USA Honeymoon in the Econoline

In 2014 I married my wife Celia and although we had a an amazing wedding day we really focused on the honeymoon which is depicted in this post.

Of course, cars and motorcycles featured heavily in my wedding, I drove myself in the Hilux and my dad drove Celia in his 1966 Mustang.

With the wedding complete and the Hilux packed away in the garage it was time for the honeymoon and thats where things get interesting.

It started in Hawaii and there was a welcoming car show on arrival, Hawaii has a great car culture and the Hilux (or Tacoma) is a popular pickup on the Island.

Just before flying out I ended a 6 month shopping search by finding a car that would allow us to fly into the East Coast of America and travel across the country.

From Hawaii we flew into Boston and then caught a train down to Providence Rhode Island.

The car or van is a 1965 Ford Econoline, I first saw this on ebay, I contacted the seller before the bidding began as I wanted to buy the van outright, the seller wouldn’t tell me the reserve but he would agree to sell it to me for $14,000 and he would remove it off ebay. Desperate for a car I was prepared to pay this amount as the other option was to rent a car and that wasn’t the honeymoon I had imagined. $14,000 was too much but if I had to pay it I would, I decided to bid on it and see where the reserve sat. I had booked all the flights except the one from Hawaii to the USA and waited for the bidding to end on the Econoline, I crossed my fingers and put the $14,000 bid on the last minute. I refreshed the page and I had won the bid for a total of $7,000. I could then book the flights to Boston from Hawaii and the honeymoon was on track!

Seeing the van for the first time was incredible and the seller was a huge help, I headed to the DMV the very next morning and after opening an account at the local bank, getting insurance over the phone and creating some proof of residency paperwork I had the plates and the title ready to start the trip.

The first night involved some carpark mechanics and then a trip to the locksmiths to unfreeze the locks and cut some extra keys. Once all the problems were ironed out we were on our way to New York.

The carb required some new fittings as it was leaking fuel onto the exhaust, this took a long time to diagnose and lucky we did because it solved the fuel smell inside the cabin that was giving us some seriose headaches.

We stayed in Brooklyn and joined a group of friends who had a motorcycle workshop just around the corner of where we were staying. I still chat to the people I met that night.

New York and sorrounds was incredible.

The road out of the city, it was great to get into the country side and get some miles on the old Econoline.

Rain hail and shine, the road east involved plenty of motorsport sights.

Through the Smokey Mountains and past Loretta Lynn’s

The aerodynamics of the van coupled with the slack in the steering made the highways a challenge.

I dropped into see Ron at Supercycle, Ron gave us the tour of the workshop, he helped Elvis build his Trikes and Motorcycles and had a hand in many famous machines, RIP Ron.

We took every oppotunity would could to get onto the slow road of Route 66 to dodge the 90mph trucks.

The states just rolled on by.

The mornings in the mountains were cold, the heater knobs on the van were pulled wide open, the Grand Canyon was a sight we will never forget.

More states rolled by and we entered into Nevada, we enjoyed some of the Vegas delights and set our sights on California.

10 minutes into California and I met a guy who was selling some Cragar SS’s from his Mustang, we swapped some cash and fitted them up to the Econoline.

New shoes looking good!

California, the home of cool, our schedule ramped up with something on every minute of every day.

Sights of custom lifestyle in California.

SoCal spotting.

Down to San Diego and a catch up with Matt Powers.

The Pacific Coast Highway was a world away from Rhode Island.

Dean Walters flew in and joined us for a trip up up to San Francisco.

A trip out to Born Free Show solidified my love for old motorcycles.

After succesfully getting an import approval for the Econoline I decided to try my luck with a few bikes, the van has plenty of room right so essentially shipping would be free, I managed to pick up this 1967 Ironhead from the show.

The Pacific Coast Highway was home for a few days, I managed to spend some golden afternoons with my knees in the breeze, I was living the dream.

We left Southern California behind and took the PCH north.

Rolling past the forests of California

Back into the city that is San Francisco

San Francisco artist Shawn Hibmacronan opened his doors to us and helped modify a few things on the Harley, Shawns Econoline was one of the coolest things I have ever seen, he has become a great friend and someone who I would later spend more time with.

After a great time in San Francisco we took the inland route south, we spent some special nights camped out in the national parks.

Our days in the Yosemite valley were some of best.

Celia found this Bultaco that was on display in a Hollywood pop up art studio, it was for sale and for a reasonable price, having room in the van we decided it was a good idea to bring this home too.

We said goodbye to Dean and headed into the desert for a week.

With the van loaded up, the import approvals complete we were ready to send the Econoline into its shipping container bound for Australia, it was a hell of a honeymoon and something we will remember for the rest of our lives.