In January of 2026 the idea of driving to California via route 66 was a crazy thought, this is a massive undertaking requiring alot of time and effort. The initial mention of the idea was played off as more of a joke at the time as neither of us had done any preparation to our cars to even consider this as an option.
Fast forward to March, by this time, both of us had torn down engines and ripped the cars essentially to pieces to try to find any weak links and prepare them for the journey ahead, acquiring parts just to be able to do this can be a challenge as now not many things are even made for these cars anymore, This is making it incredibly difficult to put things together.
Endless nights and afternoons in the garage, continuing to work away on the project at hand with the ultimate goal of seeing the finish line in California.
Countless hours of work went into these cars just to get them into a position where this adventure was even a possibility.
Finally leading up to the event. The packing and preparation, making sure every little thing is in order. It takes a lot of dedication, being sure to bring the correct set of tools just in case while on the road you’ve got a problem. Packing spare parts in the cars for the same reason, trying to foresee the unforeseen.
May 31st 2026, this marks the official departure date of the adventure.
2 days previous to this, the orange car (Josh) drives down from North bay on its first initial test drive.
Crossing the border into the US at the ambassador bridge definitely caused some delays, there was a problem with a certain individual who happens to share a name and a birthday with another certain individual who’s not exactly a model citizen, once these details were sorted and cleared, we had been delayed by about an hour and a 1/2. We had to get caught back up and then continue our adventure.
Day one of driving, and we pushed pretty hard through illinois, making our way to the Gemini Giant. We then visited with some local Chevette Owners and swapped car stories for a few hours.
We rolled into Pontiac Illinois and this the was our Basecamp for the evening.
Leaving early morning our journey continued, Making our way past St Louis into Missouri, next stop was Wakita, the small town featured in the movie Twister, we walked the streets to get a feel for the quiet town and take in the views, Some cool movie props are seen as well as the water tower. After this we headed South so visit the twister memorial site and pay our respects.
We pointed the cars west leaving Oklahoma City in the rear view.
We made Texas and continued the push.
We pulled the cars over at Cadillac Ranch arriving just at sunset, we explored the area and took in the unbelievable surroundings. Having the opportunity to leave our mark on Cadillac Ranch and we are officially part of the history.
Continuing west in the late evening the weather began to turn, the wind picking up and pushing us around, Deciding to pull off the hwy to fuel up and see if the storm would lighten up. This was Vega Texas, nearing the boarder of New Mexico. 14 Minutes from the official Half way point on the 66 Adventure.
Pulling in Josh’s car appeared to have a sudden rod knock. This was the opposite of good news.
We began to talk strategies for this, we determined the following
– Continue the drive into the desert knowing this will cause catastrophic failure stranding the vehicle.
– Consider costs to bring the car home via trailer or towing, the exceptional distance would result in massive cost.
– Attempt to drive the car closer to home to reduce towing / recovery costs and potentially make it back to Canada.
– Find an engine and replace it.
Ultimately we decided that heading back was the best solution, Just for kicks we did a quick search for a chevette engine… Which is essentially like locating a needle in a haystack.
Somehow luck was on our side… 5 -1/2 hours away in southern Oklahoma in a salvage yard is a picture posted of an early model chevette engine fitted with a tag outlining 16,000Miles… Original parts and paint can be seen in the picture. This is a glimmer of hope.
We decided to detour south with the intention of swapping this engine into the Orange Acadian right there in the salvage yard.
During the journey and talking on the CB radios Josh had developed a theory that this might not actually be a rod knock and it’s possibility a pre-detonation/timing issue. Making another fuel stop along the route to the salvage yard Josh bypassed the vacuum advance on the distributor and suddenly the knocking sound was gone.
Now having already made arrangements to get access to this yard and knowing that a chevette engine is there and word of possibly even a 2nd Engine we decided it was worth the remainder of the journey to see if the engine was something that was worth the time.
Arrived at the yard in the early afternoon, the site is overwhelming with classic iron scattered about the property, some beautiful opportunities lay waiting in this yard. After about an hour of exploring we decided to have a look at this engine and see if it was something we would be interested in.
The engine in question appears to be from a late 70’s model chevette. It’s equipped with original factory paint… It has a tag outlining it had 16,000 Miles when removed.
This engine is also sporting and original GM oil filter, These oil filters were not sold to the public and were only ever installed on the assembly line. This further proved the mileage.
We continued to search under the tarps for more engines, Only to have found a total of 6 Chevette engines.
We were in a state of disbelief.
How many people find an almost no mile chevette engine that looks like it’s just been waiting in a time capsule let alone 6 of them!
