Get your kicks - in an Early 911

[daepp]

Well - I finally got up the nerve to take my 72 911 on a long distance road trip. My 14 year old son and I are attempting as much of the old Route 66 as we can get in in 5 days. We left after dinner on Easter Sunday and made it to Laughlin:


38 year old original tire (I also brought a can of fix-a-flat)


My son using a little extra carnuba to save the paint. Plenty of advice said no bra.


Heading into Laughlin

[MT930]

Awesome trip of a lifetime, great father and son odyssey.

More pictures !

[daepp]

The burros run wild in Oatman


I saw no other 911's or air cooled cars on the entire trip




The drive from Oatman to Kingman is awesome. The peak in the background has been renamed due to political correctness...


Lots of cool places to stop along the way


Lots of "models" do their shoots here - but ZMan would ban the pics

[Heel n Toe]

Sweet... he (and you) will remember this trip fondly for the rest of your lives.

Get a few more cans of Fix-A-Flat... sometimes it takes more than one per tire... and if you have to use that flat, you might wanna let some air out and put 2 or 3 cans in it before you drive on it.

Just sayin.'

Keep the photos comin' for us poor schlubs who are stuck doing stuff much less fun and interesting.

[daepp]

Well, I guess I now know the atmospheric compensator on the pump is working (We actually hit 7300+)


It actually snowed last night - so much for all those years garaging my car


Took the train to the Grand Canyon




Sittin' on the rim

[Oracle]

Awesome trip! I hope I have a bonding and never forgetting experience like that with my son, I just have to wait like 10 years!

Wow! Just for fun let him drive for a few miles on a dirt road so he can tell his first drive was on dad's 911

[Heel n Toe]

A little overnight snow ain't never hurt a car... it's the salt that comes with it courtesy of the local road crews... or slippery roads for people who overdrive the situation.

She's been christened now... just one more memory you guys'll carry with you.

Carry on.

[daepp]

Of course, we stood on the corner...


Scored some cool $7 blankets


Tallest Sprinter I've ever seen!


I think they were traveling together

[pwd72s]

Did you check out Judy's saloon & pool hall in Oatman? You never know, might have been some action...

Cool trip, great pics. Hope to see more...

[daepp]

One more day unfortunately, then return to el lay.

Some things that I thought would be a problem simply weren't. The (non-sport) seats have been very comfortable - They were restuffed by Autobahn and almost too firm when I first got them back, but they have been great on this trip. Also luggage/living space. We have had no problems having enough stuff for a weeks worth of traveling.

I will say, on some of the longer stretches, that I have certainly been missing cruise control. I think I have had it on every car I've owned sine the mid 70's, but you do get used to it.

[alf]

Very cool! Planning on a father and son road trip for my son's 10th this Summer in the Roach, mix of camping and starwooding. Maybe go East to DC or South to AZ. Destination not nearly as important as the journey.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by alf

Very cool! Planning on a father and son road trip for my son's 10th this Summer in the Roach, mix of camping and starwooding. Maybe go East to DC or South to AZ. Destination not nearly as important as the journey.

If you head up to DC you will pass through Oklahoma City. I would be happy to show you a couple of great Rt 66 spots in the metro area. It would be fun to meet up and share a meal at a cool Rt-66 restaurant. Just PM me.

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

If you head up to DC you will pass through Oklahoma City. I would be happy to show you a couple of great Rt 66 spots in the metro area. It would be fun to meet up and share a meal at a cool Rt-66 restaurant. Just PM me.

Hit me up too... I'm about an hour west of him on 66... I'd be happy to show you the way into OKC... And I never miss a chance to have a bite to eat with Glen.

[Jim Richards]

Great early car road trip, Dave! We did our "epic" journey in the 73E a couple of years back. Your comment about the seats was interesting. On our trip, my wife actually felt the Recaro Pole Positions in our car were comfortable. I figured that I'd have days of complaints, but that didn't come to pass.

We're going to do a coast-to-coast trip shortly, but in our Jetta. We're taking the dog we recently adopted, which means the 73E is not the weapon of choice. Oh well.

OK, back to you...great trip and pictures. Keep 'em coming!

[ramonesfreak]

wow what a beautiful car and a fun trip. you car was born the same year as me and looks like its in much better condition !

[RRico]

great topic!
i hope to do this with my son in about 6 more years.
living in south florida, the sights to see are not as interesting as out west.
thanks for sharing your experiences.
have fun and stay safe.

[Embraer]

I did Los Gatos, Cali to Fort Wayne, Indiana in 3 days back in 2002. Drove a '69 912....the best trip of my life. I think I averaged around 900 miles per day.

[daepp]

Left Kingman early and headed to Hoover Dam


We were lucky to get there before the actual blasting






Took the hard hat tour - very cool


The floor rumbled as the water flowed through this penstock at 88,000 gal per second




Ladder that runs from top to bottom

[daepp]

Some interesting cars along the way (not that many)





I think Nissan must be doing some testing... Isn't there a test track in AZ somewhere?








I guess we ARE big bags of water eh?

[daepp]

Leaving Boulder City I got into some stop and go traffic and started to realize that the car was stumbling a bit when taking off from a stop. It got worse, and the engine may have started to heat up. I pulled over at a gas station and did a search on my laptop for an independent Porsche mechanic. I went with the first result I got on Google, and drove the car to the north end of LV.

In a very Peter Egan-ish moment, I met a great guy - Cal - who had cut his teeth at one of the first Florida VW dealerships, then went to Porsche when they were still selling 356's. He had a lot of great Porsches stories and we talked for some time. What a treasure.

I told him the symptoms and my suspicions of timing/points, and he whipped out a business card and drug it through the points contacts, removing some black film. He said he had done enough points in 911's to eyeball them, and that they needed to be set. He did so, checked it with a dwell meter (they were dead on) and we started it up. It ran like a top for 4 hours straight through the desert to home. So I guess Egan's comments over the years about breakdowns and the people you end up meeting are true!

Sorry so wordy - anyways, drove 1073 miles and burned 48.7 gallons of gas and one quart of oil. 22.03 mpg - is that possible? (Edit - found another receipt - make that 60.4 gallons or 17.76 mpg.)

It was a great trip, but it's also good to be home.