Advice/comments please, epic possible road trip

[RICK LAKE]

xlr8tr Mark the car is new, imo this is not the right time to test it for a road trip. If you want the IRON BUTT award, go for it. I would bring a truck down and either buy a trailer or rent a trailer for a week. If the weather is good, drive the car a couple hundred miles a day. I think this will be all your back and legs will want. If the weather gets bad, Car on trailer and you are still going home. If weather is nice, you have backup just encase of a problem. I know guys who have done 1K roadtests with new cars, some did OK, others broke down and no where to find parts to fix. What to you do with a cobra on the side of the road??? Towing company will ONLY tow to a dealerships or their garage. Storage fees start the minute the car hits the lot if you don't have it fixed there. You are going to burn alot of fuel with that motor. Guessing about 14-16mpg. One of your friends have a trailer?? Uhaul has only open trailers, there enclosed ones are 7' wide 16" long. They hold a cobra with 1" on either side. Car has no movement inside or the paint will take a beating. Open trailer car gets wet and needs a dry out. I have done the open trailer bit for 13 years with rapping the car up. Need heavy car cover, 6 moving blankets, canvas tarp, and about 30 bungy cords to hold down all this. need to be sure to not let cords rub on car body. I double wrap them where there may move around on highway. I do run at 70 mph and no problems. Just hate the rain. Good luck on the adventure either way.
Side note, does car have antithief?? tracker like lo-jack?? Either way go out and buy a 20' cable from masterlock and a larger heavy pad lock. You want this to go through the tires and get a 12' 20 TON one to cable the car to a tree, the truck that is following you, light pole. Something so the car doesn't go for a walk by itself. Snakes are funny this way and like to sneak off. Last thing is if you are staying at a hotel or motel, get 50' of thread, black and tie it to a bumper and lay it on the ground going to your room. put through a window. Tie it to something that will make noise if car moves. I do this at every race when away from car sight. Have seen and heard of cars stolen at meets. Protect your investment.Rick L.

[ha_pe_1968]

Hi Mark!

Was in the same question one year ago. I had to drive 800km with my new car to get it home. First it was only windy, then cold and then raining.
My car has a softtop and sidewindows. But even with this stuff its very cold inside and far away from dry. It is pure stress to have a long drive with this cars. When importing my car i had to do 3 long trips...800km and then 600km away and back...this are 2.000 kilometers in 3 days - at one drive the weather was really good - but even then it makes no fun to drive hours at the highway (haha but was a good thing at the german highway without a speedlimit :-)
Lucky me that my car was making no troubles - i would not do that again - NEVER!!!!!

Peter

[lamaluv]

Mark I would vote for the trailer idea. We took our Cobra with us to snowbird in Florida this winter. Pulled it in a trailer behind our moter home. We left Idaho in mid October and arrived in Florida via Connecticut in Mid December. With over 4,500 miles we had about 1/3 of the trip with weather that was either rain or snow or temps of 30 degrees or less. We were able to drive the Cobra when the weather was nice and we were interested in seeing certain sights. But if the weather sucked or we we had no interest in driving the Cobra through DC or NY City at rush hour we didn't have to. I have owned my Cobra for several years and it is well sorted out mechanically. It is still not a comfortable long distance cruiser. Big engine, top loader, 3:55 rear end, and stock seats. Fun fun car but not for long trips, but that is not what I bought it for. Think road trip on a Harley chopper. Great when your young, not so much as you get older.

[charles roybal]

Originally Posted by davecobra

I would check it over for leaks and loose bolts, pack my lunch and gps, plan a week to do it and go for it, you will have the fun of a lifetime.
We just came back from the TCC meet in San Marcos TX. 4 of us drove 1000 miles and one of us drove 1500 miles round trip, we had a few problems but nothing that we could not fix along the way. Buy yourself a 94 piece Craftsman tool kit, couple of feet of fuel hose, radiator clamps, fuel clamps, electrical tape, allen wrenches, side cutters, pliers, test light ,digital voltmeter, tie straps, duct tape, extra fuses, tire pump and plug kit, rain jacket and cooler.
YOU CAN DO IT.............
David

Yes dirve it. I made from El Paso Tx to San Marcos Tx & back home...the time of my life. Follow Davids advice above... get good ear plugs, & good hat that shades you from the sun. Log you trip on this fourm w/pics...takes us along for the ride.
Charles

[SunDude]

So Mark, didja get your Cobra home yet?

Fill us in -- how are you enjoying it so far? What have you done with it? What kind of reactions are you getting to it? et cetera, et cetera...

[terry mason]

My wife and I drove our Cobra from Michigan to LA and then up the cost to Oregon then back across the top of the country home again. 4960 miles and some great stories that will be ours for a life time. It did rain in New Mexico and Nebraska. We took the month of July stopped to see the sights, meet some great people. If you stay on the two lanes there are a lot of things to see and do. DRIVE IT!!!

[Silverback51]

Seattle (the festering crap hole) just had the coldest April in recorded history.

I really hope he had it trailered.

[deckofficer]

After I checked the original post and saw that he is 6' 7", my revised vote is ship it. However, plan B might have you drive it and if during the road trip you think "how nuts was I", then rent a F150 U-haul and a U-haul transport trailer and finish the trip.