Route 66

Recently my sister in law turned 50. And her bucket list item to do when she turned 50 was to do a wine tasting tour in France. Tasting 50 wines for her 50th birthday. I thought this was great idea, to do something significant to you on your 50th birthday. Since I am pushing 50, (48, though my wife has saying I'm pushing 50 since I turned 40) I've been thinking what I can do as a car guy for my 50th.

I'm thinking of driving Route 66, Chicago to Santa Monica.

Now I've just started doing some research. I have until July 2017 to work out details. Of course in a perfect world I'm thinking if I do this, it has to be done in an American classic car. Something 50s or 60s. My 78 Honda just doesn't seem appropriate. I do have my eye on a 68 Plymouth Valiant with a slant 6 that is on the road, and cheap. But after a bit of reading about how some parts are dirt roads and rough, and some desert, maybe I'm dreaming a bit too much. Maybe a modern car with a/c might be more realistic.

I also thought I'd tap into the GRM brain trust. So how about it? Anyone done this trip? Or part of it? What are the must see parts, and the must avoid parts? Thoughs? Suggestions?

We've done part of it- Chicago to Tulsa. It's a nice drive- but there are more than one Route 66 in a few spots. I'd get one of the better books on the various routes. I'll have to look up what we used- it was really good information.

The books have listings of things to see- our goal was to get to the AROC convention- so we just really enjoyed the drive. No goals set during the day- when we got to a point where we thought we would stop- we had a AAA book for ideas. Some of the hotels are good Motels that were original to Route 66. Pretty cool.

Remember, the journey is the highlight.

I've done bits and pieces of 66 in NM, AZ, and CA.

a) for much of those states, 66 is non-existent. Either the original road is simply gone, or it was just paved over and renamed I-40.

2) for the parts where you can drive on one (or several) of the original alignments of 66, it can be pretty beat up. Bring a good suspension.

III) At least in the Southwest, driving on 66 is a whole lot like driving on I-40, but you'll be going slower. There isn't much to see, save for a handful of tiny towns where you have to go very slowly. Also a lot of shops selling "Made in China" Rt.66 memorabilia.

yellow) All of that having been said, DO IT. Even though there are a lot of downsides, it's something that every car guy ought to do. Once.

also... heading west out of Kingman, AZ you get a couple of choices for various ages of alignments of 66. County route 10, aka Oatman Road, is NOT TO BE MISSED. It is the original alignment of 66. It is one of the most fun, twisty roads I have ever driven. Fun fact: that road is so steep in spots that Model T's had to drive it in reverse, because the gravity-fed carburetors would starve of gas when trying to drive forwards up the incline!

Here it is.

Good luck. Less iconic, but I'm hoping to do RT 20 coast to coast at some point. Hopefully on 2 wheels.

I did it 2 years ago with the goal of getting junior to Irvine for grad school. We veered off and hit the Grand Canyon and we hit the Santa Monica pier 2 years after the trip. The casinos in Laughlin, NV had $21 rates at the big names and were freaking crappy -- we laughed as we did it to ourselves.

Albuquerque and Gallup were cool. We saw all the cars in the ground in Texas and noticed everyone carrying cans of spray paint. We just picked up 1/2 empty cans on the ground and used them. Also I am always touched by the OKC monument downtown - a must stop.

The Wife and I did a small section from Kingman to Seligman AZ last month as part of a trip for our 40th birthdays. She enjoyed it so much she's planning how to do the whole road on a future vacation. She's waffling between taking leaving NY with her beloved Fiat and shipping it back or buying something in California and driving back.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/a-77-maverick-does-route-66/104816/page1/

A big car with A/C and floaty suspension is what you want.

I've driven all of the Illinois alignment and a little of Missouri.

I second doing your homework. If you just want to drive it, yeah, you can do that pretty easy.

If you want to see some cool E36 M3 and sometimes go off the beaten path, then get some books and do some online research, because you could miss some cool stuff.

Illinois has a great Route 66 committee that has made a valiant effort to make the Mother Road a travel destination. They have placed various markers along the route to tell the history.

Just like Alfa said, there are more than one alignment. The original went through the middle of most the towns and you can see a lot of defunct old gas stations and motels, plus some other hidden gems like good diners and such. The final alignment, which is what you will end up traveling down, bypasses most of the towns.

I one day will do the whole length, but that will probably take me a few weeks

If you're turning 50, shouldn't you be driving US-50? Save Route 66 for 2033. :)

When we moved we drove on a good bit of it from Tumacacori NM to St. Louis and the only regret was that we had two cats and I was in a moving truck towning my car behind it. I'd love to do it again and be able to enjoy it more. Lots of tourist crap but in the southwest there's plenty of the old buildings still there and the architecture is great.

who cares what you drive, just go out and enjoy the trip. if you have a 78 handa, drive it since you already have it. it will have better gas milage then that bigger car. besides, the trip home from the challange that i took some time doing was very cool ans stopping and seeing some of the stuff along the way is what road trips are all about.

I'd love to do a sight-seeing road trip on Route 66 sometime, my high-maintenance Lincoln seems pretty well suited for that sort of thing.

Also, watch Cars and all of the bonus features on the DVD/blueray.

It needs to be done in a 62 Corvette, proper.

Don't sell the Valiant's rough-road capabilities short.

(Scott Harvey's factory backed rally Barracuda.)

I haven't tried to drive Route 66 myself, but a Valiant sounds like a pretty good choice for it.

And the slant 6 will make it through the journey. You could drain the oil at the start of the trip and it would survive the journey.

Shameless Repost of when I did this a couple months ago.

I strongly reccommend going with an older car, it was part of what made the trip great.

I haven't actually had my '64 Valiant on Route 66 - yet - but it would be a good car for the trip. Great outward visibility, for one thing. After all, you're going to LOOK, right? And as Matt pointed out, they can handle less-than-perfect roads (assuming a reasonably sound car to start with).

If you're doing this in the summer, you'll want AC. A lot of Valiants came with it, and aftermarket stuff is available. Mine had a period aftermarket AC when I got it, and now has one from Southern Rods.

PS - don't forget your spare ballast resistor.

We ran a $500 car banger rally on 66 last summer. Didn't loose one car. It's not that hard on a car (hell a $300 fiat spyder made it without a hiccup) Great drive, plan more time than you think and stop and enjoy the sights.

I was waiting for yu to chime in JTHW8