For more information you can JC's web site: http://diablo.newmedialabs.net/SCE/

JC Hamlin's traveled from Minneapolis, Minnesota to show us his 2002 Diablo Millenium Roadster and I do have to say, it is a beautiful car. This Roadster was built by Shelby Custom Exotics. It has a Supercharged 700hp 5.7L 8cyl with 5-speed, ABS, climate control,
competition Alpine 12 speaker Stereo/CD/TV/DVD/MP3/NAV which sounded great!

This is JC standing next to both of the car that he brought to this show, he also brough with him a beautiful Ferrari F50.

I flew out to Lexington, KY the Sunday March 30th to inspect the trailer and make the purchase.

Then that week I borrowed my friends 2002 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Duramax Diesel pickup to tow the trailer (nice friend, let me put 10,000 miles on his truck in exchange for paying 50% of the cost of getting it setup for 5th wheel towing and 100% of the oil changes and scheduled maintenance).

First stop on the morning of Friday April 4th, Anoka, MN to get the electronic trailer brake control module installed. Then we left for real on the road trip at 10pm.

Second stop, Elkhart, IN at 8am Saturday monring to pickup the 5th wheel trailer hitch and extended side mirrors.

Third stop, Lexington, KY at 4pm Saturday afternoon. We installed the 5th wheel hitch in the pickup, installed the extended kingpin on the trailer, and wired up the electric over hydraulic brake system. We got underway Sunday afternoon and headed for Richland, WA to pickup the cars. Wow a 48' trailer is a huge beast. Talk about having to learn how to drive all over again.

Fourth stop, at a scale and found too much weight on the rear axle of the pickup, so we stopped at a salvage yard and bought a ton (2000lbs) of tin in three 670lb 3x3x3 subes for $150 and put them in the back of the trailer. That did the trick.

Fifth stop, Richland WA. Sold the ton of tin for $20 at a local recycling plant.

Sixth stop, Shelby Custom Exotics. Finally. We got the truck and trailer ready to haul the cars (tie down chains, straps, d-rings, air suspension for the rear leaf springs on the pickup -- the trialer was a bit heavy). Got the cars ready, polished up, and loaded. Loaded the trailer weighs 19,800 lbs. Total GVW (with pickup) is 27,400lbs! Wow, that's a ton (actually, it's almost 14 tons). Heaviest thing I've ever driven.

Seventh stop, Buena Park, CA, AHA show. Arrived at 5am Saturday morning (4 hours before the show) with a dead trailer battery. I forgot to turn off the trailer lights and killed the battery. I borrowed a jumper cable from Luis at Wild Rides (thanks Luis) and got the battery jump started so we could run the winches to lower the rear door and winch the cars out.

Relax at the AHA show (as much as you can with a constant crowd of onlookers with questions). ;-) Man was I tired, but happy to be there alive, on-time, and with undamaged cars. ;-)

Eight stop, 5900 miles, return to Richland, WA to SCE to drop off the Diablo for final work and final engine tuning. We left the truck, trialer, and car and drove the F50 home.

And finally, ninth stop, 7500 miles later, return home to Minneapolis with the F50.

So, up and down through the mountains, that Duramax Diesel tugged that heavy load, maintaining 55mph and passing semis all the way. I'm now a Chevy fan! That truck is awesome.

I managed to not hit a thing with truck, trailer, or cars (besides having to drag the trailer's rear wheels over a curb or two when the corner was too tight) -- even despite driving through such treacherous areas like Sacramento at rush hour, or the narrow windy streets in-town in Salt Lake City midday, circling traffic circles and all. It's amazing. ;-)

And after all that, we made the show at Knotts, won first place with both cars, made it back home, alive, safe, and cars undamaged.

We fly back to Richland, WA on Friday May 9th to take final delivery of my car (yay! after four years!) and let the adventure continue driving back home, then to Carlisle, and then back home again (another 3500 miles).

Sounds like fun, eh?

-J.C.

P.S. The things we do for cars...

------------------
Check out my build site: http://diablo.newmedialabs.net