Flew to Santa Rosa, Ca to buy my 65 Riviera. Cool guy sold it to me for $2800. Picked me up at the airport, let me crash the night at his house, made coffee and went over a road atlas with me. It was a beautiful 2400 mile drive back to Baton Rouge, La. No problems, break downs, leaks etc. I truly bonded with that car on that trip. I wanted the car so bad, I didnt care if it broke down! He was comfortable selling it to me because he knew it was going to a good care taker, and I still am. That was 10 years ago.
I bought an OT off evilbay from the feds several years ago. It didn't come with any plates nor any trip permit. I got a trip permit from my DMV in WA which at the time were only a little bigger than a dollar bill. I drove it across three states without any plates and with the barely visible trip permit taped inside my back window with no issues.
Great stories guys, love hearing them. I'm so tempted to talk about our trip, but I will let the new car owner tell the tale. One question, what is an "ot". I'm sure I will catch some crap for not knowing.
When I bought the '60 Starliner that would become May Cause Dangerous, that was the plan. I flew into Burbank with just a bag of tools to check out the car, but had a return ticket just in case I didn't buy it. I took a cab to the guy's house and checked out the car. The body etc. was OK, but the test drive made me VERY leary of a 350-mile drive home. I decided to buy it anyway and was lucky enough to be able to get it picked up by a shipper that afternoon who even gave me a discount because he needed one more car for his load. The seller gave me a ride back to the airport and I made my flight home. The '60 arrived the next day. The rest is history.
I bought a mustang on e-bay and flew from Kansas to St. Louis, from there to Madison,Wis where I met the owner and his Dad and drove another 1 1/2 hrs to see the car. The car was great, so we went to the bank and I was on my way by 1:00 p.m. As it was getting dark I was going down the interstate in Iowa and I discovered it had no low beam on the head lights. I just kept going with 6 hrs. yet to travel as it didn't seem to bother oncoming traffic or cars I passed. I was about an hour from home with little to no traffic when I got flashed on the turnpike by a car going the other way. As I got closer his brake lights came on as he passed as well as his red and blue flashers, fortunately we were separated by a concrete barrier. As I looked in the mirror he was going the other direction still lit up looking for the opening to come after me. I gassed it and fortunately made it to the next toll booth where I got off the turnpike. I took the back roads home and was in the sack by 1:00 a.m. making it a 19 hour day. First thing I did was fix the defective switch.
most states issue a drive-away plate, good for 10/15 days i think. least they did when i was buying cross country.
Back in '06 when I was 23 I flew down to Atlanta to buy this show car. Drive it 4600kms back home in Calgary, Alberta over three days. All I had was $300 to fund the WHOLE trip back... fuck I was stupid back then, thank heavens nothing went wrong. By the third day I was sleeping in the car since Id used up so much money on gas. $1 Cheeseburgers at McDonalds was my whole "diet" until I got back home. Yup. I can finally look back in laugh now... but I was literally saying prayers begging for good luck during the trip.
I got a ride to Denver, then flew to WIS. Drove the '29 875 miles back to NW Kansas. Got a 30 day permit from my DMV be for i left KS.
I have friends that are notaries. My buddy got the proper papers, Copies of licences and title. shipped them overnight. Finished the papers here. Sent him the pink slip and license plate. that is how we did it.
Bought two round trip tickets for my son and I to fly to New Hampshire to buy a Prevost coach.( Round trip in case we didn't like it.) Got to the gate and I couldn't get on the plane. I was in Finland during 9/11, and I haven't been able to fly since. Took the boy home, and rented a Rendevous. A buddy of mine went with me, and we drove instead. I drove until I couldn't keep my eyes open, about 18 hours. We stopped at a motel and rented the only room left at 3:00 AM. Walked into the room to find a red heart-shaped hot tub in the middle of the room and a disco ball above the bed. He said he would kill me if I told a soul. Got up a few hours later and met the guy at his lot. From the road we could tell that it was a pile of junk. I had a check for $135k in my pocket, and I wasn't about to part with it unless it was a good deal. We walked throgh the bus, got in the car, and drove home. 3200 miles in 60 hours. To make matters worse, we had been seeing billboards for Whitecastle, but never saw one. We finally came across one, and we were starving. I think I must have ordered one of everything on the menu, because it was almost $30. The girl sets the bags on the counter, and I hand her a c-note. She informs me that they don't take anything larger than twenties. This place is PACKED, and they had to have had a fortune in the registers. I asked if they took credit cards, and she said no. I said "I hope you are hungry" and left the bags on the counter. Really fun trip.
