Ryan's 'Rivera Junkie' post had me laughing out loud and thinking seriously at the same time: Driving a totally new-to-you car, that you don't know at all, thousands of miles back home. Sure, most of us have done it at one time or another... But your... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
I love these adventures and have done it a few times over the years. A buddy of mine gave me some really, good advise that I've used with success. If you fly in to get the car, get a large, heavy duty cooler and fill it with your tools and typical spare parts that you made need and some fluids. Then ship the cooler to where you're going to pick up the car. Then when you get there, you have the needed parts and tools and then you can fill the cooler with food and "fluids" for youself! Sounds simple but has worked great for me more than once. It's funny how you never really relax until you get home and how wore out you are from being on high alert for the duration of the trip! What a kick ass adventure though!!! GO MAN GO!!!!
2000 miles of fear, fright, and fun man... Times two no less... I'm certain one of us will break, but I'm also pretty confident we will get home one way or another. Adventure.
as always have FUN, lifes way to short for the drama and bs, a small fire extinguisher for the enexpected is a good thing also. Be safe, you driving the green or blue one first leg?
I flew out to Sacramento, Ca from Sioux City, Ia (one way ticket) when I bought my '50 F1 289, C4, 9". Drove it to Cyprus that day and a few days later headed back to Ia. I hit rain in Fontana of all things....turned on the electric wipers....they swiped 3 times and stopped........found my way into downtown Fontana got pointed to a garage. Wiper motor was toast. Had one delivered by my sister that day. The fellow put it all back together.......no rain the rest of the way back and no other issues. It was a GREAT trip! Enjoy!
I've done the "road trip" more than once, and always had fun. I can't remember any of them turning really bad, but I always go prepared. And then there were a few times I just knew there was no chance to drive it and drug the trailer for insurance. Enjoy Ryan!
Stress and anxiety aside, it's those mishaps and incidents that make for better stories, after-the-fact... so, in that vein, here's hoping that yours are both minor and hilarious.
I've done many times..always turned out ok. Best one was taking a greyhound bus to North Dakota in early spring where I bought a 65 el-camino from "Eyeball"...ran through a snow storm on the way up but it had melted off by the time I came back through.
Bought an old Cessna once sight un-seen and flew it out of Love Field Dallas all the way to Central CA. found the guy I bought it from had put the bulb for the Gen light in the glove box so it wouldn't show it wasn't charging. Made it home, just had to charge the battery every time we stoped. Good luck, be safe!
Around 1990, I bought a decent '60 Pontiac in Jacksonville, FL and drove it home to Minneapolis. Had the wheel bearings replaced before departing (ball bearings=$$$), but didn't catch the leaky master cylinder until I was on the road. No problem; I bought a can of brake fluid, and topped up the master every time I stopped for gas. Brrrrr!
I bought a 34 Ford Fordor in the Phoenix area last January and drove it to Seattle. I left on Friday afternoon and got home Sunday night. On Saturday night I stayed in Danville and woke up to a flat left rear tire. We put 40# of air in it to get me to a nearby tire store and I ended up driving it all the way home. On Monday morning the tire was flat again. When the tire shop broke it down the valve stem fell off of the tube. I guess because tubes run hotter than tubeless it added enough pressure to seal.
My wife and I took my dodge custom on a thousand mile trip to pick up her 60 caddy, checked everything but the wipers and high beam lights. Return trip was wet and got dark before we got home. I was not very popular when I left her behind for the last 50 miles and she ran out of gas. Cars made it home, I nearly didn,t. Cheers
First time I tried such a feat I ended up with a flat and no spare...man did I feel stupid! Second time around no issues, but you better believe I checked for a good spare prior! Live and learn!
Best fun I've had was flying up then driving back in my roadster when I got it. No tools, no spares, lots of warm clothes and nine hour drive home! Weather forcast was wrong it got hot, battery cable came off and we drove through a swarm of bees. Great memories indeed...
Hot late night, windows open, empty roads, Stevie Ray Vaughan Riviera Paradise playing, Oh yeah! Have fun and stay safe Ryan.
The best times I have ever had were picking up Old cars, trailers or RV's and getting them home. Fueled by anxiety is the best.
