This Datsun Traveled 37,000 Miles on a North American Road Trip

The average American driver puts 13,500 miles per year on their car. Mr. Scott Fisher of Las Vegas, Nevada, added that many to the odometer of his 1967 Datsun Roadster in just the first three months of a recently-completed road trip that ultimately took him to forty-eight U.S. states and seven Canadian provinces. By the time Scott pulled into his garage in Las Vegas for the first time in eight months, he had covered 37,850 miles of the North American countryside. Deciding that an extended road trip was the best way to unwind after sixteen years of business stress, Scott briefly considered a modern ride but opted instead to entrust his travels to a 46 year-old Datsun that he would come to call “The Optimist.” “What you’re driving on your road trip will be a huge part of the experience,” noted Scott in a January 2014 interview with Petrolicious, “so I decided that a less all-around and less capable vehicle that had considerably more character and exuberance would be a much better choice.” Aside from a few mechanical hiccups, the Roadster gobbled up the miles like a champ, carrying Scott along rough logging roads, over mountain passes, and through Times Square — all with the top down, of course. The car, says Scott, “feels more like a faithful dog that may raise an eyebrow to some of your more harebrained plans, but will totally give 100% to make it happen. I try not to anthropomorphize too much, but the car is an optimist, and it’s the perfect companion for a trip like this.” Even a run-in with a deer in Utah — from which, Scott points out, the Datsun emerged bruised but victorious — couldn’t slow the Roadster as it barreled through the final miles of Scott’s adventure.