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One of my closest friends was liv-
ing in Oklahoma and I planned to stop
and see him. The weather was bad all
across the country and I fretted over
how to avoid the worst of it. I wanted
to head north from my jump-off point
in Virginia since it was so hot, but my
stop-over was to the south so I decided
to take I-40 to Oklahoma. My buddy,
Danny, lived just east of Oklahoma
City. I figured that would take two
days if there was no trouble.
Once on the road I calmed down
and began to enjoy the drive. My
senses were heightened and I was
noticing every bounce and squeak;
there was a little vibration at higher
speeds. I hadn’t been able to test the
car over 70 mph before leaving. The
limit on the local interstate was 70,
but heading west it would be higher. I
stopped for fuel about every 250 miles
and I discovered I was getting about
20 mpg. Other than the vibration,
which seemed to come and go, the car
was doing great. It was running cool
and had no leaks. My leg was doing
well too! It was a little painful when I
needed to brake hard but otherwise
tolerable.
I was quite comfortable in the car
and at speed it wasn’t really noisy.
Around town, however, things were
different. The engine was essentially
stock with a LeMans cam and it’s a lit-
tle loud. Overall, I found the car to be
a pleasure to drive. Being an early
GT350, you have to work at driving
it – no power steering, power brakes,
air conditioning, cruise or even a radio.
New cars are nice but are we really
driving them? I actually had someone
try to compare driving a new Shelby a
couple of hundred miles to driving an
early GT350 across the country. I
couldn’t see much of a comparison; so
few people actually drive these cars
today, let alone on a long trip or in
heavy traffic.
I made it about halfway to
Danny’s the first day. I had a little
trouble finding a place to stay that
first night because I waited too long to
choose a stopping point. Leslie was
working from home, trying to find me
someplace to stay. Everything seemed
full where I was so I continued on a lit-
tle farther until I found a new Motel 6
that had a vacancy. It was quite a bit
later than I had planned on, and I was
very nervous about leaving the car ex-
posed in the parking lot. I found a spot
to park where I could see the car from
my room and repeatedly checked on it.
I knew I had to rest, so finally I just
had to let it go and get some sleep. I
had been so keyed-up, but that first
day had gone so well that I was no
longer concerned about being out
there alone now.
As planned, I made it to Okla-
homa in two days and was feeling
pretty good about the trip. However,
the heat was still a concern. I talked
with Leslie and decided that since I
was so far ahead of schedule (she
would be flying in to San Francisco on
the 10th) I would drive to Southern
California to get together with John
Saia, 6S336’s previous owner. He has
a blog, “The Shelby Guy,” and I had
spoken to him about stopping by. I ad-
justed my plans and stayed an extra
day at Danny’s. I checked the car over
and rotated the tires, and then gave
rides to his family and especially his
grand kids. I had been in basic train-
ing with Danny and his kids grew up
with the Shelby. His daughter’s hus-
band hadn’t seen it, though. He was
very excited and, being ex-military,
was very respectful. All the kids had
rides and when I asked if he’d like to
go he was like one of the kids. He said
he might even come to Virginia on va-
cation so he could get another ride.
The only thing my inspection revealed
was a drop of fluid from the rear end.
Rotating the tires reduced the vibra-
tion.
I left Oklahoma and headed south
to Gallup, New Mexico. It wasn’t quite
as hot that day. I was feeling good all
around, just cruising down the high-
way taking it all in. It was amazing
and I found myself wondering why
aren’t more people willing to do this?
Enjoying the ride in the Shelby and
seeing the country as only a drive like
this allows. The scenery and the peo-
ple are certainly worth it.
CALIFORNIA
The next day took me through the
desert and into California and here I
made my biggest mistake. I went in
the daytime and ended up crossing
through the desert, which was around
120 degrees. I thought either me or the
Shelby would die and didn’t dare to
stop except in Needles, to eat and
check the radiator. Some of the coolant
had over-flowed into my washer bottle
(that I was using as an overflow), but
I hadn’t lost any. I continued onto Cal-
ifornia, but have to admit that this
part really wasn’t fun. We barely han-
dled the heat and I saw quite a few
other cars that didn’t make it. Truck-
ers were having trouble blowing tires
from the heat and I had to dodge a
couple of “alligators” along the way.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2015 297