I want to drive route66

[bucketmouth]

I'm playing with the thought of sending my roadster from Australia to California to drive around the US while I'm there in a couple of years.
What I want to know is what requirements would I have to meet to be legaly able to do so as in  vehicle and/or licenses.
I would be sending the car back to Australia once my holiday was over.
At this stage I'm not worried about shipping to and from. I just want to be able to drive the car there without any problems.
Any information would be appreciated.

[Charlie Chops 1940]

Look at www.NHTSA.Gov under temporary imports.

Charlie

[Fat Cat]

There s more detail here http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/TempInfo.html

[Bruce Dorsi]

I just want to be able to drive the car there without any problems.
Any information would be appreciated.

You should check with your insurance company to find out if your car is covered in transit, as well as while driving in another country.

You may need to purchase additional insurance coverage.

[Hooley]

Bucket Mouth, I live on Route 66.  Let me know when.  Hooley

[Bib_Overalls]

Last year a fellow from Sweden brought over a 32 Ford highboy coupe.  He drove it from coast to coast and back again.  No problem that I have heard about.  

Route 66 is a great run.  Depending on the time of year, consider taking the Northern route back to the west coast and then run down the Pacific Coast Highway.

[bucketmouth]

Thanks for the info guys I'll follow it up. A few of us were talking about it and if I can get enough starters I'm gonna try for 2010.
Thanks Hooley, I'll be more than happy to see you along the way.
Oh boy it's great getting older with less and less ties and commitments to do the things you want to do.

[couper]

Thanks for the info guys I'll follow it up. A few of us were talking about it and if I can get enough starters I'm gonna try for 2010.
Thanks Hooley, I'll be more than happy to see you along the way.
Oh boy it's great getting older with less and less ties and commitments to do the things you want to do.

I live a mile off old route 66 in Marshfield, Mo. with a shop that'll house 6 rods for overnight safe keeping. Consider that an overnight invite.
Lance

[sirstude]

If you happen to take the way northern route, I am not far off of I90, Yellowstone, and Glacier park.  I sure would make the effort to come to where you might be hitting.  The PCH is really pretty neat, and highway 101 in Oregon is every bit as nice, or possibly even better.

As far as the Northern route I am thinking about, run across probably I80 or I70, don't have a map handy, then up into Teton park, then Yellowstone park.  Across Washington, and over mt Ranier, then over to the coast and down 101.  What a trip that would be.  I am going to do the 101 trip once the Olds is done.  I have been promising myself that trip since my folks moved back to Montana from Oregon.

Doug

[bucketmouth]

Thanks for the offers guys that makes it just that little bit easier.  
Even down here route 66 has that special attraction and hopefully with some gunnas a few of us will make the journey.  
I've only been back a few weeks so as things get back to normal I'll post some pics and stuff of my trip to the US. Especially a photo of my new car I bought while I was there

[Brootal]

Hey bm, sounds like a great trip. We did Route 66 during our honeymoon, in a rental sadly, but it was still very cool.

You HAVE to travel it from East to West (Chicago to LA) because that's how the song goes!

That way when you're driving through all those towns, you can sing along to make sure you're going the right way.

Chicago, St Louis, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Gallup... well, that's as far as we got before heading up through Utah to meet 1FATGMC and go to Bonneville.

We also did the PCH for a while which is also stunning.

I found a bunch of stuff on the net with maps and directions, but it's still a struggle to keep on the old highway some of the time and almost pointless as you end up on an access road running right alongside the Interstate, but with a much lower speed limit.

You do get to go through the old towns though, which is always cool, but adds a lot of time to the trip.

If you're going to do it, make sure you're not in a rush, otherwise you'll end up just jumping on the Interstate.

[Inprimer]

I'm playing with the thought of sending my roadster from Australia to California to drive around the US while I'm there in a couple of years.
What I want to know is what requirements would I have to meet to be legaly able to do so as in  vehicle and/or licenses.
I would be sending the car back to Australia once my holiday was over.
At this stage I'm not worried about shipping to and from. I just want to be able to drive the car there without any problems.
Any information would be appreciated.

