Earlier in 2013, I decided that I wanted to go for a substantial roadtrip. I settled on taking a 318is, but figured I’d sell mine and buy one in better mechanical condition. After a 1,500 mile trip to make that acquisition, I wound up with a car that needed the drive shaft to be balanced, had less AC than the seller implied, and needed 4 new tires. Normally these would be simple enough fixes, but I wasn’t able to get the car ready in time for the trip. So, I decided to take my 1984 Rabbit GTI and every tool I own.
I had just driven my GTI, ‘the Git’, to the Tail of the Dragon on Dunlop Z1 Star Specs (and demolished them), and during the first 50 miles of my road trip, I realized that their ability to, um, not kill me while driving through a rainstorm was limited. So, I rerouted to Peoria, IL, where my friend Andrew would let us stay in his apartment so that I could get some tires mounted in the morning.
After getting the tires mounted in Peoria (and resisting the temptation to spend hours in Harbor Freight), we started for Seattle, and didn’t rest until we made it there.
Once underway, there were only two instances of undesired shutdowns. The first was the result of water dripping down the windshield onto the cowl, and through the old seal onto the fuse box. All of the relays take on water when this happens, but the first to go was the fuel pump relay. After an hour of troubleshooting, we figured this out, and were able to make a jumper to get power to the fuel pump. Later on, I bought a switch to make the start-up process quicker and more fun.
The second issue was my unskilled interpretation of the fuel gauge. Luckily, we were 2 miles from the gas station in Brandon, IA when the car sputtered to a halt, and even more fortuitously, I had packed a skateboard, which made the descent from the Interstate into the town a breeze. I’m surprised that my girlfriend didn’t have me drop her off at the nearest airport at this point.
After that calibration exercise, we made it to Minnesota, where the sun began to set. That state is so green that I can see Al and Tipper Gore settling down there, if they ever get back together. And I really hope they do, because the love story at the beginning of An Inconvenient Truth is the segment that everyone can agree upon.
Getting back to the drive, South Dakota took up the whole night of driving, during which I took a sleeping shift, so I have no idea what happened there. Here’s my best guess: We drove straight for hundreds of miles. I woke up in the Black Hills area and took over driving again. With my girlfriend asleep, the GTI managed to hit 104 on a downhill section.
A quick note on food: I had chicken-fried steak in Illinois for my meal of the day. As in, I ate that in the morning and let the fat burn for the rest of the day. I ended up doing the same thing in Wyoming. I’m not a fan of food-strategy or dieting in general, but I liked the lump-in-the-stomach energy delivery that it provided.
The mountainous ascents in Montana and Idaho were the next major obstacle, though the GTI made quick work of them. Having recently driven my 318is at altitude, I would say that the GTI felt less anemic. Passing power remained adequate and it wasn’t a strain to maintain our typical hot hatch driving style.
After crossing the flat plain of eastern Washington, the dark descent into Seattle was particularly perilous. I-90 seemed to spiral endlessly to sea level, challenging my fatigued brain along its tortuous path. Heavy traffic arranged in 3-4 lanes made for an adrenaline-soaked final stint.
Making our way out of Seattle, we spent an entire day courting Mt. Rainier. Following a quick oil change in the Autozone parking lot, I gave the GTI a proper workout through the breathtaking surroundings, driving at 9/10s for 200+ miles. That drive alone justified the trip. When traveling so far from home, the front wheel drive comes to be an advantage, as it makes the driver really work to get the ass-end of the car out. And really, once the car starts to get sideways, the odds of returning home in one piece suffer drastically. The GTI simply excels at safely guiding its occupants through punishing drives.
The route we took along the Oregon Coast was scenic, with a more relaxing drive in store. And, the GTI’s tall greenhouse and sunroof made for some excellent touring. The cloth seats remained cool and dry, the vent windows maintained a great cabin temperature in the absence of AC, and the foam seat cushions made up for any harshness in the suspension.
After visiting Crater Lake, Mt. Hood, and Portland, we started to make our way back to Indiana along the Columbia River, eventually arriving at Boise. Two long days through Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois culminated in our arrival back in Indiana.
We were mostly lucky to make it so far with so few problems. That being said, there is something to be said of taking a simple car, investing the time and money into maintaining it and developing intimate mechanical knowledge of it, then hoping for the best.
Looks fun. The car is okay, and the scenery is nice. It would be great to have a caption under the pic with the location of the pic.
Thanks, it was fun. If you mouse over the photos, you can read the caption.
If you read it from a tablet, you can’t “mouse over”. Captions would be most helpful.
Noted – I will change to accommodate!
If you’d traveled enough you wouldn’t need captions, get road tripping.
Nice drive. Thanks you for doing that in a GTI that matches my old car exactly. As a washington state person, I’m glad you made it and were able to enjoy the scenery that is this great state, while wandering the greatest country on the planet. Keep it up!
Glad to provide some relevant entertainment for you then. The most difficult part of the post was narrowing down which photos to include. We had some of the best clear days in Washington, which made for excellent mountain views.
Also, I see that you might be a 164S owner, present or past? Feel free to read about my 164LS with Q runners here: https://blythbros.com/bought-an-italian-saab/
Cheers!
