Both you and your wife are obviously “young at heart”, and what you are planning beats playing bingo!
My late brother and his wife actually took cross country trips on their Harley motor cycle, but from Detroit to South Florida, till well into their 60s.
Your planned trip will be a high fatigue affair for anyone over 40. I have driven cross country East to West & back 9 times, in the following cars: 1963 Buick Riviera, 1966 Buick Station wagen, 1976 Ford Granada, 1980 Pontiac LeMans, 1984 Chevrolet Impala, 1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88. The Pontiac trip was by myself and took 3 days of getting up early and hitting the road with a good supply of coffee, tapes, and snacks.
P.S. The only things that failed on any of these trips was a spark plug wire on the Buick station wagon ($14 fix at Woolco), and the fan belt on the Pontiac.
The actual pioneer of unibody construction in the US auto industry was Nash, sometime in the 1940s.
Later, circa 1960, as Rambler/American Motors, they spread this technology throughout their entire product line.
IIRC, Chrysler corp didn’t go over to unibody construction until 1961 or '62.
The first “compacts” brought out by the big three were all unibody, following Nash’s example. The Valiant, Ford Falcon and Chevy Corvair, brought out as 1960 models, all had frameless construction to save weight and cost.
Unfortunately they lacked good rust protection and would not last very long in the rust belt areas. On my 1965 Dart, the floors rusted out, the air intake rusted through causing car wash water to gush on my feet, and the front subframe holding the suspension got so weak the car flexed when crossing diagonal Railway tracks, causing the steering to veer off. To its dying day and trip to the scrap yard in 1978, this car was very reliable and fun to drive, in a straight line.
You are so crazy. You will soon need a new car anyway, so don’t even bother. Belive in yourself, and that’s all that matters. Who cares about a silly little car anyway? I’ts just a car. Or are you too poor to buy another one? I can sooooooo loan you bucks, big guy.
Though there are many clinical descriptions for what can be described as “crazy,” I can find none that describe the state of “not crazy,” therefore, I would conclude that we are all crazy in one way, shape, or form.
…and, in fact, that is sort of a concise statement of the theories of Dr. Thomas Szasz.
Since the '60s, Dr. Szasz has questioned the existence of mental illness.
You might say that Szasz believes that either everyone is crazy or that nobody is crazy.
I’m certainly not saying that I agree with his theories, but they do provide interesting food for thought.
Some of the most famous people were “crazy”; Nero, Caligula, Hitler during his later years, King Georeg III, the current ruler of Venezuela, Chavez, and of course Amadinejad of Iran.
I would hazard that a good number of talk show hosts would fit that category as well. If the entire US congress (and British House of Parliament) was given a standard “sanity” test, I’m sure a good number would fail.
It is not so much what you say, it’s who you are and where you say it.
I’m sure all of you saw the movie “One flew over the Coockoo’s nest” with Jack Nicholson.
King George III was not crazy.
In reality, he was suffering from Porphyria, a metabolic disorder that was not recognized at the time, and for which there was no treatment in the 18th Century.
VDC, thanks for the clarification. When last on holidays in Germany, I toured the 2 castles of “Mad King Ludwig II” (Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein), as he is locally known. The mad part about him was his building mania and bankrupting the state of Bavaria. Not being a psychologist, I’m not sure whether Ludwig was an early version of a “shopaholic” or whether he had real sanity problems.
Walt Disney copied the Neuschwanstein design and a smaller version graces Disneyland in Anaheim.
In Communist Russia, anyone who would not toe the party line could be considered “insane” and many were locked up in asylums.
In addition to making sure everything in the car is in good shape for the trip, including the spare tire, you may want to be sure you have a AAA membership and a cellphone. While the car if it’s in good shape is perfectly capable of the trip it isn’t new anymore and anything could suddenly fail. It’s best to be prepared.
If you have any uncertainty and feel you’d sleep better renting, you can always do that instead. It might be worth it just for the sense of security it brings.
PostScript: the only difference between being “crazy” and being “eccentric” is net worth. If you’re poor, you’re “crazy”, if you’re rich, you’re “eccentric”.
I wouldn’t think twice about taking this car on a cross-country trip. Short of a sudden catastrophic engine or transmission failure any hiccup that occurs can usually be solved in short time with a bare minimum of tools; often on the side of the road.
Many years ago I took a cross-country trip in a just purchased 1960 Chrysler New Yorker (tail fins and a 413 to move those fins) that I gave 10 bucks for. Yes, 10 dollars total for a running, titled and tagged vehicle.
Not one single problem other than a flat tire and eventually I gave the car away in OK to a guy who drove it to FL with no problems.
And as I always say, HAIL MOPAR!
An ad hominem argument is when you say that an argument is wrong because of who said it, not based on its own merits. What you’re thinking of is a non-sequitur.
That brings back memories, ok!
My uncle bought a '60 New Yorker convertible–white with red leather interior–and it was a truly spectacular car. At night, the instruments themselves were a veritable fantasy land, as they were so artfully displayed underneath a glass dome.
I recall that my uncle tossed the brand new car’s keys to my 17 year old brother, and casually requested that he “go get me a pack of cigarettes”. For the next two hours or so, he and I rode up and down the main street of our town, showing off “our” new convertible. My mother reported that, after an hour or so, everyone was really sweating and worrying about what could have happened to us, and my brother was soundly scolded for taking so long to come back with the car. Still, it was a great and memorable joy ride for us.
I have occasionally driven old cars on a trip and have finally taken refuge in thinking that if a car made the last several thousand miles around home and it has no obvious issues, then it will do ok on a long trip. Highway miles are easier than city miles.
In addition to that, do a maintenance item once in a while such as check the brake lining reserve, flush the brakes, check the wheel cylinders for leaking, give it a new fanbelt and keep the old one in the trunk, change a radiator hose, carry a tool kit, change a lamp bulb, buy some spare fuses, add a tire plug kit, buy a cheap portable air compressor, grease the front end, check the exhaust for deterioration, check the age of the tires, carry a few not easily found spare parts such as a voltage regulator, an alternator, a water pump and gasket, a thermostat, radiator hoses, in other words, do something rather than nothing to ward off trouble and to ease the way in case of trouble.
Keep your towing insurance current and carry a cell phone as was mentioned. A relaxed attitude toward insignificant trouble compared to real trouble is good to have. Carry some pepper spray or better.
OP here. OK I have changed my radiator to another used one that doesnt seem to have the little pinhole leak that caused me to refill every month or so (used new hoses). I have changed my Universal Joint that clunked every now and then, changed the belt, threw the old belt and hoses (not very old) in the trunk, I read somebodies post recommending a voltage regulator, so I put one on order for the trunk (good call). I have ordered a replacement turn signal cancellation cam and replaced the exhaust flange gasket that had been getting louder and put two more in the trunk. I have an extra head gasket and exhaust manifold gaskets and carb gasket as well as another carb in the trunk with extra set of points and condensor, last months spark plugs and two of last months longest plug wires. I think the last two items I need are ballast resister and a new speedometer gear. Can anyone tell me how to figure out the right gear? I have 225 60 R14 tires with a 323 geared rear (63 plymouth valiant).