Arctic Ocean Trip to Tuktoyaktuk in a Superbird

[taxspeaker]

For over 6 months my son and I have been planning a father/son July 2024 trip in the Black Ice Superbird from Indiana to the actual Arctic Ocean. As many of you know I have driven my white SuperBird to Alaska from Indiana not once but twice. What most people do not know is that you cannot drive to the Arctic Ocean in Alaska. You can drive as far as Prudhoe Bay, but the last several miles are private property and you have to ride in a private shuttle the last 8 miles to the Ocean.

This summer, if the forest fires and highway closures allow, here is my plan. First, take the red survivor Superbird that Gordon Geesey used to own to Carlisle for the survivor tent. I will haul it on the back of my ramp truck. We will return home late night Sunday July 21. Then on Tuesday morning July 23rd I will take my 2020 Dodge pickup pulling an open but protected aluminum trailer with Black Ice on it and head to Western Mopar Madness in Edmonton, Alberta, arriving Friday July 26. My son will fly into Edmonton that morning but I will haul camera equipment and a drone (he is licensed to fly it) in the truck. The show is Saturday July 27, and early morning on July 28 we will leave heading north, this time with me leading in Black Ice and he driving the pickup pulling the empty trailer. The plan is arriving that evening the 28th of July in Ft Nelson, BC. That road is primarily paved but really really bumpy. Already reserved a room at the Woodlands in Ft Nelson.

Then on July 29th we will go from Ft Nelson BC to Whitehorse Yukon-a tough tough day with lots of mountains, road construction, 1-way bridges, gravel and animals out the wazoo on prior trips. No hotel yet in Whitehorse-I have stopped there before at the Skye Inn and will probably stop there again.

On July 30 we will once again head north and drive to Dawson City Yukon for the night. The morning of July 31 we will leave Dawson City and drive the Dempster Highway, which is a 460 mile gravel road, and stop for the night at Inuvik Northwest Territory.

Finally, on August 1, we will drive the last 90 miles on a dirt road to the Arctic Ocean in Tuktoyaktuk, get lots of pictures and the old fat man is going to swim in the Arctic Ocean and play Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-da-Vida at the top of the volume on the truck radio while uttering a bellow of defiance. We will then load the car on the trailer and try to drive all the way back that night to Dawson City. Ryan (my son) will fly back home from Edmonton when we get back there and I will then drive on alone the 3-4 days back to Indiana-he has littler kids and needs to be home, but he knows the old man's clock is ticking now at 71 years old.

The truck is a Ram 2500 with a Cummins diesel and 40,000 miles. I just put new top line tires on it and have done most other maintenance, just leaving the fuel filters. It has a CB, sat phone, extra gauges and a locking tonneu cover. I am getting a clear windshield protection film installed within a couple of weeks. The trailer is a brand new 24' Aluma trailer with nose protection, 2 spares and a locking storage compartment with jack stands, chocks, wood boards for the jack stands and extra tie down straps.

Black ice has a 1969 police 440 with a 6 barrel, a 4-speed and a Dana 3.54 rear, running MSD ignition and electric fuel pump, auxiliary fans and auxiliary fog lights, all of which is correcvtly wired behind relays, a 50 Amp circuit breaker and powered correctly from the alternator lug NOT from the battery in order to avoid overloading the firewall wiring block. This is the car that Tom Ferry up in Ketchikan owned for years who originally made the fresh air hood and painted it black. He then sold it to Larry Roper who repainted it the current coat of black and also owned it many years, and he then sold it to me 3 or 4 years ago.

In the last 2 months I have replaced the rear wiring harness, brakes, wheel cylinders, repacked wheel bearings, battery with a big Group 27 new one, checked and replaced any questionable hose, tightened all clamps, nuts, bolts and that pesky caliper to steering knuckle bolt that vibrated out both prior trips (it is now locktighted!). Also replaced and adjusted emergency brake mechanism, instrument panel with a Steve Cutler rebuild, the steering gear and Pitman Arm, pinion seal and new tires. Installed a higher output alternator, all new exhaust, new rebuilt wiper motor, rebuilt the carbs, completed a tune up of everything and fixed anything that needed it. Even put in one of those Am/FM original radios for some reason-no radio up there and couldn't hear it over the car anyway. The car will go first and the truck will follow and we have walkie-talkies for the 2 of us.

The only thing left on Black Ice is a clear wrap of the complete front end, sides, hood and windshield. I am having trouble finding anyone to do it and my son Ryan and my buddy Matt Johnson have been assigned that task. I guarantee this time we will have pictures and video far beyond the last 2 trips.

