Re: Best Road Trips for Packards & More

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2009/2/2 13:32:24

Yeah, it does seem like a great topic. I don't have any great stories but I'll break the ice with a couple of mundane and uneventful "long" tours.

Twice I've driven my 56 Caribbean convertible to PAC events in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State from here in New Jersey. The first was the 2001 National and the second was the Henry Joy tour this past year. I'd guess each trip was about 1000 miles round trip, give or take. Interstates mixed with state highways up and back, speeds between the 40s and 70 or so. Gas mileage about 14.5 mpg. On the second of the two trips (2008) I experienced some fuel starvation problems, annoying but not dibilating, and otherwise uneventful.

The longest tour I've driven a Packard on was the 1993 Packard National in Ashevelle, North Carolina where I had a summer home nearby. I took my 1948 Custom 8 (2252) and guess it was about 2000 miles or so, round trip. Drove at mostly Interstate speeds except for local driving and quite a few miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, highway mileage about 18 as I recall. I know some of you will have a problem believing this, but the drive was uneventful and the car performed flawlessly even though I had a 6-volt car without electric fuel pump, electric radiator fan, alternator, or radial tires. I laugh now at remembering all the spares I carried in the trunk, probably about 300 lbs worth, even though I needed none of them. I probably even took a set of rod bearings and a pan gasket! On any tour of over a few hundred miles I always take a spare fuel pump, belts and hoses, water pump, generator, regulator, coil, etc. and a good tool box with lots of odd hardware, but outside of the fuel pump on the Henry Joy tour I've never needed spares on a tour. With the 56 I also always carry a spare push button actuator and relay but again, never needed.

This summer's Henry Joy tour will be a bit shorter, to Saratoga Springs, New York. Probably about 450 miles or so round trip, and I'm planning on taking the 34 Eight though I'll have to avoid the New York State Thruway up and back as about 50 mph is the best comfortable speed for this car and with most everyone else doing 70 or better, it's just a risk not worth taking. Besides, the scenery will be better on more local roads.