollar each. I scooped them up.

Near the swapmeet was this beautiful '40 Ferd pickup and camper combo. It was also at the host hotel. I wandered back to the Deerslayer and put my chair on the west side of the truck where it was still in the shade. Several stopped to talk with me about the truck, including a guy from south Florida who asked me if I was the one drivin' down A-1-A everyday in the Boca Raton area. I am. Another fella, Jeff, recognized Deerslayer and stopped to tell me he's been reading the BillyBob logs for years. It was great to make the aquaintence of another of BillyBob's readers.

When the sun got higher and I lost my shade, I took a walkabout. Kept my eye out for unique engines, especially inlines. This Mopar slant six was one of the prettiest inlines at the show. There were also several stovebolts and even a ratty Buick straight eight with updraft carb in a roadster.

Further along in my walkabout, I ran into Deerslayer's brother in his sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes. This thing was a beautiful truck with its original 216 stovebolt engine.

I was in need of shade again so I wandered over to where my friends, Model A Dave, Tony and Johan were, hangin' out with the Salvagers Club of Palm Beach. These were the same guys I was jawin' with in the hotel parking lot the previous nite. I had a ebay bid on a nailhead to chevy tranny adaptor. I wouldn't know if I won til I got back to the Krash Lab on monday. Johan has the rockcrusher from his chevelle sitting on the floor in his shop where he occasionally trips over it. I asked him if I could bring the adaptor over to check the fit if I won. Dave told me about a ratrod out on the showfield with eight turbos on it. Told me the plumbing looked like a spider. I went in search out of curiosity.

I found it. I don't know what the engine is. One of the other guys standing there drew my attention to the pot over the carb that all the turbo plumbing fed into. It had a ratchet strap holding it down. He said that it probably held it down to keep it from blowing off like Tom Terrific's "thinking cap".

The sun was high in the sky now. I grabbed my chair and retreated to the remaining shade of the tall trees at the east side of the showground where the crew I came up with had situated themselves. The shade here was retreating also and it wasn't long until we moved under the shadetrees at the entrance to Big Daddy's. Here we could watch the rides that were departing early. I only got a couple of more pics before the battery in my camera died.

Around three, we started splitting up. Bill Carroll, his friend Dave, and Carl DeMarco decided to head back home. Paul O'Keefe and Sam Gagliano went over the the Villages show with Rich Martin about forty miles away. I went back to the Deerslayer where John McGinnis was getting ready to go back to the hotel. I stayed for the pinup contest, then I went back to the hotel too. I ate supper at Sonny's BBQ and took it easy in my room for the rest of the evening.

Show Aftermath

I went out in the hotel parking lot once, mid evening, to get my phone charger but there were only a few hard core rodders out and about so I went back inside. Met John McGinnis in the lobby at seven in the morning and the two of us were on the road, back to south Florida, by daylight. We had a good run with only a little rain. John followed me as I had the smaller gas tank. The gauge on Deerslayer stays above the half way point for a long time but once it gets below half, it drops like a rock. Service plazas on the Florida Turnpike are about forty miles apart. I passed one up with the needle just under half and by the time I pulled into the next one, it was indicating about eighth of a tank. I would not have made it to the next plaza. Deerslayer took 11.06 gallons into his twelve gallon tank.

Billetproof Run POST Check

I made it back to the BillyBob Shop just before noon and rested up until the sunday nite cruise-in at Wahoo's in Lighthouse Point.

1.	Date and Time	March 18, 2012 11:30 AM
2.	Odometer	127,689
3.	Odo Mileage	594
4.	Elapsed Time	50 hours 30 minutes
5.	Navigator Stats	N/A. I had Mother setup but I didn't turn her on this trip.

As I have in the past at this show, I had a great time. I hope I can do it again next year.

You can email me at  webmaster@laroke.com

Issued Friday April 13, 2012

Updated Wednesday June 27, 2018

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