Four wheels, six weeks and one big country
A personal take on the classic American road trip
Having covered thousands of miles across the United States, one thought often had behind the wheel is how much better it would be if I could drive them in my personal car. So, after much discussion and planning with my American partner in crime it’s now happening. A classic US road trip. And to drive it we are taking a 1997 old air cooled Porsche 911 with us all the way from London.
An air cooled bug
It is easy to catch the bug for air cooled 911s – just look at the joy they create
Porsches get under your skin, especially air cooled ones. They are reliable, small, usable, and intoxicating to drive. New Porsches are highly capable machines which often set the standard for other manufacturers to chase. Always impressive and I enjoy driving them, but for me something is missing from these high tech machines which get faster with every evolution – a timeless charm only an air cooled 911 has.
Over the years I’ve met a few people who have owned old 911s and sold them, moving onto Stuttgart’s latest and greatest. I have been one of them. Eventually those who have fell under the air cooled spell either come back or live with regret and self-condemnation.
Modern stuff is great on track days… 
…but an air cooled 911 always wins on a road trip
Channeling the spirit of the world’s most accomplished explorers
For the classic US road trip most pick up a Ford Mustang rental at Chicago O’Hare or LAX and head out along Route 66. If something goes wrong along the way they call Hertz. We are shipping a 22 year old UK registered Porsche 993 Carrera S across the Atlantic, flying out to Tennessee and meeting it there to begin an adventure across more than 20 States, covering more miles than many Porsches do in a year in a period of six weeks. If it breaks down we’ll have to fix it, if it catches fire or is stolen we’ll be regretting it. However, when Ranulph Fiennes was planning his expedition to the North Pole I’m sure he wasn’t worrying if the dog pulling the sled might run off (did he even take a dog?). Or of his sled falling through thin ice to be lost forever!
If it breaks down we’ll have to fix it, if it catches fire or is stolen we’ll be regretting it
A travel blog – are you narcissistic?
I hope not. Although maybe somewhat nerdy. When researching this trip there was little to be found online relating to taking a car from the UK to the USA on vacation. How to transport it? Insuring it? What the risks are? Things you’ve never considered but might be useful to know. It might be useful knowledge for others researching a trip or perhaps it will just be something for me to look back at one day when I’m California dreaming on a winter’s day.
Anthony Coyne 
Renée Logsdon
The Authors
Air Cooled Bug is a blog written and photographed, much of it on the move, by Anthony Coyne and Renée Logsdon (the American who has not written this page). Hopefully someone will find our chronicle useful, or if nothing else enjoy seeing some of the pictures along the way of what is (after Great Britain) the greatest country on earth.