how do these cars handle long interstatate runs?

Okay this is kinda odd but i am curious. My car is a 72 four door, three speed manual, 302. the rear end is 2.79 It is all stock motor, bushings every thing. It now has 51000 miles. What is the highest speed you could comfortably run on like the interstate? you know where your not pushing the motor too hard, i guess you could call it optimal cruise speed? And secondly would i be crazy to try and drive this car on a say 200 mile one way journey? Mostly interstate? I figured new tires, fresh oil, spare set of points, and pack the front wheel bearings, oh and the aaa card, it should be able to make it fairly easy.. What do you all think? I am only 21 and have never made any journey other than around town, mainly cause i didnt trust my vehicles. We go see my dads dad in the summer time, and i have always wanted to drive it one time in my own vehicle. So whatcha think?? Could i make it in the car? or would i be crazy?? Oh and any of you have road trip stories from driving these cars??

later!! chris

 

Check your belts and hoses and make sure your transmission is serviced and in good shape. Verify all the fluid levels and you should be good. In a stock Maverick 200 miles should be easy.

 

hot rod daddy drove his maverick from wyoming to west virginia, then on to the roundup in ky. last year. he ran it at the strip and made something like 17 passes on it, then drove it back to wyoming. he had to replace an alternator on the way and a lug nut fell off as he drove into the ky. parking lot. i'd say they are great road cars if they are kept in good condition.

 

mine was a 170 3spd... now its a 302 c4

but when it was a 170 i went 36.5 mpg from Hopkinsville, Kentucky to Tucson, Arizona in 2003. 1750 miles

ran like a champ, although it had some valve train noise that i needed a lot of rizlone for. but it ran great

oh and i counted 175 broke down cars from kentucky to arizona.. hehe... i had nothing better to do.. 85 of them were in texas alone

 

Heck, I drive mine 200 miles on saturday nite just to go racing.

 

Yup, I've put 1300+ miles on mine in five days during Roundup.

 

My wife & son flew to Colorado to pick up my 74 Grabber (302 C-4) & drove it 1000 miles home with no probs. It had 67000 miles on it. They flew to Wisconsin to pick up my son's 71 Grabber (250 C-4). It had over 100,000 miles on it & it made the 1000 mile trip with no problems except a flat tire. And to North Carolina to pick up my son's 77 with 100,000 plus miles (250 C-4) with no problems. Maybe we have been lucky. I think there very dependable. It's better to be able to check them out thoroughly to make sure they are ready for a trip. Like stated previously check all belts, hoses etc.. Make sure you have a good spare tire, jack & lug wrench. Sorry to ramble but you did ask for stories.
Good luck.

 

My mother used too put over 600 miles a week on my `76 4 door for almost 3 years in that time it went through a radiator , upper hose and an ignition brain box . These cars are very reliable .

 

...where is Jamie Miles? i am sure he has driven a mile or 2

i think that is where he got his name...

...frank...

 

You can easily travel the posted limit on any highway in the continental USA. Routine trips of 300 miles without batting an eye. I have always carried an extra set of points, plugs cap and rotor but I have never needed them. Got a wild hair once and through a fan belt - now I carry an extra fan belt and resist the urge to see how fast I can get to the next turn...

 

I dove mine 3000miles+ round trip to L.A.(Knotts show) last April. Never had any real problems other than noticing that my lights were mega-dim a few hundred miles from L.A.(on the way back)...pulled over and jiggled the Regulator connector and it instantly perked up. Had so much fun..I'm doing it again this April...anyone want to meet up along the way? A couple came up to my car while we were at Knotts Berry Farm(getting souveniers eh!) and said they say an identicle car to mine at the Car show in Parksville(Vancouver Island) the previous summer...they were shocked when I said it was the same car! Had a guy at another show on the Island(Vancouver) say that he saw a pair of cars driving together in California...so they got of pic. I told them that was us(Coop and myself) taking a drive. They seemed to be really impressed that we would even attempt something like that...of course they were into Mopeds....oops I mean Mopars My car has only failed me twice in the 17 years I've owned it...I shredded a Belt on the highway..and I had a front tire shred(pretty much nothing left)..also on the highway....of course I do like shreddies so maybe thats my problem

 

Jamie used to drive the 74' then the 72' around 1,000 miles a week. I've put 4,000 on the 72' my self with no problems

 

I have drove a total of exactly 31,883 miles in a Maverick since April 25, 2005, as of getting home from work tonight.

As for long trips, I have been known to put 500 miles on the '72 in my avatar in a single day. My most recent trip was from Lawrenceville, GA, down to M.A.V.'s house in Macon, GA, and from there straight up to Murphy, NC in a single evening. I ran the car over 80 mph for about 115 miles non stop on that trip, rest of the trip was at 65-70 mph except when I got stuck in rush hour traffic on I-285 East. For about 3 weeks last year, I was driving a little over 320 miles a day 5 days a week taking some friends back and forth to work (drove from Suwanee to Collage Park and back 4 times a day, 80 miles each way).

To give you some idea of that car, I gave a $100 bill for it on 12/1/05. It was a rolling body with 128,000 showing on the out of date, junk title. The driveshaft, rearend, some of the hacked up wiring and most of the interior was there. I put a 201,000 mile 250 straight 6 (which had been involved in a serious wreck just before hand) in it and a rebuilt C4 with a shift kit (thanks Hawkco and scrapper60). I basically built this car with spare parts and stuff I got out of the junkyard. 300 miles is all in a normal weekend for this car. The only time it has broke down on me was on I-985 North near Buford, GA, and it was my fault, I ran out of gas. I would not hesitate to get in the car and drive it across country. Everytime a Maverick has let me down (4 times to date), it has been because of something that I knew I could have prevented, but didn't (my fault).

So yes, your car should make a 200 mile trip just fine.

 

Just now read this thread.......Thanks Don

 

I have driven my 77' Maverick on many a long interstate road trip with no problems at all. I always make sure to check all the fluid levels, belts and hoses and make sure the air pressure is correct in the tires. My Maverick has a 302 that is slightly built up internally, so I can't say it's bone stock. I can say that the car cruises along at 85 MPH very easily. So easily in fact that you don't even realize your doing 85 MPH. Red car. 85 MPH. Can you say "Cop Bait"? I got to quit doing that. The thing that most impresses me is the fuel mileage. The 302 actually got better gas mileage than our Stallion did equipped with a bone stock 250. I never quite figured that out. Just make sure your Maverick is in tip top shape and you should not have any problems. When in doubt, carry along a tool kit just in case.