tbristol

I figured only you guys would understand this.

September of 2014, I'm going to retire. At that time my wife and were going to do a dream trip. Hook up our 5th wheel, leave our house in Michigan and get on Route 66 near Chicago and Take as long as we needed to get to L.A. Well then in August we bought a 1970 cutlass supreme convertible... You see where I'm heading here?? The cutlass is just getting wrapped up with a complete engine overhaul. So now I'm thinking. How much more would it cost to drive the Cutlass and stay in hotels and have to buy every single meal??? But I keep thinking. How awesome would it be to cruise the Mother road in a 1970 convertible?? I know none of you feel sorry for me. I just know that you all can relate since I know how much you enjoy your classic oldsmobiles.. Just had to share.

1969w3155

I have no idea what it would cost, but...I have always wanted to make that trip. I would do a search of eateries along the route and see if they have online menus to get you a ballpark of what you might expect to pay for your meals day to day.

tbristol

I think the cost of Hotels would add up faster. The 5th wheel is self contained. We can spend nights for free at Truck stops and Walmarts. Have a shower and cook breakfast, before heading out...

Yellowstatue

In the convert, you can buy bread and peanut butter and beverages at local grocery stores along the way for snacks and then have a good meal at a restaurant for dinner when you stop for the night!!

Kennybill

Cutlass

MDchanic

How committed are you to the big trailer?

What about trading it in on a nice Airstream and towing that behind the Cutlass?

- Eric

tbristol

Very committed :-D I don't know if I would want to put that much stress om the old gal. Pulling a camper,puts a ton of work on a vehicle..

Professur

If you already own the trailer ... you've certainly already done fuel calculations for hauling that brute. I pulled a popup from Mtl to Atlanta and back ... twice. The saving grace was that once we got there, we dropped the trailer at Stone Mountain Campground and used it as a base for the 2 weeks. If we'd had to pull it every single day of travel ... and pay a camp ground fee every night ... set up, take down ... wouldn't have worked. Naturally, a popup isn't self contained like an RV or 5th wheel ... you can't just hop into it when you stop rolling. But mass is mass and gas is gas ... and my old tent trailer had plenty of the first ... over a ton (as a rule, don't buy old steel framed campers. Al frames pay for themselves in gas saving on the first pull) and used up plenty of the second. My final calc was that we just about broke even ... since we were frequently away from the trailer for meals.

But there's more to it. When you're going hotel to hotel ... you're a package being delivered ... you don't know your neighbours .. in fact meeting them is usually a bad thing. Camping ... personally I find it a much friendlier way to go. Pulling into a campground in PEI, while I was in the office getting a spot, Peter Pan's lost boys swooped down and vanished my kids. Pulling up to my spot, I had two different neighbours run over to help guide me back ... they had the legs down, power plugged in and were looking for my chocks before I'd even released my seat belt. Kids had dinner offers, the missus an invite to morning coffee with the Hen's Club ... I find that's well worth paying a few extra bucks in gas. Now how do you put a dollar value on rolling the mother road with the top down ... I simply don't think you can.

Professur

Yeppers. That second trip to Atlanta .. my pull vehicle didn't make it all the way back. Threw a rod pulling away from a toll booth on the Jersey Turnpike. Finished out the vacation on the back of a tow truck.

2blu442

You only live once. Decide what would be the most fun and do it

oldcutlass

Outside of perhaps you having a membership with a national camping organization where you can rent a cabin for a night instead of a trailer campsite, I don't know if you can offset some of that cost. Your food bill would be about 60% higher, gas bill would be 60% lower, and your lodging would be 80-120% higher.

When all the fuzzy math is over, a trip on the Mother Road in the Cutlass would be priceless. I would just save some extra money between now and then and go for it. Isn't that what a retirement vacation is all about.

Save the peanut butter and cracker dinners for when you get back!

gearheads78

How about take the trip in the RV but save some $$ and go on Hot Rod Power Tour in the Cutlass. You will have 5-7 days driving with 2000 plus other old cars. If you break down plenty of help is around and the memories and freinds you meet are priceless.

lshlsh2

When the wife and I stop at hotels we always try and pick one with a free breakfast. It seems to save us a few bucks. Then pack picnic lunches and only buy dinners. I hope to one day drive my 71 convertible accross the US and back accross Canada. Don't know if it will happen or if I will have a small camper behind me when I do.

