Hot Rods Has anyone cruised 101-pch 1 end to end in a Hot Rod?

Being from the midwest my whole life I've always wanted to go up or down the West coast on 101 and 1. Has anyone done this in a hot rod, what were some of the Kool parts about the trip.

 

I routinely buzzed up and down Highway 1 between San Francisco and San Louis Obispo in my SBC/Muncie M-22-equipped '55 Chevy, while stationed at NPS in Monterey in '93-'95.

The best part is around Big Sur, near Bixby bridge, just south of Monterey. The road is a series of long, fast sweeping turns. When you get tired, you can park on the pulloffs and see/hear seals barking on the rocks below. Another good place to stop for a tour is Hurst Castle (look up "Citizen Kane").
The worst part is any time I got stuck behind a slow-moving RV.

I'd highly recommend doing it if you get a chance.... but on a weekday, *not* a weekend. A manual transmission , good brakes, & balanced handling aren't mandatory, but they do make for a more spirited ride.

 

drove from Seattle to L.A. in a 53 Olds 88 on 1 / 101 in 1990
took us 5 days to get there. Had my girlfriends rottwieler and german shephard with us
went to every junk shop on the coast
what a great trip
bought a portable Victrola and 78 records on the way
also 50's camping gear
we'd pull into a campground crank up the Victrola, and set up our canvas tent, people thought we were crazy
by the time we got to L A were packed in there like sardines
cheers
B

 

Rusty, we did the cruise in a rental as we are from Aussie,great drive from Anaheim,stopped in San Juan Obispo, overnite in Moro Bay then took in Hearst Castle,saw sea lions nearby, Big Sur ,pulled into Pebble Beach to see the Lone Tree, slept in Monteray then headed to Modesto on our way to Yellowstone NP.Great drive We then headed down to San Dimas for the LA Roadster Show which we attend each year. This year we went up your way to Mt Rushmore,Badlands etc and then down to the 4 Corners on our way to LARS. These trips are done in June. This year we drove 4100 miles in 3 weeks.

 

My good friend **** Lindkvist and his wife Susan went from LA up to Vancouver BC in their Outlaw 33 Ford coupe five years ago as part of their "cruise"(6 weeks and 9600 miles)from Auburn Maine to Baltimore MD and picking up Rte.66 in Chicago and staying on the old section (as much as possible)all the way to LA.From Vancouver they headed across Canada and back down into the states through the Black Hills to Nebraska and then across to Michigan and finally back to Maine.Susan got a little shaky when they were driving it at night;especially after a car went speeding by them and spit a rock back bulleyeing the windshield. **** wants to do it again.

 

I read their story on here a while ago. The wife had a great sense of humour telling of each days events. They p***ed my place in Langley B.C. Canada,by about a mile. The DC3 plane they had a picture of,
is just down the road. Love reading about road trips.

 

Yup! In my avatar. I've actually done it a couple times in this car. In 2006,the girlfriend and I went to Good Guys Delmar in March, and knocked out the TJ. to L.A. segment, then in July went to L.A. and hung a right... Dropped her at a plane in Seattle and continued on up through the Olympic peninsula and many other points of Washington. She flew back at the end of my work season in September, and we drove all the way back down to L.A. and hung a left.

The only pictures with the car that trip were cookin' across the Golden Gate in the fog, and the world's best parking space at the Pike's Place market at Seattle...

Great trip, I HIGHLY recommend it

 

You mean you aren't ? Some of us still think you are ! [emoji51] lol



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Dang you were right in my back yard, wish I would have known.

 

Looks like Chip louvered his windshield!!! Hi Bud......

 

Hey Tim: I've been up and down the coast but not in a hotrod. Doing the Gulf coast now, heading over to Cruising the Coast in Miss.

 

Howdy! That windshield... Therein lies a story...

 

Being from Santa Clara, (San Francisco Bay Area) my bud Al Mise and I were constantly jumping in the coupe and going south, to L.A. and the 'hot bed of hot rods'...1958 Al bought the channeled 'A' Coupe my pal Ramsay owned. (I built most of it in '57. '38 Ford 'X' member, 21 stud flattie with Weber F1 cam, Johnson lifters, aluminum heads, and 2 jug Navarro, Stromberg 48 'Firepots'. Retained the 'A' gas tank in cowl, never a problem. Black synthetic enamel, black wheels with 'Baldys', whitewalls matched the white naygahyde top patch. Sharp.

