If you could go back in time, what era would you pick and what would you drive?

[RoadWarrior56]

This question is an obviously hypethetical with big elements of fantasy included.  However, if you were given one month to go back in time (money being no object), what month and year would you choose and if you were given a contemporary car to drive, what would that be?   Finally, where would you drive?

As far as I am concerned, I would pick April 1964 and drive a brand new Mustang (with a stick shift, and a convertible at that).  That is the month they first hit the market.  I loved the music of that era so my AM radio would be on all the time.  Maybe I could sneak my iPod and digital camera along.  Imagine a 1964 person's reaction to one of those devices.

I was 7 years old during that month so I do remember it fairly well.  Besides the car, I picked that period because that is when the Interstate system construction was hitting high gear.  I could drive on completed sections of brand new interstate highways as well as major US highways that had yet to be replaced.  I could visit the towns I grew up and see how the reality matches my memories. I could experience US 66 in its heyday as well as roadways of my youth including the old Kentucky Turnpike, US 31W, and many others.

[corco]

I'd go back one more decade to 1953, pick up a brand new 1953 Corvette with a 3 on the floor, leave the radio on the whole time. If I'm going to be in 1953, I wouldn't try to sneak modern conveniences with me (except a digital camera)- I'd want to live like a fellow would in 1953.

If I had a month, I'd start in Chicago, get my kicks on Route 66, take US-101 all the way up the coast, US-10 to US-95 in Idaho, then take US-95 to Idaho 15 (now Idaho 55) so I could see my hometown, then head all the way to Boston on US-20, checking out the New York Thruway a little bit along the way, then US-1 all the way back down to Florida.

I wouldn't want to see any interstates, except those freeways that existed before the interstate system, and maybe get a little bit of a fill on the New York Thruway. A few years after 1953, my Dad and his family moved from Ohio to Massachusetts for a couple years, and for some reason my Grandma had to drive my Dad and uncles to Massachusetts to meet my Grandpa, but she was scared to drive the Thruway, so they took US-20 the whole way. I want to see that roadtrip.

[Alps]

I'd probably drop back to the early 50s and drive a late 30s Auburn speedster.  Late 40s, late 50s, early 60s, whatever, same car, I just want to see the first-gen freeways and signs (among other relics).

[kurumi]

1931 Bentley 8-Litre, Canon 7D, driving around CT right before the Great Renumbering of 1932.

[huskeroadgeek]

I would probably drive a Mustang too-my dad has always been a big fan of Mustangs and he had a '64 Mustang that I rode in when I was little. As to what period I would like to go to, I would probably go to sometime in the mid to late 60s when the interstate era was in full swing, but there was still a lot of unfinished portions. I've always wanted to see what the interstate system looked like in its early years, particularly how they transitioned between finished and unfinished portions.

[Ian]

I'd probably drop back to the early 50s and drive a late 30s Auburn speedster.  Late 40s, late 50s, early 60s, whatever, same car, I just want to see the first-gen freeways and signs (among other relics).

Same here. I'd love to go back to as late as 1991 to see the opening of the Blue Route (I-476) as well as go and see all sorts of signs like cutout shields, Mass Pike trailblazers with the arrow through the hat, and brand new button copy. I'd also like to go back to see brand new 4-way traffic signals.

[agentsteel53]

1965.  Cutouts everywhere.  Button copy.  Black overhead guide signs galore.  1910s diamond-shaped guide signs.  You name it.

no speed limits in rural areas in many states.  lax enforcement when present. 

oh and no 1970-spec shields.

what would I drive?  something with good gas mileage of course.  

[Truvelo]

1931 Bentley 8-Litre, Canon 7D, driving around CT right before the Great Renumbering of 1932.

I think you would more likely be taking pictures with something like this back in 1931

[mightyace]

I think I'd need Doc Brown's DeLorean because there are several times I'm interested in.

1) 1940 - drive the original PA turnpike from Irwin to Carlisle with no speed limit, go through the Sideling and Ray's Hill's tunnels, and, if I could find a way to take back gold or something, buy up all the land around Breezewood so the motels would never go up!

Also, to see the road I grew up on when it was still US 11.  (which it was until '60 or '61)

2) early 1960s - seeing I-80S shields on the turnpike, possibly all the way to Philly, the beginning stages of I-80 in PA.  And, Howard Johnson's on the various turnpikes.

3) early 1980s - most of the original Interstate system is complete.  The interstates are still, generally in good shape and none of this electronic tolling junk.  Plus, traffic isn't too bad yet except in the cities.

4) ??? - I don't remember what years it would be but also: Two lane I-15 in Montana, I-95 in Maine, I-93 Crawford Notch, I-24 over Monteagle before it was split

[sandiaman]

  Let's see, I  would  like to be driving some big, old  GM  car, like  a Cadillac  or maybe a Buick,  driving in the rain  down in the DEEP  south,  in the early 1950s  of course,  pulling  into some  diner  that has a neon sign of a pig , which would  also  say BBQ, blinking it s freflection in the rain puddles  in the  parking  lot.  Following some  US  highway  route  from coast to coast, like   maybe US 80.

[njroadhorse]

I'd go back to somewhere between 1965 and 1970 and drive whatever muscle car I could get my hands on.  Relics of the old days of the highways are a must.

[Burt]

I would drive a '55 Chevy, on a month long road trip from New Jersey to Daytona Beach and back. February of 1959 to see the first Daytona 500.

