Would you drive across the country in your car?

[jframe]

My 65 went from Branson, Mo to Jonesboro, Ar to meet me, then I drove from there to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. No problems whatsoever,except I had to keep backing off the gas to stay off 80 mph on US routes, lol.

[PWB]

3 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

I would say a lot of confidence has been gained since post #1. That's pretty good.

 

Re-upholstery is coming up for mine, hopefully this year. I know it should get new foam, but I have been looking over a spare set of seat frames and thinking about converting them to tied coil springs with burlap and cotton batting to make that living room couch feel under original covers.. I am intrigued enough to do one up "in my spare time".

 

One of the real pleasures I get from old cars is the non-overdrive engine feel. They are always right there in a sweet spot. I don't care for overdrive in the 45-50 MPH range. I usually pull it down and bring the revs up if I drive like that long. I do run quiet exhaust on most of the stuff. Hot Rodders with those 2 1/2" pipes and "performance" mufflers gotta pay for that image.

 

On the constant high speed thing, the engines I have seen burn out of those sustained highway trip seem to all belong to college girls with a heavy foot and a sludged up engine with the oil returns blocked. All the oil up in the valve covers is not a good thing.

 

I am pretty lucky for my age and physical condition. I never worked hard or got into athletics so everything that is not bone conforms pretty good to its surroundings. It ain't like I am solid muscle and every ounce pounded on with a hammer. I'm much more adaptable. Like today, the Pope said celebrate St. Paddy's Day and I took my Wife out for lunch at a convenient store about 7 1/2 miles away. We got the two slices of pepperoni Pizza and non-diet Coke for $4.34 each. See, made the 15 mile reliability run and got the grease to help conform to the seats. I'm ready for a road trip!

Bernie

I can't find a good pizza joint here in Ocala. Was spoiled in NY. Heck, I cant find a good Chinese joint either. Home cookin then.

I would love to see a photo documentary on the seat resto' done to original. Cotton and burlap - mice like it more than pizza!

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Chris, my 1950 has been to Charlotte and enough other places to accumulate 11,000 miles last 7 years.  I was feeling pretty good about that. Today upon arriving at the Swap Meet in Chickasha,  First thing I see is a T model Ford PU with  "canvas" stretched over the bed. Old fellow was taking it down. Started talking, and he mentioned he drove it 12,000 miles. LAST YEAR!!  A 1925!  I did not brag about my lousy 11,000 in seven years.  Ben 

[RoadShark]

It's even more fun in the winter (actually, I've gotten older and I'm more aware of the risks of cross-country travel in the winter through the Rockies).  This is outside Kearney Nebraska on the way to skiing in Utah and hiking in Big Bend.  Keep tools handy...

 

[RivNut]

For some reason I can't get the link to post but if you're wondering what a 60's era Buick nailhead will do 'cross country' there's a 17 minute video on YouTube that show the details of running a 60 Buick 10,000 miles in less than 5,000 minutes.  The feat was sponsored by Buick but couldn't be published because of something.  Seven professional drivers, a modified fuel tank, and Firestone NASCAR tires.  For you non-math guys, that's an average speed of over 120 mph for 5,000 minutes, or 83.333 hours, stopping only to change drivers and tires; the engine was never shut off, and between tire changes, refueling was done at speed from another similar Buick.  Both cars were running a 401 with Dynaflow.

 

Type '1960 buick 10000 miles 5000 minutes' into the YouTube search window. It's a little longer than 17 minutes. Well worth watching. You should now have confidence to drive your car anywhere IF you've been doing proper maintenance. 

 

Ed

Edited March 20, 2017 by RivNut (see edit history)

[arnulfo de l.a.]

On March 17, 2017 at 3:40 AM, RoadShark said:

That's one way of putting it!  You sir - are truly charitable.

Thank you

[RivNut]

!0,000 miles at a sustained 120 miles per hour.

Ahh Haa, got off my tablet and onto the desk top.  Here's the link that I was talking about.  

 

 

 

As it says in the beginning, it's like driving from Flint to Detroit, then to Los Angeles,on  to Miami, to New York, and back to LA in 3 and 1/2 days.  

[PWB]

2 hours ago, RivNut said:

!0,000 miles at a sustained 120 miles per hour.

Ahh Haa, got off my tablet and onto the desk top.  Here's the link that I was talking about. 

As it says in the beginning, it's like driving from Flint to Detroit, then to Los Angeles,on  to Miami, to New York, and back to LA in 3 and 1/2 days.  

Phenomenal. 

Thank you Ed

 

[gord14080]

Wow great piece of history, thanks for sharing. My drive from Cape Breton Nova Scotia to WIlliamsburg last year was a great drive,I didn't like leaving the car at night,I worried about my windshield and truck tires on the road. Driving to Reno is too much ,may see when the meet comes east again,thanks again for sharing that tape!

I may make it to the next east coast event,All the best Gordon Purves,gord14080.

[60FlatTop]

So that's the test they did to learn how to make better cars in the future.

 

Spotted last year on the Edmonds Road on Orleans County still looking for one.

 

 

 

[60FlatTop]

That was a great time for GM. The whole time I watched the test video I was thinking of my Grandmother O'Brien coming up from behind and blasting by with her '54, back seat pulled out and three milk cans across the back.

 

They said they took it to Daytona to avoid conflict with other divisions. I think that meant they were getting away from this trouble maker:

 

I heard Duntov had his test track license revoked for buzzing some of the routine tests. Listen to those biased tires at 2:40 seconds on the Vette vid. I have this on a cassette and in the pre-CD days I played it cranked up in the garage a lot.

Bernie

Edited March 20, 2017 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[still looking]

Sweet !

i can see why this in on CD for you. 

Do you remember slippin and sliding on skinny bias plys ?

I do, it was fun, even on WideOvals. 

[PWB]

On 3/18/2017 at 0:24 PM, RoadShark said:

It's even more fun in the winter (actually, I've gotten older and I'm more aware of the risks of cross-country travel in the winter through the Rockies).  This is outside Kearney Nebraska on the way to skiing in Utah and hiking in Big Bend.  Keep tools handy...

Byron-

"Perils he sought not- but ne'er shrank to meet; The scene was savage, but the scene was new; This made the ceaseless toil of  travel sweet."

[RoadShark]

8 hours ago, PWB said:

Byron-

"Perils he sought not- but ne'er shrank to meet; The scene was savage, but the scene was new; This made the ceaseless toil of  travel sweet."

Ah - if only those trips rose to such noble intentions.  More like "Fools rush in…" .