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March 23: 2013 FC-Roundup Saturday

March 24, 2013 • CATEGORIES: Event, Features • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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<– Day 4 & 5 – March 21 & 22: Joe and Joe in Mesa, FC Roundup Part I | Overview | Day 7 – March 24: Bernie’s Hotrod FCs and A Train Stop –>

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Just a few updates today (Sunday). Saturday was busy and a lot of fun at Jesse’s house. People were coming and going all day. There was plenty of good food, with hot dogs and beans at lunch and some delicious midday ribs from James in the afternoon. Blue sky and temperatures in the high 70s created perfect temperatures whether you were in the sun or the shade. Below are some of the day’s events.

After a group trip to Mother’s for dinner, we returned to find Bernie’s stunning FC combo:

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Colin, George and I spent some time checking out Colin’s Jeepster:
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Bob restored this beautiful column shift CJ-2A:
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The ladies all jumped into Jesse’s refurbished Tour Jeep for a picture. He’s almost finished with it.
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We celebrated Jesse and Andrea’s 50th anniversary and the FC-Roundup’s 10th anniversary.
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<– Day 4 & 5 – March 21 & 22: Joe and Joe in Mesa, FC Roundup Part I | Overview | Day 7 – March 24: Bernie’s Hotrod FCs and A Train Stop –>

 
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Happy April Fools Day!

April 1, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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I’m not sure if this is an April Fool’s picture or just some fool posing with a purse.  I’d like to claim alcohol was involved, but, sadly, nope, that’s just me with Ann’s purse trying to make her laugh.  I should have checked to make sure her camera was still in the bag.  Behind me is Bernie’s Custom FC with some beautiful custom work, which I will share later.  We are just about packed to start our journey northward.

 
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The FCs Hit Interstate-17

March 31, 2012 • CATEGORIES: FC150-FC170-M677, Features • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Just one update tonight as we are tired from a fun filled day at the FC Roundup.   As we were heading back to Jesse’s from dinner we took to the highway for a few miles.  Now, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I’d be heading down the Interstate in Phoenix at night in a FC Tour Jeep full of people, let alone traveling at over 60mph and passing other vehicles!  For Ann and I it was a perfect ending to a great weekend!  More pics and info tomorrow.

Here’s what it looks like at 56MPH in a Tour Jeep with Craig driving (we hit 63MPH at one point), his wife recording the speed and my better half taking a photo.  I don’t remember all those lights, but then I was looking out the side as we passed other vehicles.  Maybe we hit warp speed and I just wasn’t paying attention?  Jason reached 67MPH in his FC Tour Jeep, perhaps setting a new land speed record for Tour Jeeps!?!

 

 
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Friday at the 2012 FC Roundup

March 30, 2012 • CATEGORIES: FC150-FC170-M677, Features • TAGS: , . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Ann and I had a wonderful time at day 1 of the FC Roundup.  It was great to match faces with names of people I have corresponded with for years.   We spent the start of our visit with Glenn and Colin discussing some of the unusual history of Willys Overland they uncovered recently.

From Left to right is Colin, me and Glenn

As Glenn had to take off, we soon found ourselves on a quick tour of Phoenix in Jason’s FC Tour Jeep.  Our quick tour turned into a rollicking ride through Phoenix as its citizens tried to figure out what kind of vehicle was ferrying this crazy group of people.  Without hills or dales to wander, we stuck to city streets, waving at all the people who were waving back at us.   Canadian Dave was at the helm, navigating the roads of Phoenix like any true Canadian would do … very politely.  He didn’t cause a single person to flip us off.

Pretty soon we got thirsty, so we tried to hunt down a Sonic Burger.  Unsuccessful on our own, Jason had an opportunity to ask “Big Willy”, a guy next to us wearing a “Big Willy” shirt, if he knew where the closest Sonic Burger place was.  Big Willy responded with a point of his finger to our right.  Unsure if Big Willy was being accurate or just trying to get rid of us so he could continue driving in traffic, we followed his directions and found the cold drinks we sought.

After our cold drinks, instead of going back to Jesse’s house and the roundup, we soon found ourselves traveling to the airport to pick up Vance.  I jumped in to ride shotgun so I could provided directions to the airport; however, my phone’s GPS failed me in our hour of need.  Fortunately, Jason’s navigation came through and we found the airport.  Now, if you’ve never ridden an FC Tour Jeep through a set of airport terminals, I can highly suggest it.   People were smiling and waving … I’ve never seen so many happy people at the airport!!

Eventually, we made our way back to Jesse’s (after a bathroom stop at Valero).  After hanging out there for a little while, we all piled into FCs for a trip to dinner.  Ann and I jumped back into Jason’s FC.  This time, instead of Canadian Dave driving, Jason took the wheel and drove us over to a motel to pick up one more rider before heading to dinner.  As we innocently pulled up to the door of the motel, Jason honked the FC’s horn.  It just so happened at that moment a woman was walking forty feet or so in front of the FC.  The honk startled the woman.

Hearing that honk, the woman’s dog leapt forward, causing the woman to jerk forward too.  The woman thought the honk was for her, so she turned around and gave us the look of death.  Then, she gave us the one-fingered salute.  Yes, it took Jason only a few minutes of driving to have someone flip us off.  She might not have been very happy with us (she would flip us off a second time, too), but she made us laugh all the way to dinner.

More form the Round up tomorrow ….

 

 
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FC Roundup March 30-31, April 1 2012 Phoenix, Az

March 29, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Event, FC150-FC170-M677, Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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UPDATE:  We are all ready for tomorrow.  Can’t wait to meet everyone!

