Long road trip in my 67 highboy

[rabbithunter2005]

Good day to all of ya I thought I would get some thoughts and maybe some stories to read from y'all. I just completed a 1500 mile road trip in my 67 highboy. Little background I just swapped a 300 straight 6 in it from a 79 f100 and a m50d transmission from a 94 f150. I love the truck more than ever now its getting 14mpg with 456 gears in the rear. My buddy calls it ratchet ranger its pretty beat up and rusty looking most people tell me to leave it as is cause its perfect patina. Me personally I want it one color and half decent looking so soon it will be getting a paint job. Color will be international harvester red. Anyway my same friend who calls it ratchet ranger asks me if I think I could make it in ratchet ranger to pick up a c10 frame for him. (He's a Chevy guy some how we been best friends since kindergarten ). Now I do my own work and im a confident guy who always wants to back up his work and I say yeah u change my oil and pay for my gas and food and ill drive it down there and bring it up. Now he can't go cause he was leaving for Florida during the time I needed to go so his dad rode with me. Problem is is his dad has a messed up leg right now so he couldn't drive cause he can't push the clutch. Now I live in western pa and Georgia is a 11 hr drive. It turns into 14 hrs cause I can't get faster than 65 without the engine really screaming and stopping for fuel and bathroom breaks takes time. However I left last Friday night at 2 am and got there at 4pm Saturday afternoon. Stopped 5 times for gas loll. So we eat talk Chevy and ford talk with the coolest dude on the planet he has like 15 67 to 72 c10 trucks in his yard. We load up and come back home. We got home on sunday at 1pm and after 28 hours of driving on 2 hours of sleep I needed a nap. Once I woke up and got over being tired I realized I accomplished something. I took a truck that is 50 years old and drove 1500 miles round trip solid in 2.5 days without a single issue. There are people who won't do that in a vehicle that is 10 years old cause there worried about breaking down. I am so proud of that truck and so is my buddy and his dad. It cost him about 230 bucks in gas but for me getting to do some sight seeing in a classic that can still work is just amazing and its a memory that ill never forget. So time to get to the point I know this story is long and winded and to some probably boring and pointless but I would like to hear some of your long haul stories or adventures we like call them.

[Ohiotinkerer]

Don't have a story yet but looking forward to heading to my Tennessee retirement property with mine next spring to plant some fruit trees and berry bushes and do some fence work - people think I'm nuts also but you are correct - these are people who wouldn't drive a 10 year old car across the state. I can only imagine the looks you got along the away.........

[sargentrs]

Great story! It always amazes me how little today's crowd know and understand about older vehicles. 40 years ago someone would have said "What's your point, duh?!" I haven't made that kind of trip in my truck but, before the project tear down, I drove her a 90 mile round trip to work every day for 7 years. Also used her to haul 1600 lbs of lumber and concrete to the dump not to mention filling the bed to the top of the sides with wet sand and bringing it home 40 miles across a mountain for 2 round trip loads. These trucks can WORK! Since the project build, I'm now driving a '64 Fairlane on that 90 mile round trip to work. 38,000 miles in 2 years. Every time I stop for gas people ask about her. When I tell them she's my only car and I drive that far to work I always get a "Really?! That's amazing!" Uh...no it's not. That's what the vehicles were built for. Maintain them properly and they'll last for decades unlike today's cars/trucks.

[jzjames]

Decent road trip in the 67! Did ya wear earplugs?
I hear it's pretty hard to kill a 300-inline six. That's the impression I get with mine with about 290,000 on it.
(hmm, wonder if I could make it 3000mi. Washington to Maine)

[rabbithunter2005]

Got lots of looks in fact my 69 f100 is pretty nice and my 67 f250 is pretty beat up and I get more comments on the 67 than the 69. I too drive these trucks as daily drivers I been doing it for 4 years now. I financed a 2006 Silverado years ago and it was nothing but problems that I couldn't afford to fix or didn't have the computer knowledge to fix so I sold it to buy my 69 f100 drove it for 3 years and then bought my 67 as a beater for winter driving. No ear plugs on the trip however I wish I would had my ear buds in for the GPS cause anytime the lady said turn here or turn there I couldn't hear it. I know one thing on the way down I was worried about breaking down I was listening for any odd noises and stuff like that. Im pretty sure that's what kept me awake on the way down. On the way back it was 8 redbulls and 1 5 hour energy but eventually that failed and I took a 2hr nap at a rest stop in Virginia. Keep them coming guys if ya got them.

