My wife Jane and I just got back from the 2016 AAA Revival Glidden Tour, sponsored by AAA, the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) and The Veteran Motor Car Club of America (VMCCA). The tour was based at a hotel in N. Conway, NH, had 174 cars and about 380 people participating. It was my first AACA/VMCCA tour. The oldest cars were a 1909 Chalmers, a 1910 Hudson, and a 1911 Kissel, and the newest allowable cars were from 1942. Among the cars were seven Studebakers from 1922, 1928, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, and 1941. I drove my 1965 Wagonaire to the meet, but it was too "new" to be on the tour itself. We rode with Jerry Kurtz in his 1937 Dictator all week.
Each morning, we left the hotel at 7:30-8:00 and drove about 100 miles, looping through New Hampshire and Maine countryside and mountains, returning about 4:00 pm. Sometimes the pace was set by the slowest cars, but even the old Chalmers and Kissel completed 400 miles or more without incident. One Ford Model A did get rear-ended at a stop light by some idiot in a modern car; the Model A driver was OK, though his wife had a bit of a whiplash injury - they continued on the tour the next day as passengers with other drivers. Some of us even climbed the Mt. Washington Auto Road, the highest peak in the northeast at 6288 ft. Starting at the 1500 ft elevation of the base, the narrow (mostly) paved road winds up the mountain on a 12% grade. This is a steeper climb than the Pike's Peak road. There are no guard rails, and there are many places that if you go off the edge of the road, it's all over! Even on the uphill side, there is a deep ditch. My Wagonaire made the climb - and the steep descent with the disk brakes very hot - as well as Jerry Kurtz's 1937 Dictator and Dave Thibeault's 1934 Plymouth coupe (his only car old enough to qualify for the tour). I will freely admit that this was a very white-knuckle drive for me both up and down the mountain. We had planned to go on Sunday at the beginning of the week, but the wind was 90-100 mph and the temperature about 40 °F at the top with rain and fog, visibility less than 1/8 mile. Our trip on Tuesday afternoon found 50 °F temperatures, 20-30 mph winds, and 100 mile visibility, almost pleasant. Record winds in 1934 were 231 mph at the top. Jerry, Dave, and I got our "This car climbed Mt. Washington" bumper stickers.
At other times on the tours, we passed cars from the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) tour going in the opposite direction. The CCCA had lots of classic Packards, Auburns, Chryslers, Cadillacs, and other high-end cars on their tour. There were several other clubs touring the region, so we saw lots of old cars all week. Other high points included a boat ride on Lake Winnipesauke, lunch at the Mt. Washington Hotel, a tour of Bob Bahre's fantastic car collection in Paris Hill, ME, and a train ride through the Mt. Washington valley.
In addition to meeting lots of new friends, we saw Studebaker drivers Malcolm Stinson and his sister Millie Silver, Rex and Pam Miltenberger, Ed and Wenda Wenger, Audrey and Engel Bouwmeester (from Kamloops, B.C.), Nancy and Chester Bradfield, Nyal and Pat Weaver, Kent Haberle, and others. I put about 500 miles on my Wagonaire to get to the meet and back, plus local driving and got another 400-500 miles in Jerry's '37 Dictator. As it all started for us on Sept. 10, that was a pretty good International Drive Your Studebaker Day and week. We recommend the Glidden Tour to those interested in driving and riding in pre-WWII vehicles.
Each morning, we left the hotel at 7:30-8:00 and drove about 100 miles, looping through New Hampshire and Maine countryside and mountains, returning about 4:00 pm. Sometimes the pace was set by the slowest cars, but even the old Chalmers and Kissel completed 400 miles or more without incident. One Ford Model A did get rear-ended at a stop light by some idiot in a modern car; the Model A driver was OK, though his wife had a bit of a whiplash injury - they continued on the tour the next day as passengers with other drivers. Some of us even climbed the Mt. Washington Auto Road, the highest peak in the northeast at 6288 ft. Starting at the 1500 ft elevation of the base, the narrow (mostly) paved road winds up the mountain on a 12% grade. This is a steeper climb than the Pike's Peak road. There are no guard rails, and there are many places that if you go off the edge of the road, it's all over! Even on the uphill side, there is a deep ditch. My Wagonaire made the climb - and the steep descent with the disk brakes very hot - as well as Jerry Kurtz's 1937 Dictator and Dave Thibeault's 1934 Plymouth coupe (his only car old enough to qualify for the tour). I will freely admit that this was a very white-knuckle drive for me both up and down the mountain. We had planned to go on Sunday at the beginning of the week, but the wind was 90-100 mph and the temperature about 40 °F at the top with rain and fog, visibility less than 1/8 mile. Our trip on Tuesday afternoon found 50 °F temperatures, 20-30 mph winds, and 100 mile visibility, almost pleasant. Record winds in 1934 were 231 mph at the top. Jerry, Dave, and I got our "This car climbed Mt. Washington" bumper stickers.
At other times on the tours, we passed cars from the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) tour going in the opposite direction. The CCCA had lots of classic Packards, Auburns, Chryslers, Cadillacs, and other high-end cars on their tour. There were several other clubs touring the region, so we saw lots of old cars all week. Other high points included a boat ride on Lake Winnipesauke, lunch at the Mt. Washington Hotel, a tour of Bob Bahre's fantastic car collection in Paris Hill, ME, and a train ride through the Mt. Washington valley.
In addition to meeting lots of new friends, we saw Studebaker drivers Malcolm Stinson and his sister Millie Silver, Rex and Pam Miltenberger, Ed and Wenda Wenger, Audrey and Engel Bouwmeester (from Kamloops, B.C.), Nancy and Chester Bradfield, Nyal and Pat Weaver, Kent Haberle, and others. I put about 500 miles on my Wagonaire to get to the meet and back, plus local driving and got another 400-500 miles in Jerry's '37 Dictator. As it all started for us on Sept. 10, that was a pretty good International Drive Your Studebaker Day and week. We recommend the Glidden Tour to those interested in driving and riding in pre-WWII vehicles.
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