Aussie Rod Wade has set his world record at the second attempt and crossed the USA in a 1930 Ford Model A in an incredible 50 hours, 20 minutes and six seconds.
Wade and co-driver Michael Flanders started their epic 3000-mile journey at Staten Island at midnight on 22 November and ended the challenge at Venice Fishing Pier just over two days later by pouring a bottle of Atlantic Ocean water into the Pacific.
The task was by no means easy. With Wade and Flanders' first attempt at the record in October coming to an end with crank failure near Amarillo, this time around they battled through horrendous storms and freezing rain, fog and snow.
At one point the team was having to stop every two miles to scrape the ice of the windscreen, but despite the adverse conditions they soldiered in and officially arrived at 11.15pm on Saturday 23 November.
After completing the task, Wade: “I can’t believe we got here in such a good time. It got scary through Amarillo again but we battled on. If it wasn’t for the weather conditions, we would have done it on 40’odd hours. Maybe next time!”
Wade has already decided on the next epic for the Vintage Adventurer team – Ocean to Ocean again, but this time in his native Australia in June, driving from Queensland to Freemantle and then making the return journey.