I've been going across the country for a  while (7   2way trips from NY to Cal).I just want to add that there are many sections of rt 66 that just plain disappears. I suggest a good book  that shows you where it ties in all together, I know that Santa Rosa NM has a good stretch of 66, other times in Texas the road paralells US 40 and as been stated starts and stops without notice, usually when you see US 40 Business (green sign) that usually leads to a town that is still "active" in other words the road is alive and well on 66 Believe me you'll get your kicks on 66. I live on the west edge of Arizona the closest area is Oatman if you decide to make it this way let me know

[C9]

If you do make it out, try to hit the Route 66 Fun Run.
Usually the first weekend in May.

Starts in Seligman on Friday, an interesting 50's themed town.
Ends up that day in Kingman.

Saturday, the big Old Downtown car show.
Nice park with a big Northern steam locomotive on display.

Two museums, the powerhouse which is interesting, a 50's style diner, vendors, a short block or two, lots of antique shops with good stuff.

Sunday, the run to Oatman, an old gold mining ghost town that folks still live in.
Gunfights, wild burros wander the town and into the shops and bars.

From there to Topock down near the Arizona-California Colorado River crossing on I-40 which is also Route 66.
A car show, awards and the final run, about 65 miles back to Kingman.

Fun time, we do it every year.

[dave boley]

I have a side business of transporting custom and classic cars, (see www.rides4rides.com ).  Last March I transported a small plane from Ohio to Phoenix AZ to have an engine installed.  We connected with what was once basically the path of the old U.S. Route 66 in Illinois near East St Louis. and followed it to Flagstaff, AZ.  I said "what was", because you can't actually travel the old original path of the route.  It is an officially decommisioned U.S. route.  Much of the path has been occupied by either an East or West bound side of several different Interstate highways.  Sometimes there are pieces of the old highway parallel to the Interstates still being used as intermittant service roads that all too often come to abrupt dead ends.  You will see abandoned and burnt out remains of businesses that once flourished along the old route.  My point here is, that if you really want to see the old Route 66, you should research the history of the old route and list the small towns that served basically the same function as did the old stage coach ststions of the Old West.  Make a list of these places as well as mapping exits to get to these places.  If you do this your trip will take a lot longer but you will learn about and see a lot more of what was once the old Route 66.

I recommend that you first check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66
to learn some basic facts about the old route.  There you will find links to other sites that delve deeper into the history of the road.  I would also recommend you get one of the GPS navigation devices like Garmin or Tom Tom.  You can also buy GPS antennas and map nav programs for laptops which is what I use on the road.

As for licensing and driving your car here in the U.S., I recommend you go to the U.S. embasy or one of their consulates in Australia.  If there is not one near you I'm sure you could call, write. or e-mail them.  We had a foreign exchange student live with us about twenty some years ago and he was able to purchase a temporary U.S. driving license for use while he was here.  That may have changed now because I recently worked with a lot of guys from the UK here and they didn't need to do anything so long as they had a valid UK license.  It may depend on treaty agreements between individual countries.

I also noted that others on this thread have mentioned taking a Northern route.  As for Route 66, there is only one route.  Perhaps they are refering to taking an alternate return route to avoid covering the same track on your return route to the West Coast..  Be that the case, there are a lot of variations you can choose from.  If you can find a copy, I strongly suggest you read a book titled Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon.  It is a story of a trip around the Continental U.S. that he made by deliberately following the old secondary highways.  This should give you an informed approach to planning a complete round trip itenerary.

I hope that this helps you in your trip planning process.

Later Man...

PS     Here is a link to the book mentioned above.
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Highways-Journey-into-America/dp/0316353299/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223220080&sr=1-1

[1FATGMC]

Hey that would be great and you could take Brootal's excursion to my part of the world 190 miles north of 66.

One word of caution I knew a guy who brought an Aussie car over here and he said he about killed himself in it more than once.  If you are on a two lane highway like we have lots of in the west and off the interstate and are behind a truck and want to pass you have to get the whole car out into the oncoming traffic lane before you can see if it is clear and that can be dangerous.

Good luck with your planning and hope to see you drive up into Blanding,

Sum