Lets hear your stories about flying in somewhere, buying a car and driving it home. just had an experience with a buddy where we flew into Burbank CA and drove a car all the way home to MN. i wont tell too much, there will be a compete thread with his story. but i wanted to hear what others have done, things they encountered, problems, fixes etc. let me say it was an awesome, and interesting journey!!!!
I'm doing it next week. Flying into San Diego, and driving a '63 Dart wagon 2000 miles up the coast to Alberta Canada. Trip thread to follow. If we get home
do what we did and hit up a harbor freight and load up with tools and supplies. they were a complete life saver!! wouldnt have made it without the tool kit, even had a coupon for it!
Bought a Lincoln on ebay in Ft Lauderdale (flew in)... An E350 in Ohio (took the Greyhound)... Three Kenworths in TN (drove down)... A Peterbilt in Memphis (took the AMTRAK City of New Orleans.. a blast by the way)... An F150 in Ohio and another Lincoln in KY (same trip... drove down)... A Freightliner in Houston (I was there already... my co-driver dropped me off at a motel and I took a cab to get the truck)... A '47 Plymouth in Austin (towed it home... after we caught the Round-Up....) Every trip went well... drove them all back without any tags, too.
I've checked into it, and I can take a toolbox as checked baggage, so I'll be able to bring the basics, then just have to pick up a gas can, fluids and sort of thing before we strike out.
we thought about checking bags with tools too, but you really have to watch the weight depending on which airline
I bought a (much lowered) 62 VW bug in Portland Oregon flew in and drove it back to Iowa in 04. It was cold in the mountains in early April in a car with no heat. The left headlight started pointing to the sky the first night in the mountains good thing I had tools. The drive was beautiful seen places I had never seen before. The best part of the whole trip was my then 76 year old father went with me. We talked about things you never have time to talk about in daily life. I do not have the car any longer but I will always remember the time i spent with my old man who I am happy to say is 83 years young and still going strong.
I bought an OT car for my wife in Cincinnati. It was a 1950 mile trip. I flew in on a Thursday evening and was home Sunday at noon (including a 24 hour stop-over in Saskatchewan to visit a buddy). That trip included a 17 hour, 1300 mile drive on Friday. The Minneapolis-Minot drive almost drove me insane! I did the same thing though. I threw some tools together in a small sports bag that I checked for the flight down. Good luck.
Went to Ohio for a 51 Packard. Drove it home to Tucson. Theres a fella here that sells everything for those and we showed up with a full tune upkit, carb kit, and fresh soft parts for the brakes. He said it ran and it did. He was Mightily impressed we had all the parts. It did require a trip to the Parts store. After two days of foolin around with the car, we had a decent mostly safe car and a real good friend. I gotta call Tom and do that again.
Did it twice, one with my 50 Olds 98 (Pennsylvania) and one with my 58 Buick(east Ohio) back to OZLAND. No problemas, ran great. Tools are good precautions, but where are you going to get them there parts for some of the oldies? The pinheads at AZ, and O'R wouldn't know where to start on their computers! I simply didn't think about breakdowns! Got lucky! Both previous owners told me that the cars were as roadworthy as possible and had services done on them. One thing to remember, the oldies are a hell of a lot easier to get running then these techno vehicles these days. Good luck to all!
Me and a buddy flew to Denver and drove a '64 Riviera back to Columbus, Ohio. It was the middle of March and the weather was perfect! 60's and sunny the whole way. A week or so later they had a blizzard out there. The car was better than expected and we made it back without buying any tools or extra parts and had no problems! Definitely a fun trip.
http://66.154.44.164/forum/showthread.php?t=525272 Above is the thread where I talk about my my trip where I flew into NE and drove a day and a half to Southern AZ. In a modified 32 roadster. It was so cold at night through CO. I was probably in the first stages of hypothermia.