Having done this twice before I utilize a lot of checklists in preparation.
After today's work here is the primary checklist. Anyone coming by on June 13 for Ryan Brutt's Mopowered Hot Rod tour the car is in our shop with all the other ones too.

[tan top]

    sounds like another awesome adventure !
 looking forward to reading about & seeing your adventures as & when you can 

awesome stuff Bob        

 

[tan top]

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aC93t9vQpk

[Old Moparz]

Sounds like a great trip, best of luck & don't forget to take lots of pictures. 

I knew someone who took a trip across Canada to Alaska towing an Airstream travel trailer. He said one thing that he was unprepared for were broken headlights from the gravel & dirt roads. He said if he ever did that trip again he would have spares with him.

[taxspeaker]

We are now under 2 weeks away from leaving for Arctic Circle. Black Ice has been checked, re-checked and re-checked a 3rd time. All checklists are completed for the car. All checklists are also completed for the truck/trailer that will be following. Loading on trailer next week-will haul car to Edmonton, AB (4 days drive), then drive it north the 4 additional days on the Alaska Highway, to the North Yukon Highway to the Dempster Highway to the Tuktoyaktuk dirt road. Forest fires could result in a re-direction to Alaska instead, but as of right now the Yukon Hwy is open with a pilot car. We have also checked the satellite phone for emergencies and the CB radios for communication between Black Ice and our chase truck. Hotels are reserved where possible. There are 4 known stretches where the Superbird does not have enough gas tank capacity to drive that distance, so I have 4 6-gallon supplemental fuel cans as well. That I will fill up at Dawson Creek, BC where the Alaska Highway begins.

I mentioned in the YouTube video that the Fresh Air hood actuator had been replaced. Like many folks with the fresh air hood, that vacuum actuator can't be found or rebuilt with any reliability. My son Ryan made a carbon-fiber mount to withstand the heat, installed a tiny electric actuator and arm and ran it to a switch that looks very close to the original switch, and it only takes 1/2 amp to open and close. We installed it in about 10 minutes-yeah just unbolt the old, bolt in the new and wire it up. I have attached the requested pictures.

My son (Ryan) as well as our company's video camera guy (Matt) are chasing me in the Dodge diesel and trailer, and they already have a drone system, 4 Go-Pros, a 360 degree camera and 1 shoulder mounted camera ready so that we get tons of great film. I have told them both they are each going to drive Black Ice for at least 100 miles so that they can honestly say they drove the Alaska Highway and the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Circle.

So, stop by this week at Carlisle if you are there-I am in the survivor tent- and say hi, will get in around midnight tonight, and then look for videos and maybe some camera shots here, on YouTube and on the WIng Car facebook or website I guess-wherever they post them.

Bob

[KurtfromLaQuinta]

Sounds like a great trip, best of luck & don't forget to take lots of pictures. 

I knew someone who took a trip across Canada to Alaska towing an Airstream travel trailer. He said one thing that he was unprepared for were broken headlights from the gravel & dirt roads. He said if he ever did that trip again he would have spares with him.

My wife and I drove it on our honeymoon in '76. And again on our 30th anniversary in '06 in the same truck both times. In '76 things were more "rustic" with no pavement. In '06 most of it was paved, but they work on it a lot during the summer months. Never had any issues with cracked glass. Just a clip falloff on my kickdown linkage on the trans on the first trip. On the second trip... a stuck needle and seat on the rear outboard carb. Easy fix.
Lots of mud in '76 though.

'76 Outside of Dawson Creek where the pavement ended...



'76 Border Crossing from Yukon into Alaska...



'06 Dawsen City...



'06 Top of the World Highway..




I thought I was the only one to do the Alaska Highway with a Six Pack.
Maybe the first? 
We drove through a fire between Dawson City and Tok, Alaska on our trip in '06... it wasn't a big deal.
They have healthy "fire breaks" on each side of the roads all the way up.

[taxspeaker]

1700 miles in. Just got to hotel in regina Saskatchewan for the night. Edmonton alberta tomorrow night. Hot and smoky outside but no issues. Tons of film and pictures but nothing particularly interesting yet.

Recreated 2 phot9s with black ice that did on previous trips with white bird, 1 in front of fargo moorhead visitor center and 1 on overpass in Flaxon ND just before border crossing.

[Dave Kanofsky]

Safe travels!   

[b5blue]

HAPPY TRAILS! 

