QotW: What’s the longest road trip you’ve taken with your JNC?

Summer is a time for road trips, and there is perhaps no greater reward in life than making a journey in a car that you’ve built yourself, or cared for lovingly, or when even your timely arrival is not guaranteed. Having made several 1,00o-mile expeditions in Toyotae of varying age, I can tell you that even with ToMoCo’s vaunted reputation for reliability, when you’re talking about decades-old cars such trips are an excellent way to learn intimate details about your car and yourself. It’s a beautiful thing.

What’s the longest road trip you’ve taken with your JNC?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What are your summer plans with your JNC?

Last week’s answers yielded many worthwhile ways to spend a JNC summer.

Ryan P wanted to begin working on his long-dormant AE86, Geoff is taking his car autocrossing, while Howard Drespain is hitting the car show circuit. Daniel came very close to winning with his inspirational tale of finally buying the JNC of his dreams, but in the end RayZ won the week with an answer that actually inspired the question for the upcoming week:

I have had this ambition to startup my 70 Datsun 510 coupe, with a strong “original” stock 4 cylinder heart and a willing 5peed, On an advantage, along the beautiful Pacific coastal route form the coastline of California, along the rugged shores, the Giant Redwoods, thru coast towns and historic villages where the Russians sat up a colony/fort. To where ports were established “the finest fishing ports” on the west coast of the United States. Visit Fort Bragg, Mendocino, and other coastal sites, before hitting the Major international seaport of San Francisco. Then venturing down into Big Sur. Then on to Southern California, on to San Diego. A DREAM, A POSSIBILLTY, A GOAL.

Omedetou! Your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop.

JNC Decal smash

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9 Responses to QotW: What’s the longest road trip you’ve taken with your JNC?

  1. Paul says:

    1988 ED9 CRX: Perth-Sydney return 8400 km or 5220 mi.
    I did this twice in a CRX, one-way (4200km) in an ST162 Celica.

    Wish I could add pics.

  2. Chris Tonn says:

    ’91 Miata. Columbus, Ohio to Bar Harbor, Maine. About 2500 miles round trip in autumn 2004 – drove there for our honeymoon.

    This was before we had GPS, so we relied on a AAA Trip Tik (remember those?).

    Unfortunately, the state of Maine renumbered their interstate exits that year, going from consecutive exit numbering to mileage-based numbering. I think they also changed the routing of I-95 around or through Portland, which screwed us up as well. We kept driving..and driving..and driving. I’m not sure HOW close to Canada we got, but it took us several extra hours to get to the hotel.

    Mind you, this is an NA Miata, lowered, with big swaybars. Interstate 80 across Pennsylvania is only slightly less pockmarked than the surface of the moon.

    Nevertheless, she remained with me. Well, both of them did. It’ll be 15 years this fall with my bride, and 16 with the Miata.

    The roadster has been sitting for a few years, but my oldest daughter wants to learn to drive in it. She and I will head into the garage this fall to revive it.

  3. Mike RL411 says:

    1969. Drove my RL411 from Great Falls Montana to San Bernardino California Don’t remember the miles but the car and I are still in Southern California. On the way I had to have the timing adjusted to account for the great altitude differences.. I took the 411 to a local Ca service center to have the block hot water heater removed while I was at work. The mechanic had no idea what it was for ! I was truly in the right place, minus 40 temperature does not happen here.

  4. Bob says:

    I have completed several long distance runs:

    1986 300zx hardtop–bought it in Sherman Oaks and drove it across country to South Florida (2800 miles) in 3 days.The car had 217k miles on it when I picked it up and it now has 259k miles on it 13 years later.
    1982 280zx hardtop–bought it in Huntington Beach and drove it across country to South Florida in 3 days. The car had a little over 200k miles on it when purchased and unfortunately I sold it a few years ago and finally found an identical car with 93k miles on it 2 years ago. I will not make that mistake again.
    1995 Miata M edition–bought it in San Diego and drove it back to Rockville, Md. in 5 days. The car had a little more than 63k on it when purchased and I foolishly sold it 2.5 years later with 86k miles on it. Just this past week I located another 95M with 70k miles on it and plan to hold onto it0000 for the long term.

  5. Ray Mon says:

    I live in San José, Costa Rica but in 2011 tooka job in Panamá City. The distance between the two cities is almost 1000 kilometers ( 600 miles ). I did the trip in my 1982 Toyota Starlet with no problem. Keep the Starlet in Panama for month and a half while I bought my car for Panamá.

  6. Negishi no Keibajo says:

    Not a “road trip” per se, but my old 240Z followed my early career from Seattle, Wichita, St. Louis, Seattle, Denver, Houston, Denver, & Seattle. Road trips from Seattle to San Francisco or San Diego & back a couple of times each.

  7. zhenderson says:

    Road trips are a special kind of pleasure for me, especially when I do them in older cars.

  8. zhenderson says:

    I turn my favorite radio on the old broadcast at total volume and just drive down the road. I see the most beautiful views along the way. And the most unusual thing about this whole situation is that you’re driving the most incredible retro car. All the passersby are constantly turning around when I pass by. I really enjoy this experience, so I often use the services of https://www.drivedadscar.com/. I love to dive into this era of retro cars. I usually buy retro things at sales. Also, I have a vast collection of vinyl records, which I have been collecting for 5 years.

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