Me I would take the cutlass some trips should only be taken in a real american car.
My .02

Larry

brown7373

If your car is in good mechanical shape and the engine is built properly to cruise long distances, then to me it's a no brainer. Using an old car is a pleasure every mile you travel. I have driven my 70 Bonneville convertible and my 72 Cutlass convertible on these type trips more than I can count, and they are great. I have had a few breakdowns, but have always been able to fix them myself. Driving the truck and 5th wheel does not compare with cruising the back roads in your convertible. If it is a dollar and cents question, get a Prius and drive that. That's a lot cheaper. The view out the window is the same. But which mode of travel do you think will be more memorable?

I'd be sure my engine and cooling system was sound, and my brakes and bearings too. Most parts that may die can be gotten from NAPA overnight. By the way...I have had newer vehicles have problems on long trips too, and they were a lot more difficult and expensive for me to fix on the road.

citcapp

Buy a teardrop trailer, sleeps two with a small kitchen with sink refer two burner cook top at the back doesn't weigh much and you can get most of your money back selling it after the trip. Check them out on line. Really nothing more then a rolling bedroom. This is a trip I plan to make in my 48 when complete. In the end its your choice. And by the way I have a 38' motorhome but on route 66 it just does not sound right

Professur

That brings up two other points of discussion .... how would towing affect the nostalgia of 'driving the mother road in a classic'? ... and the other, potentially even more important to many ... hunting down a period correct camper to match the car. Teardrops were common enough in the early 70's ... but the new ones don't look anything like the old ones, for colour and scheme.


That was actually a deciding factor when I bought my old Starcraft .. I loved the old look ... the new colours and canvas just didn't do it for me.

Tedd Thompson

Wife and I road trip the convertible a bunch and I was looking at tear drop to drag behind the 55. Wife said it sure was cute but with out a potty it's just a ornament behind the car. There is a lot to be said for your creature comforts at retirement age. Save up and get motels.

And the thoughts of 3000 miles with the top down all the way will go out the window shortly. Man the wind can be brutal and no fun after a few hours at hwy speeds, take your time and see all that can be seen on the back roads thats what it's really all about.
This sounds like a fun trip plan it well and enjoy it you never know it may be the only one like it you get to do.....Lost in the fifties ..Tedd

jaunty75

Keep in mind that actually driving on route 66 isn't as easy as it sounds. Most of the time, you'll be on interstate highways that replaced it. Where the pavement still exists in many places, it's just frontage road that parallels the interstate.

Where the old highway does exist is where it passed through towns along the way. So you might get off the interstate in, say, Winslow, Arizona, drive five or six miles on an interstate "business route" that passes through the center of that town, and then get back on the interstate on the other side. Some of the larger cities it passed through, like Oklahoma City and Albuquerque, have significant reminders of the old highway and "historic Route 66" signs, so those will be fun, but you'll be back on the interstate again soon enough. I'm also guessing though, that after you've gotten off the interstate for the umpteenth time to drive through yet another town, the whole thing will start to get old, and you'll end up staying on the four-lane.

Where the old highway does exist in significant amounts is west of Seligman, Arizona, and you can drive on quite a bit of it well into California, intersecting I-40 here and there along the way. But the highway is mostly empty with the old restaurants, hotels, and souvenir shops long gone.

One of the most interesting segments is west of Kingman through Oatman, Arizona to Needles, California. This road is very winding and twisting with switchbacks here and there, though, so going is slow, and I would not want to be pulling a trailer. Kingman itself makes a big deal about being on route 66, so you'll find reminders there, and Oatman itself can be charming, in a run-down, forgotten-town sort of way.


I hate to throw too much cold water on this "I'm going to drive Route 66" idea, but I just thought it's worth pointing out that driving route 66 in 2013 ain't like it would have been in 1965 or even 1985, when the highway was officially decomissioned. My suggestion is to do some research before you leave, find some of the interesting attractions along the way that still exist, and pretty much make your trip one of getting from one of those attractions to another. Don't be as concerned about driving on as much of the actual old pavement as possible. That'll get old and tiring fast.

