We started the day at Chrysler’s Saint Louis Assembly plant in Fenton, Missouri. This was where the GTX we’re towing was built 43 years ago. The 5 million square foot facility is split into two complexes; North and South.
I didn’t realize it when I planned this trip, but the larger South facility (that once housed the assembly line the GTX was built on) is being torn down. The North facility is still standing, but there are fears that if it doesn’t sell, it too will be razed.
We towed the GTX over the I-40 to a frontage road that has served this Chrysler plant since 1959. We drove into the middle of the facility, and unloaded the GTX from the U-Haul trailer at the corner of Mraz Lane and Dodge Drive. Then, the three of us each took turns driving the GTX up and down Mraz Lane, passing by parking lots, fences, and buildings this car last saw in 1967.
Being at the plant was a melancholy experience. It was cool to be there, where thousands (millions?) of cars and trucks had been built since the ’50s, including short-bed Dodge Ram diesel pickups. But it was also very sad. In the light of a perfect warm October morning we saw dozens of excavators picking apart the South facility. While the North plant, where the trucks were built, sat quietly like an inmate on Death Row.
We gazed out into the greatness that once was this American mecca—grateful that we could be there to see the plant before it was no more, but heart broken at the same time, wishing there was something we could do to save the place.
When we had our fill, we loaded the car back up, and bid farewell to Saint Louis Assembly. We talked about the plant, and wondered if there was a heaven for old manufacturing facilities. Seeing the place pass into our memories, like the Route 66 that runs near it, was an unexpected part of the trip.</span>
We rolled out onto I-44, and checked out the caves that line this part of Route 66. Then we stopped at the worlds largest rocking chair. We wondered how someone builds such a thing. The three of us would never ask why someone would build such a thing.
East of Springfield, MO, we stopped for fuel, checked the Cummins’ oil, and noticed the Filter Minder for the air filter was in the Red zone. Shane said he asked the dealer to replace the filter, but the one we took out appeared to be the original piece, pre-filter and all. We bought a replacement Wix element, and popped it in behind an auto parts store. We joked the Cummins’ fuel economy was going to be so good now, that we'd be making fuel.
It occurred to me that we could have taken the GTX on this trip without regearing the rear axle. Route 66 is a road best travelled slowly—there’s no need for Overdrive on a trip like this.</span>
]We decided we couldn't miss the original 13 miles of Route 66 that through Kansas, so we cut way off the main road, and snapped some pictures of the truck on the Rainbow Curve Bridge—the last remaining Marsh Arch bridge on Route 66. It was built in 1923.