May 20, 2021 Road Trip in a 1959 Galaxie—Long Island, New York to Salem, Massachusetts
When our kids gave us a gift of a two-night stay at a bed & breakfast in Salem MA for our 60th birthdays, my wife Debbie saw it as a great way to get away for a couple of days and I saw it as a great excuse to take the ‘59 Galaxie out for a cruise. While Debbie wasn’t enthusiastic about taking the 59 on such a long trip, she understood my passion for classic car road trips and offered very little resistance. After two weeks of preparing and taking care of minor details, the 59 Galaxie was ready. We set off at lunchtime Friday on the weekend before Memorial Day.
By the numbers
555 total round trip miles for 2 days of driving.
$285 total gas cost.
200 degrees. Temperature not exceeded even when stuck in moderate traffic.
3000 RPM @ 80 miles per hour – thanks to 3.00 rear end gears.
15 times my wife informed me of how fast I was going.
11 miles per gallon average. Not bad for 435 cubic inches of big block stuck in traffic a few times.
$5.00 spent on rocking horse after driving 35 miles out of the way to a flea market on the way home.
$3.94 per gallon for premium on Massachusetts Turnpike.
$3.40 per gallon for premium back on Long Island.
2 quarts of 10W-40 AMSOIL motor oil consumed. More than it should be, but no big deal.
0 problems there and 0 problems back with a 62 year old car.
That’s the way it can be when taking a classic car on a long distance car cruise. There are many classic car owners that are way too fearful to venture off of Long Island. But remember, when these cars were new or even 10 years old, they were routinely driven cross country all the time.
If your classic is driven regularly around town and on the local parkways and expressways, and if you maintain it properly, there is no reason it can’t make a longer trip. So instead of gathering to stand around, drink coffee and talk about cars, get your classic ready for a road trip and put some miles on it!!!!! It was built to be driven, not stored in a garage or museum!