[Pinballjim]

Looking forward to seeing pictures of the car "in the wild"!!   Go Bob!!

[tan top]

 July 25th Bob sent me a few picture  & info for now  to post here     

[tan top]

more pictures & words from Bob this morning      

[tan top]

received email earlier today from Bob new picture & info   

[b5blue]

 

[tan top]

nother picture  Bob sent  yesterday     

[moparstuart]

fantastic  Love that car 

[tan top]

            

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw4m5e7rhxE

[moparstuart]

Beautiful Land      

[69bronzeT5]

Absolutely love it Bob!!!

[charger500440]

          

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw4m5e7rhxE

Very cool...

[timmycharger]

wow! amazing!! 

[taxspeaker]

In one word the trip was incredible, and the fact I got to do it with my son is the best feeling ever.

Lots and lots of questions from folks, and yes we have a bunch more videos to come. My wife asked me if I would do it again and the answer is I would leave tomorrow if I didn't have to do the first 2,000 boring miles to and from Edmonton and I took 3 more days to do the Dempster. Once you get on the Alaska Highway the scenery, the solitude, the vistas, the bridges and the views offset anything bad you have ever experienced.

On this trip we drove the Alaska Highway, the North Klondike Highway, the Top of the World Highway, and the worst road in North America-the 500 mile dirt/gravel Dempster Highway to the Arctic. That Dempster is 500 miles each way of driving hell with potholes, washboard, wash-outs and dust if dry. It was raining pretty much the whole way north on the Dempster (minimal photos north) and it turns that road from hell to a greasy path with 10-50 foot dropoffs, demanding attention every second. We averaged no more than 25mph and it was often too fast for conditions. By the end we had renamed it the Dumpster because there is no way it is a highway. It is much worse than the road to Prudhoe that I drove in the white Bird a couple of year ago.

Problems:
Dodge Ram 2500-none;

New Aluma trailer was lucky to make it back. Now counted 6 broken welds, tightened over 50 bolts, had hydraulic tilt mechanism 1 turn from falling off, license plate bolt mounts fell off, lost both extra spare tires when they broke welds and fell off, light wiring broke. But I completed all repairs today, remounted spares in different spot, fixed other issues and ready to go again.

Black Ice Superbird. Well I was able to get it there and somehow drove it up on the trailer in the Arctic at the end of the northern segment. The right front brake line failed-easy fix; a heater hose clamp failed-easy fix. I thought the MSD failed but it was a wiring short, I fixed it once at Ft Nelson BC, then failed again 300 miles later, fixed it again in a panic stop at Muncho Lake in a bad mountain pass. Then I did a stupid crazy thing and bypassed the ignition switch running directly off starter relay because by God I was going to get it to the Arctic, and I did. By the end at the ARctic I had the window down, and was covered in mud and bugs because the steering column had smoke coming out of it on the Dempster and I was ready to jump out if it burst into flames-I had to pull it on the trailed by the ARctic with the starter engaged, then jumped out and unhooked the battery. Yes I know how stupid that was but by God at 71 years old I still set my goals and I will meet them. Ooh-Rah!

Now as to a post trip summary: 7,866 miles in 14 days (took 1 day off for car show in Edmonton). Truck averaged 15mpg. No flats or broken windshields. Trailer all fixed. I have now replaced ignition switch, dash and engine harness in black car and all is great with it.

We have pressure washed the truck 3 times, and run it through a car wash once, but it is still not the way I want it. The trailer was pressure washed twice-that's enough.

Black Ice-pressure washed 3 times, gentle hand wash twice, still needs at least 2 more washes.  Paint has 5-10 chips but nothing real bad-going to detail it with a pro next weekend. It only averaged 11 MPG (the old white one got 12.5 on both Alaska trips), but it ran great without engine, tranny, clutch or rear end or suspension issues-probably because of the advance prep work,

Cameras-we ran 3 Go Pros (1 forward and 1 on each side) the entire trip. Ryan had a 10' selfie extension pole with a 360 degree camera suction cup mounted to the back of the Bird (you can see it in a few places) and I am awaiting the guys getting me access to that! They also ran 20 hours of some kind of special TV camera film that is supposed to come back this week, plus hundreds of stills and cell phone shots. I haven't really seen anymore than you guys at this point.