Sorry for my over worded story above... that was a trip of a lifetime and I'll try to find the photo's! What I'm gathering from this thread and my trip is... don't mess around with your plates... better off not to run any plates and carry the paperwork but if you're running plates from another owner or car it is Fraud and your car can be impounded as well as yourself! Never heard of anyone spending $30 at a "White Castle" most people die after a $5 bag of burgers and for this reason I feel that your life was spared!! Dig the size of that Santa! Sorry for the size of the photo!
..couple times but I always got a buddy to drive me or took a bus. Bought my 48 Pontiac and took a new battery, gas and tools. Good thing it was summer because the back glass was broken out.. Once took a bus to the Fargo N.D. area to bring back a 65 elCamino I bought from our own Eyeball. Encountered a snow storm on the way up from Omaha and Eyeball picked me up at the bus station with the car...always a good sign. Car ran perfectly as did the 48 Pontiac.
Flew from Orlando to St Louyis to buy an OT 73 Marquis Brougham (I miss that car). It was parked by its' airlione pilot owner at an employee lot at St Louis airport, flew in, met the seller, grabbed title and keys, threw on a dealer plate and drove it back to Orlando. Made it back to Orlando fine, was hauling butt too. Got home, fell asleep, woke up the next morning, took the Mercury to get cigs. It blew a radiator hose. Other trip... Me and my dad drove from Orlando to Sarnia, Ontario to pick up my Avatar car (60 Vauxhall Velox) back in April of 01.. drove it back to Orlando and it never missed a beat. Bought it off pics, seller described it perfectly and the car ran great. Think we were gone for about 4 days total, what a trip. In the mountains of TN we ran into some British Tourists who went nuts over it. I flew from St Louis to NJ and drove my E-Type back to southern Illinois when I was in school in the 90s.. got pulled over while flying through Indiana, in the rain, top down, wearing a motorcycle helmet. Cop wasn't sure whether to tell me to get lost, arrest me, ticket me or have me placed in the psych ward. Did have to make a couple of unscheduled stops to "massage" the fuel pump with the knock off hammer. I carried no proper tools or spare parts. Young and stupid, which is why I made it I figure. Bought one of my 58 Bonnevilles like this, had a pre purchase inspection done, wired the money, went to go pick the car up. Got to the airport, Seller didn't answer the phone. Took cab to seller's house in Texas. He left a note on the front door "Sorry had to run out of town, tank is full, keys are under the floormat, have a safe trip". Drove it back to Orlando no problem except a speeding ticket in Louisiana.
I've always wanted to do this but my cars always have to come home on trailers I did have a 56 Willys 4x4 pickup once. I bought it from my friend's Dad. It had been sitting, interior gone, glass shot out, hadn't run in years. I thought it would be my daily driver. I got it home, got it running, lights working, new glass, re-did the seat, bought a couple parts trucks, ect. Finally got it on the road and HATED IT. It was horribly slow and rode like a brick. I put it on Ebay and it sells to a young guy in LA. He ask me if I think it would make it down there? I said maybe... but I told him I had only driven it 20 miles or so and it had sat probably 25 years before that! He said he was up for an adventure and booked a flight up with his wife. They get here, I show em how eveything worked and they took off. He emailed me a week or so later. His wife was sick of it by Portland and flew home from there He ran outta gas a couple times, blew tires, lost brakes, and just plain broke down. But he said he loved it and although it took 7 full days to make it at 45 MPH, it did make it
That is My wife's and I idea of a vacation. We'll buy a different car once a year in afar off state and fly in and drive it home. Out of the 5 times we've done it, Only had one bad trip and it wasn't the cars fault. We bought a 59 Nash Metro for my wife. She had been wanting one for a few years and I said find one and We'll make it our vacation car. She finds a cherry 34k mile yellow and white convertible in Elcampo TX, We fly into Houston. The seller picks use up and takes us to the car, His wife made a great lunch. We payed them and thanked them and were on our way. We were not even half way though Arkansas and my wife turns to me and say " I really don't like this car, Its to small!" That ruined the rest of the trip! Moral of this story is, Make sure you really like the car and really want it!