Al was in the Navy, ***igned to the United States ship Los Angeles heavy cruiser. She was berthed in San Francisco, so I drove the coupe from Santa Clara to pick him up. (1959)
His 'leave' was always planned: Get as much Coupe road time as possible, so without a 'plan', we fueled up in S.F. and set out south, highway 1.
We p***ed thru Santa Cruz (I had lived there off and on when a teen) and on thru Monterey and Carmel...over the Bixby bridge, 65 MPH... (I would later settle in Aptos, cross this bridge 2,3 times a week in my '52 Porsche Pre-A Cabriolet...) then further south, stopping only for gas. Saturday morning we stopped at Los Alamitos Navy base, Control Line model airplane contest being held there, so we turned in and parked.
A guest announcer came down to look at the car, real hot rod nut. Looked familiar: God, it was Roy Orbison! We talked some, then watched some combat matches, and scale...some beautiful airplanes.
Then onto the road again...we had stopped for breakfast in Paso Robles, (lived there, too) stopped off to cruise Santa Barbara, for the beautiful women walking around. (Mothers there are more fetching than their daughters. Fact.)
Down past Laguna, Huntington, and points south. (beach towns are my favorites, did lots of 'novice' surfing thru there) Ran along with some guys in a yellow full-fendered '32 roadster, Buick powered. Feigned some 'racing', got some eyeballs from tourists.
We went down to Long Beach to visit Richard Hansen (Hansen's Supercharger service) to pick up a 671 for my '46. Hansen was Al's superior officer on the ship...(small world: get giant blower discount for some years of subordination. Glad Al was 'squared away'...LOL)
Left Hansen's, went North to hook up with Jerry Guill, noted B G***er pilot in Whittier/Montebello. Jerry took us to Quincy Automotive, where I bought a used '37 LaSalle box in the consignment bay. Heaven, Quincy Automotive. Said 'bye to Jerry, would see him at San Gabriel the next month for the 'Night Drags'.
But the PCH IS the best drive I can think of.
Some guys ask me about it...I say "It keeps me in California..."

 

Done that a few times, HWY 1 is very twisty & turning, BUT, you can't find a better way to enjoy all the sights, best time is during the week days, not so many tourists, watch out for all the bikes!

 

If you take Hwy 1 you drive by my house. Y'all stop by for a cold one and some bull ****ting if I'm in town.

 

ive driven from salt point down to los angeles. on the 1/101 I really like the area north of san fransico. Its better to take some of the roads closer to the coast there, along tomalas bay, then back to the 1. The avenue of the giants is a rad detour. Though i didnt do that in a hot rod.

 

Before you go, check to make sure the road is open to traffic. Hwy 1 in that area has been closed for some time due to the Sobrantes Fire south of Big Sur.

 

Sounds like a must do. I just dont think I will get to do it for some time.

 

Just a quick laugh from the trip back down. Most that know me, know that I advocate cars that go around turns better than most, so the Plymouth definitely leans that way. Makes it good fun when stuff gets twisty turny!

So, we take off from our evening's lodging on a beautiful Saturday morning, and I knew we were getting into some "technical driving" that day. Soon, we are in some pretty serious twisty turny roads, and I'm tacking a few MPH on the speed limit, but nothing too serious. Judy is head down sharpening golf pencils, her nervous habit instead of *****ing at me for driving too fast. (My standard disclaimer has always been "The only time YOU get to panic is if you see ME panic!") Soon, we come upon a guy in a ten year old Ferrari doing exactly the same thing. Again, without being outrageous, he and I traded leading, p***ing when we could, and driving a bit harder than most with almost no traffic in sight.

'Bout an hour of this goes on, and we roll into a small town, stop at a stop sign, laugh, compliment each other, and decide to kinda mellow out a bit, 'cause things were starting to get a bit more congested. Truce called, we roll away, and a bit slower continue on, still tacking about 5 mph on the speed limit when we could. I think he saw it first, but a pair of headlights rolled up on the Ferrari, and hung right on his bumper. He winged it around a corner, put the p*** on me, and now the headlights were my problem. Now, we are talking some pretty serious corkscrew stuff, and mind you he and I aren't even remotely close to all-out, but we aren't loafing either... The headlights are positively GLUED to my bumper.

The punch line? We hit a clearing, with good visibility, and about 2 miles of straight road. The head lights whip out into the left lane to p***, and ever so slowly start coming around me, and also slowly p*** the Ferrari.... Somebody's 80 year old Grandmother, shaking her fists and throttling the living HELL out of her Rav4 as she p***es!!!! We apparently were holding her up...

 

Made this trip many times, 101 and 1 both. Hwy 1 is worth the price of admission. Southern (south of SF) and Northern (north of SF), Calif is a very long state for sure. Though both north and south are spectacular, I way prefer the northern route from San Fran north to the Oregon state line (and beyond if you like). Sights are unbelievable (coastline and giant redwoods) and towns are quaint. Bodega Bay, Fort Bragg, Crescent City, Eureka. On a side note...if you get to Fort Bragg, (great place to get a room for the night) make sure you stop by Reds Vintage Parts on 22950 Bednar. Tons of hot rod stuff both new and used. Red Hamilton is a great guy. If I am not mistaken, he is the original owner of Reds Headers which is now run, I believe, by Jim Davis. Wife and I try to make this trip about every 2 years.....worth every minute. Also, when you get up in that area you will see the Hippie movement is still alive and well. Its OK if you don't mind your women with braided underarm hair.....just not my cup of tea.

