Gawd, I love road trips in an old car. I've had my '40 convert for 38 years - a year more than half my life. I'll be 74 tomorrow. One of the best long hauls was here to Louisville, on to Bonneville, up home to Northern Montana and back home. 2-1/2 weeks and almost 8000 miles. My friend Ken drove his '34 3 window right beside all the way but he shot down to the hAMB Drags before legging on home. It's been to Bonneville 3 times and that was its undoing as some long term rust started it folding up on itself...180,000 miles under my care. It's almost back together with lots of new sheet metal underneath and ready to do it all again....God willing and the creek don't rise.
some of you guys are troopers driving multiple thousand miles! i'm definitely looking forward to taking some trips in mine, however with the nature of the truck, i doubt i'd like to drive it farther than 3 hours one way. i took it out on its first actual shakedown today when the weather cleared up and dried the roads out, did pretty good and got me back home after 25 miles (i know, not a lot) also got to take a few cool pictures next to my local brewery. keep the stories coming, they are great inspiration!
My longest trip was 3800-miles out to S. Dakota, into Wyoming and back, a few years ago. The club I belong to takes a week long "1000-Mile Tour" every other year and my wife & I have gone on every one of them since 1983. The years the club doesn't organize a tour, a buddy of mine, our wives and maybe another 3 or 4 couples organize our own week long tour of around 1000-miles or more. I don't go to many cruise nights or car shows - for me, wrenching and touring is what it's all about.
57 StarChief drop-top, 350 / 700r4. CDA Id to Redding Ca twice in 8 days, then CDA to Good Guys @ Ft Collins Co to Rapid City. Lost brakes coming off I 20to Lusk Wy, flat bedded to Rapid. New brake line in Rapid, back to Id. Glad I had "The Card".
Just did a little 2100 mile trip last week. The mild weather in the middle of the country in February made this possible. From home in northern Illinois I went through Nashville to Birmingham to meet my friends from the Vintage Street Rods of America. We cruised ten cars to Baton Rouge for the Ramblin' Oldies event. Then home on a solo run, seven hours on Sunday and ten hours on Monday. Took hand tools and a few items that might be needed. Just go, and count how many late model cars are parked along the way. Have fun, every gas stop is an adventure and a conversation with a stranger. Sent from my Nexus 7 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
drove the hot rod to maryland for the jalopyroma show, six plus hours. only problem was the generator nut came loose. despite a light drizzle, i had people stop and offer tools and to help.
I drove my 5 window a lot. Trip to the HAMB DRAGS from NC to Joplin, MO. Trip to LA from NC in '14 for the roadster show, 2 trips to Baltimore for the Rodders Journal show. Never had a problem. I carried a fair assortment of tools, spare serpentine belt, fix-a-flat, AAA card and a cell phone. I've since sold the car to build a roadster that I plan to drive equally as much. It's a car...DRIVE IT! The pic above was taken on the street in Long Beach. Look closely and you'll see my phone sitting on the front tire. I took it out of my pocket and set it there to feed the meter. Went to lunch and walked around the beach some. When I returned a couple of hours later it was still right where I'd left it. That day I was without doubt the luckiest guy in Long Beach!!!
First long ride was Chicago to Tulsa OK, and back, that was in 1973 in a 23 track roadster. Longest ride was on a Street Rodder Magazine road trip from Kalmazoo Mi. to Burlington VT. and back (We came back via Canada). By the way, a Jerry Dixie/Street Rodder trip is one of THE most fun trips you'll ever have. That trip was in our Avatar 48 Chev. P/U---a very comfortable, cruise control, truck with about 68k on the clock. In between there has been 7 other driver cars and probably a total of a couple of hundred thousand miles. From 1970 to 2017 is a lot of years, had some great adventures and never been stranded more than 2 hours. Can't wait to get on the road this year!!!!
