In December 1964, I put a rebuilt motor and transmission in my 1953 Chevrolet and drove it around for a few days.
Then, one day at noon, I took off and 50 hours later, had driven 2050 miles to Ft. Lewis Washington.
As I crossed the mountains, there was a major blizzard. Every time I pulled in for gas, the attendants looked surprised. All night long, they kept shutting the highway down behind me.
I am bored with long trips now, but for a long time I would leave my house in McAllen ,and spend the night 700 miles away. Until I got the 2002 Sienna, it was in an 1989 Dodge Caravan, or something even older. (Never again.)
My SIL thinks a trip to San Antonio is transpolar. His wife, whom I taught to drive, views San Antonio as her first restroom break.
Traditionally, most highway breakdowns involved belts; hoses; and tires, period. Today, add oil and coolant levels. check those things out and go as recommended.
Don’t forget food for yourself, and water for at least one day if you are going in hot country.
It was a bit of a game in my family, betting on belt, hose, or tire before we went on vacation. Most problems happened the first day, before we even got out of California. On a newish car, tire was most likely, hose least. As a car aged, hoses became more of a problem. Though I seem to recall more belt problems than the other two. This was mid-sixties to mid-seventies.
Absolutely true oldtimer 11 because I had a transmission blow apart on a brand new 1982 Pontiac Firebird shortly after I rented it. It had a little over 5 miles on the odometer. My wife and I decided to try out the new model year on a trip we were taking home. She ended up buying a new Camaro instead for obvious (to her anyway) reasons.
@missleman Yes, a friend a few years back rented a Ford 500 with the CVT transmission and promply blew it on a holiday trip to Niagara Falls. The rental firm promptly replaced the car, which only had a few thousand miles on it, but they lost a day on their trip.
Plus 3 for Oldtimer. Safety is never guaranteed. Yes, you do your best to avert challenges but in the end you need to be prepared for emergencies to happen and how you can cope with them.
Off topic here, but it’s in the same vein as taking an aging car on a trip and making sure it’s in good condition for the voyage.
A couple of years ago a lady in her 70’s brought in her 1994 Buick with 24,000 miles on it. The car is used weekly and is garaged at home. Her granddaughter was coming to visit and together they were going on a trip. She told us that they were taking the car to go visit her sister, and that we were to go over that car from top to bottom and do anything and everything we could possibly think it needed so they wouldn’t get stranded somewhere.
We replaced leaky struts, all the belts and hoses, the battery, 4 tires that were still original, and most of the fluids. We serviced the A/C system and double checked everything on the car. She requested a complete tune-up even though we didn’t recommend it.
When she picked up the car and was paying her sizeable bill I asked her where she and her granddaughter would be traveling to.
She replied “We’re going to visit my sister in Olympia.”
Maybe the lady was originally from Rhode Island. For them a trip to the other side of Narragansett Bay is a risky undertaking. It’s usually less than 30 miles. All through my partner’s childhood the family vacation was a week in a seaside cottage. In the next town down the Bay, less than ten miles away. I feel so lucky my parents both loved to travel and thought it was important. In his childhood my partner had been no further than southern New Hampshire and Vermont, half a day away. He made up for it later by moving to France. His family did not understand why anyone would do that. Rhode Islanders just don’t stray far from home. He expected to be there two years and stayed thirteen. Admittedly, he lived in Antibes on the Cote d’Azur, one of the world’s loveliest places. I would have taken that deal.
Dad always had two weeks vacation. The first week he worked on the house. The second week we’d take off west or east as far as we could go and get back in a week, so we saw most places worthwhile to see. Of course no interstates then so it was a little slower.