My buddy is in the airforce. While at edwards airforce base in california, he looked for a car. found a ot 68 barracuda. It sat non op for a few years. Bought it, tuned up and drove straight through to pittsburgh pa. No problems.
Not me but my friend sold his 56 Chevrolet pickup to a east coaster. 6 cyl 3 speed. The guy flew into San Jose with his wife and drove it over 3000 miles. Got within 30 miles of home and the generator failed. He just kept driving and made it the rest of the way home.
Biggest trip from Hell to Heaven! Flew to Arizona because I bought a car unseen from a Little old Lady here in Wisconsin! I trusted that everything she said was true... and it was true... but it wasn't how she remembered it. It was an O.T. 1973 Eldo Convert with 30K original miles on it... according to the receipts from her deceased husband... the car was loaded and had a Special option of a Limited edition 500 cube and 500 H.P. limo engine! Yep... right on his "Special Order" from the factory and when I saw that I had to have it! So I started asking her many questions and she told me that it was in a garage at their winter home in "Sun City" AZ and told me that she had been paying a mechanic monthly to run the car and maintain it for the past 2 years and that it was ready to drive anywhere! I thought how cool is that...? So based on that information and a couple of very old photographs when they drove the car from their Illinois home to it's current resting place we agreed on a price that was derived from a" Hemmings Motor News" and a "Collectors Guide to values" and I felt was a tad high because she recalled the condition to be "Exquisite" which I didn't see on any of the "Number Charts" in any magazine... but non-the-less I trusted her memory as truth! So the trip was planned for the middle of November! She called her "Mechanic friend" to pick me up at the airport. She said that since I was coming back to Wisconsin wouldn't it be great if she could have her neighbor load up the car with some personal belongings to bring back to her. So I agreed to that as well...! Ever have a little voice in your head that tells you something is wrong???? "Pay attention to it"!!!! When I arrived in Phoenix I was met by an elderly gentleman with a walker and he introduced himself to me and I looked at this frail man and stated... "So you're the mechanic?" and he said yes! So we proceeded to walk out to his car located in the short term lot and after we stopped a few times so he could rest we finally arrived at his car... now I was getting more nervous by the minute as I helped him into the car and he fidgeted with the keys for what seemed to be an eternity. After we got on the road I thought that I'd clarify to find out what stuff he had done to the car the past two years to which he said he put a battery charger on it when Mary called to tell him that the car was sold!!!! Ding... Ding.... Ding... wth????? So then I asked him if she was paying him to keep the car drivable all these years and he said that she stopped paying him about ten years ago shortly after her husbands death and when his own health was failing! (Jeeez Loueeze...) Then I asked him if the car turned over? And he said it did but it wouldn't start! At this point I was thinking... "How do I get my money back for this car and that I wasted a one way plane ticket to AZ!" "But "Noooooo" I WAS COMMITTED" (and I should've been!) So he drove me to the garage where the car was and I was thinking... if I can get the thing started I'd take a chance driving it back and if it doesn't I'll find a way home and leave it there until I could arrange hauling it home. Well as soon as he opened the door I could see about ten years of dust covering the whole car except for the hand prints around the hood where the mechanic touched the car to put the dusty charger on the battery and where the neighbor had opened the door and trunk to place her personal stuff in the car that I was to return to Wisconsin. Amongst the personal Stuff there was a "HUGE Stuffed Santa Clause" This was so big it took up the passenger side of the car and made it difficult to see around it... so I moved it to the back seat and realized I couldn't see anything out the back window! He told me that the keys were in the ignition and That I might have to "Pump the gas pedal for a while".... So after checking the oil... I hopped in and turned the engine over and pumping the snot out of the gas pedal... "Nothing"... so I grabbed a gas can and poured some gas down the carb... hopped in the car ... hit the key and it fired right up!!! Whoo Hoo.... little did I know that