How reliable is your hot rod on a road trip?

What is the furthest you've driven from home and back in your hot rod without having an issue?

Tell us how far, who built it, and what drivetrain.

 

Bradford,Pa. to Louisville,Ky. I built it. 350/350 8'' ford Would go cross country in the morning , if I only had the time and funds !

 

57 F100, 1600 miles in a week, Canton, OH to Charleston, SC, Henry Ford built it and I lowered it. Stock 272 Y Block, 3 speed, and a 9 In.

Later,Bill

 

Just put 438 miles on the '61 today. Richmond, VA to Martinsburg, WV on a salescall and back (plus about 30 minutes when I was a little turned around near Charles Town), me wearing a coat and necktie. Never even a hiccup from the motor. A Page Customs build initially. Inliner 223 w/ shaved head, Clay Smith 265 cam, Clifford intake and headers, vintage Mallory ignition.

Rock solid. Customer loved it, too.

 

I put 5186 miles on my 52 Chebby in the first 3 weeks of August this year without a hicup.

But there were times it let me down 30 miles from home.

BB

 

my first long drive in the Coupe was Lansing MI to Louisville KY, to Cincinatti OH, then back to Lansing MI.

no issues
no air conditioning, radio, or cruise control either

 

1650 mile Atl. ga to Spring feild Oh, Charlotte Mi, to In and back home. in a 1930 A coupe sbc/350 turbo trans. We built it.....

 

Longest trip we've taken in a Rod would have been from here in Kalamazoo to Acadia Nat'l Park in Maine, in our '48 Pontiac convert pulling our '48 Spartan Manor. Must have been close to 4,000 miles counting side trips and sightseeing. Second longest in the same car/trailer, from here to Cumberland MD, back to Vandalia IL and then back to Kazoo with the Tin Can Tourists on the Rt. 40 Bicentennial tour with 29 other vintage trailer/car rigs. Lost the trailer brakes in the mtns. in Pennsylvania, and finished the trip back home with no brakes on the 25 ft trailer.

I built 'em both. The car is still up to cross country trips and trailer towing with 111K on the clock on it's LT1/4L60 combo. It's semi-retired now, but stll ready to roll.

Brian

 

And he drove it, in the salt in Feb. to Detroit! I saw it dirty!

Brian

 

Freeport IL to Pigeon Forge Tn and back 1326 miles one way. While we were there we also did some site seeing through the Smokey Mountains and into NC. I built the car, a 35 Dodge 2 door sedan, 318, 904, 8 1/4 with 3:55 gears. We put 66,000 miles on that car in 7 years before we sold it. The truck we replaced it with made 2 trips from Freeport Il to the HAMB Drags, 1100 miles one way. We put 40,000 miles on it in 4 years. I built it also. 360, 727, 8 3/4 with 3:23 gears. The current truck (360 727, 91/4 with 3:55 gears, 4x4) hasn't been too far (only a couple hundred miles from home at a time), not because its unreliable but because gas has gotten too expensive. I would not be afraid to take my truck anywhere, but @ 8mpg, buying the gas would suck. I build hot rods intended to be driven. Mopar or no car. Gene

 

Took my '37 Chevy coupe with a 235 that I built (I had the machining work done, but I assembled it) from Rochester, NY to Wyoming and put 3600 miles on it in 12 days. I've also driven it to Maine & Virginia.

Drove my '55 Buick Special with a '63 401 and an S-T10 transmission (again, my build & install) to Bowling Green, KY. several times.

Not really a big deal - we used to drive them like that in the 60's when they were just used cars!

 

16 miles
broke down

seriously - I gotta get a LOT done to mine
but at least it is running

 

32 Ford Coupe.
Southeast Virginia to Austin, TX and back in April (4000 plus miles).
Southeast Virginia to Bonneville and back in August (5000 plus miles).
23 mpg and trouble free.
Bought the car in 03. I fixed the dinks, have done some up grades and keep it maintained. The drive train is 302 Ford, AOD and 9 inch rear.
The Model A is my latest project. Joe build. Soon to be complete.

 

My 39 Ford pickup, Every day driver for 17 years, often pulling a trailer
Broke down once 300 miles from home. Rolled to a stop in my friends driveway. broken input shaft

 

You guys rock! I want to do a long road trip one day. My 31 coupe small block 400 700R 9inch the longest day trip 200 miles. She's been on the road for 5 years 15000 miles to date.

 

Round-tripped my Muntz Jet on the "Loneliest Road in America" (Hwy. 50), up and over eleven-thousand feet through the Rocky Mountains, to Indy and back, a year ago. 4850 miles total, if I remember correctly. O/T drivetrain... but no hiccups out of it!

 

My home-built Coupe, logged 6,000 miles this year so far, my daily-driver. If I had the money and a good back, I'd drive it to California and back and leave in the morning.

1. I built it 27 years ago and it's been driven for 27 years
2. S.B. Chevy 355 engine - 400 Hydro trans - Chrysler 8-3/4 with 3.55 gears
3. Currently averaging 18-20 MPG
4. Been driving real Hot Rods for 40 years now

 

Drove our 55 Chevy car multiple times to the east coast and to the west coast. From La on the west coast to Seattle and from Rhinebeck to Destin on the east coast We drove it in 38 states and across Canada with virtually no problems. 350/350 combo and it was built mostly by me. Our truck(57 Chevy) was driven in 18 states. Furthest trip was to Phoenix. #50/700R4 trany with a 57 Chevy passenger car rearend. The truck was the best riding and driving hot rod I ever built. I miss having that one. We live in southwest Missouri so they got to see most of the extremes in weather.
Later,
Dick

 

Syracuse to Killington VT.
Syracuse to Tunkhannock Pa.
Sryacuse to Alexandria, Va
Sryacuse to Concord, NC
Sryacuse to Detroit, Mi
Sryacuse to Westminster, Md
Sryacuse to St. Johnsbury, Vt
State College Pa, to Syracuse 4X

Syracuse to Great barrington, Ma.

