Asking for a friend.
I got grounded by a blizzard in Buffalo once, rented a Cherokee and drove home to Philly. It wasn't really that far but it took 16 hours. Because it was in a berkeleying blizzard.
1100 miles and change (minneapolis to Chambersburg pa via Washington dc) for a 400$ corolla wagon I only had a few pictures of. I didn't even know what trans was in it til I had the title.
About 1000 miles because I figured driving through Hurricane Irene was OK even though the plane wouldn't take off.
1650 miles, no cruise control, questionable AC.
On another note I once did a drive and fly of 1200 miles.
Had connecting flight in Atlanta from Daytona in route to Dallas. Decided to hop off, have my little brother pick me up and found a little E36 for sale. Bought it, drove it back to Dallas the next day... 850 miles..
Had a delay taking off from Dallas going to D.C. to connect to go to Buffalo for a race at Watkins. Landed about 2 hours late, saw the whole airport basically shuts down after 11pm, so my boss and I rented a car and drove thru the night to Watkins Glen.
In reply to David S. Wallens:
Arkansas to San Diego for a fly and drive. Flew in Friday was home Sunday
I flew from Jackson Mississippi to Miami purchased a BMW 318ti and drove back to Jackson in about 20 hours total travel time including flight down and drive back. The drive from Miami back to Jackson was about 950 miles. All done in one day
I flew into Dallas, TX and got stuck there when all US flights were grounded for 9/11 and ended up driving home, just over 1200 miles.
Twice from Michigan to North Carolina. First one was to Wilmington to get a 77 El Camino SS, second was to Cary to get my 87 Corvette.
Los Angeles to CT for a B-13 SE-R. 2,850+ miles in a car with a thermostat that was stuck open, no radio, no dash lights, no speedometer, a track alignment. Snow in PA was fun on Kuhmo MX's, especially with the breaking biased towards the rear with no ABS.
Would have been much easier if something like Waze was around back then!
Shorter trips include CT to VA for my e36 328is, CT to VA Beach for my '92 Notchback, CT to PA for a Saab we bought on eBay, and CT to Buffalo NY for our current RAV4 that was purchased through a forum.
I forgot one because it technically doesn't qualify, but it was that same drive, though maybe about 900 miles, with a just-purchased 71 Corvette vert. We drove down, not flew down. We fought over who got to drive the Vette at first, but seeing as it was February, it had no radio and no heat, and a 5" gap between the top and the decklid, we fought over the Maxima instead after one stint.
I did the same drive about a decade earlier in a 79 Vette, but again it was a drive/drive.
Denver to Phoenix, 850 miles. I flew to Colorado to buy a Outback XT because that's where you find the turbo cars. The twist was: I didn't have a deal or even a particular car in mind; I flew out and then started looking. Five years later the car is still treating me well.
Flew in/drove my S2000 from Ft. Lauderdale back to DC. ~1030 miles
Flew in and drove the POS Lemons car from St. Louis to DC. ~820 miles. No radio, heat valve kept getting stuck. Got a couple of nice tickets from a cop who threatened to impound the car. The same cop also had to jump start the car for me and lend me a roll of duct tape to keep the trunk shut.
Flew into San Diego to drive back across the country with my sister when she was moving back home. ~2650 miles
Flew from my home in northeast Ohio to Orlando to buy a CRX si. Then drove it back to Ohio. My next venture will take me from Ohio to Houston, but it's not a fly and drive. I'm driving down with my truck to pick up the Midget race car and Pace 24' enclosed trailer I'm buying from Basil Expedition.
Flew to Raleigh NC from Boston to pick up a 92 Miata with 200k on it, drove home via Florida (we took the scenic route), about 3500 miles. There's a thread in the adventures forum!
cmcgregor wrote: Flew to Raleigh NC from Boston to pick up a 92 Miata with 200k on it, drove home via Florida (we took the scenic route), about 3500 miles. There's a thread in the adventures forum!
And here's the link!
1246 miles myself when I was 16 (2004) in my newly purchased 1990 Honda Prelude. Flew out to Ontario for the summer to work on my uncle's farm, drove it home to Winnipeg 3 days after I bought it. One tow, $500 in dealership repairs, and 8 quarts of oil.
1045 miles in 2015 to get the '69 C10 I'm fixing up. From Arkansas to Winnipeg. There's a thread on here with the trip. That one cost a set of tires, a heater core, a brake master cylinder, and most my sanity.
Flew from Newark, NJ to LAX, picked up Honda S600. Drove up to Laguna, Back to Redondo Beach and then to NJ. All in a very rare car I bought sight unseen! I didn't track the mileage, but it was well over 3,000.
Picked up my van from St. Louis, one very empty tank of gas later home to Grand Rapids MI. 30 gallon trip.
Let's see....
I flew to L.A., grabbed Tim's 59 Edsel Villager Station wagon and we drove it home to Florida.
Non-magazine related--- I flew to NH, picked up a TR6 and drove it home to FL. Oh yeah....it was Feb 1st and we got hit by a massive winter storm. That made things interesting!
Flew to Chicago, picked up a 1981 Champ and drove it alone-- home to FL
Flew to Colorado, picked up a 84 AMC Eagle and drove it alone home to FL. (stopped in New Orleans of course!)
Yes, I like taking long road trips in questionable machinery. It's easy to stay awake when you are constantly listening for parts that may fly off.....or smelling for smoke and fire!
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