Let's have a Parade!

Nell and I were in our first parade together this morning.  We attended with other members of the local Classic Thunderbirds club.  I'll confess that I was a little nervous about doing this, especially after the overheating incident two weeks ago.  But, I took reasonable precautions, and I felt it would be a low-stress way to participate with sympathetic, helpful t-bird owners.

The parade is in a small local town.  We queued up an hour and a half before the parade actually started, surrounded by high school students on big-rig hay ride flatbed "floats", Shriners, and Boy Scout trooops.  It was a slice of small-town Americana.  It was also over 80°F, and crystal clear.

Queueing up and waiting

Nell fits right in, and yet still draws attention.

Seasoned club members have lots of advice.

Backing up a minute, I should probably mention how I prepped the car earlier this week.  In my previous post, I showed the auxiliary electric "pusher" fan I installed in front of the radiator.  I also spent a few evenings converting an old voltage regulator box to hide a bank of relays... I'll probably post on that separately.  I did get a replacement high-flow thermostat (Mr. Gasket #4637)... I tried to get one from Amazon, but they shipped a Fel-pro gasket with the same number instead.  Twice.  After I brought this to their attention the second time, they removed it from their inventory system.  It turns out that O'Reilly's could get me one in a day, local pickup.  Yay!

Put it in the right direction this time!!!

 On advice from the good folks at y-blocksforever.com, I installed a 3/16 orifice in the thermostat bypass line.  This limits how much coolant bypasses the radiator when the thermostat is open, and improves hot weather cooling.

 OK, I also ordered several bottles of Radiator Relief from Amazon over a week ago.  Still not here.  Strike two, Amazon!  As it turns out, a local Pep Boys keeps it in stock.  God is good.

I flushed the cooling system with tap water until there was no more brown in it, then drained it and added the Radiator Relief and about 5 gal of distilled water.  I also hooked up the fan to a dash pull switch.  Idling in my driveway, Nell kept her cool, and never exceed 180°!  We were as ready as we could get.   I carefully reinstalled the grille and front bumper, and drove down to top off the gas tank.

Back to this morning...  The adage that "parades move as fast as a 5-year old can walk" proved true. Getting to the start of the parade was mostly stopping, with occasional moving.  We shut our engines off when we were sitting for more than a minute, and just left the cars in neutral if we were sitting for shorter times.  I turned on the fan when the temp gauge reached 170°.  Even in the stop-and-go 80° heat, the gauge never exceeded 180°!  No dieseling when shutting  of the engine.  Success!

Near the start of the parade, getting passed by a flock of Model A's

I didn't take pictures of the crowd, even though they were taking pictures of me.  I just thought it would be rude to stop waiving and take out my camera.  I did take a shot of the temp gauge in the staging line:

This is about as hot as the original gauge got.  Quite a change from two weeks ago, when it pegged high!

The mechanical temp gauge is on the right.  The pull switch between the gauges is for the electric fan.

 At the end of the parade, two other club members pulled over and opened thier hoods to let their birds cool off.  Nell was doing fine, as long as I kept the electric fan on.   The other members declared her to be a "good parade car", and expect me to show up in future parades!  I couldn't have asked for better.
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Being in a parade in Nell was a uniquely satisfying experience, and not just because of the temperature gauge.  Driving down the road, I kept thinking of how the car looked 2 years ago, of how it looked 40 years ago, and about how restoration has worked in my own life.  I kept thinking about how I had longed for a moment like this...

As I was driving by, young and old folks kept saying "nice car" and "great color"!   More times than I could count!  I felt flooded with affirmation, and savored the feeling.  I tooted the horn and revved the engine for the school kids.  I waved at everybody who looked, and they all waved back.  I waved and smiled for every camera.

It's like all these people where there to see me, to appreciate my legacy, and to affirm me.  Well, at least for a moment.  I was buoyed up by the crowd, and the outpouring of enthusiasm and affection that Nell engendered.  I wanted to tell each of them Nell's story.

One radio announcer asked on the air as I drove by "What color do you call that?".  I answered "Peacock Blue."  "What year is it?" "1955...  It was my Grandmother's car."  "Oh, how cool!  It was his Grandmother's car!  It was his Grandmother's car!"  Some folks applauded!

Very sweet.  I wish that Dad could have ridden with me down that parade route.

Oh, and I also got the foglights working.   Very jet-age!