We quickly verified if the engines rotated, All of them spun.. We pulled valve covers and broke the seal from the original RTV valve cover seals which unveiled beautiful pristine cam shafts and carriers that dident even have staining from dirty engine oil…
This was the moment that we needed to make a huge decision that ultimately affected the trip… Do we buy engines and abandon the idea of California for the greater good or should we let these pristine parts end up going to scrap…
We are nothing short of hard-core Chevette enthusiasts, the decision came quickly and California was struck from the list.
We grabbed the tools we had packed in the cars in the event we needed something and used those tools to begin tearing down these engines.
All in all we spent about 7 hours and tore down 3 BEAUTIFUL engines and managed to load the cargo into the backs of our already full Acadians. This meant no longer could we use the backs for sleeping as originally intended we will need to use the front seat or find a hotel at this point.
We rolled out of the yard wiped out from the sun and overwhelmed from this find of a lifetime.
The cars now loaded to the brim creaked and groaned on down the road.
We rolled in a Northeastern direction Through Oklahoma and into Missouri. Now loaded and in the heat of the day we began to push on the cars harder to see what they would tolerate. This point was more than 3000Kms (1900miles) into the journey. Both of us were feeling confident the cars were capable of handling this added load along with the not so flat motorways.
In the evening when the temperature began to cool we decided to push the capability of these cars only to find out that we could maintain 70, or 75 Mph and still have enough left to climb the hills without falling flat on our faces.
The chatter over the CB regularly reflected on how unlikely this situation was to have ever happened with everything aligning like this. Somehow in all of the vast land surrounding us the car decided to act up right in the areas we needed to be in order to stumble into this wonderful discovery of these pristine unexplored engines.
We followed a very similar path heading East back towards home base.
All the while stopping along the journey for rest and essentials. Nearly every single stop was another opportunity for a stranger to approach and admire the cars, ask the stories and share their own experiences. To say the hospitality was unexpected and unbelievable is an understatement. The excitement everyone showed us on the Journey was so incredibly inspiring, We had HOURS of conversations on this adventure along with consistent Honks and thumbs up from drivers along the roadways, the reception of the cars was unbelievable.
Illinois, Indiana and Michigan were shortly in the rear view, We crossed at the Ambassador Bridge back into Ontario late Friday June 5th. The boarder Agent was excited to see the cars and fascinated by the adventure we had just experienced.
The cars quietly rolled down the highway and fueled up together again for the last time on this trip. Finally switching off the ignition in the Garage at Robs house for a much needed rest.
Both cars performed beyond our expectations, I have a specific list for each vehicle outlining the actual troubles encountered while on this journey,
Robs Acadian (Red Car)
-Radiator cap check valve failed and would not pressurize the cooling system. Swapped this cap in McDonald’s parking lot with an old good one and it was solved.
-Noticed a small coolant leak on the manifold to block gasket on the 1st bank. Snuggled up the fasteners and the leak was gone.
-On the last stretch of the journey The Radiator began with a pin hole located on the top corner. This spot had previously been brazed in 2019 and had held until this adventure, The leak was so small it was not even bothered to be touched. An upgraded Aluminum Radiator will replace this tired factory rad.
Josh’s Acadian (Orange Car)
– The ignition coil cracked and caused the plug wire to detach, It was a new unit installed on the engine and must have had a factory defect. A good used coil was ziptied into place and held its own for the remainder of the journey.
– The aftermarket Carburetor installed on the car seemed to be over fueling. So it was swapped before we left for the US with a carb which was presumed to have little mileage and no known history. It has a bit of a rough spot which worked itself out over time.
– The inline fuel filter in this old carb was deteriorating and causing a lean condition. An inline fuel filter was added to the car and the barrel filter removed. Lean condition was resolved.
-The Distributor was suddenly causing far to much ignition advance giving the illusion of a rod knock, This was resolved by removing the vacuum advance line and a slight base idle adjustment.
Neither car consumed any Oil on this 4851Km (3014mi) Journey
Mileage calculation determined we consumed
-93.706Gallons of Fuel (354.715L)
-We drove 3014.395Miles (4851.2KM)
-Fuel Cost $374.08USD Or ($521.20CAD)
-Average MPG 32.308 Or (7.308L/100KM)
So we had initially left Canada with the intention of hitting California but the cars seemed to have other plans,
The ability to have made it as far as we did on and off route 66 is a testimate to the abilities these cars have. This outcome might not have been what was originally intended… My personal opinion is that this outcome is actually better. Of course everyone can make their own call on what they think this trip actually is, I’m going to say that this was an overwhelming success and can’t wait to revisit the idea of driving these cars the full distance another day in the near future.
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