So I have this terrible urge to drive across the USA. Being a homage to and immersion in all this American, it is clearly right and proper to source a vehicle from the states that is quinticentially of the greatest American era - well sometime in the 50s / 60s at least.

Much as I'd love to transport the Aero there to do this, it's likely to be bloody expensive to do so.

So I am thinking about a Mustang / Continental / Caddy / Impala or similar to do the trip in, on the basis that I buy the car out there on the sun drenched arid west coast and drive back to NYC, then load on a container, ship it home and keep / sell it.

Current favourites are a Chevvy Impala 58 or if the budget won't go that far, a Lincon Continental coupe...

I know Aeroman has done the coast to coast thing - anyone else driven accross then US? What do I need to see on the way?

Currently :

Grand Canyon, Gracelands, are about the 2 main things on the list. Surely there are more must see/stay items in such a vast place. Be interested to hear your thoughts...

Tony
First you might want to check out the shipping costs as it is not necessarily as expensive as you think. There are loads of RoRo services that run to the US and containers are not necesarily so expensive especialy if there is consolidation with other vehicles. There are specialists out there that advertise in the motoring press. As to where to visit that just depends on how much time you have. Thing to remember though is that the distances in between the things you want to see are huge and the middle of America is pretty bland. When I lived in Houston we did a couple of big road trips on the Harley. The first was to the big bike rally in Sturgis. We took the scenic route via northern New Mexico and Colorado but it still took me a day and a half to ride across Texas from Houston and all there was to see was Prairie and nodding donkeys. I would add the Redwood forests of Northern California, Yosemite, Grand Tetons, The Blue Ridge Parkway, The Gettysburgh Battlefield, Mount Rushmore. But if you try and do all that in one trip you will be there a year and drive 30,000 miles. One thing, don't bother with Houston, but don't tell the Texans I said that.

Andy

Mr Tony ,

Sounds like and adventure, given the distances the distances involved and your thoughts on a yank tanks how about finding one of these



Or the classic route

Great plan! I did that in two round trips, one from San Francisco to Texas via Redwoods, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Mono Lake, Death Valley, Arizona (Grand Canyou, Monument Valley, Phoenix, Tucson, Ajo, Bisbee, Tombstone, then New Mexico with Santa Fe Madrid(!), Alamogordo, Roswell to Carlsbad Caverns and back. The second lap was NYC to Texas via Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia) North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississipi along the Gulf Coast and Louisiana, then back through Tennessee etc.

I did the first lap in December/January which was fine with the weather, still warm. The second lap was in November and was a bit chilly in the north.

There are really many things to see and do.
Most impressive to me were San Francisco, Yosemite and the Mono Lake. There is a mountain pass connecting both, but only open in the summer.

In San Francisco, there is a 70 miles scenic drive which takes you to all the famous places, an absolute highlight in an open convertible.

I liked the desert along the Mexican border from California all the way to Texas. There are some very remote dirt roads.

New Mexico is great, Santa Fe and the mountains to the north are nice, the White Sands are quite spectacular when it´s a beautiful day.

The Gulf Coast is nice around Mobile and to the east.

The Blue Ridge Parkway looks very European, but is nice too.

One of my absolute favourites is Long Island east of Manhattan. September and especially October is great there. In the eastern half, the southern beaches are fanatastic (Fire Island) and further on to Montauk point. In the north, there is a great Hotel and Restaurant (http://www.danfords.com) in Port Jefferson at the ferry port to Connecticut. Try the lobster, boiled, not grilled. ...

Driving across the US is not problematic except that you should have sufficient supplies of water, food and blankets or sleeping bags while travelling in remote areas. Fuel supply sometimes is an issue, so if you enter a desert or the death valley, for example, fill up.

And if the cops stop you, remain in the car and keep your hands visibly on the wheel!

Technically, driving an old car is no problem. For the trip from NY to Texas and back I had a 200$ Plymouth Fury station wagon of 1970 and only needed a battery and an alternator, everything else worked ok.

I have to stop now, or I´ll have to book a flight!

thanks for input so far

Andy - if I'm taking the Mog anywhere I'd fly it, couldn't bear it being tucked up in a container for weeks, at which point it does get seriously expensive!

So a $20k US chrome monstrosity with a 350cubic inch V8 will do rather nicely I think, and if it's a piece of chrome Americana in itself then that is all part of the dream..

Idea is to buy in California, then sell on the other side, or if possible cheaply (container) ship the car home and sell here where certain cars will make a reasonable premium potentially helping to pay for the trip.

Alternatively, if the car is not too expensive (say under 10k) then I'd consider keeping it long term as I've always had a soft spot for a giant barge

When do you want to go there?

If you want to earn some money, buy an lhd Jaguar of reasonable quality and sell it in Germany. Transportation is around 1500$.

Or you buy one at RM like this one:

http://www.rmauctions.com/FeatureCars.cfm?SaleCode=AZ10&CarID=r567&fc=0

or

http://www.rmauctions.com/FeatureCars.cfm?SaleCode=AZ10&CarID=r143&fc=0

or one of the lhd xk roadsters.

Andy

I have lived in the east coat of USA, from there the locals liked Florida cars as there is no ice or snow and many are only used locally so you find really nice clean low mileage cars, a classic is great but spares support etc can be an issue, personally I would look for a Florida Cadillac Eldorado, these ceased production in 2001 but were based on the Seville (I had a 2002 seville) and many in Florida were made into drop tops, comfortable, fast, reliable, loads of support, not pricey, but of course it's your trip, just an option.

Ebay motors is a good place to look anyway and ticket rules are good in US, I am sure any dealer would be genuinely pleased to help.

Another cunning option is to go to emog and ask Dennis Glavis if he can help, seems a very keen Morganeer may sell and buy back a car as well as sort the details, he is the west coast dealer of course.

Just remember, the earth is flat, there is nothing of interest 12 miles beyond the shore and USA is the greatest country on earth and they'll smile at you and you'll have a great trip, oh and say you think Canada is too boring to bother with.

Chris 444 green with jealousy, connaught green 4 seater jealous!.

Interested in these comments as I am doing a Denver-Vancouver- San Diego-Denver trip next June. I was surprised how expensive it can be to hire a car - especially if you want to drop it off somewhere rather than return it (though apparently pickups and drops within California don't attract any extra charge). Was tempted to try to buy in Denver then resell when I returned there but my Colorado mate says that wouldn't work out, for some reason.

Well this is what I'm thinking of. Appreciate the suggestions on cars, but I'm looking for something classic, and definitely American.

So far I'm settling for something like this, a 50s caddy, or a hudson hornet. IF I'm going to keep it afterwards, then I'm going for a Lincoln continental series II (Kennedy car) sedan with the suicide doors.

This is lovely though..

http://www.autotraderclassics.com/find/vehicle/vehicleDetail.xhtml?adId=209344&actionMethod=find%2Fvehicle%2FvehicleSearchResults.xhtml%3AuShipController.init&conversationId=4324

Rich,

near my HQ in Pleasanton, CA there is a great toy shop.

http://myhotcars.com/inventory/all-inventory/

They specialise in carrying some fun stuff, sometimes a little pricey but definitely desirable. I fell in love with a rebuilt, channelled, de-seamed and roasted 55 Chevy last time I was there.

It is directly next to the Arlen Ness Chopper factory and mini-museum which might be handy in case you totally loose your marbles and decide to do it on a bike at the last moment.

Arlen Ness Enterprises
6050 Dublin Boulevard
Dublin
California 94568

He can also source cars as well, total petrolhead and generally not bad for a salesman type (pot/kettle moment there)