Highway cruising speeds of 50's cars.

We just bought a 1954 cadillac he**** with a 331v8 original with 75k miles and runs drives great. Was thinking of ways to get it from tucson AZ to Austin Tx. That got me thinking of driving it. I have never owned a 50's car that had an original drivetrain in it and the ones that did could never have made a highway trip. My question is are 50's cadillacs really good highway cars like people always say they are? could a stock 50's cadillac hang on the highways of today? what are the highway cruising speeds everyone else gets out of their 50's cars? anyone take roadtrips in theirs?

 

All of my 50's stockers liked 50 MPH. Tops. Check your brake lines thoroughly though. Old stuff likes to fail when you need it the most. Good luck.

 

looking into disk brakes for it. If I do end up driving Ill be sure to go over everything before we leave

 

The he****s always had steeper gears than the cars,so I'd say 55 would be as fast as I'd push it.

 

The interstate hwy. system was built in the late 50's to late 60's , speed limit on many of those roads was 70mph, many of the cars were 50's cars , so why do you feel 50's cars are not safe at hwy. speeds? Most 2-lane hiways of that period had a 65 mph speed limit.

dave

 

Big luxury cars like Caddys were geared for higher speeds than cheap underpowered cars like Chevys and Fords.

50-60 was about all the faster you'd want to go on many of the highways that were around in the mid 50s. They were narrow, often twisty, and had no real shoulder.

As long as the car is in good condition, you make sure the brakes are ok (no leaks, properly adjusted, nothing worn out in the brakes or suspension) and you lube all the stuff that needs to be lubed (trans, rear, wheel bearings, etc) and the tires are not very old, then you should be fine. You'll find out pretty quickly what speeds are comfortable. I wouldn't be surprised if you could cruise at 70-75, but you do want to be careful, as it won't stop or handle like a late model. Also you'll be spinning the engine up higher than you would in a late model that has overdrive.

Make sure the wipers/defroster work and be prepared for water leaks, if you encounter rain.

 

the Caddy's of the 50's can reach 100 mph and will cruise all day long at 75. They have a wonderful engine with power and torque galore. The Dual Range Hydromatic is a sound transmission that can handle a big heavy car with ease. Heck, it handled military trucks.

If the mechanicals are all in good order, I say go for it.

I wouldn't worry about a disc brake conversion. Just maintain/rebuild those big Caddy drum brakes and you will be just fine.

If there ever was a 50's car that would keep up with today's traffic, it is a Cadillac.

 

The reason that it is so low mileage is that a he**** was usually not used for over the road traveling. You may need to change the gearing to maintain 70 MPH for long periods of time. I've never been in a funeral procession that went over 60 MPH even on the highway between towns. I feel sure it never happened in the early 50s so I'm pretty sure it wont have highway gears.

My old 57 wagon with O.D. would get up past 70 if I was not paying attention in OD. I never had a problem keeping up with traffic.

The year is not as important as how it was equipped from the factory and what it was intended to do.

You may need a gear change for interstate speeds. with the right gears, I'm sure it will cruise with the best of them.

 

Back in the day 70 would be no sweat but this car is over 50 years old, I'd take it slow and work my way up.

 

i only drive my '51 at 55mph tops. any faster and folks won't be able to break their necks when they p*** me by.

 

The most I run any of my early 50's Chevys is 55-60. My 55 Olds on the other hand would run 75-80 all day long.

 

When you walk up to a sixty year old car to drive it, put your mind back sixty years. All of the above is correct. Check out the brakes. Change the oil. Check the hoses and belts. Any ambulance or he**** has lower gears to compensate for the added weight. Yes, old cars could do 70. Today, we expect them to do 70 or more and do it for long periods. Old cars never did that because there were no roads to do that on. I would not hesitate to take that trip after a good checkout for the car. I would feel the car out, it has a sweet spot. Dont drive it for long periods more than 5 over the sweet spot. The car will talk to you, are you able to listen?

 

My Daddy had kin folk in Texas he drove the speed limit on the Kansas Turnpike back in the 60's at 75 in our 57 Ford 312 auto my Mom always *****in all the way"Slow down Dad, slow down" he never did.

 

I owned a '57 Coupe DeVille from 1984-1992. Although the car would easily hit 100, on the interstate it seemed to settle in at 65 mph. Smooth as silk, wonderful ride.

 

New York State Thruway was opened in sections as early as 1954, so this stuff about the highways being terrible then is nonsense. My '60 Pontiac would do 75 all day long no sweat and the technology in it wasn't much different than that Caddy would have. Taller gear or not I'm sure the Caddy has the torque to get up to speeds that will be beyond where you're comfortable with it. And probably feel like you're gliding down the highway on your living room couch in the process.

Get her up and going and you'll find where she's comfortable pretty quick. If you can't maintain a safe highway speed, then get off the interstate and take the 2-lane roads.

Probably wouldn't hurt to repack your bearings if it hasn't been done in a while, and check all the fluids out.

 

ROAD TRIP!!!! ... turn off the cell phone and put your head around it. Take the standard steps to make sure the car is dialed in then "hit the road".

