Longest trip in an older classic

Tim and Rennie are about to head from Pennsylvania to Florida in the Midget, and that got me thinking: What is everyone's longest road trip in an older classic?

I have nothing.

Western Chicago Suburbs to Road America in my 1966 Datsun 1600 Roadster. (1992-1994) Maybe 180 miles each way.

I had a Tulsa OK to Austin TX in a Fiat spider, an Austin to Fort Myers, FL in a Volvo 1800E, and an epic Fort Myers to Omaha to Tulsa to Austin to Fort Myers in a 240Z. That last trip was with a girl on Memorial Day weekend some years ago, young, in love, and packing a wad of cash for speeding tickets. Ironically, we didn't get stopped once although we drove with gusto to complete the circuit of friends in four days!

I traveled from Chicago, IL to Newcastle, PA, to St. Louis, MO, and then to New Orleans, LA in a 1974 MGBGT. With two cats. Not one problem with the car or the cats. I was in New Orleans for a year, then drove the same car with the same cats back to St. Louis. It was an experimental time.

I took my '65 Austin-healey 3000 MKIII to Lake Tahoe from Portland, OR a few years back, about 600 miles. Great trip need to do more trips like it, car ran great though I need missed the AC of my BMW.

Dougie<a href="">

Last summer, there were many spridets that drove to Osage Beach Missouri. Several from California, a few from Washington, some from New Jersey, Florida, etc. I personally drove about 500 miles to that event in a Bugeye that I had bolted together a month prior. It wasn't too bad, but certainly not as comfortable as my '70 Midget.

Not counting a coast-to-coast trip as a passenger in a TR-3A with no top when I was a kid, drove our Volvo 1800S from Vancouver, WA to Sacramento and back, doing a track day at Thunderhill on the way down. About 1400 miles round trip.

In 1996, I drove my 1970 MGB on a road trip out west. From Annapolis to Aspen, plus some side trips, and back. Roughly (I have the records somewhere, but I'm not sure where) 6,000 miles round trip. The longest day of the trip was about 1,050 miles.

I messed with the carb (a DCOE) a bit west of Denver, and I added a quart of oil before the return trip.

That was in the middle of a 12-year period when that car was my daily driver. It now has about 340,000 miles on it, most of them mine.

Prior to that, the previous longest trip had been an 1100-mile weekend trip from Philly to the coast of Maine. More recently, there have been several 2,000+ mile christmas trips in the same car.

On March 13th 2007, I bought a 1969 Ford Cortina Estate (station wagon) with a transplanted Lotus twin cam. The car was in Los Angeles and I had only seen about a dozen digital pictures. On that next Saturday, St. Patrick's day, I flew to LA, and drove non stop back to Seattle. No problems, but a lot of stops with that 7 gallon gas tank.

Many years ago I bought a '74 GTV from the Argentinian ambassador to the US, who had bought it for his son, who declined Dad's generosity. Took a bus to Jacksonville, Fl, caught a cheap flight to Baltimore, train to DC, subway to the embassy. Parked out back was a decidedly forlorn GTV. Couple hours work got me some lights. Slapped my tag on it, drove all the way to Jacksonville, where I felt a slight hesitation as I pulled into a gas station. 160 miles later, it expired as I pulled into my driveway. I will never forget the sound of that engine cruising at 80 mph on a clear summer night.

I did a Louisiana-Arizona run several times in an MGB. Seems like it was always in the summertime, too.

We ran an RB MGb from Fl to Washington DC and back . Never leave Florida without beer on a sunday . Georgia and South carolina are dry on sunday . I was dam sure glad to See Pepe at south o border right under the overpass was NC and a cold beer . We blew wheel cylinder in washington luckily there was a warehouse down the block , my brother had drove his 240 z down 6hrs and we fixed it in the garage at the hotel . Toured DC in a taxi cab and went through Atlanta on way home . This was during the Clinton era .

I bought my 1969 SAAB 96 DeLuxe on eBay a couple of years ago. The car was in Bountiful, Utah (Outside of SLC) and I live in Shepherdsville, KY (just outside of Louisville.)

Yep.

My best friend and I managed to limp the old car home- 1650+ miles. Funtimes. You can read about the adventure here:

http://archive.grassrootsmotorsports.com/board/viewtopic.php?id=27006

Oklahoma is in the middle and travelling 200 miles in my Spider to a Texas or Missouri event is normal. Over a couple of weekends I went coast to coast. First to the Gulf coast and then to Detroit and returning. My longest one day trip was returning from Denver to Oklahoma with only gas/reststop breaks. It is good to drive the car regularly to shake out any weakness before a long journey and since the Fiat is my regular second car, I know it very well and can trust it.

