Slipstream - July 2017

These Are Not Your Average Garage Queens!
By Bob Molyneux
Photos courtesy of the Author
o the names Peerless,
D
Locomobile, Stanley, or
Stevens Duryea mean
anything to you? Well,
to a small group of automobile
aficionados, these are not just old
car names, they are the chariots for
great adventures!
The rare Peerless
Early last June, I was in northern
Minnesota when the Red Rock Car
Club came through the area. The
club was in the middle of its Summer
Rendezvous, a 2,000 mile,
three-week trek from Eau Clare,
Wisconsin to International Falls,
Minnesota and back. A total of 23
cars started the tour, and when I
saw them halfway through their
journey, only one car had dropped
out.
To be eligible to join the club, a
car has to have been built no later
than 1914. There were many different
makes in the tour, including a
Fiat, Model T’s, Stanley Steamers,
Rolls-Royces, and more. These
older cars come with challenges
that the newer cars don’t present.
This tour is totally self-supported,
The Stanley and Stevens Duryea
so when something
goes
wrong out on
the road, each
driver needs
to be able to
perform the
required maintenance
on his
own. For example,
one of
the cars needed
a magneto
change on the
way to International
Falls.
Even over a hundred years old, the Roll Royce is still stately
The steam cars have their own
miles an hour down the road,” said
issues -- they have to stop every
the driver of a 1911 Rolls-Royce.
40 or 50 miles for water. The drivers
say they get the funniest looks
He said slipping behind the wheel
of a 105-year-old car helps slow the
when they are caught getting water
pace of life. “You are generally on
out of a home-owner’s hose. This
secondary roads, traveling at 45 to
also adds to the adventure because
50 miles an hour. You can go down
these water breaks invariably lead
the same road that you have gone
to interesting conversations with
down every day in your modern car
complete strangers.
and see things that would just go by
you.”
The driver of a 1914 Fiat said he
had been involved in antique cars
since 1962 when he and a former
coworker bought their first car. He
has been doing it ever since. He
said something that also resonates
with the Porsche club members.
“It’s all about the people – friends
within the hobby. Also, these cars
bring out the nicest people. If we
Anne Molyneux checking out the have a problem, the people who
Stanley and the controls needed to happen to be there will do anything
drive the steamer. And you thought they can to help us.”
Porsche controls were complicated! So, the next time you look at
Some of these cars are really
your beloved Porsche that has been
world travelers. On this tour, the
sitting in the garage for too long,
cars came from across the nation,
think about the members of the
including Florida, New Hampshire,
Red Rock car club and their overand
Illinois. One car had been to
100-year-old cars that they get out
seven countries and another to
and exercise on a regular basis!
nine.
Editor’s Note: this is based on an
The participants all said that the
article by Laurel Beager, Editor of The
joy of these cars is the slow pace of
International Falls Journal
the driving. “You are not going 70
18 July