Boyd, Sorry ifn I rubbed you the wrong way. I certainly have to defer to your miles and long distances. WAY TO GO. Hope you can get your car modified to suit you and sell that trailer! Gary
This may help, You cn put in a Aftermarket cruise, that will help give you a little wiggle room. Just trying to help Russ
My T tub with it's 100 inch wheelbase was like your truck. About an hour on the hiway was all you could take without getting out. My 47 ford I used to drive for hours without having to get out. Love the longer wheelbase. My 49 chev pickup on the S-10 should be a nice hiway ride. As I am short, the legroom is not an issue in any car, but wheelbase is. Our hiways and streets here leave a lot to be desired as well. Pat.
Isn't this partly why some of us choose to drive the two lane back highways? If you run the interstates all the time, you miss the small towns. I'm guessing Canada isn't much different from the US in that the small towns always have more character and characters then what you'll see on the interstate. Just look at a couple of the road trip to Billetproof NW threads. Those guys redefined fun. And Denise does that on what seems like a weekly basis too. Just think about the posts you could have if you started tearing up the two lanes and stopped in many of the small towns they wander through... Vance
This is exactly why we bought our '47 Mercury. Our modified is great fun but totally impractical for overnight trips. It's comfortable enough for long drives but there's no luggage space and no way to secure it in motel parking lots overnight. So we take it in it's own "portable garage". Then leave the "garage" at the motel and drive the modified back and forth to the venue. Now that we have the Mercury, the plans for it are to make that our "long distance" car. It's got plenty of both leg room and luggage room. It's a closed car so the weather is never a concern, and it can be locked up at night. We'll have the best of both worlds. The modified for day trips and local shows, and the Mercury for overnighters.
Thats why you don't build, or buy a car that is engineered only for "the look" and not for some reasonable comfort. A car's configuation can be hacked up and changed, but people can't be reconfigured much. Well Ok, they can be made wider, but not shorter, and after conciderable study I've found wider is of no help.
trailering the car to shows is the excuse for the trailer. once you have the trailer you can bring home more good stuff that does not run. hot rod logic strikes again
S'ok Gary. Your original comments are pretty much what I would have said prior to running into this problem. It's been a very frustrating experience for me having to go through this right now. The truck actually has cruise control which works great. The problem is there is literally no place for my right leg to go, it's that cramped inside. Gaining 8-10" of space when I move the firewall back to it's original position will help. I don't mind the choppy ride that much, although it doesn't help lessen the pain in my hip. As for the condition of our roads...no comment. I prefer backroads to interstates, unless I'm in a big hurry to get somewhere. I live in one of those "small towns" that are so much fun to explore. Again, the big problem is the excruciating pain I get in my hip from the seating position. I can't do anything about that until I rebuild the truck. Believe me, once I get this thing set up for my ergonomics, I'll be driving it from one end of the country to the other as often as I can, just like I did with my previous rods.
Well be sure to buy a big enough trailer to do it. Of course then the question becomes. How BIG is BIG enough? LOL I have two trailers, for hauling parts, a 24 ft open and a 6 X 10 ft enclosed. Somehow they often end up being too small. LOL
Haul it ... Big deal ... it's your car, your comfort My wife and I drove my 32 Ford roadster 521 miles in one day ( a few weeks back ) ... I have hauled it places and I have drove it places. Tell those busybodies who want to give you grief to kiss your grits. If you are not comfortable ... it is not FUN. Just make sure you have a good, safe trailer and a truck rated to tow the load.
One of my acquaintances took his roadster 3000 miles to California. He put it in his enclosed trailer for the trip. Once in California, he took it out and drove it everywhere he went. Then he loaded it back into the trailer and went home. No problem, you say? He actually caught crap from some numbskulls in CA that said they though he should have "driven" it 3000 miles each way, no A/C, no radio, no cruise control! Go figure! It's your choice and your back and legs and knees and hips. If you can't enjoy a long drive in it, then by all means trailer it there and enjoy the event AND the trip!
Get something that you can drive. We drive ours and as said before, 1/2 the fun is the driving to get there. I am pretty sure that I am having more fun passing those that are trailering their ride than they are as I go by. If they are on a trailer, they are trailer queens. Neal
Yea but where did you sleep? Is cruise control any more traditional than trailering?... I think I'd make the compromise. I'll take the motorhome and suffer by not using the cruise control.