Cheers Ron

Wisconsin to St. Louis in a Series Land Rover, and back. Ear plugs are a must.

However, that will not be the longest trip in it as I am planning for a real adventure - I am thinking Wisconsin to Yellow Knife, NWT, Canada, just because.

San Francisco to San Diego and back a couple of years ago at Christmas, 1200miles after all was said and done. My car was designed for the open road so it was pretty good and who doesn't like the sound of an I6. The fuel accumulator crapped out right after I got back and laid the car down for a couple months.

I've gone from Michigan to faraway places in MGBs and MGB/GTs--TX, DC, PA, NY, IA, KY, IN, WI, etc.. I guess the longest were some to Austin TX, straight through with a friend (about 20 hours).

I always carry an alternator, fuel pump, water pump, and hoses. I've replaced alternators and hoses on some of the trips.

--Carl

I drove my '74 Land Cruiser from El Paso, TX to Burlington, VT a few years ago to move my girlfriend back after she graduated. Aside from a stuck float in West Memphis, Arkansas, the truck was perfect. It rode like a Caddy with ~1000 lbs of stuff crammed into the back. I took a circuitous route to get back, and the trip was just shy of 7000 miles.

Every year I also drive the Elan +2 from El Paso to Tucson, about 6 hours on I-10 at 75+ mph. Last year the car averaged 38 mpg

I've driven my '69 MGB GT from Portland, OR to San Francisco many, many times.

Dave

Distance is a state of mind. Especially when the wife is complaining about the loud exhaust (my custom exhaust system). So even a 10 mile trip is comparable to going across the country listening to that nagging.

I flew out and picked up my 79 RX-7 in 2008 sight unseen. Drove it from Kansas City, MO to Daytona Beach, FL with no real problems. Event got 24mpg at 75mph.

Too bad it was rustier than I thought

At a time when it was only considered a used car (and a very used car at that...), I drove my 1960 series I Sunbeam Alpine from Connecticut to Denver, a bit over 1800 miles. Packed everything I owned except for my cat either inside or on the trunk mounted luggage rack. The cat lucked out and got to fly out in a plane. He definitely got the better end of the deal as I ended up having to replace the generator in a parts store parking lot after it died somewhere near Chicago during a snow storm. The only saving grace was that I had put so many new generators in that car that I could almost do it with my eyes closed and it was a quick job.

In the following years, I owned a variety of odd cars and didn't hesitate to drive them back cross country to visit family. One trip which sticks out was a non-stop drive in a '62 Rambler Classic, taking only two 30 minute breaks in 30+ hours aside from gas stops. On another occasion, I drove a Simca 1204 which decided to regurgitate a carb jet, again during a snow storm (I'm beginning to see a pattern here...). Don't recall how I diagnosed the problem but I found the loose jet after removing the top of the carb and reinserted it all while parked on the edge of I-80.

Now, some 35 years or so later, being much wiser than during my impetuous youth (hah!), I still find myself taking off on lengthy road trips, this time with unwitting spouse in tow. Last year we drove our TR8 from Maine to North Carolina, took part in the Carolina Trophy, and returned, all after having driven the freshly restored car no further than across town on a 20 mile test run. The 3000 mile journey was without mishap aside from a significant water leak around the windshield which manifested itself while driving through the remnants of hurricane Ike.

A friend of mine drove from florence oregon to new york in a 56 BMW Isetta 300. He had a truck pacing him with a spare motor or two and just about every spare part besides another shell. I think he is still listed in the guiness book for it.

I still havent taken my Fiat more tahn 20 miles from home

With very little prep, I drove my TR3 from Jacksonville, Fl. to my hometown in Pa.....a trip of JUST over 1000 miles. That was back in 1977, so the car wasn't too old/"out-of-shape". Only problems along the way? One of the horns stopped working and outside of Williamsport the engine got louder and rougher, tho that "tractor" 4 cylinder keep on pulling up the long hills. When I got home, I found one of the spark plugs had "jumped" out of the cylinder head. I did the last 100 miles of the trip on 3 cylinders.

The PA to FL trip was an easy one. We didn't even have to break out the tool kit. Rennie and I drove an unrestored Ranchero from Oakland, CA to Daytona Beach FL. That was a little trickier.

I have also done a 1000 mile trip and a couple of 500 mile trips in the Project Tiger. That car eats up the miles with ease and relative comfort.