Hi Graham,
Lots of fun to read about you guys’ passion for European cars in the US…;o)
I live in Copenhagen, Denmark (no mountains or deserts, lots of rain, salt and rust, and a 205% Registration Tax on new cars), but nevertheless I am a young timer and classic-car nut.. I drove many of the roads you were on in your GTI too, love road tripping in the US.. In Denmark I have a 1981 Golf GTI, that I’ve owned since ’97 (currently in storage though, while driving a Peugeot 205GTI 1.9, are you familiar with those?) I also kept my very first car, a VW Thing, which has made it to southern Europe several times.. I love the sound of the Alfa 3.0, haven’t had the guts to Italian yet, though.. I get my dose of Italian mec’s and lines through many of my friends being more wealthy and more courageous..
If you want, let’s hook up on Facebook?
Best, Kristian
Kristian Due-Hansen (I’m the only one with that name..)
Kristian,
I’m glad you enjoyed the site! First, I’m impressed with your automotive tourism experience. Was it just that – a trip to the US to roadtrip? It sounds like you have an excellent stable. If you look at my dad’s post here: I think that he mentions the 205 GTI that my parents owned when they lived in Germany. Needless to say, I envy your 205 GTI, and would like to import one here myself. Credit is due to you as well for keeping your air-cooled B).
I’ll find you on facebook – meanwhile, you can find the blythbros page with the links on the sidebar/footer. I’ve been adjusting those to make a suitable setup recently.
Best,
Graham
Except maybe from cops and speed limits, the US is my favorite country in the world for road trips.. I did coast-coast once, and several smaller trips here and there..;o) Good luck with the Alfas, their sound give me goosebumps! Let’s stay in touch! :o) Kristian
Nice job…..I live in Vancouver bc and have driven many to the roads you been on….selling my 83 gti was a sad sad day ( even though i didn’t know it at the time……) bought mine off the showroom floor when I was 18…..I have been trying to buy another for a few years now….keep looking I guess…..
I have BC on my near-term list of places to visit. I’m going to attempt to avoid your unfortunate sadness by holding onto my GTI. Good luck with your search!
What a great way to see a whole lot of the country. At so many different points in my life I have almost bought a GTI. Someday! I need to buy one on the other side if the country and drive it home.
It really was a great way to see the country, tall greenhouse and all. Hopefully you get your hands on a nice GTI. If not, there are many great cars and perhaps better cars for a trip like this.
If you chose to follow the blog, look out for posts from Taylor, our resident Cornell grad. He is working on a post about our recent trip to the Dragon in North Carolina and Tennessee.
I particularily enjoyed driving Graham’s gti to York, PA. That small road trip definitely placed the mk1 gti on my bucket list of cars. The 13 hour return trip in my ’79 x19 also went well. Someday Graham, we will have to do a road trip in one of my Fiats and your Alfas or gti.
Those were both memorable trips – picking up your Fiat, and picking up my Alfa. I have quite a bit in store for our Italian car adventures in the spring!
Great story and photos! My first new car was a red ’84 GTI that was my daily driver and occassional rally car. It served me well for four years and 90k miles, and also my friend who bought it for another 60k miles. Aside from routine maintenance, I just needed to respray the black paint on the front bumper every six months or so…Thanks for bringing back some good memories!
Cheers!
Occasional rally car? Nice! I’ve been tempted to rallycross mine, but I think I’d like to find a MK2 to do that, since they’re a bit more available and not quite as special to me.
Great story! Consider me considerably jealous of your trip. I just picked up an 84 GTI with 75K miles on the clock and I would LOVE to do something like this. I still have some maintenance to sort out on it (especially the magical right turn fuel starvation due to the gas tank and some CIS starting issues) but I love the car so far. I’m looking forward to driving it to Ocean City, MA for the H2Oi show or down to Helena, GA for Southern Worthsee someday. It’s a shame that both of those will be a 20 straight hour challenge of common sense and trial by fire road testing of mechanical components that I hope doesn’t leave me on the side of the road instead of a week long leisurely sight seeing trip like the one you went on.
Thanks! Awesome purchase, by the way. That fuel starvation issue sounds terrible!! Annoying, at least. Hopefully you can get it sorted out in time to make one of those trips. My advice would be to stock up on any parts that you think you could replace in a parking lot. If the timing belt and H20 pump haven’t been serviced in the last 3 years, I’d just take care of them now, since they are cheap and easy. And, while you’re doing the timing belt, you might as well replace the passenger engine mount, if that’s worn.
Great Pictures. My first VW was an 84 GTI. My soon to be wife and I did a winter trip from Chicago to Colorado I it and had a great time. Hard to believe it’s been 30 years…
Now have 5 vw’s ( TDI/ New Beetle/ Jetta 1.8 turbo/ VR6 GTI / Touareg ) as well as a 911 racecar. Still remember the fun of that Gen 1 GTI.
Keep driving…
Thanks! Wow, a winter trip would be incredible. I’ve driven mine in the snow a bit, and would buy snow tires, but I’d probably be out in the salt too much if that were the case. I don’t mind getting the GTI dirty, but I’d like to do my best to keep rust at bay.
Neat trip, nice write up. I have a twin to your car I picked up last winter and have been working thru rehab-ing it. 200+K local Seattle survivor in original (tired) condition. I also owned a 164L that I bought new from the Alfa dealer (when there were such things) and ran for over 10 years. Sill miss that Busso V-Sei…
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