How Far In One Day?

The longest day we drove was in my Sedan, we drove 750 miles on our way to the Model A museum's grand opening. We drove from 4AM that morning until dark that night. Laying in bed that night I could still feel the vibrations from the floor boards in my feet. I don't think I'd do it again as we missed a lot of fun stuff along the way- but we were on a time schedule.

Going to Colorado in '16 we drove from Fort Worth to Raton Pass in one day- 554 miles & we had so many problems that first day. It was also a 4AM-Dark kind of drive.
 
My longest is 640 miles in one day and a story goes with it. From an ad in the MARC club newsletter back in 1954 I bought a 1929 Phaeton in Luray, Virginia. My wife and I traveled there by train to Washington DC and then bus to Luray. We arrived there late afternoon December 31st, met the Phaeton's owner, completed the paper work and by then it was too late in the day to start home so we adjourned to a motel. We were up the next morning, New Years day, and left around 7 AM for a planned two day trip home. We drove through a very quiet New Years Day morning in Washington DC and reached a gas station on the southern end of the New Jersey Turnpike around noon. We chatted with the attendant who told us a major blizzard was coming up the coast.. We continued travel on the New Jersey Turnpike and shortly before reaching New York we again gassed up. The attendant there at the gas pumps said it was snowing hard in Washington DC. It was getting chilly too, around 25 degrees and we had no heater or side curtains, but we decided to keep going. It was before the days of any turnpike through Connecticut, Rhode Island or Massachusetts. Had a late supper in Willimantic CT and headed for Providence RI. Drove through around midnight and at a bank we passed we saw a lighted thermometer showing 10 degrees, but still no snow catching us. We live on the outer end of Cape Cod just a bit over 100 miles from Providence. We got home about 3 AM. Zero car trouble, the car ran smoothly at 43 mph so I drove that speed steadily. Temperature when we arrived home zero degrees. We had put on all the clothes we had with us and were still frozen. My speedometer showed mileage 640 miles for the trip, and as my wife did not drive I drove continuously. It began to snow hard just after we got home. I was younger then, 65 years ago. I still have the Phaeton.
 
Ditto but I can't relate to driving in those temperatures. The coldest I have driven in (in a Phaeton) was -5C (23F). Even then, every leading edge built up a decent crust of ice. Bumpers, door handles, axle - the lot covered in ice.
That said, we were rugged up and didn't notice how cold it was till we stopped
 
On our trip to and from Dearborn we had a couple of 500 miles days, figuring that was as long as we wanted to go in a day. In the past we have done some longer days, but now 400 to 500 miles seem reasonable.

A's Always Dave
 
160B said:
My longest day in a Model A ford was our return trip from the MAFCA NWRM Calgary, Alberta Canada July 15 - 23 2003. We traveled from Cranbrook BC Canada to Port Orchard WA in one day 502 miles (809 KM).
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Don, you're a better man than I am. You beat me by 200km. My best was 610km but I wouldn't do it again. My preferred distance is 340/350km. Take my time to smell the Rose's.
 
RUNNERBUN said:
Don, you're a better man than I am. You beat me by 200km. My best was 610km but I wouldn't do it again. My preferred distance is 340/350km. Take my time to smell the Rose's.
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Terry, It was a trip that went "lets go to the next town, its too early to stop", and soon we were home. There were two of us traveling together. That was 16 years ago and we are happy to get a 250 mile day now. Good to hear from you!!
 
barnstuf said:
My longest is 640 miles in one day and a story goes with it. From an ad in the MARC club newsletter back in 1954 I bought a 1929 Phaeton in Luray, Virginia. My wife and I traveled there by train to Washington DC and then bus to Luray. We arrived there late afternoon December 31st, met the Phaeton's owner, completed the paper work and by then it was too late in the day to start home so we adjourned to a motel. We were up the next morning, New Years day, and left around 7 AM for a planned two day trip home. We drove through a very quiet New Years Day morning in Washington DC and reached a gas station on the southern end of the New Jersey Turnpike around noon. We chatted with the attendant who told us a major blizzard was coming up the coast.. We continued travel on the New Jersey Turnpike and shortly before reaching New York we again gassed up. The attendant there at the gas pumps said it was snowing hard in Washington DC. It was getting chilly too, around 25 degrees and we had no heater or side curtains, but we decided to keep going. It was before the days of any turnpike through Connecticut, Rhode Island or Massachusetts. Had a late supper in Willimantic CT and headed for Providence RI. Drove through around midnight and at a bank we passed we saw a lighted thermometer showing 10 degrees, but still no snow catching us. We live on the outer end of Cape Cod just a bit over 100 miles from Providence. We got home about 3 AM. Zero car trouble, the car ran smoothly at 43 mph so I drove that speed steadily. Temperature when we arrived home zero degrees. We had put on all the clothes we had with us and were still frozen. My speedometer showed mileage 640 miles for the trip, and as my wife did not drive I drove continuously. It began to snow hard just after we got home. I was younger then, 65 years ago. I still have the Phaeton.
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Wow 1954...Model As were just old cars rather than vintage cars. How did you find how about the car for sale? Club magazine (were there A clubs then?) or newspaper?
 
