Event Coverage Tell about your long trip in a pre-war hot rod!

Just over 10k miles this year in the banger powered Vicky
Longest one day drive....Los Angles to home...just shy of 800 miles...
I usually travel solo
The car garners a lot of attention and sometimes it is difficult to get away from folks wanting you to hear their stories...and there are some good ones
I have been known to toss the keys to a youngster and tell them they can have the car, if they can get it started...
I have been amazed at the number of young ones that are attracted to it....and the AoooGah horn
I like to have a day that has about 5 hours of actual driving and I try to drive the posted speed limit but stop to see the sights and with an 11 gallon stock fuel tank....averaging 14-15 mpg....lots of gas stops
I have driven in 114 F daytime temps, Needles CA
in the snow, in late May.... Monument pass CO was so bad Colorado Road Courtesy Patrol pulled up behind me and followed me to the next exit....
In the last 10,000 miles, broken shock link (thank you RR track crossing Auburn, Nebraska, stuck drivers door latch,
broken dizzy rotor...however I did pull the engine to fix a rear main leak after about 7k miles...I was tired of adding oil on the trips and marking my territory
I drive the car 3-4 days a week and events in the State....that has put a couple thousand miles on this way
Looking forward to more miles in the future
Probably a Denver trip still this year....
For sure next year....okay...firmly cast...in jello....
Chase UP 4014
LARS
Stray Kat 500
RPM Nationals
Roc
Dirt Drags, Box Elder, SD
Denver/Ft.Collins

 

Drove the Willys from Bakersfield to the Pleasanton rod run in 100F summer heat. 250 miles and 4 hrs. Caravaned with my buddy in his '42 Willys pickup and my wife in her '56 Sport Sedan HT Chevy daily driver. Willys is very uncomfortable- rough ride, A/C is just barely, and I5 is really poorly maintained so pot holes and rough pavement slowed me considerably. Willys did fine made it there and back but half way home, started making a grinding noise, I diagnosed a wheel bearing. I pulled all 4 wheels (Murphy on the job!) before I found driver's side wheel bearing in my '56 Olds rear was down to 3 or 4 balls left in the bearing. Can we all say "lucky" class? I probably dented the steel bearing shield when installing the bearing and that lead to the failure. If you have dented seals on a wheel bearing, throw it out!

 

Will be driving mine from Edmonton to PEI when its done going back home (4722 km) one way 2934 miles

 

It's 1975. Just got my basket case channeled '32 Ford pickup cobbled together with a freebie worn out 265 in it and want to try it out. What do you know, there's the Un-Nationals in L.A. this weekend, only 400 miles. Great opportunity to shake down the jalopy. Ever ride 800 miles in a channeled '32? Ha! So the old 265 fouls the plugs every 200 miles or so, uses some oil, but we actually made it. Probably the junkiest rod at the event but had fun and surprisingly made it home in one piece. No great adventure, bu it was my first real ground up build and I was thrilled that it made it.

 

My grandmother and grandfather drove their 1909 Model T from Texas up to Kansas and out to CA in 1909, then back to TX around 1914. Stayed in TX a couple of years and drove back to CA in 1916. My mother drove solo from CA to TX several times in her 39 Ford before the war. Then drove from CA to VA in 41 in four days. Drove through NY and back to CA in early 42. Between 42 and 49 she drove from CA to TX and back at least twice a year, sometimes more, all in the 39.

I drove my stock Model A from Faraway, AB to Klawock, AK in 2012, then drove from Klawock to ID later that summer. Drove from St Joseph MO to Sacramento CA on the Pony Express Trail. In all these trips I had a coil fail in NV but picked up a new one at a parts store. I also lost an alternator in BC on the way down from AK. If I had a generator I would have been able to fix it along the side of the highway.

The bottom line is that I have driven prewar HAMB friendly hot rods and stock cars all over the country at normal highways speeds. These cars were designed to transport people on a daily basis and there is no reason to fear a long trip. The only decision in driving my Model A is the weather, as I haven’t put the top back on it and I hate getting wet. Just do it.

 

I have had two memorable long distance road trips. The First, in 99, myself and a several good friends left South Dakota and Iowa for Pomona and the LA Roadster Show. I and my buddy in my 40 Chevy sedan, a blown flathead 32 Ford five window with two friends, and another 32 Ford, a roadster with a solo driver. Total mileage for the trip was about 3600 because of some detours we took on the way home.