this is "Not the O.K. sign to jump in the car and run it cross country with out tools or parts! So I let it idle for about an hour to make sure the thing wouldn't overheat on me and I shifted from park to Drive and reverse to make sure the tranny worked and I jumped in the car to drive it cross country! Nothing was working on the car except for the radio and electric seat and as soon as I tried something on the car... Like air conditioning... lights... heater... I'd get a puff of smoke or a whine telling me that there were issues on this arthritic vehicle and that meant I had to find another "PEP BOYZ" quickly! I think I bought parts from every "PEP BOYZ" in the state of Arizona... Belts, hoses, thermostat, had to cut off the air conditioning belt when that seized and "Jury Rigged" another belt to drive the water pump and alternator which both failed farther down the road. The gas gauge wasn't working from the start... it was stuck on "FULL" even as I was stranded on the side of the road for hours with an empty tank! So I hitched a ride from a guy in a Pick up truck towing another pick up on a trailer that was loaded with his brothers and friends to the point where two of the boys were riding in the truck on the trailer! Apparently his brothers truck broke down while they were on a drunken roadtrip! So I had to squeeze myself onto the seat and it was so tight it was difficult to close the door! Well they dropped me off at a gas station 10 miles away from my car and wished me luck! I bought a five gallon gas can and proceeded to thumb it back to the car when a Semi Driver saw my dilemma and gave me a ride to the car now it's about 1 a.m. and the car was across the median so I ran across the freeway right next to the "Illegal Immigrant" crossing sign and dumped the gas in the tank and drove to that station to fill up the "Gas HOG"! When I was at the station a "State Trooper" pulled up behind me and turned on his lights and asked me to show him my license and my registration... as I was pulling out the paperwork to show my new ownership... he asked me if this was the same car stranded on the side of the freeway about ten miles back and I said "Yes". He told me that there was a car load of illegal immigrants parked behind the car and had one of the doors open when another State Trooper spotted them they took off in their car and that trooper caught them and proceeded to out process them to the immigration service! The State Trooper said that Santa Clause scared them away! He said that they were going to tow the car someplace with a chain they had and part it out or sell it in Mexico and that I was a "Lucky Guy" I wasn't there when they arrived. As he was looking at my paperwork he was talking on his radio and he looked at me and said that the plates are expired by a few years and that he would have to impound the car and so I quickly had to explain to him that I had the proper Wisconsin paperwork showing that I bought the car and I was waiting for the Plates! He looked at the paperwork and asked why I didn't take the old plate off the car and explained to me that leaving the old plate on is a very serious offense! I told him I didn't have any tools and he said that if I get the plate off he won't impound the car! I asked him if he had a wrench and a screw driver and he said "NO" so I immediately ran into the gas station and bought a cheap tool kit and removed the plate and at that time he handed me a warning ticket for no plates and took off! Needless to say the trip wasn't going to smooth... it was November I've got a "Huge Stuffed Santa" sitting in my car my hands are cut and greasy... I'm tired and smelly but I was determined to make it and I got to see a bit of the Mother Road Route 66 along the way because that is where most of the repair shops were located!!! Hahaha...! So I stopped at a couple of sights in between repairs and headed North... the temps were dropping quickly and the heater was on "Alaska Only" mode!!! but I had to stop and rest because the snow was scrapping the floor boards as the front wheel drive "clawed" it's way through the slush right down to the ice and I was seeing a bunch of vehicles in the ditch! I pulled into a rest stop and I was surrounded by a bunch of rattling diesels and would hear the pop of the pressure relief valves from the air brakes every couple minutes! I cracked the windows and snuggled up to Santa for a couple hour power nap! I slept like a baby until the roads cleared enough for all the Semi's to line up past me jamming their gears and rattling trailer doors woke me up! Well I shut off the car and headed into the