The 1987 Trans-Atlantic Reliability Tour was a trip to talk about for years to come. Not only did months of planning go into it, but Tour Director Millard W. Newman made many trips to England, Scotland and wales to arrange the complex reservations. The Trans-Atlantic Tour group was not a club in its own right, but operated under the sponsorship of the Veteran Motor Car Club of America, and in England the National Breakdown and Recovery Club proved to be a resident sponsor.

Twenty-nine automobiles 1914 and older were entered in the tour. The participants came from 16 states and were driving 14 different marques. Rolls-Royce was the predominant car with 7 entries. The oldest cars were both 1904’s, one a Fiat and the other a Panhard. The group met at the New York Hilton Hotel on the afternoon of July 3rd. We went to the registration area where Susan Young was handing out tour packs. Susan, as always, had everything well organized and distributed maps, banners and tickets with a smile. There was an organizational cocktail party at 6:00pm where we received final instructions for boarding the QEII and loading our cars.

By June 17, 1979 a dedicated group of shiny and polished vehicles had arrived from 16 states in 53 pre-1915 antique automobiles to converge on Key West, Florida, the southernmost city in the United States. Some drove their cars from home, some trailered them, some had them shipped and other brought them by truck. It was a beautiful array of the finest road worthy cars ever gathered.

In the morning the technical committee, headed by chief technician Ernie Gill and several experienced assistants, inspected all the entries, checking lights, steering, engine compartment, running gear, wheels and most important brakes. With few exceptions the cars were found in good condition. Several recommendations were made and mechanical adjustments were effected. The Sun was punishing and the heat was over 100 degrees.

On July 3rd 1991, Ken and myself in our 1911 Lozier and Marge and Earl Young in their 1913 Pierce-Arrow embarked on another “Great Adventure,” driving from our homes in the Chicago area to meet with the crews of 21 other vintage automobiles gathered in Williamsburg, Virginia to participate in the tenth Transcontinental Reliability Tour. This was our eighth tour cross country and the sixth for the Youngs. Tour Director Millard Newman, Judy and Howard Henry and Althea and Ernie Gill have done all nine tours, including the Transatlantic Tour that circled the British Isles. Our 945 miles to Williamsburg was relatively uneventful except for running out of gas and being held up by a parade in Ripley, Ohio.

Williamsburg was warm, but we did manage to visit Colonial Williamsburg and have lunch in Chowning’s Tavern there. Sunday, our July 7th kickoff banquet in the Williamsburg Inn was a happy occasion, greeting old friends an meeting new ones, including Donna and Noel McIntosh from Australia, and receiving our final instructions. Monday morning, we were anxiously awaiting our 9:00 departure, this being the only time during the tour that we leave en masse. We drove in rather humid weather that reached 99 degrees part of the day.

The Transcontinental Reliability Tours, sponsored by The Veteran Motor Car Club of America, and directed by Millard W. Newman of Florida, have been the greatest old car tours in modern antique car history. 1989 marked the 21st birthday of the tours: it was after the 1966 Glidden Tour in the Tampa Bay area that Millard Newman asked the group if they would be interested in taking a tour lasting as long as a month. The response was enthusiastic, and the 1968 Transcontinental Tour was born.

1968 was the sixtieth anniversary of the 1908 New York to Paris auto race. The 1908 race was international, and thirteen cars signed up. When the final lin-up took place in Times Square, however, there were only six entries: An American Thomas Flyer, a French Sizaire-Naudin, a German Protos, an Italian Zust, a French Motobloc and a French DeDion. The “Longest Auto Race” began in New York City and ran to Albany, Chicago, Seattle, by freighter to Japan, then to Vladivostok, across all of Siberia, Moscow, Berlin and then to the final destination, Paris. Thinking about such a trip today staggers the imagination. The logistics alone would stop most people in their tracks before they started.

Ever since the 1982 Transcontinental Tour, many of us had been looking forward to the 1985 tour across Canada. It had been in the planning stage for some time, but early literature from perennial Tour Director Millard Newman indicated it would go from Portland, Maine to Portland Oregon, and nearly the entire route would be through Canada. We would visit the stately cities of Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina and Vancouver. We would also stay in communities with provocative names like Callander (the home of Dionne quintuplets), Wawa, Thunder Bay, Moosemin, Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Medicine Hat, Kamloops and Hope.

There were more applicants for the 1985 tour than any of the five proceeding trips. The printed triptik listed 62 entries, of which five were no shows. Former tourists Philip and Emmy Peterson removed their names because of illness, and Phil died just before the trip ended. Millard announced the sad news, hoping expressions of sympathy could be passed on to Emmy.

The Spirit of ’76 Transcontinental Tour was conceived in 1972 after 22 stalwart drivers and their families had completed the marathon run from Montreal to Tijuana. Millard W. Newman was the Tour Director of the ’72 Tour, the original ’68 Tour, and the great and successful 1976 Tour.

  The participants converged on the Washington Plaza Hotel, Seattle, Washington, from 25 states. Some had their cars shipped out by motor transport, some by car carrier, some by trailer. A few came in rental trucks, at least one by air, while others drove their antiques – all 62 years or older.

Fifty-one courageous owners of 1914 and older cars plus three loyal tour marshals showed up at Pebble Beach, California on June 22, 1982 to participate in the fifth VMCCA transcontinental trek across the United States. Months of planning and preparation were on the line, and with the cars shipped, driven, or trailed to the starting point, there was no turning back. The list of participating cars read like an automobile Who’s Who. There were twenty-eight different marques. Rolls-Royce was predominant with four beautiful Silver Ghosts. There were three each of Cadillac, Chalmers, Ford, Packard, Pierce-Arrow and Overland. Among the rarer cars were an Abbott-Detroit, a Cole, a Knox, a Moline and a Pullman. Over eighty percent of the entrants were old-timers, five having completed all five tours, and ten cars were piloted by rookies. Seeing all the beautiful, shiny cars and meeting up with so many talented and knowledgeable friends made Pebble Beach seem the only logical place in the world to be on this particular day.

The longest antique car trek of all time is now history. The twenty-one entrants plus our Tour Marshall, Fred Kelly, have all completed the course. Believe it or not, in spite of every conceivable problem, all the cars survived the grueling heat, cold, rain, hail, and tornado, until we felt like living examples of the postman’s motto. But there was always the satisfaction of knowing that no matter how miserable the day, or how hopeless the breakdown, it would be appreciated by the editors as good copy.

Some two years ago, a group of the 1968 Trans-Continental tourists met with the Tour Director, Millard Newman, and asked him to run a 1972 tour. It was decided that he should pick the route and that Canada to Mexico would add glamour and an international flavor. The 1968 tour was “prescribed” in that it duplicated the course of the 1908 Great Race and ran through many major cities. The 1972 route was selected for its beautiful scenery and friendly small towns. Who can ever forget the wonderful North Bay Canadians who helped fix our cars, or the hospitable warmth of Sid Strong’s Atwater, Minn., the parade and rodeo of Livingston, Montana?