Hot Rods Fly in, Buy it, Drive it home.

I am thinking about planning a trip somewhere south (where its warm) buying a car and driving it home. I was thinking 60-64 Galaxie or an early to mid fifties Ford car. I did some searching and found a few random threads and turned up a couple different threads with sparse details.

Anyone with any advise/experience doing this please chime in. Stories are also welcome!!!! I am bringing the lady friend along so it would be nice to make things work smoothly!!!

 

One suggestion is to allow a couple of days to drive the car locally where you bought it so you can find the hidden surprises that the previous owner "forgot" to tell you. That might prevent you from asking the lady friend walk 5 miles on Interstate to get help. Also, a bit more time allows a more intensive look over and a longer test drive before the green passes hands. If the seller doesnt let you drive the car (with him along) for at least an hour (more is better), then there is a risk.

 

Advice: Take as many tools as you can, or budget in buying a tool set for the drive back. Have good cellphone service. AAA or, something similar. Hope the lady friend is low maintenance.

 

We bought one over epay in '04, flew to Denver, Co and drove it home to Michigan on Easter weekend. Had a great trip, no problems. Guess you could say knowing my luck, I did get lucky for a change!

 

I just recently did something kind of like this. I drove my stock '49 Ford F-2 pickup from SE WI to SE KY, a total of about 1600 miles. My wife accompanied me on the trip.

My first concern was the safety of my wife. We had to drive through the Chicago area which I try to avoid if I'm driving my daily driver using the interstate. Since the truck is slow and would be eaten alive on the interestate I had to use surface streets and county highways. Since I don't know the Chicago area and what neighborhoods were safe I asked around to people who know the area and planned a route to avoid the rough areas.

Second, I knew I was taking a chance driving a 60+ year old vehicle that far but I'm getting old and have never done anything this wild. My overall plan was to drive it there and back without a problem. If the truck would break down and I couldn't fix it I would find a storage place, there seems to be one every 10 miles, park the truck in a unit, rent a car and either continue on to KY if the problem happened on the way down or continue home if something happened on the way home, and come back with my daily driver truck and trailer and pick it up.

Fortunately, the trip went pretty smoothe and we didn't have any major problems. It was a great trip with my best friend and my old friend. Do a little planning and have a great time.

 

Planning a trip, then buying a car....
Novel concept.
Usually you find a car then plan the trip to get it....

 

Pack tools. Buy clothes at the thrift stores when you get there. Its amazing how few clothes you use. A freind and I drove a 52 Packard from Ohio to San Diego once. We did full brakes and tune up, wheel bearingss and complete fluid change. New belts and hoses with a water pump and oil pump in the trunk. The dude at the airline laughed when I checked my baggage ant told him whet it was, He said he'd seen it before. I lined up the parts at my local Checker store and they had the stuff there when I got to Lima. Go slow, have fun.
Dont be afraid of checking into a motel looking like a grease pit refugee.

 

One way airline tickets are a red flag with TSA for obvious reasons. Your belongings will be searched...just saying. Especially if you have a suitcase full of tools and no clothes.

 

Buy AAA, take tools and buy fluid etc there. have the Seller meet you 40 to 100 miles from the airport you fly into at a garage/dealer/shop. This way you know if he/she is willing to drive it at speed, it should be ok and meeting at the shop will alert them of the inspection or available lift to see whats going on from the underside. I have bought a few this way and it has seemed to work well for me. My wife thinks I'm crazy and my buddies are jealous that I get to have some pretty cool road trips alone!

 

Awesome read Ryan!!!! I think I need a how to use the search function for idiots class!!! I cant ever seam to come up with that cool stuff on this site.

Is triple AAA actually good these days? Sounds like a few of you have it.

I like all the reply's good info. I think this rode trip to get a car sounds like a fun time for sure. The tool idea and the fluids along with other small parts also sounds like an awesome idea.

 

Have you considered flying in, renting a uhaul truck and dolly/trailer as a chase vehicle? I did this about ten years ago buying an o/t muscle car. Driving back in the car would have been fun, but if it had broken down in the middle of the night, that would have sucked big time. Plus I didn't have plates or insurance.

 

Most states will issue a 30 day transit permit if you have insurance cards, which themselves are usually only a phone call and a fax away.

 

To be honest i kind of like the thought of the unknown in the driving it home part. I must be young and stupid!!!! I think I am going to take a week or so off and only drive 6 to 8 hours a day during the daylight. That makes me worry less about the drive.

 

AAA Gold Class Can,t Beat It,

 

I literally cant drive 5 miles in my old car without bringing tools.


