Farthest you've travelled in your Mustang?

[Kit Sullivan]

Kind of an odd question, but one that shows the resolve of a Mustang owner. How much do you trust your Mustang for long trips? How defiant are you in ignoring the deplorable gas mileage to just keep shelling out the money so you can enjoy more miles driven in your classic car? How much faith do you have in your own abilty to coax a dead horse from the side of the road back to life...many miles from home?

My car was brand new when I got it a "few" years ago. My home was Houston, but I took to the road without fear immediately. My girlfriend's parents lived in Austin, and we would drive there and back at least once a month for about 3 years or so. That put on some miles. My sisters lived in Dallas and Nacogdoches, and we also made those trips in my Mustang several times a year. My sister's husband owned a Pantera at the time, so I was always ready to go to Nac' so I could tool around in the Pantera for a few days. That is like a Disney vacation to a gearhead like me.

The girlfriend and I took two trips from Houston to Southern Cali for trips to the actual Disneyland...in the Mustang of course.

And we took several trips to her sisters home down in McAllen, Tx. We went into Laredo and cruised around in Mexico a few times on those trips too.

By 1980, the car had over 100,000 miles on it.

Eventually, after breaking up with the girl, I loaded up the 'Stang...moved to Southern California. Had a few girlfriends, took several trips up and down the coast: Astoria, Wa all the way down to San Diego...great coastal scenery everywhere. We always stopped and stayed overnight in a little sea-side cottage somewhere. Awesome.

Evenetually moved from California to......( get ready)....Buffalo, NY! It wasn't my plan, but I got a good job offer and I always like to see new places, so...me and Ol' Boots saddled up and did the trip across country...again.

Buffalo was great for my work...terrible for my soul. Horrible, horrible weather...especially for a southern-boy like me. Another opportunity a few years later had me moving to Boise Idaho. I absolutely loved it there, and so did 'Boots. We did a ton of exploration all over that unbelievably beautiful state, just me, the car...and the girlfriends, of course. Fabulous.

I always had the cutest and horniest girls I could coerce into taking trips with me, which of course makes the trips more memorable. Some of them didn't quite get my attachement to my " old car", but it never caused any discord.

I can surely tell you that the sport-deck rear seat earned it's keep on several occasions!

My job took me back to Buffalo a few years later, and I looked at Boise in my rearview mirror with a tear in my eye. I really loved that place and the people there.

Back in Buffalo, I met my future wife and we eagerly proceeded to make about 400 babies. ( just six really).

The wife and I took trips to Florida every year for about 8 years, and we eventually moved to Central Florida.

I have driven Ol' Boots from Florida to Carlisle, Pa 5 times for the "All Ford Nationals", and had a great trip and a good time at the event every time.

The Mustang is now relegated to car-show, cruise-night and occasional "Hey baby...let's take a little trip today" duty.

That car currently has roughly 355,000 miles on it, all put on by me. It has never left me stranded. However, I have wrecked it several times over the years, so that doesn't count...it was my fault, not the car's.

I get the same excited feeling everytime I fire up that big ol fire-breathing Cobra Jet as I did the first time I twisted that key ( the same key!) from 45 years ago.

I guess its a keeper.

Where have you been in yours?

 

[matrixx]

I've driven 40 miles round trip to work a few times. A rolling restoration I just push it a little more and a little more till I feel I can trust further distances.

Although I have no doubt I could go anywhere in the car. Sure it still looks a little rough but it runs soo damn good!

Sent from my SCH-S960L using Tapatalk

 

[Boss1Ray]

I guess its a keeper.

No doubt.



My convertible has about 70k miles. Most of them put on from 1976-1984.

Long trips have been a few trips to Shelby Meets in Dallas Tx. and many in Tulsa Ok.

300k+ miles is crazy. Kudos to you as you have seriously enjoyed (driven) your car.

Ray

 

[72conv]

Back about 1990 or so, we drove the '72 convertible from the Dallas area to the Wilmington, Delaware, area to visit family. All told, it was about a 4,000 mile round trip. At that time, the car was still an unrestored original. After restoration, which was completed in the spring of 1991, the longest round trip was probably 200 miles to a distant show.

 

[whitesoc]

When I bought the 73 about 7 years ago I flew down to Leesburg VA jumped in the car and drove back home to Ontario that day. It was a great drive except for a little rain along the way.

 

[71_resurrection]

Back in 2003, I made a 750 mile trip from Pensacola, FL to Arlington, TX. The drive was great, I had just completed my last budget restoration on her and she did awesome. Made a stop in Shreveport, LA for the night, but it was because of me being tired not the Mustang. I was very happy and am working toward getting it back to that point, just need some minor front suspension fixes and it will be there!

 

[jbojo]

My car has 57,000 miles right now. The longest trip was from Phoenix to San Francisco and I believe that I averaged about 11 mpg. Most of the driving was as a daily driver with a few 200 miles trips thrown in here and there. Plans are to drive it locally for a while to make sure everything is good and then drive it to Seattle (240 miles) for the first long trip. Hopefully that will be sometime this summer. I think that once I have my motor issues fixed the rest should go back together rather quickly.

 

[Mister 4x4]

About a half block (so far). rofl

The day I brought it home from the Auto Hobby Shop, the hauler unloaded in front of my house... and my driveway/garage is in back of the house. That's all I got for now.

Now, since the question didn't specify which Mustang, my '82 Mustang GL was my first car when I was stationed at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. I made the 860 mile trip back and forth to Salt Lake City 3 or 4 times while I was assigned there. Put it in storage while I was stationed in Izmir, Turkey, and intended to have it shipped to my next assignment in Vicenza, Italy when I arrived there. Except that Italy got canceled while I was home on-leave getting the car ready, and I wound up trading it in on an '85 Nissan 4x4 before I left for my new assignment at Goodfellow AFB, Texas (where I am now).

