image: tripod.com
Calvin Mehlert may just be the last Rover 3500 V8 owner to take his car on long road trips. And he’s done it twice, successfully. That got me thinking: which of my cars would I have been most reluctant to take on a similar length trip? The answer wasn’t easy, since I’ve generally always had cars that I could take on long trips readily, which I did regularly. But I did own an MGB GT for a rather fitful short period; it was ratty to start with and I never had the chance to properly sort it out. Frankly, the few times I drove it around town, I was glad to make it back home, which I didn’t on at least one occasion. I sold it as soon as it was running again.
Which of the cars you’ve ever owned would give the most anxiety about heading off in?
1938 Chevrolet Master Deluxe, 1965 Chevelle, 1962 Mercedes 220S; all carburetted and suffered from vapor lock. My 1988 Volvo 745 Turbo; comfortable over distances, but currently dead in the driveway. Worst offender would be the 1968 VW Squareback in winter. No heat to my feet, but my face melted off.
I’ve had a ton of cars, including a P1800ES that was 25 years old when I got it and a Spitfire that was 30. I wouldn’t hesitate a moment to embark on a long journey in either of those. Nope, the answer to the question is my Triumph TR7, bought brand new and kept for three years only, That’s the car I’d feel least safe to leave town with. In its entire life it only made one longish trip (still less than 2000 miles) during which it did not break down, and it had the most incredible knack for stranding me in odd places and at inconvenient times.
Easy: the 61 Thunderbird. When I bought it, the thing was just plumb worn out. Unfortunately, the rosy tint of my specs prevented me from seeing that. I did once drive it about a 200 mile round trip which, in retrospect, was just plain stupid.
Honorable mention was the 29 Model A. She would have made 2400 miles easily, but it would have been a really, really slow 2400 miles with occasional bursts of sheer terror due to the overmatched mechanical brakes.
Probably the ’89 LaForza I just bought off eBay. I’d be worried about something made of unobtanium breaking in the middle of nowhere. Plus the cupholders suck.
You bought a LaForza? Why? As you said, it’s made of unobtanium.
Oh, I know why. You wanted the most unique COAL post here, didn’t you?
I’ve wanted one since I was 9 and read an article in one of my dad’s car magazines about them.
I’ve had an ebay search for a couple years out of curiosity, and one came up half an hour from my house. I figured if I was ever going to own one, this was my chance.
My 1988 Mini… it might have survived the trip, but I doubt that I would have.
My 1966 Rover 2000. Fortunately it broke its halfshaft just before I was scheduled to make a trip to Ohio for a license plate collectors’ convention in 1968. Can you imagine being broke down on the road in Wyoming with a Rover 2000 in 1968?
We used the 1958 Plymouth convertible instead and had a completely problem-free trip.
In 1976 my father moved from Vancouver to Montreal – in a 1968 Rover 2000TC with a U-Haul trailer containing all his post-divorce possessions. I remember him saying he did most of the driving at night to keep the engine temperature down – but he made it with no breakdowns.
My Fuego. Even in the Bay Area, I was always having to wait at least a couple of days for “the guy who knows Renault” to show up at the AMC dealer.
“the guy who knows Renault” – and he was probably the only one for five states around!
You will read about my choice next week…
I had an ’84 GMC C-2500 Suburban diesel that ate a quart or two of dextron ATF every 40 gallon tank of fuel, steadily dripped every other fluid it could (temporarily) hold, overheated if it went over 65 mph, top foot to the floor speed was 69-70 mph and the Turbo Hydra-Matic 700R4 would downshift into 3rd from OD with ANYTHING other than steady state cruising. I called it the Exxon Valdez.
I had a choice on the commute home: 55 with the AC running or 60 mph.without. Any slight inclined overpass = downshift. The rare instances when I passed someone moving slower than me involved lots of megaroaring from the 6.2 motor and a rising temperature gauge, so I mostly learned to just follow the traffic ahead and Zen for the two years I had it.
I did average 16 mpg in normal usage. The one time I drove it to Oklahoma from Little Rock I averaged 23 mpg but I was filled with trepidation about a breakdown the entire trip. Lots of minor repairs that involved a trip to the Pick-N-Pull, but never anything with the actual block or transmission. I kept my eye open for fluid sales and kept them in a milk crate in the back along with my toolbox.
If someone was being aggressive or following dangerously close behind me, I could floor it and smoke them out (but without any actual measurable change in speed) which would usually result in being passed with the typical finger gestures, arm flailing and teeth gnashing.
Despite all that, I loved the thing, but my ex wanted a ’92 Flareside so it got traded in. IIRC, a mechanic told me that a 454 would have basically bolted right in…but my fuel bill would double.
I wouldn’t want to do a 2400 mile trip in it, not 30 hours of it on today’s interstates.