Its just not an idea.. its a damn NECESSITY

 

I checked with my insurance agent before leaving on my trip. I have American Family for all my insurance needs, and he said the truck was covered for road side assistance and towing, same as my daily driver. Check with your insurance agent, you might be covered if you have it on your daily drivers or you might have to pay for a rider.

That's why I drove my old truck. I had many people suggest that I trailer the truck within a few miles of my destination and then drive it the rest of the way and act like I drove it all the way. Not only would that be cheating I wouldn't have much of story to tell. It was a great time.

BTW, I'll be 50 in December, I must be "old and stupid".

 

I flew to NY Laguardia, one way with tools and a license plate, bought a car, drove home from Brooklyn to Kansas City. This was Dec. 2002, before the underwear shoe bomber.

 

I sold my 53 to a fellow HAMBer a little while back. He flew in to Rochester with his new plates, and drove home to Rhode Island, alone with no tools.
I was extremely confident the car would make it because of how i built it and the amount of driving i had done in it..

Unfortunately, many guy's are not upfront with what they are selling so it's ALWAYS going to be a gamble to not have issues. Then again, sometimes those issues can make the trip.

The only advice i could offer would be to seriously inspect the car before hand and make whatever repairs/upgrades before hitting the road, have tools handy and a AAA card as a back up.
And hopefully when you find the right car, the seller is a stand up guy and tell's you the whole truth and nothing but the truth about it.
Aside from that, enjoy the ride.

Tony

 

AAA card, gps, tools, zip ties, duck tape, prayer. It really is fun. If you make it without problems it was probably a good buy.

 

Fly in, look it over. Have AAA. Buy one of those cheap "universal tool kits" (its not like you are likely to be pulling a head on the road) and an "emergancy kit" (jumper cables, flashlight, fixaflat ect) and thriftstore clothes when you get there. Then your "new car" will always have tools in the trunk. Plus you have spare clothes for the future for roadside repairs to keep your clothes clean. It will cost you an extra $50/$60 bucks, but if you dont buy the car, you arent lugging tools around the country.

 

Living in Minnesota, I have done exactly what you are talking about several times. It's a great way to escape winter for a spell, and have a great time on the road. I'll tell you about one of my adventures partially so it will help prepare you for what lies ahead, but mostly because I love to reminisce.
In January of 87 my girlfrind and I flew down to Phoenix to pick up an Olds 98 Convert that I had bought sight unseen out of the Phoenix Old Car Trader (that I subscribed to and was having mailed to Minnesota every week) I brought no more than a hand full of tools and a wad of cash. After the plane landed, we caught a cab to the sellers home. The car looked just like he described it, very clean and straight, with original paint, in running driving shape. I had mailed him half the $ in advance, so I paid the rest, grabbed the keys and title and hit the road. Since we had time on our hands we were going to bum around for a week or so before heading home. My dad lives about an hour south of phoenix, and he didn't have a phone, but we had wrote him that we would be visiting, so we headed that direction.
The first thing that I noticed about the Olds was that the brake pedal had a tendency to sink to the floor. The brakes worked, just not very well. By releasing and re-applying the brakes, it would stop. When we hit the freeway, I also noticed the the tires were either out of round of unbalanced.
So I pulled off the freeway and found a phone booth, and hit the yellow pages looking for a master cylinder, figuring I could swap it in the parts store parking lot. Not knowing the territory, it was tuff, because I was burning thru all my dimes trying to find a scarce part at an unknown location. So I ended up dumping all my change in the phone and calling long distance to the NAPA in Florence, down by my Dads and ordering one in for the next day. We would just have to make it there with the bad brakes.
We did make it, and I got the master installed the next day and bled out the system. We also bought 4 used tires that looked pretty good from a tire shop and had them mounted and ballanced. Since the old front tires were worn pretty uneven, I asked the tire guy to check the toe, and he found that the rubber in the upper control arm bushing was almost completely baked out and/or gone, but I couln't afford the time or money to fix them, so I let it go.
The weather was cool, cloudy, highs in the 50's, but we were itching for some top-down cruising so we decided to hit the road for SanDiego, where it was in the mid 70's and sunny. Zipping west on I-8, I noticed some noise from the front tires that woud change alot with the variations in the pavement, and a bit of front end sway. I stoppped and looked things over a couple times, but didn't see anything wrong. When we hit the California state line, the pavement changed to a much coarser surface, and the sound got louder. I figured it was nothing to worry about and forged ahead. Well about 15 miles later, things went awry in a hurry! The left front wheel bearing had burnt up, and the left front wheel collapsed over at a 45 degree angle against the frame, and we went careening off into the ditch.