I live west of Chicago. Longest trips so far have been Evansville IN ((Frog Follies) and Detroit (had to go there for work, made it a road trip for fun). 37 Chevy sedan, plenty of room, and a reasonably comfortable if dated street rod interior. Plans for this year include some longer trips. Currently working on getting the brakes redone, needs tires and an alignment, and hooking up the TCC in the 700r4. I'll pack some basic hand tools, a scissor jack from a Dakota, mini-spare from a Camaro to save some trunk space, and my phone with a roadside assistance card in case it needs more than can be fixed on the side of the road. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Charlie...I remember when you, Bob K and Purple Pickup came by and visited "Tic-Toc" [R.I.P.] You guys were road trippin it that day. Must have been 15 years ago, eh? I clicked this photo in Tic Toc's little shop... Lovin those road trips for meeting people on the HAMB. Charlie is the big guy with white hair..
I have a 48 Ford sorta like yours and I have driven it all over. 7 states and 12-14 hour drives. The thing I tell people when they ask me about road trips is you have to DRIVE these old cars. Manual brakes no power steering no AC and I feel you have to pay more attention to the cars input on the road. As I said you have to DRIVE them. So you are a little more tired when you get there but for the fun factor it is well worth it. I have a tire plug kit and compressor and parts I have needed in past trips that can be hard to find on the road.
1961-64 Hello, I bought my first surf mobile at age 17, a 40 Ford Sedan Delivery. The sole purpose was to have fun going to the surf spots from the Mexican Border all the way up to the Central Ca, coastline. (That almost 6+ hour drive up to Santa Cruz just was not going to happen.) The old Ford ran fine most of the time. The most obvious thing we had to take was a gallon of reclaimed oil. Besides, a ton of baloney sandwiches, apples, cokes, and chips were standard issue for these long trips. Ice for our coolers? There was this old liquor store at the entrance to Doheny Beach on PCH. If you hit the side of the machine hard enough, a block of ice came out to say hello…very cool, as it saved us $.50 for gas. So, the southern trips were covered. The northern trips cost us the $.25 for each block of ice. On longer trips to San Diego(2.25 hrs) or up to Santa Barbara (3 hours up the coastline), two gallons of reclaimed oil were necessary, one up and one back… Don’t ask, no one knew why the sedan delivery/flathead motor used up so much oil. (The flathead racer, mechanic at the local speed shop, the expert, local mechanics at our neighborhood Mobil Gas Station, and even my dad’s expert mechanic in Los Angeles.) There was never an oil leak spot below the car on our concrete driveway. There was also very little, if any, oil residue smoke coming out of the tailpipe, too. So, who knows? That oil was the main prep item. Of course, a fan belt, fat tow rope, and a spare tire were the standard items to go along with the oil. One time in South San Clemente, (Trestles) our battery died, so being a 3 speed floor shift stick transmission, we pushed it over to a freeway on ramp going toward Oceanside and all jumped in for the start downhill in 2nd gear. No jumper cables at the time. The 40 Ford Sedan Delivery went on numerous trips locally to surf and many weekend trips during the season to the longer distance surf spots. Santa Barbara in the winter, South OC and San Diego during the summer, etc. Jnaki There was never a “stuck by the roadside” emergency experience as the flathead/3 speed was very reliable. Not as powerful as my 58 Impala on the roads and hills, but we took that Impala to the OC to surf only two times. The local culture just did not feel comfortable with a hot rod- cruiser and two boards sticking out of the back. (The Torrey Pines Highway 1, long hillclimb, the 101 Freeway up the hill from Camarillo, and even down the south OC coastline at El Morro and Salt Creek, we had to get a high speed, running start to make it up those hills) In the 3-4 years of ownership, many surf trips locally, surf movies in the South Bay and OC, and those longer drives (for a teenager), that 40 Ford Sedan Delivery…DELIVERED for us.
If I'm driving more than 100 miles, I'll take a full tool box, tape, wire, wiper blade, belts, plugs, rockers (I broke a rocker once), fluids, bulbs, fuses, ignition parts and a mini spare with small jack. If you get stuck, I can almost guarantee it will be at night or on Sunday in the middle of nowhere. I've driven 450 miles in the coupe and after that, you need to stop and stretch. I've had a couple of break downs but always made it home.
Wow Phil you probably bout got that set of tires wore out . You have been just about coast to coast and border to borer. Glad to to see your having fun.
