Unique Pre-1916 Car Show at Barkers Island Inn & Conference Center

Press Release

Antique Automobiles to gather in Duluth/Superior

The Horseless Carriage Club of America to hold a National Antique Automobile Tour headquartered at the Barkers Island Inn.

Contact: Gary Hoonsbeen

                  763-533-4280

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Starting on Sunday July 19^th, members of the National Horseless Carriage Club of America will begin a weeklong tour of the Duluth/Superior area with automobiles which were manufactured before 1916. It is expected that as many as 80 vintage automobiles will participate in the five-day sight-seeing tours traveling up to 125 miles a day.

The official arriving time, at the Barkers Island Inn, will be Sunday, July 19^th, with the final day of events on Friday, July 24^th. It will be an incredible gathering of automobiles, some over 100 years old, sporting beautiful colored bodies, rich leather upholstery, with brilliantly polished brass windshields, body trim and lights.

The Horseless Carriage Club, with its national headquarters in California, has over 4000 members world-wide. Its members are devoted to the restoration and touring of vehicles representing the brass era, generally considered prior to 1916. The American automobile industry started its rapid growth in about 1900 with most of the companies having faded into history, including such names as Winton, Duryea, Locomobile, Packard, Oldsmobile, and more than 2500 others. Some of these companies produced only one car while others produced thousands but failed to survive due to poor design or bad management. Many of the relics from these long-forgotten companies have survived in barns and garages with members of the Horseless Carriage Club rescuing them and spending hundreds of hours bringing them back to original condition.

Minneapolis is a regional center for the Horseless Carriage Club with membership of nearly 100 families owning pre-1916 automobiles. They plan several tours, each summer, in Minnesota and Wisconsin and this year agreed to host the 2009 Annual National Tour. National tours will draw members bringing vehicles from as far away as California and New Hampshire. It is traditional that many participants will be wearing period clothing while driving these antiques.

Members of the Horseless Carriage Club welcome the public to view these antique vehicles and take pictures. Feel free to bring pictures of cars in your family’s past and enjoy conversations about this interesting hobby.

On each of the days between Monday and Friday the vehicles will be leaving the parking lot at Barker’s Island between 7:45 AM and 8:30 AM. During the week the antique cars will visit many area State Parks, including the Amnicon Falls, Pattison, Jay Cook and the Chequamegon National Forest. Stops will also be made at Fairlawn Mansion, the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, Duluth’s William A. Irvin ore carrier, the Glensheen Mansion and the Richard Bong Museum.

Other stops for the group will likely include the villages of Carlton and Oulu, the Iron River Civic Center, Town of Drummond, Two Harbors and a drive along the Skyline Parkway. Hours for the best viewing of the Horseless Carriages in the evenings, can be determined by calling Barkers Island Inn during the event.