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

ITS FUN , but can be frustrating as well. I bought a nice car up in Michigan this spring and was driving it back to KY when a rear wheel bearing went out. I had the good AAA and got it towed home the last 100 or so miles. I also did a drive back recently in a old volkswagon with no issues. my trips have been between 4-6 hr drives max. ask lots of questions about the car. Be as prepared as possible for the unexpected.

 

Bought my 50 pontiac on "that" auction site flew from Sydney, Australia to Atlanta, GA caught a bus to Memphis, TN. Then travelled with "driving miss daisy cabs" to Adamsville, TN to pick it up. Organised to get me a dealers permit for a month, and drove it to california via the old route 66, including getting lost a fair bit in the middle of nowhere! Made it into LA just as my brakes failed, i think i robbed a few years of my trans life by using reverse for brakes, but all good! By the first month the dealer permit was faded so just inserted new more appropriate numbers for the second month i was there for... the engine mounts were soo good the engine was resting on the crossmember by halfway across, but was the best trip ever! Don't take my word for it but I reckon a unpredictable road trip is one of the best things you'll do!

 

It's true, I was there when he pulled in at KY. In particular it was far SE KY, close to Virginia. Google it....

 

I was going to do that but after realizing the car I just bought has gone less than 2000 miles since 1999 I changed my mind. It 32000 original miles. The previous owner didn't even want to drive it to town because of all the deer at this time of the year. I wanted the adventure but common sense took over.

 

traded a bike for a 63 GMC, bottom a arm fell off due to u bolts breaking on new york tolway at buffalo, a guy on here helped by telling where to get wheel bearings etc got it hooked up and hit a snow storm ,17 in tires and posi, and no heater , after thanksgiving made it home to northern MN and usually haul them now and most of them are messed up like no coolant
ITS AN ADVENTURE

 

Buy the ticket already!!! and write about the trip.
Backpack full of tools. You'll have to check them tho, no carry on.
Little story about my last trip.

 

i dont know i think a 60 galaxie might be too kool for you lol just kidding. but you have to be prepared with at least a good AAA membership.

 

My wife and I and our two young boys in 2005 bought on eBay a 64 Galaxie 500 XL Convertible in Arkansas and drove it back to Long Beach via Memphis (yeah, I know it was the wrong way), Roswell, Grand Canyon, Page, Las Vegas, LA and lots of places in between.
We flew over from Perth WA for the big road trip - sight unseen, but a big leap of faith. In teh end it turned out OK.
We took a couple of weeks and had a ball.
Breakdowns included new plugs and leads in Texas, half a gallon of trans fluid in Flagstaff (yep, it leaked a little bit).
I got about 10mpg, which hurt, but it actually drove well, and I love it still.
Do it, have a ball.
Cheers.

 

Thanks for the replies. I love the stories. Looks like I am going to have to do a little planning and take the plunge. This is gonna be fun!!!!! I will post up the story when it happens.

 

Thanks Ross for verifying it.

Stevie, Google map Germantown, WI to Blackey, KY, it's around 620 miles via the interstate. I drove all back roads, not the most direct route, took wrong turns a few time and went 50 miles out of the way on one misturn and had to back track and did some other driving while down there. We took a detour in IL on the way back to visit some people, we came up through central IL instead fo the eastern side. It doesn't take much to add the miles. Just trying to avoid Chicago probably added 75 miles to the trip over taking the interstate directly through Chicago. It might not have been exactly 1600 miles, my speedometer broke about 100 miles into the trip, but pretty damn close. Do a little research before you post.

 

About 3 years ago, a friend bought a retired 1976 military Blazer thru
evilBay. So, we flew from Joplin to the Orange County airport where the seller met us
with the vehicle......my friend looked it over, decided to buy, papers and
trip permit were handed to us.....and away we went.

While it isn't close to a hot rod, an old Blazer with no a/c, big tires
and a diesel engine is a pretty primitive (and noisy) machine.

That truck ran fine, and after a stop at a Wally World store for
balancing of the tires, it would go down the road easily at 75.

Would be interesting to hear what some people we passed had to
say about two guys wearing ball caps (instead of uniforms) blasting
by in an old Blazer with no license plates. Only got stopped by the
H P once, just before getting out of California. He looked at the
trip permit and sent us on our way.

We drove some on historic Rt 66 coming thru Ariz and stopped at
a car museum in one town along the way. Ate at a 50s theme
diner....tried to have a little fun on the trip. Turned out to be a
trouble-free journey, didn't even have to add oil or water and the
truck kept running better and better the farther we went.
Turned out that the duffel bag of tools we took weren't needed.

So, Cali to MO in an unknown quantity of a vehicle turned out OK.