FC and FleetVan Owners,
Once again I am reminding everyone that this is your invitation, to an event dedicated to the rescue and recreation of Jeep Forward Control and FleetVan vehicles and their owners. Your attendance, as Owners, is the most important part of our event. We have added the invitation to FJ3 – FJ6, Jeep Fleet Vans, these are Forward driven as well. There is no charge to this event and we have a raffle of donated FC related parts and products. Please Donate what you can to the free raffle, if you have something that you think someone might want for there FC or FleetVan, then we need it here. All donated FC-Related items are appreciated for the Saturday raffle.
2012 event T-shirts, the embroidered logo, pocket shirts and hats are again coming back and are always available.
Hot dogs, chips, beans on Saturday and anytime refreshments will be free anytime. Also on display that are available will be some new FC products. Your FC-vehicles, in what ever stage of completion they are in: authentic show total restoration, original unrestored, farm, snow plow, tractor, dune buggy, street rod, restored daily driver, repowered, not running, chassis, rusted, wrecked, good, bad or ugly, all FCs, literature, photos, parts of FCs, will be welcome. This is a large gathering of only FC and FleetVan Jeeps, these vehicles are on display, but without judging or awards.

Nearby Hotels are filling fast see the websites
http://www.comfortinn.com/hotel-phoenix-arizona-AZ824
http://www.daysinn.com/DaysInn/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=06311&as_srp=SP2&cid=carat_search-Days_Inn&variant=

Here are a few last minute details:
We will be driving as a group in FCs to breakfast every morning and also to Dinner some of the nights.
Parking on my property is for FCs / FleetVans only, no exceptions.
Absolutely no smoking near the vehicles, the vehicles on display have vented gas caps.
A smoking area will be provided away from Vehicles.
I love all Children and Dogs, but this event is about FCs, at my house, I will (I have had to) ask people to leave, if you come here with any animal that is not on a leash at your side, Small Children must also be near there parents at all times.
All vehicles on display have owners, please have respect of other peoples property, do not open any doors or sit in anyone’s vehicle, without the owner being present.
It is unfortunate that the fuel prices continue to increase and causing some grief to all of us. I am very grateful to all of you, that are bringing vehicles from far away. I am also grateful to know about all the continued efforts, that some of you have done, that will be bringing new vehicles this year.

Thank You

http://www.thefcconnection.com/2012_fc_roundup_information.htm

 
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Heading South to the FC Round Up

March 25, 2012 • CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Ann and I are packing our bags and preparing for our trip down to the FC Round Up tomorrow (Monday morning).  We will be leaving Pasco around 6am and stopping in Boise to drop off some books (hopefully sell some at the coffee shop where I wrote a good portion of the book), grab some fries at the Boise Fry Company and some sourdough at the Boise COOP, and then head further south for Salt Lake where we will spend Monday night.  Tuesday we will be heading through Utah and stopping somewhere near the Grand Canyon.  We’ll be in Mesa Wednesday evening.

If you are along our path through I-84/I-15 let me know and we’ll see if we can swing by for a quick visit.

We just completed a few new t-shirts.  It’s the Bantam design I’ve been playing with for a year.  We bought some random shirts and tried the design with different colors.  The picture below is pretty crappy, so use your imagination.

 
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A FC Roundup of my own — My First Ride in a Forward Control

March 27, 2011 • CATEGORIES: FC150-FC170-M677, Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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As I mentioned a couple days ago, the FC Round up was this weekend in Arizona.  Well, I didn’t have time to make it down there.  But, that didn’t stop me from having a FC Round Up of my own.

A reader asked me to check out a Forward Control for sale about 45 minutes north of me.  I had some time today, so I drove out to meet with the seller, Daryl, who was awfully nice and very informative.

Well, it turns out Daryl didn’t just have 1 FC, he had 5:  2 FC-170s, an FC-170 DRW, an FC-170 with an expertly extended frame and aftermarket Dually setup, and an FC-150.  Daryl had a story about each one and pointed out some things I didn’t know.  Daryl and his son developed an interest in them a few years ago, brought them home, and hope to get working on them soon.

The nicest one, which Daryl has for sale, runs and drives, so he took me for a ride.  It was the first ride in an FC for me and, hopefully, not the last! We cruised up the road a bit, then cruised back. I had hoped to take a video, but the video on my phone stopped working (turns out it was operator error, but I didn’t figure that out until later).

He said he didn’t mind if I posted a few pictures, so here they are.  Thanks for a fun afternoon Daryl!

Here’s a shot of their collection:

Here’s an FC-170 that was used for years by a farmer to feed his cattle.  But he had a problem, how could he stand on the back of the FC and toss the hay off the back and drive at the same time?  His solution was his custom auto pilot contraption. He would get the Jeep going, attached his ‘auto pilot’ and then climb into the back and throw out hay as he drove along.

This FC-170 DRW has a racheting system to raise and lower the spare tire. I don’t remember ever coming across other FCs with that.  Unfortunately, it was hard to get a great shot of this.

 
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The FC Roundup this Weekend & Blaine finds a Champ

March 25, 2011 • CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: . This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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A reader named Blaine couldn’t resist getting a shot with this Champ.  You probably remember it from this post.  Apparently, it’s still available.   They do sort of grow on you ….

Blaine writes, “Here is the restored Champ in Scottsdale, AZ with me standing next to it. My son wanted to show me a car lot with collector cars ,and lo and behold, here is the Champ. I’m in Phoenix for the FC Roundup right now.”