“You’re driving it back from LA to Detroit?” I asked.
Will said, “Sure, why not?”
“Who is going with you?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.
“Just me right now …” Will said, with a long pause at the end that he later admitted was fully intentional.
“I’ll go with you,” I said. I could tell he wanted me to come along but didn’t want to impose by asking.
Then I said, “You know, I’ve never spent any time in a roadster—let alone driving 1,700 miles!” Perhaps I was already subconsciously looking for a way out.
That’s when Will said, “What could go wrong? It’ll be fun!”
It was entertaining and a whole lot more. This now ranks among my most cherished road trips, tucked right next to my first long-range road adventure in my abused Chevelle, driving from Iowa to Los Angeles in the winter of 1979 with maybe a hundred dollars in my pocket, a cute blonde in the right seat, and the dream of landing a job at Car Craft magazine.
This road trip, like all good stories, has a historical precedent that begins nearly 30 years ago. Will Handzel and I were on staff at HOT ROD in 1994 when Editor Drew Hardin hatched the idea for Power Tour, which was subsequently scheduled to happen the summer of 1995. Each staffer was going to drive his own car, so Will decided to build a hot rod for the trip. He called it “Budget Beater” and you could make a case for it being a progenitor for the rat rod theme that evolved much later. Like all good hot-rodders, Will finished the Beater the night before we left. Amazingly, he and the Budget Beater completed the trip.
The car started as a 1931 Model A roadster body that he dropped over a TCI chassis employing the classic 350ci small-block Chevy/TH350 combination along with an 8-inch Ford rearend. With big ‘n’ littles for rolling stock and a woven blanket for upholstery, he hit the road with the rest of us.
Fast-forward to 2022—Will and his family now live in a suburb of Detroit, where