Day 1 was 800 miles from Sioux Falls to Rifle Colorado, and the only problem we encountered, a Blower idler loosened up on the coupe west of Denver. A quick stop to retighten and back on the road. Day 2 was just over 700 miles from Rifle to Barstow CA., where we stopped for the night. Drove into Pomona and spent the next 3 days there.

The trip home was a different route. First day was 350 miles from Pomona to Phoenix with a late start. Day 2, another late start as we were introduced to Phoenix Hot Rodding legend Dick Smith and spent 4 hours there before leaving. We then pounded out 400 miles to Albuquerque. Day 3 was the big day of the return trip, 800 miles to Rapid City SD.
Finishing the trip on Day 4 a quick jaunt of 350 miles back to Sioux Falls.

As this getting long, my second story is a quick one. Myself, my son, my two best friends, one car, (just off topic Impala), 2600 miles, 8 days. Sioux Falls to Chicago via interstate, start Route 66 on Lake Shore Drive, following 66 on as much of the original alignment to Shamrock Texas. Returning to Sioux Falls on two lane (mostly highway 81).

 

Forgot to add our troubles on Route 66. One blown exhaust donut gasket fixed in a motel parking lot. Also, does anybody realize duct tape makes a great substitute for thread tape when an air cleaner interference vibration on the fuel line takes out the threads in the fuel bowl?

 

In 2012 my son and Idid the hot rod power tour in my 39 Pontiac. Minnesota to Detroit to start the tour then to Dallas to finish the tour and back to Minnesota, 4000 miles round trip. The only bad thing to happen was a stuck brake light switch. The good was a week with my 18 year old son and memory’s, Part of the plan was to find a clean “late model” pick up truck, I found a 10 year old gmc that my son drove home from Dallas. A funny story, it was hot in the high 90s and my son calls from the gmc to tell it was too cold in the truck how to turn down the a/c, my car has no a/c so I was sweating, he did offer to switch cars.

 

Here's a link to the thread of Jeff @hiboy32 and I taking our flatty powered hotrods to the Lonestar Roundup in '07. Pic links are busted.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-roundup-07-adventure.173308/

 

@Mazooma1 had a great long run story that was published in one of the Jalopy Journal editions, if anyone could drag up his thread on that trip it's a great read with great photos.

 

My first HAMB era car was a 35 Dodge 2 door trunk less sedan. I bought it out of a rock quarry as a pile of rusty parts with the roof cut off, but it had a good title! I brought the body home in the back of a pickup, and had the rusted cut up frame on my car trailer. This one was a real ground up build. It took me 2 years to get enough experience to build my own frame and another 2 years to figure out how to patch up the body to look like a car and then figure out how to attach the body to the frame. Other then my custom built frame with a cross torsion bar front suspension, the rest of the car was built with all Mopar parts, a well built 318, 904 auto trans, 3:55 limited slip rear end, and a lot of parts from the donor 85 Chrysler 5th Ave. Once I got the chassis and body tied together, it became a drive able car in less then a year! Its first 2 days out of the garage saw it on it way to Back To The 50s, an 800 mile round trip, the car was not even in full primer, and did not have any side windows, at that point. From there we drove the car 77,000 miles in 7 years (most of those miles were put on during the first 6 years). The car never failed to get us back home, but there may have been a few minor repairs along the way a few times. Its longest trip was to Pigeon Forge TN while it was still in gray primer, don't have any pictures of the car in primer. I know, pictures or it didn't happen.

This ^^ turned into this, over about 3 years after it was on the road.

The year after this picture was taken, the car turned flat black with flames ( the 4 year old white and gray industrial enamel was looking pretty rough). At that point its replacement was already on the road, so the sedan only saw a few hundred miles that 7th year before it was sold. The new owner insisted he wanted the build process pictures.

 

Boy howdy, you're in for a treat!

early cars are the best.

I'm not gonna re-hash my tall tales, you can read them (and I think @Just Gary has) in my thread

HERE:



Having followed your thread, your car is gonna be great to drive, you've showed that you're not afraid to re-do something if it doesn't work.

that's a big deal to "comfortably" drive an early car. its all about making the best of your space.

I have a lower pedal/heel rest that I have moved at least 5 times, (and probably will again) just to make it a bit more natural.
I have also rebuilt my seat a couple times, and have made lumbar support pillows to aid in "comfort"

Its all about figuring out your level of "un-comfort" I've done as much as 780 miles in a day, and its rough. but taken in spurts of 100-150 miles, it makes it more fun.

