Road trip in a 71 year old car.

Yeah I was ready to to see a window in the block! Lol I'm thinking of swapping a 8 3/4 rear end with 3.23s maybe.
Then it will be a slug. That's why it has the 3.90 gear. It has little torque compared to modern engines. It was basically made to run from 40 to about 55 for long distances. Remember, these were the cars that rarely lasted to 100K. ......and the gearing necessary for them to have decent acceleration was a big reason for that.