A few years ago now I flew to the opposite end of the country, on a one way ticket, to pick up a car I had bought, sight unseen. Left the guys house and went to get gas.....no key for the locking cap! Remedied that with a cap from the gas station. Headed North out of town....charge light came on.....I thought "I can live with that". I knew the head gasket was a bit dodgy before I left so kept filling the radiator. 40 miles, after leaving, in the middle of God only knows where, the engine is getting way too hot and its dark by that time too, I decide to stop for the night in a roadside pub. Next morning (Sunday)head South to the nearest garage and beg to use the guys workshop to fix head gasket. He relents, I tear the head off and order parts from town 40 miles away. I wait all day for parts to arrive on the evening courier. While waiting, I charge battery knowing generator not working. Head gasket set arrives at 5pm. 5.45pm on the road hightailing it North to try and catch a ferry to the North Island. Making good time, but generator starting to protest with no loading, chewing out bearings. I decide to put lights on as late as possible so I don't drain battery. Turn on light switch.......no lights! Argh! Lights will only work when stalk is pulled back to flash position! Moonlit evening driving like a bat out of hell with no lights on and a generator screaming at me! Follow a bus for as long as possible.....getting real dark now. Lights on for corners only....save charge.....squint in the moonlight. Made it to a town and grabbed the first accomodation seen. Monday morning car starts on charge that is left. Straight to auto sparky to fix. He has a rebuilt generator for the 40 year old car sitting on the shelf!! with no pulley. "I have one of those" I offer....so we sort that. Bad contact on dip switch fixes lights. Leave town and race to the ferry.....get there 24hrs late for the ticket! Swap ticket for next ferry leaving in 5 minutes! Make the ferry......last car on....which means first off at other end! Woohoo! ferry docks on North island....I head for the hills. Stopping only for fuel! Next fuel stop half way home pick up 18 year old damsel in distress and younger sister (her car didn't fare as well as mine and died). Passengers make rest of trip quicker. Drop them off in Auckland and only 100 miles to go to get home.......generator light comes on again! Only a loose wire this time....fixed. 2 hours later 1am roll into driveway and crawl into bed!!!!!! Would do it all again in an instant. Road trips are adventures like Huck Finn used to have!
very nice written again, Jive-Bomber! thanks, always enjoy what you're typewriting. and to Ryan: i don't scare you with another once-i-bought-story just wish you have a nice trip and good memories in it (in the trip AND in the 'nu car'). Carsten
Many years ago I was living in Hartford, Conn. with two other guys. It's a long story why we were there, let's just say we were continuing to pursue our misspent youth. A friend from Santa Fe, N. Mex. thought we were having way too much fun and decided to join us. He soon found out that our situation was not as he had pictured. He brought some money with him and bought a nice '40 Ford Standard Coupe. Now he was stuck with us as his fortune was all tied up in the car. About that same time I got a notice to report for a selective service physical. We decided to drive back to Santa Fe in the Ford. Me for the physical and he for more secure surrounding. All went well, until we discovered that if we drove over 50 m.p.h. the Ford would consume a lot of oil. At 50 we could do a quart every 50 miles. We bought gallon cans of recycled oil and used that to keep the oil up to level, stopping every 50 miles to top off. This was before the interstate highway system, and don't recall that our slow road speed was a problem. We spent the first night outside of Washington, D.C. Slept out in a park. The next night was spent by the highway near St. Louis, Mo. Can't do that these days. We finally arrived back in Santa Fe after a long drive from St. Louis. Remarkably, the car ran well never giving us any over heating or engine problems. Ahhhh, what we did when young, and got away with. (o[]o)
I flew back to ND three summers ago to pick up the T bucket my grandpa and I had built out of spare parts from the farm they had moved away from two years prior. The car had not been outside a 60 mile radius since being complete, but grandpa loaded me up with all his tools and spare parts we could fit into a custom crate we built to sit on top of the already chalked full bobbed pickup bed. Even though the adventure took place over the fourth of july weekend I saw 100 degree weather, rain, and hail all without a roof, hood or fenders. Broke the main leaf of the front buggy spring coming into Missoula and the only spring shop in town opened Saturday the 4th to fix it for me. My only hiccup of the trip. One of the best times of my life, only wish my grandpa could have ridden along with me. Can't wait to have a reason to do something as "stupid" again.
I drove an old 240Z from San Luis Obispo to Phoenix in the middle of summer.Bad tires,funky wiring,packed full of antique radios and a surfboard on top.Made it with some careful driving.I remember that trip fondly.