[rabbithunter2005]

And that's what I hear too the 300 six is bullet proof. However when I was a teenager I blew 2 of them up in a 1 month time period. But I also was beating the hell outta them. One fact the i made it home on 5 cylinders both times so no complaints there. After that I swore the 300 six was junk. Fast forward 11 years and now im a bit more mature and don't enjoy getting 6 to 8 mpg anymore. So no more big blocks for me or 36 inch tires either loll. I have officially become an adult at 30.

[rabbithunter2005]

If I could drive a 64 fairlane everyday for a daily driver that would be amazing. I almost bought a 67 a couple years ago for 4500 bucks it had the 390 in it. I just didn't get to the guys house fast enough to check it out b4 it got sold. I know it needed a bunch of work but a big block fairlane is one of my dream cars. Oh well can't buy them all.

[XABN82]

Ok, so growing up as a kid we lived in Chattanooga, Tn. My parents we divorced so I lived with my Dad in Chattanooga. My Mom lived in LaGrange, Ga and remarried. My step Dad was a Chevy fan, had no use for a Ford. I'd spend the summers with my Mom and Step Dad. The neighbor,Mr. Lynch bought a new 1971 F100, he didn't use the truck that much, so it sat in his second driveway, and I could almost touch this truck daily, during the summer. Well in 1991 in went into the Army, Mr. Lynch died while I was in and Mrs. Lynch was gonna trade the F100 in for a Crown Vic or something. She asked my Step Dad what was trade in value. He told her "They won't give you anything on trade in, I'll give you fair price for it." So he bought it, drove it quite a bit and started liking it. He's always tinkering on cars and trucks, so he needed to thin the heard. I was out of the Army in 1995, he calls me up, "Hey Bill, if you want this old black Ford come get it." I rushed down and drove her back to Chattanooga, no A/C, I think it was July. That was 22 years ago, I still have the truck, she was my daily driver for nearly 4 years. Love that old truck. Has 215,000 miles on her

[1guydude]

Wow. Great stories. Keep em.coming. These trucks were indeed made to last and be used out on the farm.
I would like to drive mine down to vegas eventually. Would be a great photo moment pulling into the valay guy at the front of the hotel/casino! "Ya she looks like a beater, but she runs good."
Ive done the drive before in my other car. I dont know about not having ac or a radio so hopefully it will have that when or if the time ever comes.
D

[Lone Ranger]

I found my 72 bump on Craigslist in Minnesota and sight unseen bought a one way ticket out there then had to drive about 15 hours back to Michigan. Definitely risky cause I only had a few tools I brought on the plane ride. I made it home no problems goin a steady 65 all by myself. She leaked oil so every other fuel stop id add a bit. Battery ended up being on the fritz so I had to leave it running the whole time( had to push start it once) It was a good truck wish I still had it, it was a good memory.

[farmallmta]

I do this all the time in my bumpside F-250's going from Amarillo, TX to the ranch down in the hill country and up to the farms in north Missouri (to 5 miles short of the Iowa line). 2 or 3 trips per year. They're what I drive. I don't own any newer vehicles. Just a '65 Galaxie and a '54 Hudson Hornet. Obviously I'm an old car fan.

[Gnick4]

New owner of a 1967 f100. Here’s the rest of the story:
I have been looking for a 67-69 f100 and found one in Las Vegas so I called to see if it was available. It was but he had someone coming over to look at it. I asked him to hold it if I could get a flight out that afternoon, he said he would. Grabbed some cash booked a flight and was on a plane in two hours. Ended up buying it and driving it back to Kansas City, took 24 hours straight. The good news is it ran perfectly, rebuilt 390(added by original owner), rebuilt transmission and just about everything under the hood new. The bad, well she never met a gas station she didn’t like, bet I stopped ten times for gas.

Never stopped grinning on the way home, fantastic truck.

[Lone Ranger]

New owner of a 1967 f100. Here’s the rest of the story:
I have been looking for a 67-69 f100 and found one in Las Vegas so I called to see if it was available. It was but he had someone coming over to look at it. I asked him to hold it if I could get a flight out that afternoon, he said he would. Grabbed some cash booked a flight and was on a plane in two hours. Ended up buying it and driving it back to Kansas City, took 24 hours straight. The good news is it ran perfectly, rebuilt 390(added by original owner), rebuilt transmission and just about everything under the hood new. The bad, well she never met a gas station she didn’t like, bet I stopped ten times for gas.

Never stopped grinning on the way home, fantastic truck.

Wow long trip!!!! Awesome