Vintage cars roll through Sisters

Several million dollars worth of vintage cars rolled through Sisters last Thursday as the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic paused for a lunch break at Aspen Lakes' Brand 33 Restaurant.

For the past four years, a couple of dozen motoring enthusiasts have made the trek from Seattle to Pebble Beach, California to indulge every car-lover's favorite extravaganza, the Concourse d'Elegance. Sisters is a lunch stop on a route that sends motorists meandering across Washington and Oregon before they hit the Pacific Coast Highway and roll down to Central California.

The motorists got a light show and a bit of rain as they rolled into Sisters under a thunderstorm.

"It's the first time in four years we've been doing this that we've had any rain!" said Al McEwan, the organizer of the Classic. However, he noted, "nobody put their top up."

The Classic, as well as the Concourse d'Elegance, always attracts an international cast of beautiful and valuable cars - Alfa Romeos, Bentleys and other classics.

This year, however, the most eye-catching autos were also the oldest: A 1907 Itala and a 1908 Talbot.

These are special cars, not just because of their age, but also because of their storied careers. Both cars were part of last year's re-creation of the celebrated 1907 Peking-to-Paris Race.

"This oughta be a piece of cake compared to crossing the Gobi Desert," McEwan quipped.

The 1907 Itala is owned by David and Karen Ayre.

"It is the identical car to the one that won the original Peking-to-Paris event," Karen Ayre said (see p. 25).

The 2007 event was a 35-day trek across China, Mongolia, Siberia and on through Russia into Europe. For much of the trek, conditions are almost exactly as they were in 1907 - and that means rugged.

"Peking-Paris is one of the iconic motor races of all time, really," said Daniel Ward, who made the trek in his 1908 Talbot.

Ward said, "I wanted to do it in as near-accurate a car as I could. Of course, the Itala was perfect for it."

Ward shipped his car from Great Britain to participate in the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic. He also brought along his mother, Jean Ward.

"Mother loves motoring," he said.

Jean was enjoying the magnificent scenery of the West - and the cheap gas.

"Petrol is nice and cheap," she said. "To us."

Gasoline - petrol - is about $12 per gallon in the United Kingdom, Daniel Ward said.

"Mind you, our gallon is bigger," he noted.

Still, that translates to about $10.50 per gallon for an equivalent amount of gasoline. So the British motorists were quite happy to pay prices that seem staggering to many Oregonians.

Ward uses a lead substitute to run the ancient car.

The cars average 12 to 15 miles per gallon. Both the Talbot and the Itala make 55-56 miles per hour for highway speeds.

"I think we got 62 out of it once, going downhill with the wind at our backs," Karen Ayre said.

Ward said that the cars corner much differently than modern cars and they require some care to keep on four wheels.

After lunch at Brand 33 and some tinkering with the motor of the Itala, the Classic was off to Eugene. The drivers were a bit disappointed that they couldn't take the scenic McKenzie Pass - still blocked by unplowed snow.

But their spirits were undimmed as they fired up their vintage classics and hit the highway.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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