Memories: My Gosh, where to start? At the Pelly River crossing in Yukon we stopped for gas and snacks and 20-25 First Nation folks swarmed us with questions, pictures, love for the car and more, and we have film of this and everything else. Somewhere on the Dempster we stopped on an iron bridge that had an iron river merging with a regular river right in front of us-what pictures!. We stopped at 1 place on the Dempster and just sat in awe of the 100 mile views in all directions. The people on the trip were incredible, starting with the Western Mopar Madness car show in Edmonton. We have some pictures of the car in a blooming bright yellow canola field leading off to the horizon in North Dakota. On the North Klondike Highway we had a trucker follow us for 10-15 miles just to talk when we stopped at a rest area and he owns a 69 Charger and loved Mopars. In Eagle Plains all the way up at the Arctic we stopped at the only hotel in 500 miles for the night and breakfast and the guests all came out to look at the car, talk, and tell me I was crazy to drive it there.

Well, that's more than enough. But the next time you hear someone say that "those guys never drive them" tell them bullshit-you know a crazy old fool with 11 wing cars that has driven to Alaska twice, Key West and the Arctic Circle-they don't just sit around to be admired.
Thanks guys
Bob

[Dave Kanofsky]

A M A Z I N G.

Glad it went so very well.

[b5blue]

  Thanks for posting!

[Pinballjim]

Hey Bob...   Did ya jump in the water whilst playing "Inagodadavida"?   

Looking forward to the videos!!

Jim

[Charger_Dart]

What an amazing trip!

[KurtfromLaQuinta]

received email earlier today from Bob new picture & info   

That Top of the World road can be rough for sure.
But a beautiful drive. And all you see from horizon to horizon is trees.

[taxspeaker]

Pictures unbelievable 7688 round trip miles in 13 days. Dempster highway is past the top of the world highway, mud and gravel, 500+ miles and primarily tundra-too far north for trees.

[b5blue]

Your amazing, so much respect to you! 

[426HemiChick]

Way to go Bob. Keep going and never stop. We only pass through life once, you're making it a great and unique trip.

Have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas

Best Always
Chris

[taxspeaker]

And to you too! I know that dog in your signature!
Article on trip coming in Wall Street journal in the next few days-just finished interview.
Probable heading "Elderly Mopar guy with Dementia Escapes institution, drives to Arctic in 55 year old car"

[taxspeaker]

There have been lots of questions about how Black Ice held up.

Even with all of my advance planning, the roads were 10 times worse than both of my 2 prior trips.

The brakes failed at Edmonton, Alberta before we even hit the Alaska Hwy. We bled them at the Western Mopar Madness car show and that seemed to fix the issue until the next day about 60 miles into the AK Hwy the front brakes failed completely. I did not have a master cylinder with me (of course) and decided to press on anyway. I just replaced it today finally.

About 600 miles north of Edmonton, or 300 miles into the AK Hwy we had an electrical failure and had to load the car on the trailer for the rest of that day. Fixed it early the next morning in Ft Nelson BC, and then about 300 miles north it began smoking out of the steering column in the middle of a landslide at Muncho Lake. I thought about it, bypassed the ignition switch like an idiot and pushed on. By the time we hit the Dempster Hwy final 580 miles of dirt road it was smoking and arcing constantly so I drove with the window down in 37 degree rain in case it caught on fire and I had to bail. By God, I wasn't stopping 500 miles south of the Arctic after driving nearly 4,000 miles to get there.

By 250 miles into the Dempster the cast iron steering gear had cracked at the top and we kept going with stop leak, power steer fluid and eventually just engine oil in the box-it was ruined anyway and I was down to a few hundred miles to go.

The car still ran great and shifted fine and now the rear end was whining pretty bad, but we could literally see the Arctic 25-30 miles away and somehow the old Bird limped, wheezed and leaked the rest of the way, at which point it was time to put it on the trailer and haul it home. It had several inches of caked on calcium chloride from the roads and we have pressure washed it 1/2 dozen times, clay barred the exterior and cleaned many undercarriage areas. It has been on the lift pretty much since the return.

On the return trip Jason (our videographer who went with me and my son too) was visibly sick from Covid or something, and outside Minneapolis some idiot stopped in a construction zone in a driving rainstorm and I had to drive off of the side of the interstate, somehow avoiding a jack-knife. Put the truck in 4-wheel drive and dragged that trailer back on the interstate and went on.

The paint looks fantastic still, with 5-10 more minor chips and the car is drivetrain sound, never having used even 1/2 quart of oil.