rest building to take a leak and buy a soda and when I came back I noticed a puddle of oil under the car... not a small puddle... but something that looked like 5 quarts type of puddle! I popped the hood and checked the oil and it wasn't on the stick Oh My! So I asked a couple of semi drivers if they had any oil and I bought 5 quarts from a driver and started pouring them in checking the stick after every quart... until I could determine how low I was... 3 Quarts! Now I wanted to see where it was coming from so I moved the car away from the puddle of oil to a spot of fresh snow and I noticed it was coming from the oil pan itself! The Oil pan was rusted through... and I thought to my self "How does an oil pan rust through???" Well apparently even in Arizona as well as other Northern states... if the car doesn't get run long enough to get condensation out of the engine it will gather up in the pan and since oil is lighter than water... the water gets encapsulated below the oil and over a long period of time it could rust out the pan! Well I wasn't going to replace the pan but I went to a Boat store for their wonderful gas tank repair putty and I was laying down in a snow plowed parking lot in Illinois warming up the putty in my cold hands patching the oil pan. The rest of the trip was uneventful except for the few cars that passed me and all their children were waving at my big stuffed Santa! After 3 days on the road and 21 hundred miles... I pulled into her driveway to drop off her BIG STUFFED SANTA and her personal belongings in the trunk... she looked out the window and ran outside with a Big smile on her face yelling... "You've got my SANTA"... "You've got my SANTA"... I miss you Santa! So I pulled him out of the car and brought him into the house for her and told her that I'd get the stuff out of the trunk for her... and when I opened the truck... it dawned on me that it was so full I couldn't get to the spare unless I unloaded everything on to the road and I was thankful the tires held up! On top of everything were big beach towels but underneath the towels were "Rare Paintings"... How do I know they were rare??? I found a shoebox full of insurance papers that itemized the three paintings in the trunk had an insured value of over a Million dollars and I sat there in "Shock" thinking how many times I abandoned the car on the side of the road and all the time with State Troopers snooping inside the car if they were to have seen this stuff I might be still in prison! After I delicately removed the paintings I found a large jewelry box that was packed so full the lid wouldn't close and it reminded me of a "Pirates Chest" full of loot and it was placed in the trunk like it was a old box of dishes! Well I got all the stuff in the house and asked her if she had a safe place where I could put things and she said just put it on the kitchen table which I did and looked at her smiling face as she was placing "Santa Claus" by her Christmas tree and saying I'm so happy to have my Santa back just in time for Christmas! That was the last time I saw her... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1367197&d=1309961773
A long time ago when I was somewhat younger, my wife and I bought a '34 Olds from a guy in Texarkana, Arkansas. We flew into the airport in Dallas, Texas and he met us there with the car. We took it for a test drive, liked the car a lot, gave the guy the money and then hoped back in the car and drove it straight back to Rochester, NY - a trip of about 1600 miles if I remember correctly! It was a blast and we had no problems whatsover; none, zilch. In fact, we were driving in comfort as the Olds (SB Chev powered) even had AC that would freeze us out of the car if we turned it a smidge lower than the highest setting! We loved that car and only sold it when we finished our '33 Buick 90 series Victoria. A bad mistake...
I flew into PHX. to buy a 60 chevy wagon. Had spoken with the place selling it for 3 weeks..making sure all was as advertised. Got there, went to pick up the car.... and there were sooo many things wrong with it, I about choked the guy. Body damage that wasn't able to be seen in pics, 1/2 the stuff he said worked (and I asked him to BE SURE before I went all the way there) didn't work, just one thing after another. Finally walked away, got a ride to a rental car place and drove home. NOT a happy camper.
Yeah, thats going to be one REALLY INTERESTING full thread! Hope I can hear the the absolute, un-abridged truth, in person before it goes viral!!! HA! Glad you guys made it home safely, can't wait to hear the stories and see the car!!