I've driven many of my cars to Louisville Street Rod Nationals. That's about 500 miles each way. Most of the time no problems. I always carry a small tool box and only have used it one trip. That was a problem with the battery coming loose in my 40 pickup and caused major shorting as you can might guess. I was close to a napa store, bought another battery & cables and a hold down kit for the battery put it together and drove it all weekend and home. I did have the help of my good friend Steve Glibota to run me around to the parts stores etc. It pays to have friends!
200 miles is a Sunday drive. Been to LA Roadsters a few times, Bonniville a few times. Drive my 5W as my everyday car if it isn't snowing.
Only real road trip I've done so far was last summer, Twin cities to the Sioux Falls area. Took my dad and the car down to his home town(Canton, SD.) for their annual car show. Waste of time as far as that went, but was a nice drive. Worst part was not having cruise control, and getting a bit of a sunburned face from the reflection off the freshly painted dash. Averaged almost 19mpg with the old flathead. Contemplating doing the 100Mile run in Wisco this summer, but it's 200 miles just to get there. Might make kind of a long day.
Rocky - thanks for the pictures. That must have been about 2003 or so. I had the Trailblazer as there were three of us. It turned out to be a blessing though as we ran through some hard rain at night a couple days later crossing Colorado through Wolf Creek Pass on the way to Durango. I led the pack as the TB had great headlights.
Most all of my builds were concluded with a 500 mile or so shake down trip - if it made back without issues - she was good to go. I was going to post a thread on one of my first real builds.....a 1964 SS....but I'm a little behind.....or so she says.....
Back in 1997 I got my first taste of long distance rod runs . Two friends and I went to the Street Rodder sponsored "Americruise" in Snowmass CO. We had two '33 roadsters and one '32 coupe that we joined in with the group leaving from CA for a week long drive thru Arizona , New Mexico Colorado and Utah . We had such a good time that every year since we go on at least one long distance road trip each year .
I flew with the new owner from Melbourne to Brisbane to pick this 34 3 window a couple of years ago ,,jumped in it and did over 1700 kilometres over 2 days solid driving ,,a great trip with a good friend ,,this coupe had sat with it previous owner for many years and is now being enjoyed again ,,
That part about the Torrey pines hill climb reminded me about the sign they have posted there.... Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I do not believe there is anyone who has more time on the road than Bob K. I hope he is back behind the wheel soon. John
My two longest were from Tampa - one to Denver and back, the other to Minneapolis and back. Have no idea on the miles, but there was a lot of stuff to do on those trips - car shows, museums, races, old friends, family visits, etc.. The hardest part is planning your SOA (speed of advance) versus overnight stops / motel bookings. In the long run, you become your own travel agent and have to coordinate a wide variety of problems and agendas. Gary
I have always been seduced by the idea of taking road trips in an old car. I have made several in my 40 over the years, from a short 2 hour jaunt to a longer 12-14 hour run, but after seeing some of the trips taken by Bob K and Dale Grau and others, I knew I needed to make that cross country trip. So back in 2013, I decided I was going to do it. I would prepare the 40 for its first coast to coast trip the following June to the LA Roadster show. I know, I don’t have a roadster, but some of the guys I was going to be running with, did. And any excuse to drive your hot rod across the country would do! The old 40 had been on the road in my possession for over 35 years, so I figured I had better give it a pretty good going over. One thing led to another, and well....let’s just say I had the big end off of the car and spread all over the garage before I knew it. I did make the trip, about 6000 miles out and back and the only problem I had was a rear wheel bearing went out. My advice for prepping the car would be pay attention to the stuff that reciprocates the most, bearings, U joints, stuff like that tends to get over looked. Spare parts too, ignition stuff, I even carry spare push rods and a couple of rocker arms. Also carry an extra electric fuel pump.
Shakedown trip in my blue coupe was 3200 miles to LSRU and back. No issues really, had to tighen bolts, etc... The big thing is push,pull, shake anything that moves, feel the hubs for uneven heat, etc..every time you stop. Squirrel's right, you don't see many old cars on the road. Drive it!
Hey Guys, Not to steal the thunder here, but I just posted a big event in California for all HAMB travelers...road trips, yes, along the mid California coast, NO... See the So Cal thread. Jnaki As beautiful as this part of the coast is for vacations, road trips, camping, etc, you will need to do something else. This vacation spot can wait for another year before it will be open to see and enjoy. For now, plan on a different route.
The Jalopy Journal