Olds442redberet

I like the idea of driving Route 66 in the Cutlass, but I sure would hate to wake up one morning and look out into the parking lot, only to see my car gone. Stolen in the middle of the night. It happens. And these classics of ours are some of the easiest cars to steal. If you do decide to make the drive in your convertible, I recommend you take a little time to plan out where you will stay and the security precautions you're going to take to ensure she doesn't end up stolen. Look at the following: Hotels with parking garages, found in larger cities, camp sites where you are able to sleep near your baby, and basically, avoid leaving her unattended/unsecure for any period of time. Add a secret/hidden kill switch, use a steering lock, pull the ignition fuse at night, place the registration documents in the trunk, leave the doors unlocked so no one feels the need to cut the roof in order to gain entry, and add a hood lock to the car. I learned this stuff out in California in the eighties. And I use all of them, not just one or two. It is an attempt to frustrate any would be criminal into abandoning his mission. But it will not stop someone with a repo truck. And I had one of those show up in my neighborhood a few months back, along with two dudes on motorcycles running scout for the truck. They were after my convertible, and after taking a few pictures of these dudes, they left empty handed. It was a reminder of my days living in Southern California. Good luck.

MDchanic

Wow.

Guess I'm glad I live in New England.

- Eric

droldsmorland

My vote...drop top down the motha road!

tbristol

Our current 5th wheel is our 3rd one, this one is 8 ft. longer than our first one. Plus has 3 slide outs. It still doesn't weigh more than the 1st one. A lot of new technological advances. I have a diesel truck that gets about 12MPG towing. The cutlass gets about 10 if I can keep my foot out of it. :-D. So that is pretty much a wash. I do understand the friendliness of the campground.

tbristol

I currently live in Flint, Michigan. Ranked the most dangerous city in America. Crime is rampant. So I definitely know how to keep an eye out for bad things and how to protecty belongings.

tbristol

I'm going to look into this.

tbristol

Your not throwing cold water at all. I'm well aware of the road only being in pieces. I have a already bought a couple of Route 66 Travel guides. It won't be the same as the 50's but it is something we want to do. We will be retired so we will just take it all one day at a time and one exit at a time.

m371961

Take both

Sampson

Seems to me there is no wrong way to do this thing! Either way you will be living the dream and checking one off the bucket list. As cool as it sounds driving a Cut/Vert down the ***** Road, creature comforts on a long trip come into play. There is no doubt that the Truck camper combo would be more accommodating on a long trip. I would take the wife on a couple hour 1 way trip as a test before I committed to a multiple day adventure. By the way, MCR just did a nice series on preparing a Muscle car for a long road trip. Keep us posted!

tbristol

I have been trying to figure out how.

m371961

I only suggested that because I tell my wife when the 98 is done we are going to do that to Las Vegas. She pulls a trailer better then me.

starfire

Nobody has mentioned the most important thing: What does your wife want to do? If she doesn't want to ride for that long in the Cutlass, your trip will be a living hell. Ask her what she wants, and go along with that.

BTW, gearheads78's Power Tour suggestion is a good one.

tbristol

She mentioned it first..

oldsman72

I like this idea. Do your Rt 66 trip this year, see the sights relatively worry-free and in a way that's more economically friendly. Get your pennies together and do the Hot Rod Power Tour next year. It's not the "mother road" but it is a week-long, fun-filled road trip with thousands of like-minded folks. If they'd just put 1 near the northeast, I'd be on it.

starfire

Then green light! Go for the Olds and hotels (BTW, you are a lucky man)

Koda

I don't understand the fascination with a defunct highway out to the land of the crazies. Drive some US highway that is not dead, like 40 or 41 or something like that.

jaunty75

No disagreement there!



Here's a photo of the sign on the Santa Monica pier commemorating the western end of Route 66.

oldcutlass

Koda, do some research, there are many interesting and historic points along whats left of Rt66, which was replaced by I40. My wife, myself and son, took the trip from Texas through Arizona a few years back and had a blast for about 10 days. It's a reflection on how times were back in the heyday of the American Auto.

My family took the trip from NY to California and back in 1965 which was the best road trip I had ever been on.

Koda

I think you missed my point. Route 66 does not have a monopoly on interesting places. While I may make it out there someday, I am more than content with authentic, historic, still fully functional US highways around my area that have fun things of their own.

jaunty75

It was replaced by three interstates, to be exact: I-55 in Illinois, I-44 in Missouri and the portion of Oklahoma east of Oklahoma City, and I-40 from OKC west.

oldcutlass

That's true Jaunty. Koda, my point was, I like to travel the back roads when ever possible. You really don't know what you'll come across when you get off the major hwy's.

See link below:

http://www.kansastravel.org/balloftwine.htm

Mike77

Rent or buy a Motorhome and tow the Cutlass. Best of both worlds.

Mike