barnstuf said:
My longest is 640 miles in one day and a story goes with it. From an ad in the MARC club newsletter back in 1954 I bought a 1929 Phaeton in Luray, Virginia. My wife and I traveled there by train to Washington DC and then bus to Luray. We arrived there late afternoon December 31st, met the Phaeton's owner, completed the paper work and by then it was too late in the day to start home so we adjourned to a motel. We were up the next morning, New Years day, and left around 7 AM for a planned two day trip home. We drove through a very quiet New Years Day morning in Washington DC and reached a gas station on the southern end of the New Jersey Turnpike around noon. We chatted with the attendant who told us a major blizzard was coming up the coast.. We continued travel on the New Jersey Turnpike and shortly before reaching New York we again gassed up. The attendant there at the gas pumps said it was snowing hard in Washington DC. It was getting chilly too, around 25 degrees and we had no heater or side curtains, but we decided to keep going. It was before the days of any turnpike through Connecticut, Rhode Island or Massachusetts. Had a late supper in Willimantic CT and headed for Providence RI. Drove through around midnight and at a bank we passed we saw a lighted thermometer showing 10 degrees, but still no snow catching us. We live on the outer end of Cape Cod just a bit over 100 miles from Providence. We got home about 3 AM. Zero car trouble, the car ran smoothly at 43 mph so I drove that speed steadily. Temperature when we arrived home zero degrees. We had put on all the clothes we had with us and were still frozen. My speedometer showed mileage 640 miles for the trip, and as my wife did not drive I drove continuously. It began to snow hard just after we got home. I was younger then, 65 years ago. I still have the Phaeton.
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I would love to see a current picture of you and your car. This is a great story. You could make a movie out of it. Enjoy.
 
To those who enjoyed my 640 mile trip story I would like to add to it just a bit. Apparently some did not read the first sentence. The car was advertised in the MARC News, the national club magazine which was then it is infancy. I am a 65 year MARC member. Anyhow to move along with an addition to the story in East Providence RI on this trip there was little to no traffic and we saw a soldier hitchhiking. I stopped and said I would give him a ride if you are willing to sit in the back seat and freeze. He said his pass from Camp Edwards expired at morning revillie so with no traffic on the road he hopped in. We soon realized he had a few drinks too many. Every mile or two he kept repeating "the guys in the barracks will never believe this". He had his Army overcoat and never put it on, just sat in the middle of the back seat repeating about the guys in the barracks. I let him off at the Bourne bridge over the Cape Cod Canal and he still had about 8 miles to reach Camp Edwards. By the way I drove the Phaeton to Dearborn in 1955 for the first National Model A Meet, and again in 1957 for the second National Meet, each round trip about 2000 miles. To this day its only roadside repair has been a condenser in Dearborn 1957. It has never personally met a ramp truck in its 65 years of my ownership, and has had just the one roadside repair that I previously mentioned.
 
My longest one day Model A runs were:
Doswell, Virginia to East Northport, NY 365 miles;
Virginia Beach, Virginia to East Northport, NY 417 miles;
Glen Burnie, Maryland to East Northport, NY 247 miles;
Northport, Maine to South Setauket, NY 368;
Hyannis, Cape Cod to South Setauket, NY 206;
Lake George, NY to South Setauket, NY 258 miles;
Lancaster, Pennsylvania to East Northport, NY 205 miles;
Pittsfield, Mass to East Northport, NY 187 miles;
Stow, Mass to South Setauket, NY 250 miles;
Alton Lake, NH to East Northport, NY 336 miles;

Hancock, Mass to South Setauket, NY 195 miles.
 
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barnstuf said:
To those who enjoyed my 640 mile trip story I would like to add to it just a bit. Apparently some did not read the first sentence. The car was advertised in the MARC News, the national club magazine which was then it is infancy. I am a 65 year MARC member. Anyhow to move along with an addition to the story in East Providence RI on this trip there was little to no traffic and we saw a soldier hitchhiking. I stopped and said I would give him a ride if you are willing to sit in the back seat and freeze. He said his pass from Camp Edwards expired at morning revillie so with no traffic on the road he hopped in. We soon realized he had a few drinks too many. Every mile or two he kept repeating "the guys in the barracks will never believe this". He had his Army overcoat and never put it on, just sat in the middle of the back seat repeating about the guys in the barracks. I let him off at the Bourne bridge over the Cape Cod Canal and he still had about 8 miles to reach Camp Edwards. By the way I drove the Phaeton to Dearborn in 1955 for the first National Model A Meet, and again in 1957 for the second National Meet, each round trip about 2000 miles. To this day its only roadside repair has been a condenser in Dearborn 1957. It has never personally met a ramp truck in its 65 years of my ownership, and has had just the one roadside repair that I previously mentioned.
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That is fantastic. You could write a book.
 
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