epic road trip

[dulcimerbob]

I have a 76 Spider with 65k on it. New timing belt, shocks, starter, runs pretty good, rusty but somewhat attractive. I have this harebrained idea to take it cross country in the spring. Back roads from GA to CA. Anybody out there done anything like this ? I'd like to read some stories.

[pastaroni34]

Not in a Fiat but in my M5 multiple times.. been from California to Texas twice, and to North Carolina, Florida, Texas 3 times. The spider has some wind noise, that can be tiring after a while

Its pretty difficult to take back roads the whole way. Usually did about 70/30% highway to back roads. Some states you just don't want to be in any longer and want to get on the highway to just knock out some easy miles.

GPS is a great thing. Yelp is also good to find tasty local restaurants.

As always, bring a good camera Here are some interesting road trip moments:

Colorado:



Dauphin Island Alabama:



New Mexico:



Owl Cafe (double thumbs up!):




I wholly encourage this adventure!!

[Zippy]

I would definitely recommend getting AAA Premium before you take your Fiat on a trip like that. I ran low on gas at 2AM between Eureka CA and Redding and couldn't find a gas station. I pulled into a small town knowing I wouldn't make it to the next open station. AAA had a tow truck to me in about 30 minutes and he had 5 gals of gas on his truck. I had to pay for the gas but the rest was free. My sister and I were driving from Montery Mexico to Albuquerque, NM once and we were hit by a drunk driver. We were about 100 miles from the car dealer in Albuquerque and they towed us all the way there. They will do a mini trouibleshooting to try to get you going but not if it requires parts. Check with your local AAA office for details and make sure you understand what they cover before you go.

We have made several cross country road trips over the years and it has always been an adventure. Not all of them were in the Fiat. I put chunks of ice in the cowl of my 69 sport coupe while driving across the Mohave Desert to try to cool down. Didn't help much or last long. The desert is a beautiful place, especially when the cactus are blooming. My muffler fell off while driving through South Dakota. Have You Dug Wall Drug? We drove from San Francisco to New York by way of Seattle, WA, Vancouver, BC, Banff, Calgary, Madison, WI, Cadillac, MI, Montreal Canada, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey without mechanical breakdown. Our dog jumped out of the car in Calgary on a very foggy day. He was an American Eskimo so he disappeared into the fog and we panicked. It took us about an hour to find him. It was so hot in Carlsbad NM that I got vapor lock while driving from White Sands. White Sands is a very interesting place. The sand is very white. Makes for dramatic photographs. We also went to Carlsbad Caverns. I had to hitchhike to an auto parts store and get an electric fuel pump to put in the trunk since the fuel at the mechanical pump was boiling. We were in Peekskill, NY when the carb got plugged up. I bought a rebuild kit and spent two days in my father-in-law's basement trying to figure out how to rebuild a carb. Burned a hole through the muffler in Sturgis one year. Found a temporary replacement at the Napa store there. Try to plan your trip around stops at National Parks and Monuments, I think you will have a lot of fun.

It won’t make much difference if you are 200 miles from home or 2000 miles. If you break down you just have to figure out what to do. Make sure you have food, water, blankets or warm clothes in your car. Keep your cell phone charged. If your cars battery is marginal change it before you go. Change all your fluids and filters. Tools and flares are a good idea too. Take an your old rotor, distributor cap and points if they are still serviceable or buy a new set and if you have an old set of spark plugs and wires throw them in too. Jumper cables and a jack stand if you have room. Make sure your spare tire is good too.

[mdrburchette]

One of the things on my To Do list is to travel across the country in one of my Fiats. I'd love to take a few weeks to do it, visit people along the way and enjoy some of the many great places our nation has to offer. Let us know what you plan! It should be fun to see it all unfold.

[mikeg]

It's really not a harebrained idea, at least I hope not, I've made three long tirps in my '79 spider, not this long, but long enough, over 1,000 miles one way. In 2000 my wife and I drove the newly restored spider form OK to WV for FFO and on to DC to visit some old friends. In 2002 I drove alone from OK to NY for FFO and then to my son's house in Buffalo. The last long trip was in 2004, agian for FFO this year in Ashville and several of us caravaned various parts of the way. The only problem in any of these trips was the first one I had some starter issues while on the road, but a little coast down hill and all was well. I've made many 500 mile trips in the spider over the pat 10 years.

To make a trip of this distance you need to asess your car and your ability to fix minor mechanical issues on the road. Have someone check out the front end looking for carcks in the cross member, or control arms, check the ball joints and tie rod ends. You don't want to be crusing 70 down the highway and have a failure up front. The other obvious advice is to cary a few spares and a reasonable sellection of tools. You never know where you may need a fuse or an ignition part. There's no reason to go crazzy with spares, but a few small things tucked in the trunk around the spare tire is a good investment. Which reminds me, make sure you have 5 good tires, not 4 but 5. I've had a flat before only to put on an old spare that didn't make the rest of the trip and it was in the middle of nowhere late at night. I had to roll along the shoulder of the interstate about a couple of miles to get to an exit with a phone. My wife brought out a tire from the other spider.

[majicwrench]

Nice thing about old Fiats is they are very fixable on the road. If your '05 Toyota dies what are you gonna do?? I've got a 64 chev PU I drive all over the place, carry a few spare parts, a few tools, no worries. I say go for it.
That said, I have yet to take my 124 very far. But really, this was the first summer I had it functioning well enough to drive very often.
Maybe next year...