This time around in driving a classic car part 2 Uncle Tony answers the question of how do you do a long distance road trip. As he points out, it depends greatly on what vintage and type of classic collector car you are going to drive. This site covers mostly restored cars but a big segment of our readers also have modified/updated classics. These have better brakes, improved suspensions, and even air conditioning.
In his video, Uncle Tony talks mostly about mechanical issues. I highly recommend that you also consider safety and comfort conditions. We will not dwell on these but adding safety belts, new windshield wipers and tires are a must. Do you really only want am AM radio as you travel cross country? Why not update it to accept FM and connect to your smartphone playlist. We recommend you look your tires over particularly well. It is very easy for us to forget the new tires we put on the car 5 years ago may now be badly weather checked and cracked even if it does have good tread. Give serious consideration to any tire that is 10 years old even if it looks perfect.
I recently purchased a 1967 Corvette that had original style tires with only 450 miles on them. I have owned many Corvettes and put substantial happy miles on them but when I drove this one for the first time on the highway I was scared to death. I was extremely disappointed, it did not drive like any I had ever owned. I checked the tires and they looked perfect but were well over 10 years old. I purchased a new set and the car drove as it should. I had an alignment done and it drove even better.
One last comment, always remember that these older cars did not have permanently lubricated components like today’s cars. All those old school grease fittings under the car on the suspension need to be lubed every 2,000 miles and don’t forget the front wheel bearings.
