Rod Wade and co-driver Michael Flanders established a new world record for driving a pre-war car across the United States, with their 1930 Ford Model A traversing from New York to Los Angeles in 50 hours and 20 minutes.
Australians Rod and Michael began the 3,000 miles journey in their Ford Model A at Staten Island at 00:01am on Friday November 22nd with the aim of reaching Venice Fishing Pier in around 60 hours, giving an estimated arrival time of the morning of Sunday November 24th.
Despite weather that included rain storms, extreme winds and snow through New Mexico, the driving duo arrived sooner than expected, reaching Venice Fishing Pier, Venice Beach, just after 11:15pm on Saturday evening (23rd November).
The team experienced the worst of the turbulent weather in Amarillo, the place where the Model A suffered a broken crankshaft after 38 hours of driving in an earlier attempt in October of this year. The freezing rain, fog and snow forced Rod and Michael to stop every two miles to clear the windscreen of ice as there is no heated windscreen in the classic car.
On arriving at Venice Fishing Pier, Rod said, “I can’t believe we got here in such a good time. It got scary through Amarillo again but we battled on. If it wasn’t for the weather conditions, we would have done it on 40’odd hours. Maybe next time!”
The same team Next time will take on the Ocean to Ocean Australia challenge, driving from Queensland to Freemantle but also making the return journey. This is scheduled for June 2014.
The whole reason for setting the World record is to raise awareness and funds to support kidney disease suffers all over the world. With kidney disease affecting Rod’s wife and daughter, he has raised thousands of dollars for kidney charities and the Wade family has just commissioned the first ‘Kidney Kamper’ to get the ball rolling.
Rod added, “The money we raise will allow us to outfit RVs and campervans with dialysis machines so people requiring dialysis can have a little personal freedom to travel and enjoy life, instead of needing to be constantly within reach of a machine at their home, clinic, or hospital.”
Rod and Michael were accompanied by the team’s support vehicle – a 1988 Plymouth retired police car that also made the journey with them. The support crew was made up of engine builder Ora Landis of Schwalms, Ricardo Da Cruz as lead mechanic/photographer, both from the USA.
For more information on the Ocean to Ocean Challenge, visit VintageAdventurer.com.
[Source: Ocean to Ocean Challenge]
