We drove our 1971 280 SL from Tulsa, OK to Riverside, CA (approx. 1,400 miles) to participate in the 2019 Great Race for pre 1973 vintage automobiles. The actual Great Race event traveled from Riverside, CA to Tacoma, WA in 9 days (approx. 2,300 miles) and the event is a timed distance speed rally which calls for precision driving. As a rookie our performance in the event was acceptable but there were numerous teams that were far more precise than my spouse and I. After the event we drove home to Tulsa (approx. 2,000 miles). Our total trip was around 5,600 miles.
The car's modifications from original condition consist of the following:
1) Replaced the original steering wheel with a Nardi wood wheels so I can easily enter and exit the driver seat.
2) Replace the original rims with factory original aluminum wheels which greatly improved the handling and steering feel.
3) Replaced the stock springs and shocks with stiffer springs and new shocks for a firmer ride with less body roll.
4). Replaced the four speed transmission (which needed rebuilding) with a 5 speed conversion kit from Bud Benz. Made it a much better highway car because it allowed me to cruise at 80+mph in Idaho and Wyoming at 3000-3200 rpm. It is like the original transmission except the 5th gear is like an overdrive.
5) Replaced the stock distributor with a 123 Ignition Electronic distributor due to points issues I experienced in the past on extended drives.
The car performed flawlessly on the trip. Prior to leaving Tacoma I purchased a set of spark plugs and replaced them more as a preventative measure than as something that was absolutely required. I noticed that occasionally there would be an intermittent miss at low rpms when accelerating and when I had experienced this in the past, a simple change of plugs cured the problem. Again after replacing the plugs ($15 and 15 minutes worth of time) the intermittent miss was gone and the car ran perfectly the last 2,000 miles. At the end of the trip the car was only down by a half quart of oil ... quite surprising how little oil was used.
Interesting to see the difference in fuel costs across the US. Record for highest cost fuel at $5.40 per gallon goes to a small California town.
