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Last fall I took my 115C to a show in Balstrop, a town about 50 miles southeast of Austin. Most of the road was non-freeway, but there was a few miles that required freeway driving. Going to the show was not too bad as it was early on a Saturday morning, but coming back was another story. The traffic speed was fast, the closing rate of the other cars to my Packard was quick, and the amount of traffic was heavy. We made it through, but it was scary. People had no idea about the capabilities of my old car and were put off by me staying to the right and going slower than them. I likened it to flying a Piper Cub into LAX. I'll never do that again.

John, I feel your pain. To get to any of the out of town car shows I must either drive on the two lane cowpath known as the Trans Canada highway or a two laner Highway 61 in Minnesota both of which are in deer or moose country. I try to keep my Packard at the speed limit or slightly above (55-60)but on either highway this is not nearly fast enough for either the 4 wheelers or 18 wheelers who seem to want to drive at least 20mph over the limit since police are seldom seen on either road. I usually end up leading a parade of tailgating impatient and irate motorists. Since the shoulders are mostly gravel I only pull over on occasions when paved shoulders or turnouts permit and then I get the occasional "curse or the finger" as they drive past which makes for an unpleasant experience. On the other hand I have a friend who owns a late 40's MG who is quite content to cruise along at 40-50MPH and let the parade build up and he doesn't let it bother him in the least. I am not programmed like that however.

It's often a challenge planning a route for a distant show for my 34 Eight where I'm only comfortable doing 45-50. This pretty much means no Interstates; I often make use of road maps to find local highway routes with the advantage that you actually get to see some scenery.

All of u gentelmen ought to try it on a 48 Indian or any of the pre-60's HD's. Pulling sidecar is even worse. No trouble cruising 60 -65 mph but still seems like i'm a moving obstacle on the Interstate hwy.

Even in my faster vehicles capable of 90 - 110 mph all day long i still have to run in slow lane and have many passing me while i'm running 75-80.

The cops are all over I40 west of music and they are pulling speeders over every 8 to 10 miles now. I just don't understand it. Everyone cries about the economy and job losses (that are real) but traffic here in rural tn. is like 24-7 Christmas time.

I can remeber a time for many years prior to about 2002 when driving rural I40 at 80-90 mph was fairly safe and rarely a cop in site. Altho the speeds over 80 mph for me were very rare at that time. But there was nearly never a car in site.

An associate of mine owns Payless Towing in Dickson. His service end of the business is flat. EXCEPT for USED tyres!!! He says everyone is wearing out tires real fast so they buy used tires. But, don't service the car.

Neither one of us can figure that one out.

I rode a 1948 Indian Chief in the 70s and had no trouble cruising on 4 lane hiways at 70 MPH. Of course traffic was not as dense back then. In more ways than one.

That's a good economic indicator "the used tire index". When you have a good selection of like new used tires at cheap prices it means the economy is good. When the used tire supply dries up it means people are hurting for $$$$ bux.

Driving up and down Florida's Turnpike in the '55 Pat is not so bad. The car will comfortably cruise at 80 and seems to "want" to (that zone that individual vehicles seem to have when everything seems to be working most efficiently and effortlessly). I have discovered however that my fuel economy suffers, significantly, above about 75 mph and have lately taken to driving between 65 and 75 in the right lane. Rude, inconsiderate drivers aren't in short supply here in the sunshine state but we have so many tourists and retired folks down here that drive 50 mph in the fast lane that one can often make better time driving a set speed in the right-hand (slow) lane anyway. Much of my travelling is still business related (I'm about three-guarters retired) but I try to schedule enough time (you know, leave earlier than five minutes before I'm supposed to be somewhere) not to have to be in a hurry and often will take the less-travelled two-lane state and local roads instead of the Turnpike, I4, I75 and (especially) I95 when possible and time permits.

I think Florida may be unique in that about half the people here are driving 5 to 15 mph under the speed limit and the other half are driving between 10 and 30 mph over it. After having spent most of my life driving nearly all over the world, it's my personal opinion that virtually 75% of them would be unable to obtain a driving license in most European countries and much of the rest of this country. This produces such a vast number of pissed-off drivers that one learns, early-on, to ignore them and just try to be safe and stay alive. Here, it doesn't really matter what one is driving. There are going to be significant numbers of other drivers who aren't going to like the way you're driving it, anyway.