[thenetwork]

Probably the summer of 1965, and start out in Cleveland, Ohio (my birthplace). That was the time when a lot of the interstates in Ohio still had many unfinished/unopened segments.  And I'd have to beg for 3 months in order to fully travel the country and to clinch every interstate in Ohio that was finished at that time.  I'd probably also be hitting many drive-ins at night (both of the food and the movie variety) to experience the peak of the outdoor movie industry. And some of the best AM stations were at their peek as well, so I would be able to crank up those tunes as well.

[Michael in Philly]

I'd go back one more decade to 1953, pick up a brand new 1953 Corvette with a 3 on the floor, leave the radio on the whole time. If I'm going to be in 1953, I wouldn't try to sneak modern conveniences with me (except a digital camera)- I'd want to live like a fellow would in 1953.

If I had a month, I'd start in Chicago, get my kicks on Route 66, take US-101 all the way up the coast, US-10 to US-95 in Idaho, then take US-95 to Idaho 15 (now Idaho 55) so I could see my hometown, then head all the way to Boston on US-20, checking out the New York Thruway a little bit along the way, then US-1 all the way back down to Florida.

I wouldn't want to see any interstates, except those freeways that existed before the interstate system, and maybe get a little bit of a fill on the New York Thruway. A few years after 1953, my Dad and his family moved from Ohio to Massachusetts for a couple years, and for some reason my Grandma had to drive my Dad and uncles to Massachusetts to meet my Grandpa, but she was scared to drive the Thruway, so they took US-20 the whole way. I want to see that roadtrip.

Was any of the Thruway open in '53?  I think you may be a year or two early.

[SP Cook]

Difficult question for a true roadgeek, especially those of us as old as me or older, as we remember that back when they made "muscle cars" most of the interstates were just dashed lines on a map and interstate travel was via rail or plane.  There is a very narrow "sweet spot" with enough interstate finished to make driving truly long distances fun, but before Nader and the NMSL ruined driving. 

So how about a curve ball?  Germany, 1938.  Whatever M-B had at the time.

[agentsteel53]

Germany, 1938.

In that case, I would bring an ICBM.  Aim it straight for the Reichskanzlerei on a day a certain Chaplin lookalike is known to be in town.

in the ensuing chaos, I'd hope my V-16 Benz could do 150mph!

[corco]

Wait, you'd nuke Germany? Wouldn't that somehow cause even more damage then the war did?

[agentsteel53]

Wait, you'd nuke Germany? Wouldn't that somehow cause even more damage then the war did?

no, just one specific building.  "ICBM" is probably overstating the amount of damage required; but good luck setting up a missile launcher in downtown Berlin three blocks away.  France would probably be a sensible launching point in 1938.

[cjk374]

Following some US highway route from coast to coast, like maybe US 80.

I would love to drive "Old 80" also...coast to coast!  Perhaps in the early 1950s.  Not sure what I'd drive though. 

[hm insulators]

Last Tuesday, I was at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, and they had lots of beauties, including a number of early-to-mid-60s Chevy Impalas from when I was a little boy. I would love to drive one of those Impalas around the Los Angeles/Orange County metropolitan area in that time period, when Glendora (where I was born), San Dimas, Laverne and so forth were rural communities. Also up along the US 99 Ridge Route over the Grapevine before I-5 was built.

In those days, there would've been a lot more open-wire telephone and communication lines on poles, so I would definitely be scouting out the insulators.

[Henry]

For me, it would be the summer of 1970, and I'd get my kicks on Route 66 in an Oldsmobile 442 convertible. (That happens to be the same car my father drove back when I was born!) I'd drive from Chicago to Santa Monica and back, and play all those great tunes on the radio.

[Stephane Dumas]

Hard to decide, I'll said the 1945-85 period and a wide choice of cars to chose, 1949-51 Ford, Chrysler C-300, 1955 Chevy, Pontiac GTO, Dodge Charger, Trans-Am, Challenger, 442, Barracuda, 1947-54 Chevy pick-up truck and Canadian variants like the Beaumont (Chevelle sold thru Pontiac dealers in Canada), Meteor (Canadian Mercury with a Ford interior), Grand National, Monte Carlo, Toronado, Torino driving the Trans-Canada highway.

And if we include other countries, in Brazil, I would drive a Ford Galaxie (the 1965 body was made until 1983 in Brazil) or the Chevy Opala. For Argentina, the IKA-Renault Torino but not during the militairy dictatorship of the late 1970s-early 1980s. In Australia, driving the Hume highway linking Sidney and Melbourne with a Ford Falcon GTHO or a Aussie Charger with the Hemi 6-pack in the early 1970s.

[mgk920]

Although the 'early interstate' days sounded like loads of fun, for true adventure I'd almost prefer the 'auto trails' days, from the mid-1910s until route numbering started to really take hold by the mid-late 1920s.

Using the 'turn by turn' directions in the published Automobile Blue Books™ (at $3 per copy, you had to be a SERIOUS road GEEK to buy and use these predecessors of modern road atli back then!) and poorly refined cars on roads that were barely tracks in the dirt - those were ROADTRIPS!



Mike

[mobilene]

I'd go back to just after WW II and drive the National Road (US 40) from Balt. to Vandalia, IL.  Lots of what is now old alignment was still the road then, and a lot of it was brick or concrete.

I'm not sure I care what I'd drive!

[Michael in Philly]

I'd go back to just after WW II and drive the National Road (US 40) from Balt. to Vandalia, IL.  Lots of what is now old alignment was still the road then, and a lot of it was brick or concrete.

I'm not sure I care what I'd drive!

One early contributor to my roadgeekery was a fascinating book called "US 40," by George R. Stewart (I think), which runs from east to west and discusses, place by place, the cultures, general history, history of the road itself, things like signage....  Published around 1950; I found it in my local library.  You might want to see if you can find it somewhere.