 

I took a 35 Chrysler Conv. Coupe to CA from L.I., NY in the late 50's
all Bone Stock crusing at 65 all the Way

I say Go for it, just do like everybody said
Check all the Fluids & Grease it & Check the Brakes
gte on the Road & Go

just my 3.5 cents

 

Like many have said, belts, hoses, brakes will be the key items to break on the road. When was the car last on the road and driven regularly? I'd say go for it, bring the cell phone, a couple of spare tires, the usual replacement fluids, tools and maybe a support vehicle to go along for the ride.

Bob

 

My dad always kept his straight eight pontiac at 80 on our annual vacations from Calif to Nebraska. used to make the trip in 28-30 hours driving straight thru before freeways and air conditioning on route 66. one of the funniest memories my Mom borrowed my aunts brand new 52 Buick Roadmaster for a trip to Kansas. Going thru New Mexico went thru a construction zone we were routed down a dirt zone that ran next to the road. there were a whole line of workers digging a trench with hand shovels. as we came thru the workers started diving into the trench like domino's falling down. My other aunt that was with us asked mom how fast she was going. she looked at the speedo and said 70. I was ten and standing up in the back seat leaning over the front seat. it was like an old Laurel and Hardy movie. got back on the pavement and she kicked it back to 85.

 

While it's probably true that your he**** has fairly steep gears, most mid '50s Cadillacs had gears in the 3.07-3.23 range. They could get away with lighter gears than Chevies and Fords due to their torque abundant engines and the low first gear of the hydramatics they used.

 

Cars were heavier, and differently geared, but would get to high enough speed for any occasion. Roads were poorer, and here in the mountains, the speed was determined by the terrain. It may have taken them longer to get up to speed but they would run high speeds on straight stretches with no problem.
I remember driving my new 56 chevy 265 across the desert at over a hundred mph, for miles at a time.

 

I wouldn't be so much worried about speed as I would the age of some of the vital components.

I'd be REALLY sure that the brake lines and cylinders weren't going to go south on you. You're dealing with a single pot master cylinder and it's all or nothing with those ****ers.

If it were me, I'd just buy a new water pump for it and install it....right there before you make the trip.

I'd replace the belts and hoses, thermostat, put new coolant in it, repack the bearings, change the oil and check the transmission and rear axle grease. Also buy a handful of replacement bulbs and bring a good set of tools.

I've done the whole "drive the newly bought old car cross country" thing, but not without doing what I described above.

Don't do it and you're just asking to be left stranded waiting for an expensive tow.

Find a HAMBer local to the purchase area, drive it over to his house....go through the stuff listed above and then enjoy a nice cruise back home.

 

I grew up in Montana and Nevada during the 50's. At that time Nevada had NO speed limit on highways and Montana had no speed limit during daylight hours. You could be cited for reckless or unsafe driving but not for speeding on the open roads. All of the roads were two lane but not much traffic compared to today.

My Dad cruised his 47 Olds with flathead 6 at about 65 all day long, the 50 Buick Roadmaster usually about 70, the 57 Buick Special 70-75. I drove my 56 Ford 6 with 3 speed manual regularly between Reno and Las Vegas at 70 -75. Top speed on that Ford was about 90. These are all trips of 450 to 550 miles per day cruising at 70+ for 2 to 3 hours at a time between fuel and rest stops.

Of course at the time the cars were new or up to about 5 or 6 years old, well maintained with good brakes, shocks and tires. The tires were all bias ply but I can only remember having tire trouble one time when we hit a sharp pavement dropoff in a construction zone and had a blowout. Still had to replace those tires due to tread wear about every 20,000 miles so they were usually pretty fresh.

Jerome

 

No guesswork or opinions here. Back in '73, I owned a '51 Cadillac ambulance with the three-speed Cad-LaSalle box. It would cruise at 75 MPH all day long.

jack vines

 

Thanks everyone for you info. The car will get a full going over if I do decide to drive it. I believe it has 308 gears in it according to the info I got on superior He****s from that year. will probly pull the rear end apart anyway to check things over. Im actually looking forward to making the trip the more I think about it. Im use to driving big drum break vehicles I own a 64 d200 crewcab but this is going to be the wifes car so thinking Its still going to get disks lol she has a hard time stopping her 05 accord in time lol.

 

Luckly for me the car is at my parents house so Ill have some time and tools to really look it over before the drive.

 

Earl Muntz was known to have driven several of his brand new 1952 Jets from Chicago to Los Angeles in thirty hours, on Route 66. That's 2100 miles. That's an AVERAGE speed of 70 mph....

 

My 56 Buick Wagon with the stock running gear would run 65 - 70 all day long, but the factory gears would have the rpm's at 3000 to 3100. Now I have an OD trans and its 2100.

 

It's really no different than when I bought my Mercury back in 2008. I had it shipped but I wasn't sure how reliable it would be until I started driving it. A new carb, tuneup, re-timed the distributor (and electric) fan) and it's okay now.

I would do some local driving to shake out the bugs. I'd run new coolant through it too.