I've enjoyed reading about other's trips in a rod (or any type of old
car). Just wanted to say it can be a fun and enjoyable thing....so
go for it..............

 

Great freakin' story, this is exactly why I enjoy the HAMB. Hell Yeah!

Thanks for sharing..

Shad

 

So I've got a fella taking a train to the nearest station, that's still 130 miles away, then renting a car, just to come buy my 60 ranchero today. Pretty committed I'd say, it's a 14 hour train ride!!

 

I did it, flew up north and looked it over, drove a little paid the guy and pointed it towards texas. 24 hrs later we were home. I brought my ipod and phone and a change of clothes and a little cash. Probably not the best way to do it but we did it without a problem. I figure since it got me all the way home, I have no problem hopping in it and driving it anywhere!


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The only flaw i see is the "lady friend" bit. If she's the adventurious type, knows what to expect and up for the crack, all well and good. Did the same once with an ex-girlfriend and she was a PITA for every living minute of the trip and a serious ball ache. Seriously nearly drove off when she went for a squirt at a truck stop half way home. Never again I'm sure your lady friend isn't like this (and not saying most women are) but worth making sure she knows what the trip will be like.

 

You said it. I first got the idea of the long road trip in the old Ford when a member of another board asked who would attend an informal meet at his house. I think I was the first one who said I'd come. I went home that night and informed my wife that I was heading to KY in about 4 months. At first she balked at the idea and I told her I was taking the trip with or without her, I didn't care if she came or not, I needed a road trip. She said she didn't want to make the trip and I said, "Fine, I'm going alone." Then she had second thoughts and agreed to come along. I think she realized I might actually have some fun and there was no way she was going to sit at home while I was enjoying myself. I set down some ground rules early on. My wife is the type of person everything has to follow a plan, if you veer off a little she gets upset. I told her we're going to take side roads and I wasn't sure how long it would take and where we'd stop on the way. If the truck broke down then it would be either repaired or stored. I also told her I didn't want to hear any bitching if we had trouble on the road. If she couldn't handle any of this she should stay home.

As long as you set rules before you leave and make sure you better half knows that you're dealing with an old car and anything can go wrong everything should work out.

 

Been there done that

 

We search everyone's belongings one way or another. And yes I do work for TSA.
Some main things if you are traveling By air to pick up a car. NO flamable chemicals that are not and sold to be used on your body. No Wd, pb, starting fluid or other stuff that you can get at any Autozone or Walmart anyhow. That's both in carry on and in checked bags.
Yes we do know that your female significant other's hair spray burns just as well as starting fluid does and sometimes better.

Tools are limited to tools that are 7 inches long in carry on. But No drill bits allowed in carry on.
If it can fit in your carry on it's good to go but if it has a sharp frigging edge on it please cover that edge up. I opened some guy's suitcase the other day that was full of butcher knives and meat saws with nothing covering the sharp blades and luckily they were on top and not where I might loose a finger checking the bag.

Buy the inexpensive TSA friendly locks that just open with a key. They are quick and simple for us in TSA and you don't have to remember the combination.

On the car do some research, has the seller driven the car on a regular basis and has he made some road trips in it? We see stories of breakdowns on the road every week on here that are usually about cars that have either spent years sitting or never got driven on a road trip that lasted more than an hour or so. From past experience that coil that worked great for four months of driving back and forth to work 15 miles each way for four months and on weekend 30 mile parts runs to the wrecking yard didn't handle 4 hours on the road headed up I 35 to Tulsa from Waco.

Put the car on a hoist and check it out.

 

Driving my stock 37 Willys as my dayly car from 77-86, every long trip was an adventure,i still have it. JW

 

Did it in April this year .... flew to LA and picked up a -38 truck. Had only a few tools but AAA Premium .
Drove on a thursday and started with a blown tire and got towed to Dales Speed and Marine in Hesperia (wonderful people) picked up the truck next day and whent to Viva Las Vegas and had a great weekend!
From Vegas I continued toward Austin but had a electrical fire just outside and had to have one more tow . AAA hooked me up with CarX if I remember the company right , and my ass still hurts when I think of how they screwed me up , but not much to do about it when your from Sweden traveling alone and just want to continnue.....
Anyway , had a GREAT weekend at LSRU and met alot of nice people .

From there I had a smooth ride to my Desination , Ft Lauderdale where I intend to keep the truck .

I know it was naive to drive a fairly newbuilt truck coast to coast , but I think it performed very well and it was a roadtrip of a lifetime .

My BEST vacation Ever !

 

I would do it in a heart beat!

 

Dad always told me never leave the county with a used car first few months. but theres no adventure in that.