Just my suggestions, dont trailer it, don't tear it apart (sucks when you have nothing to drive), just start building something else on the side.
i bought a trailer to haul my smaller trailer! works out great!! when my 53 is done [rollseyes] it will have ac, cruise, and all the modern saftey components...my wife can then drive it! goin to dolly my 31 coupe to shows, then i can drive the coupe, and the wife and kids can roll in the 53! no shame there for me! i have bad shoulders, back, hips, and im not about to drive a hardtail model A 5hrs to a show! id be a week gettin back to just feelin shitty, so dolly, trailer, take the daily! as long as your havin fun and supportin the folks who worked hard to put on that show, well, thats just swell! although, id give a nut to have a good back again!
My 32 Brookville roadster was a nightmare to drive when I first got it. My hip hurt and would go numb after 30 minutes. Since then I have altered seat position, pedal and shifter position to make it a pleasure to drive. Plus now I can see out the windshield.
I used to take this to some of the Good Guys and NSRA deals. It had a 454 with a tunnelram and 4.56 gears in it, so it rode in on a trailer. At OKC one year I got cornered by a friend and listened patiently while he lectured me about trailers. When he started to run out of breath, I just asked him if he wanted to run 'em. The blood kinda drained out of his face and he gasped a couple of times before he said no way. I told him that just because cars are old and modified, doesn't mean they're built for the same purposes. Even cars that are on trailers aren't there for the same reason. I trailer mine because they are to radical to be driven 500 miles at a time. And I'm not gonna tell someone else they shouldn't trailer theirs because they have a different set of priorities than mine. Larry T BTW, I think the first folks that really promoted driving your car cross country to an event was the NSRA (Gold Chainers to a lot of folks here).
I've always been adamant about driving my hot rods. Last year (last week of May through the first week of Oct) my wife, me, and the dog drove 5,000 logged miles to events. All of 'em in our '36pick-up. '55 Chevy, and A sedan. I have some serious connective tissue problems that effect ALL the joints in my body. To make the joint pain problem worse, I have a kidney problem that keeps me from taking ANY pain meds. Not even aspirin or tylenol. There are times when, after a couple hundred mile road trip, even with stops every 75 miles or so, I end up having to use crutches to walk for several days. I carry a custom made flamed cane with an eyeball top with me at all times-"just in case". Now....I love hot rods enough to put up with the pain in order to enjoy driving and living the life. However....it's gettin' worse. I finally bought a flat bed trailer last year and have getting my '65 fleetside set up as a tow truck. It's also a hot rod; frame up project, slammed, flamed, etc, etc. So when I tow to an event that I can no longer drive a cramped car to, I'll just enter two hot rods!!! By the way...We own 6 cars; 3 hot rods, a Honda, a new Nissan Maxima, plus an old beater pick-up (sold the '55 to finance a roadster build). The only one I can drive without enduring substantial pain is the Fleetside (don't know why, it's just the way it is). I will never sell my '65!!!!! So that's my solution. I'd rather be poundin' down the road in the A or the '36 but if I can't make that work out at least I'll get there towin' a hot rod with another hot rod. Good luck with you car and do what ever you have to do to keep on enjoying it. Rich
Well I know at least 3 guys from Florida all in their 60's who more than once have DRIVEN their roadsters to the L.A. Roadsters show
I sold my touring to build a more highway worthy hotrod. The next one will be able to run 70 all day with the radio on an seat 2 adults and a kid or two. (only one for now unless Carla hasnt told me something) We trailered it one time to the HAMB drags, 3 of us the T was a two holer and there was a good chance it was going to be sold to a fellow HAMBer whilst in Missouri. Trailers are a pain in the ass and most often cause more wear and tear on the car than actually driving it. Just dig through the trailer mishap threads here on the HAMB
That's where the Harley guys have us beat. I watch them go by the shop all weekend long while I slave away in the heat trying to get something roadworthy. They ride in all sorts of weather and have a good time. When we have a poker run half the people (car guys) complain if it is over 25 miles. I miss the days of "rod runs", when trailers were towed behind the hot rods. The nostalgia craze has actually done a lot for guys driving their cars instead of polishing them.
Well, I'm not about to sell the truck. I will rebuild it with more interior space, but I won't be selling it. I'm also not saying I will be trailering it for the rest of time, just until I can get this problem fixed. As for the Harley guys...how many bikes get trailered to the big events compared to trailered hotrods?
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