 

Don, we are planning to visit Oregon in 2017 before LARS and we will be heading through Bend Or
Noel and Elaine

 

Gone from Astoria to San Diego about 5 times in a hotrod 57 chevy, 66 Impala and 72 chevy shortbox hotrod. The pickup had a super stiff clutch and going through L.A. on the coast hiway was a total *****! Traffic lights for many miles and heavy traffic. By the time I got through L.A. my left leg was vibrating! Next time I'll take I-5 through/around L.A.
We camped along the way and hit the little junk shops...was a blast!
Several times I've used the coast hiway to go from Northern Oregon to northern Washington in the summer. The rain forests are breath taking!

 

Hello,

In our 40 Ford Delivery we made the coastal trip from Santa Barbara down to Imperial Beach on our surf trips. Our starting point was Long Beach, so up the coast to Santa Barbara was the coastal route only, no inland freeway as much as possible. Driving up next to the water is a little shaky, because we were always on the look out for waves. We knew the spots, but the ocean is always a lure.

On the many trips down to Mexico, the coastal route from Newport Beach to San Diego is thought of as one of the best that rivals Europe’s coastal routes. When you get out of Corona del Mar and head toward Laguna Beach, the ocean and cliffs make you think you are in another far off place, not in Orange County. Then down through town right next to Main Beach, basketball games, volleyball, and the throngs of people using the beach/boardwalk. Once past Oceanside and the military base, the coastal drive is again, quite outstanding. The up and down coastal route will show you the best beaches and the scenery is outstanding. Sure, the lure is to head for the I-5 freeway to speed down to your destination, but the coastal route going south is pretty outstanding. Carlsbad, Cardiff, Torrey Pines ,La Jolla, etc.

Now, our favorite going north of Santa Barbara was not done with our old, hot rod, but with more modern vehicles. (65-10) We have done that drive 7 plus times for pleasure and a little photo business. The Big Sur coastal route is also one outstanding drive, but again, do it during the week and not the weekend. As a matter of fact, all of the driving should be done during the week. Besides the great drives in Northern Cal, our favorite desolate place was to cross the Golden Gate and go to the Marin Headlands area.
(In 1967, the fog cleared up in about an hour for a clear drive up the coast)

Talk about a fabulous place…views, desolation, great empty beaches…They all wind past our favorite section of Highway 1, from Point Reyes all the way past Bodega Bay to the Sea Ranch area. When the Sea Ranch area was just starting to sell off properties, we were searching every nook and cranny to come up with a way to purchase a building site. This is one heck of a drive to an area that is outstanding.

Finally, the drive up through the rest of Northern Cal, Oregon and Washington was done later on vacations with great places to see, but being a So Cal guy, this sums it up perfectly…

Jnaki

“I know a place
Where the gr*** is really greener
Warm, wet and wild
There must be something in the water…

You could travel the world
But nothing comes close
To the golden coast
Once you party with us
You'll be falling in love…”

KP

 

All these posts make me want to take a leave of absence, change the oil, fill the tank and pack the back seat in the sedan and head West!!!!!

 

Most of these replies seem to make it appear that highway 101 ( AKA Pacific Coast Highway) begins somewhere besides the border to our south. You'd be missing some spectacular southern California culture and scenery if you omit San Diego County from your coastal cruise. This is a section of the 101 as it approaches Torrey Pines.

 

Done California coast on a motorcycle a few times. After having done the coast a few times, my preference is inland a little ways. Lot's a very scenic, little used roads where you can really wick it up. CHP watches 1 and 101 pretty close, but not so much on those other roads that twist over and through the mountains and canyons. It may take a lot longer to get where you're going, but the trip is far more enjoyable. Less traffic, higher speeds.

 

Hey, don't give it away!

 

Done it from San Luis Obispo to Half Moon Bay in my '29 ccpu once. Not a bad drive with a v8. I drove the same route last May again, thinking I might want to try it in 2017 in my four banger Model A next year. No way will I try that drive in that car. Too much up and down grades for a banger, with the traffic on that road, but beautiful drive scenery. I will take 101.

 

X2
That photo is about a mile west of my daughter's office in Del Mar. The PCH/101 highway is a great drive from there going north to OC.

 

Me and my Wife was just there...(We Drove from San Juan Island WA, Olympic Peninsula down along the coast line 101, Long Beach Oregon, Up to the mountains - Detroit Oregon, McKenzie P***, Back to the coast 101 again.) We drove about an hour from Leggett...and then decided to abort, head down to Sam Francisco and come back another time with the Hot Rod!....
Watch out for those Timber Trucks!!!! Those guys are Nuts!