Gasoline Girls Take On VLV 2011

Posted by GreaseGirl on May 8, 2011 in Shows & Events | 2 comments

This might have been the 14^th Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender, but it was the momentous 1^st VLV car show for the Gasoline Girls Car Club!

It seems like Viva has always been an important landmark for me in my car journeys. Its hard to believe that it was just three years ago that my 1955 Studebaker’s engine swap got finished a mere 12 hours before I drove it across the desert alone to attend VLV 2008. The following year, at VLV 2009, was the fateful meeting between Becky Sue and I where an instant friendship was made. Soon after, we began plotting our plans to create a working-on-cars focused all-girls car club. Two years later, the Gasoline Girls are celebrating their first anniversary!

So at Viva Las Vegas 2011 the milestones continued as the Gasoline Girls made their longest journey yet as a club – traveling across the Mojave desert to attend the largest rockabilly weekender party and car show ever! Follow along with us and enjoy the ride!

We scooted out of So Cal early Thursday morning – beating the traffic and meeting up with the Throttle Kings Car Club and a couple others. Once everyone was assembled – fueled up with gasoline and coffee – we hit the road.

Our journey began long before Thursday morning though. Each member of the Gasoline Girls had projects to be complete on her ride before making the long journey. Just the weekend before, we were busy helping Becky Sue make a front suspension and steering switch on her 1961 Comet. Lori’s  had completed the final touch on her 1948 Ford F1 – a vintage hardwood truck bed. And my 1955 Studebaker Champion has been undergoing constant improvements both big and small – from a brake upgrade and metal flaked roof to an oil change and fancier fuel filter. Our fourth member, Rosa, wasn’t able to bring her 1965 Ford Falcon due to some ongoing wiring issues (we think). (Hear more about GreaseGirl’s wrenching adventures soon!)

As we hit the road, the Gasoline Girls soon discovered how the Throttle Kings got their name. They  weren’t going to lose any time getting over to Las Vegas! My Studie is perfectly comfortable breaking posted speed limits on the highways – but Lori’s Ford Flathead and Becky Sue’s high-powered 302 aren’t built for high speed highway cruising.

Regardless of speed differences, we’d reconvene at gas pit-stops. Becky Sue notified me of a hanging exhaust pipe on the back of Studie – so that was fixed with some wire during our first stop.

As the ride continued, Becky Sue’s temperature guage wasn’t looking very safe. In Baker we attempted to adjust the timing slightly thinking that could help the issue.

Soon after, we pulled to the side of the freeway as her temperature gauge spiked. Something seemed awry – as her Comet wasn’t really showing signs of overheating under the hood. With some consultation , we decided the culprit could be an ungrounded wire leading to the temperature gauge’s sending unit. After insulating the wire in electrical tape we were back on the road without further problems.

Soon enough we had reached the Nevada stateline –where parking lot party is always in order. Cracking open a cold one and listening to some tunes as onlookers come by creating our own impromptu traveling car show!

After state line, the next stop is Vegas! Arriving at VLV on Thursday afternoon, things are pretty quiet – but there’s still a short line to get through registration and in the gate of the car show. Securing our car show spots – we make a round and see what we can see.

Staying at The Orleans has it’s advantages…but so does an off-site house. Since we didn’t book ahead and only had car show passes (which this was the 1^st year they offered ‘em), we decided to save some $ and stay at my families place. Which provided a nice rest on Thursday afternoon…and of course a little bit of work. We had some last minute spray painting to do – creating our very own Gasoline Girls shop rags…homemade of course!

Friday morning was time to get ready! The Viva Las Vegas car show is notorious for characters galore! And although the Gasoline Girls love getting dirty in the garage – we also like getting dolled up!

Good thing we primped a little bit. Because we got plenty of attention – and so did our cars! We posed for a few pictures, met with some friends we’d made on Facebook, and of course talked about our cars!

Even though Rosa wasn’t able to bring her Falcon – she did get to check out a finished example of her next project – a Hudson!

When things got too hot under the sun at the car show, there were refrigerators full of Pabst beer (the official beer of all things Rockabilly) inside The Orleans.

As the car show closes its doors at night, people head indoors for the music and festivities of VLV. Since the Gasoline Girls didn’t have full access VLV passes, we headed out for other nightlife adventures.

After a busy day at the car show we’d worked up an appetite – so decided to head out for some good German food at Haufbrau Hause. Food wasn’t the only thing they offered there… Becky Sue and Kristin volunteered for a contest, not sure what they’d be getting into. They soon discovered that rather than drink the large, one liter, glass of beer they’d be holding it – it was a stein-holding contest. Both gave their best and outlasted a healthy number of the other 8 contestants…in fact of the seven ladies and three men entered – Kristin stayed in until second-to-last! All that wrenching on cars is good for the muscles!

After dinner frivolities, we all headed over to The Orleans to be part of the VLV fun. Lori and Kristin spent their $1 budget in the slot machines…

While Becky Sue was in search of the bowling-pin-drink. Each year The Orleans offers a special Viva Las Vegas drinking cup at one of their many bars. The bars had two choices this year – a large beer bottle or a tiki cup – but not bowling pin. Regardless…we’d seen some rockabilly cats walking around with one and Becky Sue was insistent upon finding one. Where do bowling pins live…the bowling alley of course!

Not only did Becky Sue find her bowling pin drink at the bowling alley – but we all discovered a crazy game called Dance Dance Revolution! Since we didn’t have access to all the dance floors filled with rockabilly bands – we decided we’d get our groove on in the arcade!

Saturday was another full day of car show activities. There were tons of great cars which all of us ladies enjoyed looking at. But most of all, we enjoyed meeting and spending time with friends, and of course each other!

As the sun set on Saturday night, things only seemed to heat up over at the car show. There was dancing, revving of engines, and some in-car parties going on! The Gasoline Girls took it all in until we just couldn’t walk around any more!

After a good nights sleep and a relaxing Easter morning – it was time to hit the road before the onslaught of back-to-California traffic. Stopping at a couple of auto parts stores and the gas station before the traffic  jam getting onto the freeway made it seem like we’d never get out of town!

Eventually we were on the road, just the three of us. Taking it nice and slow to accommodate the Comet’s and F1’s engines we made it slow and steady across the desert. With about half of the 260 miles behind us, things got much slower. The traffic had caught up with us and we were hardly getting anywhere. When you’re caught in traffic on a road trip, sometimes extreme measures must be taken. A side-of-the-road pit stop was necessary (if you know what I mean.)

Glad for a rest, Becky Sue’s mom had invited us to stop for Easter dinner at their house. Everyone was glad for yummy food and rest from traffic and driving. Just when we’d thought the traffic was over, the sun was down and cars were stopped again. This time fog was the culprit. Over the El Cajon pass, visibility was almost zilch and cars were at a creep as they followed each other’s taillights edging closer to LA.

Nine hours after departing Las Vegas we were all finally home!

As always, the journey was much improved by the presence of friends! What adventures will our cars get us into next? Keep tabs on us at GasolineGirls.com.