I didn’t have any time to do sightseeing on this trip, but I did spot the Gateway Arch as I drove through St Louis.    My wit and grimy photo is probably not one you would see on any of the postcards!

From St. Louis my route took me through the outskirts of Chicago.  The roads here are pretty bad, with low posted speed limits.   For the most part everyone still drives at 85mph even though the posted limits fall as low as 55.   I’ve done the drive between Chicago and Detroit many times, but this was probably the least pleasant.    The weather was getting worse and I was getting a bit sick of the drive by then.

By the time I hit Michigan it was already dark.  The sign announcing Michigan had never been a more welcome sight!   Driving in bad weather at night really showed up the limitations of the sealed beam headlights these cars were saddled with.   I actually stopped and checked my headlights were working as the light output was that bad.   It is really the only criticism I had of the car, and not really its fault as the headlights on models for the rest of the world are more than adequate.

A couple of hours later (about 10-11PM) I finally arrived at my house in Royal Oak, Michigan.   This over 20 year old eBay 560SEC had just done a major cross country drive without any hiccups.  Not bad for a car I purchased for less than $4,000.  My radar detector ensured I didn’t end up with any speeding tickets and my GPS kept me on the right course.    Actually I probably could have done the trip without it as the Interstate Highway system in the USA is extremely well signposted and easy to navigate.     There was not long left on the California plates, so the next day I transferred the car onto Michigan plates.

My next task was to remove all the gold badging and the horrible wheels.   Even with all that ‘bling’ the car still looked good next to my 250SE coupe.    I would later go on to put about 18,000 miles (~29,000km) on the car before I sold it in 2011.   The only major repairs it required were the timing chain and a new A/C compressor.    I was in a hurry to sell the car when I left Michigan so I practically gave it away for only $2800.  I hope the owner has looked after the car.

Years later I look back at this as a great experience I had while living in the USA.   It was a shame I could not stretch the drive out for a couple more days to see more.   The USA is such an easy country to drive long distances in.   I’ve now had 5 second generation W126s, all because of the great experience I had owning this car.

The post 2400 mile road trip in an eBay 560SEC – Part 3 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

At about 3pm on friday afternoon I set out on my 560SEC roadtrip.   As I mentioned in the last meeting, I chose the southerly route to avoid some bad weather.    A 560SEC is a great roadtrip car, especially for 35 hours of driving over a weekend.   The car is smooth, fast and comfortable.   On the open road it is efficient enough to not require constant fueling.    I found that the range of the fuel tank was pretty aligned to my need to stop for bathroom breaks!

The W126 is superior to many modern cars for a long roadtrip.  Modern cars with their big wheels, low profile tyres and hard sports seats are not nearly as optimised for long distance cruising as the SEC with more comfortable seats, regular tyres and the ability to smooth out some of the bumps on the road.    While I didn’t need it on this trip, it also has a full size spare tyre instead of a space saver or repair kit.

The map above shows the route I planned to take.   The plan for day 1 was to get to Arizona before stopping for the night.   I managed to get to Holbrook AZ, which is about 550 miles.   Getting a good mileage under my belt on the first afternoon was important to make the trip viable in a single weekend.    Other than getting out of LA, I did not have any major delays on the first night.

I stayed in a fairly standard roadsize motel – the “Economy Inn”.    It was late at night and I chose something that looked halfway decent off the interstate.    Turns out I made a mistake as the next morning I noticed 100m up the road there was a “Wigwam Motel”   The Wigwam models were built in the 30s and 40s along route 66 and you get to sleep in an individual cabin that is shaped like a Tipi.   It would have been cool to stay in this piece of American history.

Day two is when I really broke the back of my 560SEC roadtrip, covering over 1,000 miles in the day.   I stopped for lunch in Amarillo Texas after passing the pink highways in Albuquerque.   I was expecting Amarillo to have more of a Texas/Frontier town feel about it, but it felt like any other mid-size american city other than the portion sizes at my lunch stop!

Being disciplined with what I ate and drank was how I was able to cover these distances safely.  No caffeine and no sugary foods.   I drank bottled water and snacked on things like nuts along the way.   Caffeine might keep you awake to a point but the crash will come later.

Along the way, I had a slight problem in the Texas Panhandle.  There was a wreck or breakdown on the interstate that stopped traffic for a while.   It was really hot and I was stuck in the red light of the fuel tank at this time.   In the end a few of us had to drive down a grassy embankment onto a service road to get off the highway and get around the problem.   The 560SEC was able to do this just as easily as the F150s it was surrounded by.

I made good time through Oklahoma, the traffic moved quickly and the roads were good.   I ended up staying somewhere in central Missouri after covering around 1,100 miles.     Again, I stayed in a budget motel along the way.    The 560SEC continued to perform well – no burning of oil or any problems to report.    The car was getting pretty dirty, but holding up well.  The drug dealer wheels were still terrible.

To be concluded in part 3.

The post 2400 mile road trip in an eBay 560SEC – Part 2 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

My plan was to buy a nicer car to drive in the summer and then use the crashed, rusty 560SEC as a winter car until it died.   Little did I know that it would still be soldiering on 2.5 years later when I eventually left Michigan and returned to Australia.   The advantage of another 560SEC was that the original car could also serve as a rolling parts car.

I used to travel a lot back in those days.  About a week before a week long trip to Southern California, I noticed a nice eBay 560SEC.   The car was a 1988 model in 040 Black and a Tan interior.   It was high mileage (182,000 miles / 293,000 km) but looked in excellent condition.   I can’t remember if I spoke to the seller before bidding, but I ended up owning the car for $3,750.  I got the car that cheap because of the high miles but also because it had gaudy drug dealer wheels and gold badges.    These are both easy things to fix.   The car was originally from Palm Desert so most of those miles were highway.

The seller was a dealer out of Orange County who agreed to pick me up from the airport Sunday night.     I had pre-ordered a GPS and a radar detector to be sent to my hotel.    Instead of the company paid for rental car, my plan was to use the eBay 560SEC to get around to all my meetings which would give me a feel of the cars ability to tackle a 2400 mile road trip.    Part of my agenda that week was a drive down to San Diego.  The mix of city and highway driving would be a proper test run.    Even better the car had 3-4 weeks of registration left.    Easily enough to get back to Michigan.

The car performed really well during the week in Southern California.   The A/C compressor was a bit noisy but otherwise OK.    One of the wheels was slightly out of balance and the car tramlined with the horrible aftermarket wheels.   The rear Cigarette lighter also melted my phone charger.  A quick stop at Walmart for a double adaptor for the front and a new one sorted that out.  While I was there I picked up a cassette deck adaptor for the Alpine cassette player!

The car was fitted with the original US headlights which are so dim to be almost unsafe.  Luckily the 1989 car had a set of European units – one of the first swaps I did when I got back.

As I won the car in March of 2009, there was still snow and ice on the northern routes back to Michigan.   The fastest way would have been to go up to through Utah and Colorado on I80.   I didn’t want to risk that route with these wheels and tyres, so I went for the slightly longer southern route.

This route required 35 hours of driving over the weekend.  It was going to take my eBay 560SEC through Northern Arizona, New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and finally Michigan.     It would have been much better to take 3-4 days to do this trip.   Unfortunately I had work commitments on the Monday back in Michigan.  I left Friday afternoon about 3pm for my mad dash across the country.

The story continues in part 2.

The post 2400 mile road trip in an eBay 560SEC – Part 1 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.