Army and AF vets headed to the Arctic Ocean – in a Model A

Yeah… from Cambria, CA to the Arctic Ocean.

Jay Burbank (77, former AF – ed.) of Cambria, California, and South Carolina resident Charlie Enxuto (75, former Army -ed.) will travel about 1,400 of those miles on the graveled Dempster Highway, driving a 1931 Model A Ford, a slant-window town sedan converted to look like a U.S. Army Air Corps General’s staff car from World War II.

Actually not as silly as it seems – that Model A was built when most American roads were unpaved (paved roads came in at the behest of bicyclists, spearheaded by the League of American Wheelmen.) Most of the way they will trailer the car behind a Cadillac SUV, but when on the Dempster the Ford gets driven. They do say they are bringing spare gas for those long stretches without gas stations.

The back-up supplies aren’t optional.

“There are long gaps without gas stations” on the way to the edge of the continent at Tuktoyaktuk in the Canadian Northwest Territories, explained Burbank, who owns the vehicles.

“The Model A gets about 15 mpg with a 10-gallon tank,” he said, “and the Caddy gets about 15 mpg with a 25-gallon tank.”

I’ll refrain from the snark about 90 years of progress netting the same mileage – wouldn’t be valid anyway, the Caddy’s liftgate probably weighs more than the Model A.

Worth noting, the Model A has been signed by or on behalf of  7-800 combat vets across the country – when a body panel gets filled up, Burbank clearcoats it to preserve them.

Burbank has lots of experience doing other long, international drives in the 1931 Ford now known as Military Maxi and another, smaller Model A.

Since taking a 2001 trek through Germany, Switzerland, Austria and northern Italy, he’s done antique car tours, runs and rides along the West and East coasts of the United States as well as 18 foreign countries, including Mexico, Canada and Australia.

For accommodations en route, they have a rooftop tent.

While Burbank’s wife of 57 years, Pat Burbank, often accompanies her husband on his antique auto trips, she’s bowing out of this jaunt.

“The short answer is no,” she said. “It’s a guys’ trip. They’re going to be camping in bear country, and nobody’s told me for sure that bears can’t climb a ladder” to a car-top tent.

In this case the wife makes a lot of sense. Roof top height on an SUV is about chest-high to a big Brownie… they should name that tent “the Snack Bar.”

But it’s in a good cause, benefiting students at a school for  ‘alternative’ students:

Burbank and Enxuto are collecting donations for scholarships given annually by Cambria’s American Legion Post No. 342 to students at the town’s Leffingwell High School.

The men hope to raise enough for an endowment that would fund at least four $1,000 scholarships per year for Leffingwell grads.

Military.com

Not sure about their math – every source I checked shows the Dempster as 730+ km, but even so – long way on gravel in a 90 year old vehicle.

Category: Air Force, Army, Geezer Alert!