About 6 years ago when I was living and working in the US I bought a '57 chevy wagon off a guy on ebay. The car was in Denver and we were living in Dallas, so jumped on a plane early saturday morning flew up to Denver with a buddy of mine and preceeded to drive the wagon back to Dallas as quick as possible. All was going well until it started to rain a little bit coming down the interstate so on went the wipers and then off went the passenger side one it flew well off the car and never to be seen again. So we we stopped I wrapped a rag around the arm so it wouldn't scratch the glass and kept going. Made i over the border into Texas around pan handle area and we ran out of gas, would have been a site seeing this red 57 wagon on the side of the road with the hood up and me a tourist trying to hitch a ride back to the gas station we past about 20 mins ago. Anyway this nice family heading in the opposition direction pulled over and gave me a lift back to get some gas. They even took me to the local Walmart to buy a gas can cause they knew the ones at the station were too expensive, then they drove me back to my car. That was really, really nice of them. Off again and my buddy was driving whilst I was napping and he noticed that the light on the temperature gauge didn't work.....ofcourse this was noticed to late as it was nearly off the chart. We pulled over to check it out and saw the fan belt had come loose due to the fact that the top alternator bracket had broken off and of course it broke off the wrong side of the adjusting bolt. Now it was around 1am and we were somewhere in the middle of Texas and the only things open was a gas station and a XXX store. We managed to buy some 100 mile an hour tape and some zip ties (I'll let you imagination run on this one as to which store we got them from) and put enough tension on the belt and taped up the whole alternator bracket and all. From there we managed to get back to Dallas in 1 piece, it certainly was a memorable trip. All the while I was keeping a look out for the cops as the wagon wasn't registered, I just grabbed the licence plate off my pontiac before we left and threw it on the wagon...... I know that was probably the dumbest thing we did all trip. But I look back on it know and remember the good times had by all.
Just about to, fly into Tucson from Australia, drive a '40 coupe back to Long Beach, via Speed Week, and then fly home, with the car catching a boat ride. Can't wait.
Just after 9/11 my wife and I flew from Iowa to Cedar City Utah to pickup a modified FJ40 Land Cruiser. Coming through the mountains after dark in an unfamiliar vehicle was a bit tense. The Winnebago next to me scared the piss out of me more than once. I finally found a road side park, pulled off and emptied my bladder!! That long boring stretch of I80 across Nebraska was welcomed after that. It was a sweet Cruiser, 383, NV3500, full cage, racing harness, ARB air locker, etc...
Dad and I flew out to Albuquerque and I bought my '37 Ford Sedan and drove it back to Springfield, MO. We had a blast, and he's wanting me to sell the '37 so that I can find another car and do it all again. The '37 came from the Colorado Springs area, and had the drivetrain rebuilt a little while back, with a '98 Vortec 350, Turbo 400 and an open drive converted & bulletproofed Columbia 2 speed, slightly narrowed and disc brakes on all 4 corners. Dropped axle front end, stock steering column and gauges...kind of a neat old "revived" survivor. Here's the story http://streetrodder.net/?p=136
I've done it many times, 54 ford that was sitting in a garage with a flat tire and dust all over the car, 40 ford at a swap meet, 91 camaro off ebay, 48 chevy coupe broke down three times and had to finally haul it the last 75 miles, 50 ford convert, it was fun on all the trips, the chevy's usually don't make it but I've always made it home with the fords. Only once did I take tools. Big thing to me is to start out slow and get a feel for the car and see how it runs, it won't take long to know if its a good car or not.
