COOPSTRIPES: LAS VEGAS AND Back. pt.2

Thursday, March 5, 2009

LAS VEGAS AND Back. pt.2

It was Sunday morning and It was time to head for home. I was to bring home tom's van so I could put a new paint job on it.. the van has a new engine in it and I was a little apprehensive but after a short test drive I was ready to go. As they say, life is an adventure, enjoy it!

This is one radical looking van,this should be fun! Left Vegas and headed north. Rt. 15 goes along the north edge of the Grand Canyon region. For a guy that has lived in Ohio for 50 some years this is a treat to see this kind of scenery. I love this. Gorgeous! Then crossing into Utah, came to the town of St. George. Guess what I found!! One last one. It has to last till December?AAAHHHH! Then it was on to Manti, Utah. Needed to see Ilene, get some more Rat Fink stuff, and some rest. Hung out Monday, Went north to Ephram,to have lunch and a milkshake. The local car lot had the coolest little truck..

I stand and look at this and see it with the bed off and boxing in the back.. It would be the cutest little van. These are now street legal in Utah. Wonder if the state of Ohio is that smart.. maybe I'll make it my next work van. It has a 3 cylinder engine and gets over 50 MPG.... well..... Tuesday The weather was great. Got loaded and on the road early.This may be the only time these vans are together..
I love this kind of scenery. This part was a joy.

All along the way I was getting more attention for the van . Pictures and waves for 2000 miles.

Crossed into Colorado and the mountains got bigger and even more impressive.

I want to take this train ride..... Roger???

Then the road goes through the canyon where the road and the river are literally on top of each other.. Absolutely fabulous!

Near Vail I stopped for gas and food then when I tried to start the van.... FLOODED. "Then a little trick Dale taught me. On a fuel injected engine , to clear a flood, disconnect the plug that powers the injectors. Crank the engine till it starts. Then plug it the injectors. Worked like a charm. Total time, 7 minutes. Back on the road again.

This is the huge tunnel at the summit..very cool

Then through Denver and across the plains and home.. no problem. Can't wait to do it again... now it's time to work on the van. stay tuned gang for updates.. for now......sleep.

4 comments:

Ken Mitchroney said...: That trips great in a van but you should try it on a motorcycle. It's great. You will have a hard time taking pictures though.
And thank Dale for the tip. I'm stealing it!; March 7, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Anonymous said...: Great pics Coop! Looks like you had a nice time cruising back east. Looking forward to more pics on the blog. Brad; March 7, 2009 at 10:27 PM
The Blue Parrot said...: Well, I've always loved the route of the Zephyr through Utah and Colorado. It's some pretty impressive scenery. I'm ready to go any time.

The only issue is the cost. Oakland to Denver is some serious miles. Like 2800 of them roundtrip at $2.10 each for $5880! More than the cost of a full trip to Sparks. And that's before we throw in all the rest of the costs... Wanna ride that route? Call Amtrak - 1-800-USA-RAIL. At certain times of the year, there are deals to be had.; March 8, 2009 at 9:08 PM
Greg "COOP" Cooper said...: actually I could take the train next time I go to the rat fink reunion... wana go???; March 13, 2009 at 8:52 PM

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THE EAGLE SAGA

It was 40 years ago and I attended the largest van event that I ever went to. Even tho I had had a van for some 4 years, this was to be only my 3rd van event. The Nationals at Bowling Green, Ky was sensory overload to the van enthusiast. 6300+ vans in one place? It still stirs the emotions. I belonged to a club from Newark, Ohio at the time called, North Fork Vans.

It was hot that weekend. Very hot.. To hot to even move. Got up sat to enter the show & shine. This was to be the first for me. When I got to the check in area we discovered that there were nearly 1000 vans in the line ahead of us. Didn’t do it. After parking back at the club camp we went to look at the vans. The heat was oppressive, and we spent most of the time in the bleachers watching the vans inch their way through the judging lanes,occasionally walking down to take a closer look. There were so many vans it was impossible to see them all. It amazes me to this day how the N.S.V.A. group was able to judge all of them and pick winners in just a few hours. There were a lot of real nice vans. Many were even outstanding. Saw the B.F.G. van, future shock. It was extreme, especially for then. But the one van I kept hearing about was a van from Ohio. Built by Greg of Akron. The van was the Flying Eagle 2. I never saw it. But a number of people said it was the best thing they had ever seen. I the host group must have agreed since the Flying Eagle 2 was awarded top honors at Bowling Green. including best overall paint ,and best interior. I never did see it..until it started showing up in every van publication there was and back then there were a lot of them.

Greg toured the van all over the country that year. Taking top honors at many shows, including Best of Show at the west coast van nationals in King City Calif . Over the next few years I became a fan of Greg's style of paint. He was the “Foose” of his day. His paint was on many of the top winning vans for years. The Superstar, Rocky Mountain High, Hotel California, Rolling thunder, and others were among the elite of the vanning scene. But the Flying Eagle 2 was Greg’s personal van and probably the best one he ever did. What ever became of it.?? Well in 1978 he repainted it. The second paint job was not as elaborate as the first but was still very nice. I know this from pictures I saw in a magazine called small car trends. But I still hadn’t seen it. Then later that year he sold the van to a guy in Louisville,Ohio , Ben Merkle . Merkle Had the van at the 7th. Nats show & shine. in Cortland. Never saw it. Later that day someone told me it was there. Hunted it down but it was locked up and I had to settle for seeing the exterior… after that it was never seen again. Fast forward 24 years to the Nats ,2003, in Kansas City. A long time Vanner friend comes to me with pictures of a van that he just acquired ,and wants to know if I would be interested in helping him restore it. Woaaaa. It’s the Flying Eagle. And it had been on fire! Well, to actually find this van after all these years was real cool ,but the story behind it was even cooler.. Blaino bought the van on ebay. as the story goes, Merkle was driving the van one day and it stalled at a light. Then there was smoke ,then fire. The fire department came and put it out but the van was pretty messed up. The van was insured, and after settling with the ins. company they sold the van at auction. No one wanted it. It had no parts a junk yard could sell and it ended up selling for $100. That person put it on ebay and it sold for a ridiculously low price. That’s when Blaino came to me. Blaino lives in Oregon. The van was in Michigan. And after a year of banter Blaino offered the van to me. I took it. Then Mikie and I took a 12 hour trip to Michigan and I finally got to see the Flying Eagle. Upon inspection and a little detective work , we determined that the fire was caused by a fuel line leak.The rubber hose at the carb, either cracked or wasn’t properly installed and sprayed gas over the engine., That's why it stalled. Then the gas hit the exhaust and fooom. The fire was contained to the intake and above. The paint on the block wasn’t touched.The fire melted the wiring harness, heater box and then came through the fire wall. The front of the cab was burned pretty good, some wood will have to be replaced but most could be saved. The pictures to follow will show the progress of the restoration… oh yes, in 2000 the van was repainted again, supposedly by Greg at least partly. It has his mural work on it. The theme is still the sailing ship, but it is now a futuristic look. Actually I like it. The idea is to eventually restore it to its original paint job, but that will entail striping the van completely as all 3 paint jobs are still on the van, and at least the first 2 are lacquer. If you look just right you can still see the old paint outlines. I am going to fix the van as it was before the fire for the time being. The restoration is pretty much done . Now i'm working on improving it. you know I can't just leave it alone. coop

COOPSTRIPES

Vanning

Thursday, March 5, 2009

LAS VEGAS AND Back. pt.2

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