U.S. Highway 66 was established in 1926, which makes the upcoming New Year its 100th anniversary. Despite being decertified in 1985, the “Mother Road” remains alive and well in popular culture, and it’s still possible to drive what’s left of the “Main Street of America” today. Gears and Gasoline recently did exactly that, following the original path of Route 66 as closely as possible in a modern version of the great American road trip.
Ben and Ben chose two great cars for the journey. Ben’s Ford Mustang is as American as it gets; a 2017 model with a rebuilt Coyote V8 and an extremely loud exhaust (teasers for future videos show this getting him into trouble later). Meanwhile, Ben’s 2006 Pontiac GTO is American in name only, as it is a rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia. Still, with an LS2 V8 and rear-wheel drive, it’s still a proper muscle car, something the Aussies never stopped building even when we did for a while.
The journey began not in Chicago, the east end of Route 66, but in Virginia with a quick blast across the Appalachians to shake down their rides. This proved necessary as one of the Mustang’s strut assemblies came loose. They made their way to the heart of Chicago and the official starting point near the intersection of South Michigan Avenue and East Adams Street. At this point, they decided to do without GPS navigation and rely on a Route 66 guidebook and printed maps, just like in the old days. They proceeded to miss the very first turn, getting the road trip off to an excellent start and a sign of things to come.
Crossing Illinois
After escaping Chicago, they made their way to nearby Joliet. They didn’t identify it by name, but their first stop was the Rich and Creamy Dairy, complete with statues of the dancing Blues Brothers on the roof, where my personal Route 66 road trip began. The ice cream is, in fact, rich and creamy, but Ben and Ben didn’t get to enjoy it because it was closed. They explored the Joliet Route 66 Park, then moved on to the town of Pontiac. Here, they missed a great opportunity to not only explore the town’s numerous painted murals (a common sight along Route 66, but Pontiac’s murals are among the best on the trip), but also to visit the Pontiac-Oakland Automobile Museum, where they could have seen everything from real GTOs, unlike Ben’s, to a four-door Fiero concept car.
Justin Hughes / Jalopnik
They also spent some time exploring the Soulsby Service Station, which dates back to the beginning of Route 66 and has been restored to its original condition. The inside contains a great deal of history as well, where they figured they probably lost all of their viewers under the age of 55. To make up for this, they visited the Pink Elephant Antique Mall and picked up some Pokémon cards, which have nothing to do with Route 66, but they figured might entice younger viewers to come back.
The video only scratches the surface of what there is to see along Route 66. It also covers only Illinois, with more than 2,000 miles to go until the western terminus at the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles. It’s virtually impossible to see everything, though, even if you take an entire month to make the journey as I did. I look forward to seeing the rest of the series, where they choose to visit, and what mechanical gremlins strike their not entirely new cars along the way.
