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Cruises safely at 60 mph? I don't think so. The 39-42 120 with overdrive is a decent 50 mph car. Without 45 mph. That is taking into consideration those erroneous speedometers that are typically 10% optimistic so 60 is really 54. When the car was new the speed limit on the Merrit was 35 mph.

As for safety, well, today I got stuck in traffic because some idiot in a monster truck ran over the front of a Chevy, flipped, and ended up dead. He was probably doing over 70 in a 55. I almost got broadsided twice last week, some idiot ran a red light when I was entering an intersection last month. When I think of all the near misses I have endured I dread what would happen to me in an old car. When I retire I am moving where there are only windmills to contend with.

M 1940 110 touring sedan without overdrive would handle highway traffic easily when I would drive the 60 or so miles to stay with my grandparents and tinker with my 1941 Henney-Packard that I kept there at their place. The speedometer had been calibrated and 65 was easy or even faster if I wanted and never a problem.

I knew someone who used to drive his 120 across country and he had to overhaul the motor on a regular basis. Let's be realistic, the car has a top speed around 80 mph. My modern car will do 140 but I wouldn't think it could handle sustained cruising at 105 mph. We dyno test cars with the throttle wide open for hours and sometimes they blow up.

Floyd Clymer ran the splash oiled Chevy at full throttle for hours, but that was a new car. One reason I think the 320 engine is better all around than the 384 is because it has less crankshaft flex.

Beat on those old motors and they will blow up.

I have to agree with Tim; at least as it pertains to driving my car. 50 is a nice speed, 55 feels 'hot' and 60 is 'too fast'! Maybe you had some good highway gears in your 110, Don, but one can easily hear when an engine is 'straining' or over-revving and those flathead sixes won't take high revs. OD would move those numbers up a bit, but then I think other factors like the skinny tires would start to come into play. Bottom line - IMHO, they are 50/55 MPH cars. Chris.

Also think about your brakes. Going fast is 1 thing, but stopping in time would be nice....