All in my 46 Plymouth with the flat 6, only misshap a broken fan belt in gettysburg, pa on the way to Alexandria Va. and a blown fuse in Burligton, Vt.

I usually run 1 trip per summer of 1000, to 1500 miles round trip. put 2500 to 3 k on per summer, keep it presentable and change the oil.

 

Took my 55 sunliner from Dayton Ohio to Daytona Beach with no problems (2200 miles?),351-C4 and 8 inch. This year I am having a trans gone through since the one thats in it is a 65 dollar junkyard trans that I put about 10,000 miles on and is making some noises.

 

My 31 coupe made a 1159 mile round trip with an original engine.

 

I can't say I've ever had a real hot rod, just old unrestored cars. The closest thing I had to a hot rod was a somewhat OT 65 Rambler American with a late model 258 under the hood. It actually was pretty quick. It was my first attempt at swapping in a different non-stock drivetrain. It was pretty rigged plus I was impatient and drove it down the road a little ways with no radiator. Little did I know that my little drive resulted in a blown head gasket.

For it's maiden voyage I foolishly took it on a long road trip down to Milwaukee, a 200 plus mile trip. I changed oil half way through the trip due to the blown head gasket and I spun a wheel bearing. It was then I learned how to properly tighten a wheel bearing. Unfortunately the bearing was toast and it did not want to come off the car. I was 150 miles from home with a car with a nearly blown engine.

I parked it at some guy's house. He liked it so much that he bought it for 200 bucks (it was a 300 dollar car). Later I seen an ad with my old car, the guy wanted 1000 bucks for it and claimed it was all original

 

1954 Ford 4 dr, 223 I-6 w/ Ford-O-Matic. I put 3350 miles on it since I purchased it 2 years ago. It had 50K miles on it.

Longest trip was from SC to Daytona, FL for Turkey Run last year.
750 miles round trip, bone stock and original.
I plan to run it there again this year.

Jim

 

I drove my 32 RPU to CA and back in June, it had 200 miles on the clock when I left.......4500 when I got home...... 350/T5/Winters quickchange.
Then 3 days later drove the new 32 3w to Des Moines and Columbus Oh.....it had 300 miles at start 3500 at return.......350/T400/9inch. I believe in breaking them in on the road!! Dale


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Longest trip in a single day Jacksonville Fl to home in Muskegon Mi. 1200+ mi which I've done twice. At the time my youngest son lived there. I got up and left early and was home by midnight. Trip was a hair over 19 hrs.

Longest trip from home 8,000 mi in 4 weeks. First leg was Muskegon, Mi to Lake Tahoe where we spent two weeks. Second leg was from there to Sacramento Ca for the weekend. Third leg was Sacramento to Tampa Fl. I left Sacramento on Sun afternoon and was in Tampa Thurs morning. Final leg of the trip was Tampa to home in Muskegon by way of Pigeon Forge.

The only trip I had trouble on was a 4000 mi run to PEI and Nova Scotia. The module went in the HEI distributor. I was down for less than an hour.

I almost forgot a problem trip. On the way back from Mokan 2 years ago I flipped a fan belt and didn't catch it before it overheated badly. Lucky for me MoJunk came along and stopped to help. Followed him to his place and changed thermostat and left. I made it about 20 miles and turned back as I couldn't get it to run under about 240. We tried different things of which none worked. Finally I called my son to bring my trailer down to haul it back on. After getting home I changed the water pump tried another thermostat didn't help. It would sit and idle fine but take it down the road and in less than a mile it would be up to 230-240. Finally found it to be the radiator. It was aluminum and the tubes had expanded and crushed the fins together. It was so tight that trying to look at the sun through it you couldn't see light. New radiator and it was fine.

Drivetrain is 454/700R4 with Nova 8.5" 10 bolt 3.42 gear

Car was built in a backyard garage by a friend and myself. It came out in 97 and in 02 the present motor and trans was done by myself only. All the long trips have been done since then.

 

My 56 F100 was my daily driver for about 15 years, 100+ miles a day to work. 383 SBC built by a shop in Covina CA, 700R4, 10 bolt rear. Took it from So Cal to Ogden, UT a few times, to Death Valley and all over So Cal. It only let me down after I installed airbags on the front. After about a year I went back to coils. This is how it set without the airbags.

 

Out here in the West (especially here in the PacNW) the distances between good events are often much greater than some other parts of the country. We sorta routinely drive long distances.....800-1200 miles one-way.....to get to some event or other. I wouldn't want a car that I couldn't jump in and drive to L.A. and back in. My personal preference is SBC. I want to be able to, if need be, get a starter, water pump etc. if I break down. Replacement parts for a nailhead, hemi or flatheads are pretty hard to come by in Klamath Falls, OR or Oakhurst, Ca.

 

Took a 63 Fairlane about 140 miles...

 

longest trip without a problem 350-400 miles...also had a tow truck rescue from the local grocery...it ain't perfect yet.

 

Morrow Bay, Alpine 700 miles round trip.
Home built 261 L6, Power steering, Power dish brakes, four speed Saginaw, 1970 GMC/Chevy 3:08 rear end.
We have made this trip three times with out a problem.
Would do it again.
Big Bear Lake up the mountain and back about 400 miles.
Its the FIVE P's here
Pryor, Planing, Prevents, Poor, Performance!
Yes I know some folks add a sixth P