Blast From The Past: 70s Roadtrip

Drive Time

Time to wax nostalgic (again).  The setup:

You are going back to 1973 to make a trans-continental car trip from Savannah GA to Monterey CA:

For the sake of convenience, let’s say that the trip will take place in the early summer (mid-May to mid-June), which would be months before the Arab oil embargo was imposed later in the fall.  In other words, gasoline prices and availability will not be an issue.

You need not take any particular road (the above map is just a guideline), and you can take up to two weeks to complete the journey.

Your choice of companion is up to you:  a buddy, your wife, your girlfriend, the girl of your dreams, or even that rather skanky-looking thing you picked up at the gas station while filling up before setting off.  Your call.

As with all these little games of mine, imagine that your car will prove to be 100% reliable (as much of a stretch as it may be to imagine, in some cases).

Your choice of 1973-model cars comes from the following list (no substitutions are allowed):

Dodge Challenger 

BMW 3.0 CSi

Chevy Corvette

Mercedes 450SL

Ford Mustang Mach 1

Jaguar XKE

Plymouth Barracuda

Ferrari Daytona GTB4

Pontiac Formula 455

Porsche 911T Coupe 

Choose wisely, O my droogies…

And now the fun part:

You catch a flight to Astoria OR, and make the return trip back to Virginia Beach.

You have another two weeks (or less) to make the trip, and may pick the route you prefer.

But you may not use the same car, so you have to choose a different one from your first.

In other words, you have a “1” and “1a” choice of vehicle for this particular roundtrip.

Have fun storming the castle…

31 comments

  1. Kein Problem. Ich würde mich für den Bimmer und den Benz entscheiden.
    All the others are, without exception, uncomfortable, unreliable, junk.
    Free to chose, I’d go with a ‘73 Pontiac Catalina Safari. Not super reliable, but it sleeps four comfortably. Throw the kids on a mattress in the back and see America.

  2. You did specify 2 weeks? Well, knowing how much of the 2 weeks I don’t want to spend in a mechanics repair shop, and wanting to travel in leisurely comfort, the Mercedes, hands down.
    Mind you I have owned and/or driven 5 of those options, have a pretty good idea on what breaks (frequently in some cases). Comfort and a nice ingenue version of the young Brigitte Bardot or Barbara Eden, the Mercedes. Of course this is not the best choice for hanky panky in the car, but one presumes there will be no-tell-motels along the route.

    1. [sigh]

      What part of “imagine that your car will prove to be 100% reliable ” was not clear?

  3. 2 years earlier in 1971 Brock Yates and Dan Gurney won the original Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash in a Daytona with a Time of 35 hours 54 minutes. ( NYC to Redondo Beach ) so I’m going to choose the Daytona. As for traveling Companion, I’d choose Yates, Dan doesn’t talk much while driving according to Yates. and Brock is a much better storyteller.

    For the return Trip I’d choose the Challenger in honor of the Movie Vanishing Point ( although that trip was Denver to San Fran and didn’t end well ) with the 440.

    But why not the 911 you ask? You said no substitutions and then specified that it had to be a 911 T which was the Base Model – a little like saying you could select the Challenger but you had to take the single Carb 6 cylinder. ( even though the photo you used is a first Gen Turbo from 74 )

  4. I was 18 in 73 and was all into muscle cars so make it the Cuda and an 18 yo Barbara Eden and oh yeah, the trip would last forever, or at least until I got tired of her pissin and moanin’. lol

  5. I’ve bragged or complained (not really sure which) that I made a run from San Diego to Norfolk in a 65 Mustang 6 cylinder 3 speed power nothing in 1971. Drove non stop with a navy buddy. We were both 19 and crazy – eating diner take out burgers, drinking battery acid coffee, and often peeing on the side of the road.

    To remember that trip I’ll try the Mustang on the westbound leg and then switch over to the Mercedes for the eastbound run. That Mustang tank isn’t going to like the mountains. I want a reasonable amount of luggage space and a good R-12 air conditioning system that will shoot ice cubes out of the vents.

    For my copilot, how about Diana Rigg? Hey a fellow can dream.

  6. OK,OK Im pressed for time this morning but the first thing that struck me about this trip is that it’s backwards! Never mind the date – we are omniscient because we live in the future. Ill only address the first leg of the trip……

    Why would you start in Savannah when Charleston SC (surely a more congenial city) is just up the road and why would you leave SC to travel to CA? From Heaven to Hell IOW.

    Let’s turn it around, Leave CA and remove to SC – now you’re talking. I’d pick the fastest most reliable vehicle – if reliable isn’t possible (and in 1973 that eliminates most of the ‘furrin stuff (it pains me to say despite having spent years in Italy ) something that any American service staton of the day could repair I’d go with one of the US muscle cars. We’re traveling through the heartlandI so I don’t think which one will matter very much, but GM would be my choice.

    1. I was stationed in California 6/70-5/73, it was a great place to be. I wouldnt go there today if you paid me, if I could go back to 1973…..

    2. I picked the cities more or less at random. I was always fond of Savannah, though, and I really liked Astoria.

  7. Challenger and Mach1, in some order. Too bad there isn’t a way to get a gun rack in the back windows.

    I’d drag my wife along. I enjoy her company.

    I have a couple of fantasy starlet types, but don’t think I could stand them in between bonk sessions.

