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Antique car run still chugging along

Bruce Bisping, Star Tribune

Floyd Jaehnert and his 1908 Ford Model S, which he will drive in the New London-to-New Brighton Antique Car Run on Saturday. The run will be Jaehnert’s 14th; banners from previous runs hang in his garage, top.

A 120-mile antique car run from New London to New Brighton is in its 23rd year, with drivers getting behind the wheels of cars pushing 100 or more (years, not mph).

By MARIA ELENA BACA, Star Tribune

Last update: August 4, 2009 - 4:34 PM

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antique car run Today through Saturday. The main event is a 120-mile run starting in New London and finishing at New Brighton's Stockyard Days festival, at Long Lake Regional Park (Hwy. 96 and Old Hwy. 8). For information, including a detailed map and schedule, visit www.antiquecarrun.org.

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The slow-moving traffic you might encounter on north and west metro country roads and city streets this weekend just might be cars taking a trip back in history.

The 23rd annual New London-to-New Brighton Antique Car Run has attracted old-car buffs and their centenarian automobiles to what has become one of the nation's premier events of its kind. During Saturday's 120-mile trek and shorter tours that precede it, many participants will drive autos from 1908 and earlier; vehicles from 1909 to 1915 are limited to those that run on one or two cylinders.

The event started in 1987 to highlight the connection between the Minnesota cities and their British namesakes. The original 1896 London-to-Brighton tour was organized to celebrate the repeal of the "Red Flag," law, which required autos to travel behind a walking flagman whose job was to alert horse carriages to their approach. That tour from London to Brighton has gone on each year since, though interrupted by two world wars. The 57-mile drive now attracts as many as 2 million spectators.

The local event, tied to New Brighton's Stockyard Days festival, is less well known outside antique car circles but has attracted a following, especially in the cities along the route, where participants are feted with live music, doughnuts and a pig roast. The drivers of 50 or so cars expect to stop Saturday in Grove City, Litchfield, Kingston, Buffalo and Crystal to see and be seen.

"These are really old cars that go 'putt-putt' instead of 'vroom-vroom,'" said multiyear participant Bill Dubats, of Coon Rapids, who this year will be driving a 1908 Cadillac with his wife, Jan.

There never was any doubt, really, that Dubats would become, in his words, a "dyed-in-the-wool old-car fan." Both of his grandfathers owned Model T Fords.

He bought his first Model T at age 55. Today, at 66, he's the owner of six, as well as a 1901 Oldsmobile, a prewar Harley Davidson and the Cadillac.

"My wife says I've never met a machine I didn't like or love," he said. "These are just neat old cars, at 100 years old and still running, maintained and driven."

Finishing is a challenge

Last year, he didn't quite make it to the end.

"I broke a chain 20 miles from the end, and didn't have the spare part," he said. "It's just hard luck and it happens."

Most drivers complete a 120-mile road trip before the kids' DVD wraps up in the back seat. But it's a different experience in a 100-year-old horseless buggy. Organizers expect a 10 percent attrition rate, said Floyd Jaehnert, president of the organization that puts on the event, and driver of a 1908 Model S Ford. The cars' exposed electrical systems succumb, sometimes, to heat or rain.

"A 120-mile tour in a day is not uncommon in a Model T tour, but some of these cars ... at 6 to 12 horsepower, travel pretty slow, maybe 20 miles per hour or less," Dubats said. "You often have to stop and do some adjustment or get out and get under and fix the automobile. Twin Cities Transport/Recovery of St. Paul provides tools and trailers in case someone has to drop out. A lot of people do that. It's a bona fide challenge to go 120 miles in a 100-year-old automobile."

Spectators are encouraged along the route, and at the tour's several stops.

"It's kind of a rolling museum," Jaehnert said. "Obviously, some people are more interested in cars than others. They're there to see the cars and interact with the drivers. While we enjoy our cars, we also enjoy people seeing our car and visiting with the owners."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409

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