10 years ago I drove from DC to far end of Long Island (7 hours) to get a 69 Citroen DS. Inspected the car when I got there and it had a very sound body (the most important part). The owner let me keep it overnight (local) and I decided to buy it the next morning. Engine was not leaking externally and running steady but a little rough, with some tell-tale steam from exhaust. Wife followed me home and we made it without incident but, as it turns out, the head gasket was leaking into the cylinders and within a year I had to have the engine rebuilt. Still have it.
Not quite a fly & drive but the wife & I (& one great old dog) drove to St.Louis to pick up the Big Black Cadillac. really uneventful other than buying a lot of gas & it was an unforgivingly hot day. That was 10 years ago & we're still together (exept the dog). Cadillac Al
I forgot my story about my 53 Merc Monterey. Flew into Boise, Idaho and the seller picked me up at the airport, in the car! We drove back to his dealership and the car ran pretty well. We filled out all the paperwork and I started down the city streets. The car started stalling and I just thought, well it might need a tuneup. Eventually I got the car to the storage unit (in Boise). Got it put away to pickup later. The storage people got me back to the airport and all was good. Two months later (after moving to Kansas) the wife and I took off to Idaho to get both my 57 F-100 (in Colorado), along with the Merc. Well the U-Haul boys said they cannot put an auto transporter on my F-100, and since our Kia Sorento would not do the job either I told the wife that I guess I am driving the Merc back from Idaho. (We left the F-100 in Colorado and I eventually did the fly and drive thing with it. (This story is coming up) Anyway we get to Idaho, and get the Merc out of storage and it has probably a qt of transmission oil on the ground. So we get to a Walmart and I put some Type F in it. Filled it up with gas and drove to Jackson, Wy. No problems so far. Two days later we head out to home and here comes the problems. The temperature in Wyoming was running in the 90's. Well the car ran fine till we get to I-80. There it starts to stall. I have tools and open up the carb and fuel line. Got a bad case of vapor lock. Well got it running and fill up tank. Get on I-80 and every damn 100 miles (or sooner) the car would die. Fortunately we had COLD water and I iced down some rags and cooled the fuel lines. But here is where the other issues came into play. The damn Highway patrol swung into action and pulled up everytime I had to pull over. Well I had my F-100 plates (Colorado, not expired yet) on it because the 30 day temp had expired. Well the 1st four cops didn't say anything, but that damn 5th cop got me with the wrong plates. He issued me a ticket ($60 frickin bucks) and told me to at least put the temp back on the car. (He said those plates belong to an F-100 owned by the previous owner. I told him that is my truck, just haven't gotten it transferred.) The dude at least didn't get me arrested. Well we got it to Fort Collins and spent the night. The next morning same old vapor lock, but managed to get down the road and filled up again, this time the Octane was 87 and the car liked the higher octane and no more vapor lock the rest of the way home. Back to the F-100, well this one was even weirder. Flew into Colorado and had a taxi take me to the storage yard. No tools! Battery went dead. Walked down to K-mart and got a new battery, fortunately a young dude was there and gave me a ride up the street back to the truck. I put the battery in and one of the cables had maybe 5 strands of wire holding the battery clamp to the cable. Got it started and ran up to the Kragens and got two new battery cables and a couple of wrenches. Installed them, ate lunch, filled up, and on the road. Well it ran really well, so about 7pm I stop for a bite to eat, come out and it is dark out, so I turn on the headlights, NO HEADLIGHTS! Got tailights, but no headlights. So I hot wire the headlights with some wire that was in the truck. Well I get back on the road and all of a sudden the hi-beam indicator comes on and I say WTF. Well got it home, seems the headlight dimmer switch was pretty much shot and if you played with it you could get the headlights to come on. All's well the ends well!
A buddy and I flew from NYC to Dallas to pick up his OT car. Drove it through all of the southern states. Awesome way to see the country. Stopped in Miss to eat at Sonic. First time in Miss and First time at sonic. We pulled up to the speaker box and they had no idea what we were saying and had to come out. First thing from her mouth, "yall not from here, huh?". Incredible 3 days back. Would do it again in a heart beat.
The Jalopy Journal
