I have done many, many huge roadtrips in my life – and hope to do many more!

(Starting this Thursday, actually… on way to The Mitty vintage race at Road Atlanta…)

But overall, I have about a 1200-mile cap before my eyes start bleeding and have to stop driving for a few days.

1,000 miles typically is two 12-hour days behind the wheel. 1,600 miles is more like three 12-hour days – despite the official Google Map estimate that the journey is only 23 hours.

This discounts and stops for fuel, restrooms, or tourist attractions – without which most roadtrips would become absolute hell on wheels.

In classic cars, road trips are far more exhausting for many reasons, not least because the cars are much slower.

They are also heavy users of fuel, tires and oil when running hot like this for hours and hours in a row.

The worst-case scenario is driving not only cross-country in a classic machine, but your very own classic machine.

A pride and joy must be driven much more slowly and carefully – as you are generally the only one to blame for any mechanical issue. Additionally, driving one from Denver to Charlotte – as this Mustang Convertible from 1972 did, racks up a huge amount of miles.

No Ferris Bueller -style reverse-gear tricks will un-drive those miles.

So it must be a lovers journey to keep you going, motivated, and eager to get to that finish line.

For making the drive in this 1972 Mustang Convertible – sans trailer?

Our deepest admiration!