Another Great Fall Driving Day

All year, I’ve been planning on taking my old car up to Mt. Greylock on a day trip. We just barely snuck it in at the last minute today because the auto road to the summit closes on Oct. 30th. Flawless driving weather. Used the heater on the way up this morning to take the chill off and just barely cracked open the windshield to cool off on the way back this afternoon. We did 135 miles round trip and the car did great. Even went up and down the mountain in high gear and still had brakes at the bottom. The colors are definitely past peak but still not half bad.

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Oct 25, 2026

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Replies (17)

· 1w

Quite a few people had the same idea today but I was surprised that there was plenty of parking available at the summit.

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· 1w

YouTube ↗

· 1w

I've lived in Mass my whole life and had never heard of mount Greylock. Never mind the fact that it is the highest point in Massachusetts. Got to the top on a tour in June. Easy drive actually. We had worse grades on regular roads during the tour. Lots of parking. The tower was open and we went to the top.

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· 1w

Yes, the main road from the south isn’t very steep at all and only has the two hairpins. There are a couple hills in my town that are tougher to climb. The road that goes north toward North Adams is another story. It drops a lot faster with a whole bunch of hairpins. That route is a blast in my Mini.

· 1w

When we were almost to the summit one of the cars near the front stalled and stopped the line for almost 15 minutes. That part of the road has the steepest grade. Nothing like idling on an 8% grade in June. One of the other guys was able to get the car moving and we all made it to the top ok Our car ran really cool so I wasn't temp gauge staring.

· 1w

The ironic thing is that you could climb the mountain with an earlier car no problem but the roads to get to the base would be no fun. At least my car can manage the 50-55mph up Rt. 7 without being a roadblock.

· 6d

Travis, what do you think you are turning for 50 mph? I need to find a 6 volt tach with long jumpers so I can get a feel for RPM in cars that don't have one from the factory. Off the top of my head only the following American cars came with a factory tach:

Duesenberg
Dupont (option)
Stutz DV32
Auburn 35/36
Cord 36/37

· 6d

With 32” tires 4.55 gears, it should be between 2400-2800 rpm from 50-60mph. It sounds and feels like it’s revving higher than that, but I’ve verified that it does have the 4.55 gears. Seems correct though because that would put it’s advertised top speed at 3600 rpm, which was its hp peak.

· 6d

Near as I can figure, I can use the oil pressure gauge on my car as a rough tachometer. It seems to make a fairly consistent 10psi per 800-1000rpm. 3-5 at a low idle, 20-25 at a medium cruise, and when it’s reading 30-35 you’re going about as fast as you want to.

· 1w

Beautiful!

· 6d

I went to the top of mount greylock as a kid. We drove up in my dad's station wagon. Tower was not open when we were there. I was very disappointed.

· 6d

I’ve been several times but I’ve never been up in the tower. There’s always a lot of people there and I’m not crazy about being crammed into confined places with the rest of humanity.

· 6d

Did you see this photo?

· 6d

I did. I’ve been inside the ground level and seen the staircase. It’s less the confined space and more all of the people that are in it. 😄

· 5d

Here is my contribution to fall driving. Yesterday was a beautiful 60 degree sunny day with leaf season still going. I did about 10 miles, not very far.

· 5d

Ten miles is a long way to drive looking up a penguin’s backside. I know how much you love hood ornaments.

Any driving videos of that car?

· 5d

I need to drive it 40 miles to RI. If I can get a co-pilot I'll do a driving video. I can't do it alone in the car (at least safely). Would be great to get one. They are outstanding cars and I understand why so many people love Packard.

And I have a plain radiator cap for the car, but I have to buy the car to screw it to the bottom of the cap.

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