  8. Funny thing, I did go on a road trip in 1973, albeit only as a passenger. It was in a VW Beetle from St. Louis to Destin FL and back and there were 5 of us in the vehicle, plus luggage (I was five, brother six, both parents plus my Dad’s sister from Germany. )

    To do this iteration, I would probably go with the 911, maybe the Mercedes would be a bit more comfortable so second choice

  9. The Mustang Mach I would be fun. I tooled around the Midwest in one back in the late 80’s.

  10. I have never quibbled with your choice of car because I’m not a car aficionado like you and not very knowledgeable, and this doesn’t strictly fit your rules … but I’d prefer a different BMW model, the 1972 BMW 2002 in candy apple red. I can’t post a photo here, but here are a couple links.

    I don’t have a big justification for wanting to change the car choice, except that a post-college roommate had one and I loved it. Within your rules, I’d choose your BMW choice, however.

    The 2002tii

    https://www.driversource.com/vehicles/607/1972-bmw-2002tii

    Another one …

    https://www.classic.com/veh/1972-bmw-2002-2583711-WLl2J6W/

    And one more.

    https://www.classic.com/veh/1972-bmw-2002-2579529-pJJkNXp/

    These have the added advantage of not commanding nose-bleed prices of some other classic cars, for some reason unknown to me. Might not have to win the PowerBall to get one, maybe just a sub-million 6-figure lottery would make it possible.

    I wonder if Debby Harry would be a fun companion. I’ve always found her attractive.

    JC

    1. I considered the 2002, except I wanted to have pity on everyone’s backs — hence the CSi, which is a tourer and not a racer like the 2002.

      I’ve driven both, and preferred the CSi by a country mile. Not as peppy, but a smoooooth ride.

      1. Well I did say I don’t know much about cars. Silly reason anyway, and of course you put forth the smartness of your choice elequently. The CSI it is! Love that one, too. Beemers from that era were very cool cars.

  11. If I’m going back to 1973 as I am, a stove up, fat 76 year old, give me the car with the best air conditioning and smoothest suspension. Forget the broad, she’d be wasted, I’d take my dog bobby. If I get to be 24 again, I want the corvette outbound and the mustang coming back. As to the lady, diana rigg or suzanne pleshette will do. The car picks are what I would have wanted in 73, a more mature view would be the mercedes and the dodge challenger.

      1. In ’73, I could afford a fast bike, or a slow car….
        And with a bike, you sub-select for the wild side in the ladies.

        And supposing the impossible dream of reliability, the E-Type and the Daytona. And Monica.

  13. Daytona for the trip out, hands down. Though ’73 would be about a decade too early to get my Miami Vice vibe on, but whatever. I’d enjoy it nonetheless.

    For the return…the 450SL. I’d want some comfort on the ride home, I think.

    Copilot…Jane Seymour.

  14. The ‘Cuda on the way out with Dawn Wells as my co-pilot. A friend had one and it was fun car to drive.
    The Challenger on the way back, I almost bought a used on in 1976. Opted for the Camaro because it had a slightly bigger trunk.

    Return copilot? Our homecoming queen, nice girl, and not full of herself. We graduated in 73, she’s a doctor, probably retired by now. I think I may have said two words to her in four years of high school.

  15. 450SL for the Southern Route, the 3.0CSi for the Northern Return.
    Speed is not the object, comfort and security is.
    Co-Pilot: Shirley Eaton – one must Carry On.

    1. We are as one, you and I, except for the companion.

      I would do, so to speak, Ann-Margret outbound and Jill St. John for the return.

  16. I’d take the Pontiac to California, and the Mercedes back. The Pontiac in honor of James Garner and because it has decent air conditioning. Those early A/C’s demanded a lot of power, too, another reason to have a muscle car. Air conditioning was an afterthought to European carmakers for a long time, and driving through Texas in the early summer would be painful in a Mercedes or BMW. The Mercedes would be comfy going back, and the northern route wouldn’t demand high amounts of cooling.

    I would choose my wife as the companion. It would be nice to see her again, it’s been over a decade since she passed away.

  17. I have a 74 Stingray and the difference between it and a 73 is the chrome bumper on the 73 and the splittail poly bumper on the 74. I will take the Stingray.

    As you are traveling Note the time and mileage when you pass the exit to the Georgia State Stadium on the Connecter. Then time yourself and mileage till you get to Texarkana AK. My guess it is about 11 hours. That kind of shoots a hole in the Smokey and the Bandit storyline.

  19. I remember a racey datsun. 240 something. Brain cells are a little wonky. I would use that both ways. Girls would have to be blond. And unless I suddenly became rock star gorgeous, any 18 year old would be fine.

  20. Cheryl Tiegs and or Margaux Hemingway. Daytona and the SL. What was it that Hunter took? A big bag of coke, some blotter LSD, Amyl Nitrate and some ether? Throw in a few bottles of really good French champagne and you’re good to go.

  21. Now I was doing road trips in 1973 and I’ve no problem with your starting points or destinations … but if I have all of 2 weeks in each direction, none of the available vehicles could handle the routes I’d prefer to take. For the most part. the interstates were under construction – or didn’t yet exist – and there were/are so many off-the-beaten-path places to explore – it’s 1973; I’d need a van, preferably 4×4. Or pickup.

    If forced into a car, again – not available choice – but a 1968 396 Chevelle SS would be nice (or – having lived near Pontiac, a 69 Goat would be acceptable)

    As I recall, the 1973 model year was the first that engine performance began to be degraded with emission controls. But of those shown, I’d go with the Pontiac version of a Camaro. Learned long ago to avoid Dodge products. Can’t fit comfy into those other little cars.

    So, given the acceptable choices, I guess I’d be staying home. Maybe with that skank from the gas station.

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