After assessing the situation we decided that the only thing we could do was thumb back to Yuma. I stood off in the ditch by the car and let my sweetie do the thumbing, and within about a minute we had a ride. The driver was a very, very large tuff looking older Indian guy, in an old 2 door Vaiant. As he unfolded himself out of the car, I could see that he was at least 6'5" with a big, barrel chest and a long grey and black hair down his back. I was feeeling a bit intimidated, to say the least. I told him the car needed to be towed, and asked for a ride to Yuma. He told me to get in the back, obvioulsy he would rather sit next to my gal than me. As we rode along, he told us that he was bounty hunter, he made his living by finding criminals who had skipped bail and dragging them back to the jail. I remember thinking that I'm glad I'm not on his list, becuse he definetly looked like the kind of guy that I would not want to tangle with!
We got dropped off at a service station that we found was only a block from a motel. So I rode with the tow truck driver to fetch the Olds, while my girlfriend checked us into the Motel.
Once the car was on the lift, the mechanic gave me a huge estimate using all new parts that he would order that would take days to get. The hub was shot, the spindle was chewed up pretty bad but he thought maybe he could save it with some welding, grinding and careful filing. By now it was 5 Oçlock and they were closing, so I told him we would hold off till moring to finanlize a plan. I unloaded our luggage and started carrying it to the motel.
Back in the room, I found a yellow pages with a map and marked out every junkyard in the area. Even tho it was late, I started calling all them hoping someone was still around who would answer. On about the 4th dial I hit paydirt! The guy had what I needed, a whole spindle from balljoint to balljoint, with brakes and hub and everything for $175. He said he could pull it first thing in the morning and have it over to the garage by noon. That was a LOT of $, but cheaper than the garage estimate and I didn't need to worry about a bad spindle, so I jumped on it. Yehaw, we were back in business!
The next morning I walked over to the garage and told them the plan. He seemed a little put out that I was providing the parts, kind of like if I brought my own food to a restaraunt. But he agreed to install the parts, and figured it would be done before the end of the day.
While they were working on the car, we went for a walk looking for a jewelry store so I could buy her an engagement ring. We saw a Fiat convert at a used car lot, and I scheemed that if we took it for a test drive, we could scope out the terrain, and decide where to walk after the test drive was over. Well the dealer tried and tried, but he could not get the car to start. I tried to express interest in other cars just so we could get our joyride, but he was so insistent that the Fiat would start and that would love it, he wouldn't stop working on it to show us another car. After an hour we walked away, totally disgusted at the wasted time and not getting a ride.
So we walked for about 2 more hours, found a jewelry store bought some rings, then at about 4:00, I called the garage. The car was just done, but they were closing at 5:00 sharp. I was so sick of walking, I didn't want to spend the night without wheels, so we called a cab.
As we are riding along in the back seat, the driver looks in the mirror and says "You know what I hate?" Without waiting for us to guess, he continued: "These God Dammed snow birds... All these people from Wisconsin, and Minnesota... they can't drive, they just clog up the roads... I can't wait till spring.. they'll all be gone again...You know what I mean?" Needless to say, he didn't get a tip. But he did get us to the garage just by 5:00.
Everything was fixed on the car, and the other wheel bearing was also re-packed. I paid the bill, the whole deal came to over $400. I was getting a bit concerned about running low on cash, but I'd be OK if nothing major came up.
We noticed a wedding chapel just down the block and decided to go there in the morning and get hitched. So we did just that, then decorated the Olds with a bunch of just married stuff, threw down the top and hit the road for SanDiego. After sandiego for a few days, we went up to LA and hit disneyland, then back to Az to tell my Dad we were married. My Bride had to fly home from there so she could be at her job on time, and I left AZ with about $50 cash and my brides Ammoco credit card.
I made it about 900 miles the first day, slept in the car, and everything was going good the next day. For a while. Till the tires started falling apart. I lost the left front, and put the spare on, which was junk to begin with. I checked out a few service stations, looking for some cheap used tires, but found nothing I could afford. I was tooling up the freeway at about 40 with the front end shaking like crazy as the right front tire started de-laminating. It was starting to snow, getting dark, and I really didn't know what I was going to do when it let go, but I just kept going.
All of a sudden I saw a green and white sign glowing in the distance! Please, please let it be an Ammoco and let them be open and have a tire! As I got closer, I could see thru the falling snow that it WAS an Ammoco! When I pulled in and got out, I could see steel belts hanging out of both front tires. The station was still open, but they didn't have any used tires in my size. But I had an Ammoco credit card! I hated to spend that much, this place was expensive, but I was so sick of the problems, I bought 4 new tires, and put the best old one on for a spare. I didn't tell them how I was going to pay, I figured that after they were mounted on the car it would be alot harder for them to deny my use of a credit card with someone elses name on it. They accepted the charge without even reading the name. Yippee!
One more night in the car freezing while I tried to sleep for a few hours, then home to my new Bride the next day with no more problems.
Now, 25 years later, I still have the car and the girl.

