Tinkering 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.

24. Show Time

August 17^th 2012  Deerslayer and I have been attending four cruise-ins a week. Tuesday, thursday and two on sunday, weather permitting. Last nite was at the Olympia Flame Diner in Deerfield Beach. It turned out to be "red car nite". This Ferd effie was the 1st to arrive. It's a nice ride that was purchased last week in New Mexico and driven back to south Florida by the new owner. Has a Ferd modular v8 in it and that's about all I picked up. Two late model red Mustangs, coupe and ragtop, arrived soon thereafter, followed by a Poncho G8. Then a '68 GTO and a '62 Plymouth 2-dr post with a 528 crate hemi. Then a late model Vette and a Karman Ghia and a '65 Merc Comet, all bright RED! Even Deerslayer is red, kinda. Only ride to break to mold was a silver Sirroco.

August 20^th 2012  The weekend wore me out. Now, I'm back at the Krash Lab for recovery. On saturday morning, I fooled around with Deerslayer maintenance. When the floor jack wouldn't work, I had to bypass chassis work for the time being. I'll have to stop off at the Boca warehouse bay to pick up the hydraulic oil I have stashed there so I can repair the jack. For those who have been asking about BillyBob, here he is in his current state.

In mid-afternoon, Deerslayer and I saddled up for the "Jerry's Drive-in Reunion Cruise" in Fort Lauderdale. This was Fort Lauderdale's hot rod hangout in the fifties and sixties. A lot of oldtimers were scheduled to be there and rides were restricted to '64 and earlier due to limited space. I met a couple of other cars and we headed south on Federal Highway. We hit a monsoon rainstorm and the Deerslayer floundered when I hit some deep water. I'm getting pretty good at coasting off the road with a dead engine. I wasn't gonna make it to the first curb cut so I went up the handicapped ramp onto the sidewalk to reach the nearest parking lot. I had to get out and push the truck the last twenty feet into a parking space. My friends made it to the cruise-in and called me. Told them I was havin' a beer from the cooler and a ceegar and, when I was finished with that, I would try to relight Deerslayer's fire. The rain slacked off and when I had finished with refreshments, the engine heat had dried out the truck's wet ignition. Deerslayer and I were under way again. Made it to the cruise-in but, due to the bad weather, only six rods and customs showed. We are going to reschedule the event.

On sunday morning, after the breakfast meet in Fort Lauderdale, Deerslayer and I went to the "Broward Children's Center Fundraiser Car Show" at the Bru's Room Sports Grille in Pompano Beach. I've lost my enthusiasm for daytime parking lot car shows but this event for a good cause is hosted by the Time Bandits car club. The ones that let me tag along on the Cafe 27 Tiki Bar cruise of a couple of weeks back. I figure I owe them.

After I got the truck parked and collected my registration materials, I took a walkabout and shot a few pics. I really liked the '57 vette tail light treatment on this forty Ferd coupe. Sat by the Deerslayer and answered a few questions until I lost my little bit of shade behind the truck. Then, I retreated to the covered patio bar area for the remainder of the show. Afterwards, a few of us headed up the road for the sunday nite cruise-in at the Diamond Strike Bowling Lanes.

August 22^nd 2012  Last nite, I met up with a few friends and cruised out to "Pastor Jim's" in Coconut Creek. Jim builds tribute cars to a level of detail that only experts can tell are not the real thing. Mustangs are his speciality. He is currently putting together a Mach I and last nite was an engine starting ceremony in his 2 car garage mancave. Champagne and munchies were on hand. The rebuilt Cleveland 351 fired off with half a turn of the starter and the rest of the evening was spent dialing it in. All gauges worked too with the exception of the tach so jim has to track that down.

August 27^th 2012  It was a non-productive weekend. I stopped at the Boca warehouse bay on thursday nite on the way to the Deerfield Beach cruise-in. I filled up one of Renegade's tires, which was going flat, with a portable air tank and picked up hydraulic oil for the malfunctioning floor jack. On saturday morning, oil in the Lincoln 2-ton jack was topped off but that didn't solve the problem. It put me in a funk which was helped by the darkened interior of the BillyBob Shop. The overcast, rainy day added to the effect. Sunday was more of the same. With Tropical Storm Isaac passing thru the Keys, the day's weather consisted of srorm squalls. I went to the breakfast cruise-in in Fort Lauderdale but that was it. This morning, I ordered a replacement floor jack. I may try to rebuild the Lincoln jack at some point.

