Road trip planning NJ-South Bend IN
 

In June I’m planning to drive the Hornet to the AMO show in South Bend. I’m in Central NJ. Planning on a 3-4 day drive to get there. Leaving Monday morning and getting there Thursday late morning.

My initial idea was to try and take as many scenic routes as possible. I bought a brand new road atlas to plan the drive out which has scenic routes listed. But following northern scenic routes in PA ends up landing me in northern Ohio and I have to drive through a couple of cities.

So now I’m looking at following the Lincoln Highway by Getting out of NJ and picking it up on the western side of Philly. The Lincoln highway goes through southern Pa and Ohio before turning north and going right through South Bend.
But I’m not married to taking this route.

Does anyone have any suggestions for stops or routes I can take? I’d like to try and camp most evenings in state or national parks. It would be cool to find a few lakes and rivers to swim in for pit stops. I’d also like to stop at any cool abandoned buildings to check out and take photos.

Feel free to also call me stupid for planning to drive a dual carb, tunnel rammed, 4 speed, 3.54 geared 55 year old car with glasspacks for 700ish miles.

Divert up to the D here, I’ll meet you at Duggans on Woodward and buy you a beer.

Sounds like a great trip to me. I took a similar trip with my best friend from high school in 2024 to go look at my old 71 Trans Am after it was restored and two of my favorite stops were the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, IN and the Simeone Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA. Best of luck in your travels.

Sounds like a cool trip! Make sure your tires are under 5 years old, blow outs will put a crimp in your trip! Any use Gas Buddy https://www.gasbuddy.com/ for the lowest gas on your trip cause you will be stopping often :)

Sounds great.

Bring an extra belt, I'd bring a spare alternator and water pump too.

I’ll try to respond to guys individually:
Burd- thank you very much for the invite. Depending on my final route plan I’ll send a pm and let you know if I can swing that far north and meet you for a beer. I always wanted to check out Woodward in general. Being that it’s so famous in our world.

Carnut- the auburn museum is actually in the plans for the AMO show itself so I should be able to check it out. How did your old Trans Am come out?

KevinW- luckily the tires are fresh from last year. Before I leave this year the cars going to get an alignment and a solid checking over. And I’ll look into gasbuddy because I’ll need all the help I can get. It seems like the Hornet averages about 9mpg.

ProStockJohn- I’m going to have a bunch of spare parts and pieces. And in the spring I’m changing the car from a distributor to a magneto so I don’t need to worry about a charging system in a worst-case scenario.

Thanks everyone so far for the tips and ideas. Keep them coming.

are you going to the Studebaker Museum here in South Bend?
and you have to go and walk around the campus of Notre Dame

Donnie- yes I’m planning to go to both. I won’t be around on Sunday but I’d like to attend a mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart one afternoon when I’m in South Bend.

Looks like an awesome route.

So cool! Good luck on your trip. I admire your agenda!