 

I have done it in a 32 roadster a couple years ago. I drove from Nebraska to southern AZ in Oct. The drive through CO was really cold at night with no heat or side windows. I did the drive solo which I do not recommend. It would have been 10 times better with a co pilot. I broke down once in Colorado Springs and called a Friend that lived 30 mins away and asked him to bring me a couple parts. We had the car back on the road in no time. However, if I would have broke down in New Mexico or any other desolate place that would have sucked big time. I got lucky, plan the trip well and make sure your cell phone has a lot of battery. I would do it again with better planning.

 

Malcolm here on the HAMB flew into my hometown I picked him up and he bought a pickup from me and did a driving tour back home...even to bonneville...real trooper.

 

The premise of this show is driving home in the unknown.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOYlloxcRZA

 

What you're going to find in old southern cars is they'll normally have a decent body, but be mechanically worn. I had the same idea a while back and was looking at ads and because the cars don't rot out like they do here in New York, they get three times as many miles put on them. So you need to check the wheel bearings and so forth ahead of time.

While not quite the same thing, I did just put 2000 miles on my beater van in a week, driving 800 miles each way (in around 15 hours) and putting the other 400 on during my stay. In the back? A full set of tools including some power stuff and about 100' of extension cord. I did it all on a rotor that would warp as it got hotter to the point that on one steep hill it would just shake the front wheels back and forth. I bought a replacement while in a yard there, but purposely went back a way that avoided all the bad hills and it's still waiting to be installed. It actually went well considering this is a $700 beater and the muffler is being held up by a piece of leftover old brake line off another car bent around as a hanger.

 

1600 miles??? No way dude... Did you go there and back twice?

 

Just did 700 mile trip home in our 48 Chev truck, with few tools, and a lot of optimism. And the truck had just passed thru our certification system and we got it a new warrant of fitness before I left town.

I had our equivalent of the AAA Gold Class but didnt need it. Only thing was I didnt drive at night for the first few days, and went to the ferry ride a few hours early in case I had issues.

I did have some issues on the trip, nothing too major, and I went via cities where I knew people so had the opportunity to get stuff fixed without getting ripped.

Road trips are the stuff legends are made of, so give it a go and take a chance

 

It can be done. Just did that in April. 3800 miles...Orlando to Portland. Here's the link with all the details:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=696444

 

Two summers ago I bought a 1964 Valiant in California. I flew out and drove her back to North Carolina. I chose this car in particular due to my familiarity with late 50s and early 60s Mopars. The car also used many parts that were still in use up into the 80s which would make parts easier to obtain if needed.

After getting to the car in person I had a lot to fix. The starter was loose and not bolted in with correct bolts, starter solenoid was not connected correctly, carb was loose on manifold, brakes were junk on the rears, some wiring issues needed fixed, among other things...so expect the unexpected.

Before hitting the road, be sure to go over the drivetrain and find any potential problems. I bought new tires prior to the trip just for safety. Be sure your spare is good as well!

I also repaired/replaced any defective parts in the braking system. You definitely want to be able to stop! Make sure the battery is good and that your charging system and cooling system is in good operating condition.

I brought along a set of tools, extra parts: points, condensor, hoseclamps, tape, etc. Basically be ready for anything that could go wrong. Being able to limp to the next town is better than sitting around or walking! AAA would be a good idea as well but I didn't have that option.

Halfway up the Rockies I couldn't use my clutch at all. I made it up and over in 3rd gear (barely). I drove the rest of the way home discovering that when the car was parked and I bumped the car in gear with the starter I could use the clutch again. (After getting home I discovered that the springs in the clutch disc decided to release themselves and would get stuck in the pressure plate which wouldn't let it move.) So with that info if you have the time/means, checking the clutch on a manual car could be beneficial.

All in all I didn't have too many issues. I drove over 5,000 miles and saw the sights all the way back to NC. San Francisco, Route 66, Grand Canyon, and much more. I would do it again most definitely! It was a blast.

Since then I've also driven my 1957 Plymouth across the country to California and back twice with no real issues. I had a self adjusting brake cable break and a fuel pump start to go bad...but it was nothing to keep me stranded anywhere and the problems were easily fixed.

If you have any friends a long the way be sure to get in contact with them. They can provide you with help if needed as well as a place to stay along your trip. Most of all have fun!