I always think of it in sections, and break it down in my head. 45 miles to xxxxx, New Mexico? oh, so like a drive to St Joe from my house, and so on.

I also will champion the backroads. They are PERFECT for road tripping in old cars, cause they were made for them!

decent size towns every 50-100 miles, and lots of small towns in between with good places to pull over if you need to sort an issue out or find a noise.



Having logged around 22k miles in the last couple years, I tell everyone, JUST DO IT.

You will never get your car sorted out with it sitting in the garage, you HAVE to put miles on it.

I've gotten to where a 100 mile trip is no big deal, and you will too.

Spend the first year or so getting it dialed in, drive it like any car that's new-to-you. I drove my car much easier the first couple years than I do now.

and if you keep up with my thread you know I STILL break parts, and I STILL have issues, but its all about how you fix them.

Make sure you have tools, I always carry a toolbox with me, not super stocked, but just enough to get me out of most jams. I carry an extra heim joint, clevis, and anything small that I cant get at your local hardware store.

I should do an every-trip-carry thread.



Final point (for now)

You're in a HOT ROD, treat it like it.

but start close to home.

I can only act dumb, and do burnouts, and donuts, because i've done it before.

I always tell people "I'm not afraid to let people drive it, cause you will never beat it as hard as I do."

My working theory is: If I beat on it, i'll find the weak points, fix them, and then I can take a trip (like my bonneville trip this year) where I take it relatively easy, and have 2640 trouble-free miles.

most of all,

Good luck,

Have fun,

And if you need help, hollar!

I've got a roledex full of people that have helped me over the years, all acrost this wonderful nation.

Glad to help anytime.

.

 

@BigJoeArt , well put. Good advice.

 

Lots of great examples, stories, sentiments and advice about road trippin' in hotrods above!

Here's a thread I did last year documenting a 4200+/- mile CanAm Curmudgeon road trip.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/good-ol-fashion-hot-rod-road-trip.1318366/

And a shorter trip we made this year.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/can-am-curmudgeons-are-road-trippin-again.1338625/

 

Lotsa good stories here.
Ive made multiple trips between Mt and MO in 55 chevy pick up with 235 ,4 speed in the early 80's, 24 hrs non stop.
Same in 56 f100 same decade to Louis ville Ky from Mo.
Building a 26 t coupe to do it again next year.

 

I've made several long trips. A couple of banzai runs from Jacksonville Fl to home just shy of 1200 mi., left my sons house there early A.M. and slept in my own bed that night. Been as far east as Prince Edward Island. But the longest was 8K in 4 weeks, my wife and I went to Lake Tahoe for a vacation, from there to Sacramento. She flew home from Sacramento and I left for Tampa Fl on Sun afternoon and made it there Thursday A.M.. Left Tampa Sun afternoon and drove up through Georgia, North Carolina into Gatlinburg then on home

 

@BigJoeArt makes some great points. I hate to compliment him as his head will only get bigger .

One suggestion I have when building your car keep fasteners in mind and keep different sizes to a minimum. Of course they need to be sized for load etc. but if will help you keep your tool pack to a minimum as space is always an issue in these cars.
Same with parts. Keep a detailed list of what parts you have for easy of replacement. And keep in mind availability of parts.
I had to replace a failed brake booster in Knoxville Tn(900 miles from home) on my model a Coupe. This was in the early 90’s and it was a foreign booster from a 70’s car. Not easy to find especially sinceI didn’t know exactly what it was from.

The KISS method is always the best.

 

In 2021, I drove my T Bucket from St. Petersburg, Florida to Lansing, Michigan and back. About 2500 miles round trip. I had multiple long rain delays the first day, then had near perfect weather the rest of the trip. I spent four days going each way. Zero freeway miles. I just set the GPS on “avoid highways”. What a beautiful way to see this country. When I got tired of driving, I’d just find a motel somewhere. I had to change my thermostat in an Auto Zone parking lot, and replace a bolt that fell off my rear leaf spring. I drove up to Michigan myself, then back to Florida with my wife.






Last summer, I did the same trip with my 47 Chevy. The biggest issue was I got sprayed by a skunk while driving. My car stunk for a month afterwards. I also had to replace an alternator belt on the side of the road. Fun times.