I'm glad I got my truck, but I actually do miss my '82 Mustang a bit.

 

[midlife]

In 2001, before I restored Midlife (1966 GT fastback), I drove it to Des Moines, IA from Panama City, FL and back. Only had one problem: the radiator cap wouldn't allow fluid back into the radiator after puking into a container, so I stopped in AL to get a replacement. All told: 1250 miles each way.

 

[arnie427]

Poway Ca. (San Diego) to Manassas Va. . 2800 miles with the top down.

 

[imusa76]

just yesterday, I took the car to a show, it was 142 miles round trip, and last year I did a show out in CT which was 220+ miles round trip.

I usually put about 2K-3K per car show season.

and if the ride is mostly highway, I get about 20-22 MPG

 

[HighOctane]

Longest trip for me was Labor Day last year from Arlington, Washington to Bozeman, Montana. All told approximately 1,500 miles round trip. My car is unrestored except for a repaint done by the original owner over 10 years ago. BTW she got 14mpg on the trip which is more than I expected it to be.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

73 q-codes are notorious gas-drinkers...even more so thsn the 71 & 72s. Advance your static timing as much as possible without pinging and you will get much better performance and a dramatic improvement in fuel economy.

 

[luxstang]

We use ours for long trips all the time.

The longest were our 2 vacations:

One trip to Tuscany/Italy where it was 750 miles one way. Of course we drove it every day we were there racking up at least 80-100 miles a day sightseeing. We even put it on a ferry and crossed over to the island of Elba.

The whole trip racked up a little more than 3100 miles in two weeks.

When we drive home, I drove the 12 hours in one piece, only stopping for gas.

Then, 4 years ago we went on a trip to the Austrian alps and northern Italy. Again we put a little over 3000 miles on it over two weeks.

Everything went without any incidents. I trust this car to be as reliable as my everyday beater VW Golf.

Other trips that are far more common are two of three day excursions to the surrounding countries where we will make like 400 miles.

I strongly believe that a car that us being driven a lot and on a regular basis is much more reliable that one that sits for very long periods on time and only gets taken for a spin once in a while.

As far as daily use goes, I broke my personal record last summer when I put 14300 miles on it between mid March and late September. That was just driving to work, running errands, getting groceries and enjoying afternoons driving through the beautiful northern countryside of Luxembourg.

 

[71_resurrection]

Wow Lux, that is some serious mileage! Nice to see that our cars can handle it, I think mine would, just dont have anywhere to drive to that far away...

We use ours for long trips all the time.

The longest were our 2 vacations:

One trip to Tuscany/Italy where it was 750 miles one way. Of course we drove it every day we were there racking up at least 80-100 miles a day sightseeing. We even put it on a ferry and crossed over to the island of Elba.

The whole trip racked up a little more than 3100 miles in two weeks.

When we drive home, I drove the 12 hours in one piece, only stopping for gas.

Then, 4 years ago we went on a trip to the Austrian alps and northern Italy. Again we put a little over 3000 miles on it over two weeks.

Everything went without any incidents. I trust this car to be as reliable as my everyday beater VW Golf.

Other trips that are far more common are two of three day excursions to the surrounding countries where we will make like 400 miles.

I strongly believe that a car that us being driven a lot and on a regular basis is much more reliable that one that sits for very long periods on time and only gets taken for a spin once in a while.

As far as daily use goes, I broke my personal record last summer when I put 14300 miles on it between mid March and late September. That was just driving to work, running errands, getting groceries and enjoying afternoons driving through the beautiful northern countryside of Luxembourg.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

I take mine out to "Old Town" in Kissimmee an amusement park that hosts thier "Saturday Night Cruise" every Saturday night year-round.

Typically 200-250 cars from all over the state will show up on most weekends...its a great place to go see some old iron.

When I lived in Kissimmee, I went there every Saturday night for about eight years running.

Now I live in Cocoa Beach about 75 miles each way so I make the trip only about once a month or so.

Great fun, and the car loves tooling down the 528 at 75-80 mph most of the way there and back.

 

[imusa76]

mine cruises best at 70-75, and it still gets over 20 mpg.

now city driving I get around 12-14, I like the sound when I hit the gas peddle when taking off at the lights

 

[will e]

That's an interesting question. I have owned the Mustang for almost 30 years. I have over 300,000 miles on it. It was my daily driver for years and years.

Thinking back I think the farthest I ever drove it was about 250miles round trip. The kiss of death was when I swapped in the 3.50 gears. Both from gas milage and noise I just wouldn't have considered taking it on a long trip. With the OD in now I actually am kicking around the idea again.

My wife has always had a newer car and for most of our 25 years of marriage it has been an SUV so whenever there was a longer trip we took 'her' car.

I have driven an 81 and 82 full size jeep from Phoenix to Ouray and back. And while in Ouray gone wheeling in the San Juans. That's good for 1100 miles plus the trail miles. It's a long trip in a lifted and noisey jeep.

 

[droptop73]

Last fall I drove it from home to Knoxville, Tn went down the Cherohalla skyway and through the Tail of the Dragon and over to Nashville, TN. Then we took it home, a total of over 1600 miles in 4 days averaging 19.5 mpg. My best fuel run was 21 mpg from home to just south of Dayton, OH. I'm building my car to drive anywhere, anytime! I put over 6000 miles on the car last summer... mostly to and from work!