I've done a couple of these trips... A couple years ago, I flew out to Fresno, CA, to buy a '68 Chevy Pickup from Royalshifter (Mark). 2,000 plus miles later, and a stop at El Mirage, I was home. Didn't have a single problem with the pickup - I did pack a few tools and checked my bag. Story here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=380599&highlight=malcolm+el+mirage&showall=1 The second one was a flight to Houston, TX, to drive a '64 F100 back to Omaha. Also bought it from a HAMB member. Made it back without any problems. One problem that I DID run into was the title didn't match the VIN plate on the truck... not even close. I really didn't know what to do at that point. The owner had never even put the truck in his name and claimed he didn't know the numbers didn't match (I still don't 100% believe that). I really should have asked before I ever flew down there, but it's one of those things you just assume is fine. It had a good title, so I never asked if the numbers matched. I decided to go ahead and drive it home and figure things out later. With no help from the seller, I got things straightened out... was still a huge pain in the ass, though! Malcolm
Flew to Houston in '92 and drove my '67 Belvedere I wagon home that I shipped from Belgium. It was a car that was sold new to a funeral home in Antwerp, and used as a hearse. Neat old wagon. Had a minor brake problem on the way to Oklahoma, but I got it home, driving the 500 or so miles without any huge issues. Found a '54 Chevy PU in Joplin, MO several years ago that was advertised as a driver. The seller claimed he drove it from the Twin Cities a few years prior, so I took a chance, drove the four hours to Joplin, and drove the Chevy back to OKC. My big concern upon inspection, were the really old tires, which were probably 40 years old! That made the decision to drive home on the old Rt 66 very easy. I'd have got run over by everything on the turnpike! So, a leisurely 50 mph drive home ensued with no problems to speak of...until I got home, turned the truck off, and the left front tire blew! The next morning, the right front was flat, too. New tires fixed it, and I sold the truck a few days later when a guy drove up the drive and offered me cash that was too good to pass on!
Check out the Pomona Father's day show thread. A COUPLE VERY YOUNG HOT RODDERS GOT A 34(?) they bought on Ebay delivered to their motel in Pomona a couple weeks ago, went to the show all weekend and then drove it...I think over 1000 miles home to Washington state
Just curious. Did most of you drive the vehicle home on the previous owners tags or did you have some sort of dealer/ transporter plates of your own? Not trying to hi-jack an interesting thread here. I've been tempted on occasion to purchase a vehicle many states away and just am unsure of all the legal and or insurance issues with doing such a thing. Any thoughts on this aspect of such an adventure? I apologize to the op, like I said, not trying to send this thread off course.....Don.
The '68 Chevy Pickup I drove back from CA came with the plates that were on it, since that's how CA works plates. The '64 Ford from Texas had a '64 Texas plate on it that I drove home with . I know in Nebraska you are 100% legal if you have bill of sale, proof of insurance, and signed/dated title in hand. You have 30 days to get plates for the vehicle. I've run around with no plates and the correct paperwork and never had problems. Even been pulled over because of no plates and everything was fine once I showed the officer the correct paperwork.
...Wow that is interesting. I would like to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience. Did you call your insurance company prior to driving the vehicle home? Is that necessary or would it be a good idea? Sounds like I'm more worried about the legal ramifications than a potential breakdown. Not sure I have my priorities right here.
Bought an elcamino on ebay a few years back, the add said the car was 100%. We called the seller to ask questions and discuss the deal. Rented a car to drive from Indiana to Pennsylvania, all most to the coast. We get there and the car was a total piece of junk! I was pissed. They agreed to reimburse me for the hotel and rental car (they never did) and we drove back in the rental getting a speeding ticket in PA for 86 in a 50. Expensive ticket! That seller was banned on ebay the next week. Needless to say, pictures can be deceiving!
Bought a 1950 Ford F1 street rodded with 289, auto and rear all from a 66 Mustang. Flew from Sioux City, Iowa to meet him in Sacramento, Ca. Did the deal and drove it with only one minor issue all the way back. Used his plates and signed off ownership. Great trip.
Just don't put any spray cans of anything like WD 40 in the too box. You can use a regular padlock on the tool box if you leave it unlocked and ask that the TSA people lock it after they check it. I do that for people all the time. If you need more info pm me.
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