How far do you drive your cars?

[felix37]

I drive my car a lot!, and for long distances and about twice a month I drive to Chattanooga,Tn to visit my family which is an eleven hundred mile round trip,not to mention all the daily driving,rod runs,cruise in's and National events I attend in it. When people find out I'm running a Flat Head,they are amazed as if it's not supposed to be able to do that. They always ask "how do you keep it from over heating"? ''What if you break down in the middle of no where''? I always tell everyone that the flat head is as dependable as any other engine out there! with a few subtle modifications,like improved water pumps,electronic ignition and t-5 tranny and juice brakes, you can run with normal traffic all day long! I know many of you out there drive much farther than I do,but I'm curious if you get the same reaction from people?

[hbleadsled]

felix- I have been saying that thing for years ,thats what I was driving as a young man and I went all over the USA , when I am reading some of barners post it makes me smile if they had just one car-truck they could go any where I did .Harold central coast Ca.

[Fibber Mcgee]

I haven't been that far but I do drive about 45 miles roundtrip to work and back everyday.I think people didn't know you had to trailer them for anything over 5 miles when they were made.

[John Kennedy]

Just far enough to get there, then back.


Seriously, our '50 Suburban is my wife's daily driver, it goes to her lab, Walmart, everywhere.

[ford38v8]

My '38 has zigzagged through 19 states and a bit of Canada driving to EFV8 National Meets. Always take the backroads, enjoy the appreciation of folks at the stops you make! Of all the miles driven, only one major breakdown. Broken axle on the Oklahoma-Kansas border in the heat of August. V8ers are everywhere, so the old Ford was back on the road inside 36 hours with a new set of axles and spider cannibalized from a '39.

My trips are nothin' when you think about 9 States in less than 9 days in '32 Roadster. Check out this website for the wild details!

http://www.49in7.com/

[jim1932]

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Right now....driving in and out of the garage would be good.

[4dFord/SC]

Nothing like some of the others posted here, but have driven mine on some pretty long day trips and even an overnighter up to NC one time. When asked about breakdowns, my response is that I never take those trips.

[37don]

Heading for Syracuse NY on Thurs. for car show. It's about 340 mi. one way. We make several 500 to 600mi round trips a season with so far no issues. Of course I do have an Ol' Ron built engine.
Don

[Lawson Cox]

I have driven a 39 Mercury coupe from Atlanta, GA to Coeur D' Alene, Idaho in August 1992 for the Western National. Total round trip right at 6000 miles without any problems. Also drove same car from Dearborn Michigan to Atlanta, GA, in one day, stops for fuel, food and potty breaks only. Averaged 50 MPH. They were made to drive, not sit in a box.

[Brendan]

i try to drive my pickup every day, last week i drove it 100 miles on a 95 deg day. i had no trouble. the most i have driven it was 200 miles in a day

[Shadetree]

With a few subtle modifications,like improved water pumps,electronic ignition and t-5 tranny and juice brakes, you can run with normal traffic all day long!


I get asked many times how fast my `35 will run. Most are amazed when I tell them I can run with Interstate traffic easily. With a high speed rear-end, an overdrive or a 5 speed transmission the little stock V-8 can easily cruise highway speeds. I have owned other antique cars that this was not the case.


This `34 Plymouth with the streamlined look could run 50-55 MPH but the engine was really revving to obtain this and it was uncomfortable pushing it to go faster. I also had an original `32 Chevy coupe that maxed out at about 50 MPH comfortably and a `41 Chevy coupe that might hammer out 55-60 MPH, and 3 Model A’s, that, well you know what they would do. They seem to tell you, that's fast enough big boy! I know we drove those old cars much faster than that in our youth but for some reason it doesn’t feel right today pushing them beyond their limits. For one thing, it gets expensive, very expensive.

That is what I like about my little Ford, it tells me, it’s okay, go ahead, I'm tough...

Shadetree

[Lawson Cox]

Hi Shadetree. Nice looking coupe. I had a 33 plymouth coupe in my youth. It developed a bad knock in the engine and I took it back to the guy I bought it from. I sure wish I had fixed it and kept it.

[felix37]

I received a nice complement the other day! One of my friends who had urged me not to use the Flat Head when I built my car,came to me and said "I'm sorry for ever mentioning that you should have taken the Flat Head out." "That little Flat head has impressed the Hell out of me!, "I wouldn't change a thing!" ''I take back everything I ever said about a Flat head's!''

[ford38v8]

Shadetree, I don't see why you need a 5 speed to go freeway speeds. My '38 has a 3.78, '46 gears in a '39 box, and a 59L block. It cruises at 70 all day long, short bursts to 75,and tops out at 82 with floating points. Not a lot of speed off the line, but a hell of a lot of torque, it goes up any mountain without downshifting. The 59L was a truck engine, with factory relieved block and detuned cam for high revving trucks.

When I got the car, it had a 4.44:1 rear end, and would barely keep up with the tour pack at 60+ mph. I reason that the 60's were the first to get to the junkyards, so when someone back in the day replaced the diff, he got the parade gears from the junkyard.

[Vic Piano]

Call me crazy but I drive all of our Flatheads as much as possible and all are basically in stock configuration. Our '53 Convertible will maintain highway speeds all day long as will our '53 F-100 Panel, '51 F-1 and '47 Convertible. Our '39 CS will cruise at 55-60 mph over the highways with no objections and our '39 Zephyr (with the stock 4.44 rear) will do 50-55 with no problems. I'm getting things ready to install a Columbia in the Zephyr so I think she will be able to cruise at 60-70 with no trouble. I also run stock distributers (except in the '47, electronic and the '51 F-1, Mallory dual point), stock transmissions, rear ends, brakes, etc. I have had some problems on the road over the years but not enough to make me want to stop driving these cars/trucks. I’m planning on driving our ’39 CS up to Dawsonville, GA from Tampa, FL this October for the Moonshine Festival, a 1,200 mile round trip and I hope to see some of you there with your Flatheads. Vic

[phartman]

I believe in the 5/50/500 practice. First drive your car 5 miles and work out the bugs. Then 50 miles and see what happens. Fix and adjust. Then you're ready for the 500 miler. After that, shoot, drive 'em, boys. That's what they were made for.

[46fordnut]

i love to take mine out all the time i have made it up "65" and it felt like it wanted more. it has a stock untouched 59 ab with a one speed rear and 3 on the tree.

[Shadetree]

Shadetree, I don't see why you need a 5 speed to go freeway speeds. My '38 has a 3.78, '46 gears in a '39 box, and a 59L block.

Sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate you had to have these changes to achieve the Interstate speeds, but they are a nice option.

Shadetree

[Shadetree]

Originally Posted by Lawson Cox

Hi Shadetree. Nice looking coupe. I had a 33 plymouth coupe in my youth. It developed a bad knock in the engine and I took it back to the guy I bought it from. I sure wish I had fixed it and kept it.

Lawson,
The Plymouth was a nice car with every option available in 1934. Free Wheeling, automatic clutch, radio, clock, heater and the neatest windows that could be a nice feature today. You could roll the vent glass up and down with the door glass, or you could open the vent glass and roll down the door window. If you look closely at the picture, the passenger door window is partially down with the vent glass going down with it. It also had independent coil spring front suspension available only for 1934. Of course years later it was available again.

If that car would have had a factory flathead V-8 like Ford, it would have been an awesome machine. Otherwise I like my `35 Ford best.

Shadetree

[ford38v8]

Great looking car. Too bad it's not a Ford! About those neat side vents, the loss of side vents was the last straw in making air conditioning a necessity in modern cars. Opening windshields and cowl vents are mourned almost as much.