September 3^rd 2012  Went to a couple of cruise-ins during the week and that was about it. On saturday, I celebrated the 33rd anniversary of my 30th birthday by doing absolutely nothing of value. On sunday morning, Rich Martin drove his "new" '49 Ferd woodie to the breakfast meet. He's been working on this ride for over three years and boy, is it sweet. Under the hood is a slightly warm ford 302, nicely detailed with a single four-barrel.

There's lots of nice little details like a '56 Merc steering wheel, faux wood-grained dash and vinyl upholstered bench seats (three of 'em). The cream yellow paint is an original color that was only offered by Ford on cars in the southeast. Rich managed to get an "endless summer" Florida speciality license plate to add to the surfer theme. The taillights and license plate on the tailgate are articulated so that they remain pointed towards the rear when the tailgate is lowered. A nice ride to go with his other Merc woodie and Edsel station wagons.

September 10^th 2012  Another week without a lot of activity. We had dark thundercloud and lightning activity in the early evening all week until saturday which cut out most cruise-in activity. On saturday nite, I caravaned with some buddies to a cruise-in at Jake's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers in Coconut Creek. "Old Fashioned" refers to the way your Mom might have made hamburgers in the sixties . . . from frozen patties. You can have a Jake's burger only one way - well done.

On sunday morning, Hank Langsenkamp arrived in his son's Deuce roadster. We had not seen it in a long time so we spent a few minutes on a tech review before leaving the bagel shop. Hank is the one in the ball cap. We motored over to Adam's Chop Shop as one of our group wanted to see about getting '56 Olds headlight rims molded into his '50 Merc fenders. Adam wasn't there so we split up. Two of us followed Hank over to his shop. I had never been there before and it was a treat. Inside resides Hank's two Deuces, the tan highboy roadster with blown flathead and his black five-window coupe with a chevy small-block, both open wheel cars. He also has a pair of four door convertibles here, a '36 Ford with modern drive train for long roadtrips and a '37 which is stock. His Ferrari is here too. I also saw a Langsenkamp Carb which was manufactured by Hank's family back in the day. I wished Hank a happy birthday (his 83rd) and headed back to the BillyBob Shop. Below is a pic of Hank and his '36 from The Rodder's Journal site (TRJ Revival Roadtrip).

On sunday afternoon, my friend Johan called me to go on a cruise with some former Saints and Sinners car club members. I hadn't made any commitments to be at the sunday nite Pompano cruise-in and I hadn't seen many of these guys in a long time so Deerslayer and I went for it. Johan showed up at the BillyBob Shop on his vintage BSA cycle and we headed down to the old Monterey Club bar where everyone was forming up. We started out with One new cycle (I don't know the make), and two vintage bikes, Johan's BSA and Alex on a Triumph. They led the way and helped herd traffic for us. Deerslayer and I joined Jakesin and Nicole in their severely chopped Ferd shoebox, Talani with his '60 Chevy wagon, Tony with his '53 poncho and a new guy with his '63 caddy "Large Marge". We cruised Fort Lauderdale Beach and then out to Coral Springs to the Tijuana Taxi sunday nite cruise-in. I went by the Pompano cruise-in on the way home since they called me to inquire where I was but it was too late by then and everybody had split. A good weekend, all in all.

September 17^th 2012  Not much happened this past week again. We had late afternoon storms or rain threats that kept cruise-in attendance low. On saturday, my landlord held a "garage sale" at the warehouse complex and tenants were invited to sell off their old junk. I set out the broken floor jack, a couple of wheel adapters that were in the shop when I moved in, and a '68'-'72 Chevy truck (I think) turn signal wiring harness that had been sent me by mistake in the distant past. The items were priced to sell and everything went 'cept the turn signal harness. That provided me with beer money for the sunday nite cruise-in at the bowling alley.

At the sunday morning breakfast meet, John McGinnis showed up with a new ride. His wife had laid down the law and told him to reduce his collection. He sold three of his rides and had a relapse. He picked up this '34 Ferd sedan delivery on eBay and, 'tho he was in the doghouse, he was grinnin' from ear to ear.

'34 Ford sedan deliveries are somewhat rare in comparison to other years. This one was streetrodded with a Chevy 350 for power. John is going to change a few things to his liking but, other than a more robust automatic, and different wheels, those changes will be minor.

Another month has gone by and I haven't gotten much done but cooler weather isn't far off and I should be able to muster a little more ambition when I don't have to work in pools of sweat.

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Issued Tuesday September 18, 2012

Updated Thursday May 31, 2018

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