How to Plan a Long Road Trip in Your Classic Mopar

Some of the best memories you'll ever make with a classic Mopar happen on the open road. Long drives through the countryside, weekend trips to distant car shows, cross-country adventures with friends — these are the stories you'll tell for years. But a long road trip in a sixty or seventy year old car is different from a weekend cruise around the neighborhood. It takes more planning, more preparation, and a different mindset. Get it right, and you'll come home with an experience nothing else can match. Get it wrong, and you might come home on the back of a tow truck. At Andy Bernbaum Auto Parts, we've helped countless Mopar owners get their cars ready for the big trips, and here's how to do it well.

Start Weeks Before You Leave

The single biggest mistake owners make is waiting too long to start prepping. A long road trip deserves at least a month of lead time, ideally more. Use that time to work through a full inspection of the car, address anything that comes up, and take shakedown drives to make sure everything is working. Waiting until the week before means finding problems you don't have time to fix. Starting early means you can order parts, wait for shipping, and still have time to test everything before departure.

Give the Car a Full Mechanical Inspection

Before any long trip, go through the car system by system. Check the brakes, including the shoes, drums, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, and all the hoses and lines. Inspect the cooling system, hoses, belts, water pump, radiator, and thermostat. Look at the suspension, steering, ball joints, tie rods, and shocks. Check the exhaust for leaks or damage. Look at the wiring for any signs of damage or bad connections. This kind of inspection takes hours, but it catches the problems that would otherwise leave you stranded. If you find components that need replacing, our blog on sourcing OEM and aftermarket parts covers how to find quality replacements.

Do a Full Fluid Service

Fresh fluids protect your car when it's working hardest. Change the engine oil and filter, flush the coolant, replace the brake fluid, and service the transmission and rear axle. Top off everything else. On a long road trip, your car will run continuously for hours in conditions it might not see for weeks or months of normal use. Give it every advantage. Bring extra oil, coolant, and brake fluid with you, along with a funnel and rags for topping off on the road.

Take Shakedown Drives

Once the car is prepped, take it out on progressively longer drives before the big trip. Start with a fifty-mile loop, then a hundred, then a full day of driving. Each drive gives problems a chance to show up while you're still close to home. Watch for anything that changes — a new noise, a leak that wasn't there before, a temperature that runs a little higher than usual. Address problems as they appear rather than hoping they'll get better on their own.

Plan Your Route Carefully

A classic Mopar is not a modern interstate cruiser. Long stretches of high-speed highway driving are hard on older cars, especially in hot weather. Whenever possible, choose secondary roads and scenic routes. Two-lane highways at fifty or sixty miles an hour are much easier on your car than four hours straight at seventy-five on the interstate. Plan for shorter driving days than you might in a modern car. Six or seven hours of actual driving is plenty. Long twelve-hour days push both you and the car harder than necessary.

Know Where the Help Is

Before you leave, research where you can get help along your route. Note the locations of classic-car friendly repair shops, parts stores, and hotels with covered parking or garages. Save phone numbers in your phone. If something goes wrong, having a plan in advance saves hours of stress. Mopar clubs and online communities are great resources for finding trusted shops in unfamiliar areas. Members will often go out of their way to help a fellow enthusiast who's in trouble far from home. Our post on how to determine if a vintage car part fits another model can also be a useful reference if you're trying to source something on the road.

Pack a Real Toolkit

The toolkit that lives in your car every day is not enough for a long road trip. Beyond basic hand tools, bring extra fan belts, radiator hoses, hose clamps, a spare fuel filter, a set of spark plugs, points and condenser if you have a points ignition, extra fuses, and a spare set of ignition wires. Bring electrical tape, mechanic's wire, zip ties, duct tape, a good flashlight with fresh batteries, and a multimeter. A small jack, jack stands, and lug wrench specific to your car are also worth the space. You probably won't need most of it, but the day you do need it, you'll be very glad you brought it.

Bring Emergency Supplies for Yourself

Prepping the car is half the equation. Prepping yourself is the other half. Bring plenty of water, snacks, sunscreen, a first-aid kit, and a phone charger that works in your car. A paper map is worth having as a backup to GPS. Cash for tolls, gas stations without card readers, and small-town diners is smart too. If you're driving in remote areas, let someone know your route and check in regularly. Weather gear, including something warm for cool evenings and something waterproof for surprise rain, saves you from being uncomfortable when conditions change.

Drive at Your Car's Pace

One of the biggest adjustments on a classic road trip is accepting that you're not going to travel at modern speeds. Your car is happier at fifty-five or sixty than at seventy-five, and it needs more breaks than a new car does. Stop every hundred miles or so to stretch, check the fluids, and let the engine cool down if you've been climbing hills or fighting hot weather. These stops are also part of the fun. Small-town diners, roadside attractions, and scenic overlooks are what make a road trip in a classic car special.

Watch Your Gauges Like a Hawk

Modern cars have warning lights that tell you when something is wrong. Classic Mopars have gauges that expect you to pay attention. Get in the habit of glancing at your temperature, oil pressure, and ammeter regularly. A rising temperature or dropping oil pressure is a signal to pull over immediately, not push through hoping it'll be fine. Small problems addressed quickly stay small. Ignored, they turn into expensive tows and long delays. Our beginner's guide to classic Mopar car restoration covers some of the fundamentals of understanding how these cars communicate what they need.

Have a Bailout Plan

Even the best-prepared trip can go sideways. Know what you'll do if the car has serious trouble you can't fix on the road. Some enthusiasts belong to services that specialize in classic car towing. Others have friends or family with trailers who could come get them if needed. Roadside assistance from your insurance company may or may not cover long-distance transport of a classic. Know the answer before you leave, not after something happens.

Enjoy the Journey

Here's the truth about road trips in classic cars: the trip itself is the reward. You'll spend more time getting where you're going. You'll deal with things a modern car would never make you deal with. You'll also see more, hear more, and remember more than any modern car trip could ever give you. People will wave at you at stoplights. Kids will point and smile. Other drivers will roll down their windows to ask about the car. Take the time to enjoy it. Stop at the diners, take the photos, talk to the strangers who come up to ask about your car. That's the whole point.

Final Thoughts

A long road trip in a classic Mopar is one of the most rewarding things you can do as an enthusiast. Prepare thoroughly, drive smart, and enjoy the ride. The memories you'll make are worth every hour of preparation. At Andy Bernbaum Auto Parts, we've been the world's largest seller of new and N.O.S. parts for Chrysler, Plymouth, DeSoto, Imperial, and Dodge cars and trucks from 1930 to 1971. Whatever your Mopar needs for the adventure ahead, we're here to help.