Hmmm… My choice would have to be the 1992 LeBaron convertible we owned for 8½ years. Strictly a cruise-around town car. The farthest I drove it was back and forth to Muncie, IN on a few occasions, right up to the day my eye went bad in 2003. The car blew up in 2007.
Beautiful car, but it needed an engine, still, I made it last as long as I could.
Probably my beloved and hated Peugeot 504 diesel. The magic carpet ride, driving position, and seats would be ideal, but it was a city car. You went into fourth gear around 30 mph and I would guess that normal 80mph interstate cruising would be out of the question. I never attempted driving it that fast as it started overheating at anything faster than 60mph in the South Carolina heat. This was in Charleston where it’s flat as can be. I can’t imagine trying to coax that car up the Saluda grade in western NC at anything resembling highway speeds.
Probably my ’81 Scirocco. I loved the car, but long distances weren’t its strong point. It tended to be pretty noisy at best, the stock sound system speakers were small & tinny, and no A/C meant windows down in the summer. The seats also didn’t provide the best support – I used a wedge cushion for back support the entire time I owned the car.
Add to that certain reliability and quality control problems. Strange wiring issues meant it stopped dead at least twice (luckily near home) and had to be towed for help. Then there was the road trip from Vancouver to LA when the car was just over a year old. While in LA it started running very roughly, and ended up having the entire fuel system replaced, due to a never-connected fuel system pressurization hose in the filler neck, located just above the rear wheel (a huge amount of road crud had ended up in the fuel tank).
The best road-trip car was undoubtedly a ’73 BMW 2002, driven across Canada from Halifax to Vancouver (6000 km / 3700 mi). An absolute joy.
My Audi 100LS. I was afraid to drive it across town. On the other hand, my ’65 Mustang made 2 round trips from Seattle to Iowa City with only one breakdown, outside Buffalo Wyoming.
Easy, my 1987 Honda CRX Si. Rode like you were sitting on the ground, liked to break a lot, had lots of wind and engine noise as a “bonus”. I once took it to St Louis from Nebraska, in the winter, and that was dumb. I’d take the ’93 F-150 Custom when the A/C broke on a trip across the desert over that infernal machine any day of the week.
A 1970 MGB I had for a few years… I drove it from CT to south FL and despite having it running well I ended up replacing an alternator and pulling the rear battery tray to wack the fuel pump every so often on the way.. I think I had to replace a fuse or two also. Very Lucasian eh?
Hmm. The ’82 Malibu would be in the running. By the time I got rid of it, it burned oil, though not too badly (maybe a quart per 2 tanks?), dieseled badly whenever I shut it off, the brakes were scary worn, no A/C, and it handled like the proverbial bathtub half-full of water due to completely worn-out suspension pieces.
The ’00 Alero would be the other contender. By the time we said goodbye to that one, it required topping up the oil and the coolant every day, due to leakage from several places. Long trips required topping up the fluids every couple hours, and even then, you had to watch the temperature gauge like a hawk so if the needle started to creep you could pull off and replenish before anything bad happened. But if you were vigilant about the fluids it wasn’t too badly behaved otherwise and the A/C even worked. It did make a 200 mile trip without drama as one of its last acts under our ownership, but 2400 would be nerve-racking.
I think the ’82 would be my last choice. The Alero behaved if you kept the fluids full. That Malibu always made me question if I would actually come to a stop every time I hit the brakes…
From a reliability perspective, the 1970 MG Midget that I owned in the early 80s…I had no money and no expertise, but I sorta kept that little turd running for a summer.
From a comfort perspective, we just finished a 1600 mile trip to Florida from Ohio, with 4 adults in a 2013 Honda Civic…it ran like a top, got 34 MPG for the whole trip, but it just isn’t big enough for 4 people. That sucked.
None of my cars have been consistently unreliable, and I have done several long trips (but not 2400 miles long!) in all of them.
I would not choose my ’74 Ford Cortina – mine had the Pinto OHC four, but still only managed 22-24mpg, and that’s with full-size Imperial gallons. That was thirsty for a 2 litre sedan even in the seventies, but it was the rough, harsh ride which seemed to somehow amplify bumps that would rule it out for a long trip. Having said that, I did take it from Melbourne to Adelaide and return, with a few side trips of the “this road looks interesting, wonder where it goes?” variety. IIRC that trip was only about 1400 miles with detours. The car was uncomfortable, but nothing left me stranded. I eventually got 280,000 miles out of it.
I also would not choose my ’87 Ford Laser (Mercury Tracer). It was a fairly high mileage used car when I got it, and the black box that ran the ignition developed an intermittent fault on long trips. On one memorable occasion this turned a 150 mile trip into a three day expedition as a succession of mechanics couldn’t locate the fault!
It’s a toss up between the $300 dollar 86 buick century that squirted a steady stream of oil straight at the alternator or the 77 New Yorker with the melty plastic Thermo-quad carb. Not to mention the cost of keeping that 400 cu monster supplied with gas. I would have taken my rusty old 60 Bel Air anywhere though.