Since getting home I have had to:
1. Rewired the entire dash
2. Replaced dash limiter based on STeve Cutler's advice-the gauges were fluctuating all over and that road, that road
3. Replaced the master cylinder and 1 brake hose
4. Have bought a new steering gearbox and pitman arm and will replace this week
5. Replaced broken heater hose clamp
6. Relocated water temp sending unit that had snapped off on the Dempster Hwy
7. The guys posted a teaser video with some great shots on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw4m5e7rhxE&t=89s
8. The 164 page book with over 200 pictures has been finished and is now in hand, and will be posted on the JenningsWIngCars.com home page in a couple of weeks-we are redoing that page this and next week.
9. I have asked Jason, our videographer at work, to produce a 30 minute video story of the Dempster. We recorded the entire trip on 3 GoPros, a drone, a 360 degree camera on a pole over the wing and a shoulder mounted TV camera-the guys have 5 Terrabytes of material and it is time to post some videos. They will also be on the JenningsWIngCars You Tube channel.
10. We will never get all of the mud and muck off of the underside of the car. We have pressure washed the underside and wiped down dozens of areas, but it will just never come fully clean.

As of right now we do not have any plans for 2025 car shows-we won't be making Carlisle for the first time in many years, but I am looking at 2 or 3 late summer options in August or early September. With 11 wing cars now in the shop and maybe a 12th after the first of the year, we are also considering opening it up for shop tours 1 Saturday a month this spring.

Work and age have kept me off of the board for many months, but work will finally slow down around mid January so hope to catch up on all of the good stories on here. Sadly, Facebook seems to have taken over and I don't do that much, so am starting to get out of touch.

Thanks guys-watch that video above the guys did a good lob and its free.

Bob

[held1823]

Great stuff, Bob. Thanks for sharing.

The annual aero gathering is in Evansville for 2025. We shall see how many of the twelve are ready for a great weekend. I may need to rent one of the cars, lol, as the odds of having mine back together by the event are not in my favor.

[taxspeaker]

Thanks Ernie. Will consider it. Looking at Moparfest in Ontario right now in August or going to Newfoundland for the Dartmouth Dodge Mopar Show.

[Dave Kanofsky]

"maybe a 12th after the first of the year" - you can't keep us hanging like that!

And MoparFest is a great time!  I went a few years ago and the crowd and selection  of cars is terrific!  With no classes and no trophies people bring all sorts of cars - wagons, 4 drs, malaise, etc.

Sounds like the Black Ice car took a beating of engineering validation level proportions.  Glad it and you "survived".

[DD]

Thanks Ernie. Will consider it. Looking at Moparfest in Ontario right now in August or going to Newfoundland for the Dartmouth Dodge Mopar Show.

Hope to see you at Moparfest!

[Unwind]

Good day everyone. 
Bob - thanks for sharing your trips.  Every time a wing unit goes out for a ride, seems that something goes down that is worth a memory.... you take it to another level. We all ride with you waiting for the next leak, crack, drip, smoke, fire, clunk, WTF?  Awesome...

Possible 12th wing....perfect.    My Dad used to say "this car thing, it's a disease.  I think the cure is to get one more...". And he drove his cars, if it rained, so what.  He went to a car gig ('38 Lincoln Zephyr) on a gravel road in the rain (=mud) Quote from Dad: "it's a go car, not a show car...". 

And Dartmouth is in Nova Scotia.  Newfoundland is a ferry ride.
Bob Urwin

[taxspeaker]

Dave-12th is a continual multi-year work in progress I don't want to jinx. Let's just say I don't have one like this one-very cryptic but you ,ight be able to figure it out.

We replaced the steering gear in Black Ice and it is all ready for the road again.

Don, Moparfest is a good possibility but it is only a 10 hour drive! I still like the Nova Scotia trip Bob, but if there was a show in Newfoundland in mid-late August that would be #1 on my list since I only have 3 unvisited provinces maybe I could run over and get New Brunswick and PEI! That would leave only Nunavit and I don't think I can drive to that one.
Still like the idea of 1 of them in 2025-other ideas welcome.
And, Merry Christmas everyone
Bob J

[NHCharger]

Very cool. Watched the videos, then I google earthed your trip, looked at the area you drove through and thought "This guy is fuckin nuts"  
Bummed that I won't get a chance to catch up with you at Carlisle next year.

[moparstuart]

Very cool. Watched the videos, then I google earthed your trip, looked at the area you drove through and thought "This guy is fuckin nuts"  
Bummed that I won't get a chance to catch up with you at Carlisle next year.

Fn nut  or Wing Car National treasure   its a fine line for sure  LOL