Horseless Carriages by the President of the Palos Verdes Historical Society, Dana Graham

A 1920's station wagon.jpg — Horseless Carriages

by the President of the Palos Verdes Historical Society, Dana Graham

One of the highlights of the Holiday Season for antique car aficionados is the Horseless Carriage Club tour, which always takes place on the last Sunday of the year, generally in the Pasadena area. The Horseless Carriage Club was founded in 1951 with an aim to preserve and maintain motor vehicles of ancient age and historical value, and to serve as an accurate and technical source of information concerning pre-1916 automobiles for the benefit of its members as well as the general public.

The requirement for participation in the tour is that all cars must be of 1932 and earlier vintage. Around 150 cars show up, of which about 80 go on the tour. You see cars that you would normally never see on the road and, of course, Jay Leno always brings something exotic.

***A rare and state of the art Citroen Traction Avant***

***An early '50's Plymouth showed up but didn't qualify***

***An early air-coooled Franklin -- maybe 1908***

***Dana and Lianne brought the 1929 Packard Dual Cowl Phaeton***

Cars begin arriving in the dark at 0600, this year at a park in Arcadia, and continue arriving until around 9 am. By that time it’s a car show like none other, and it’s free. The car show continues till about 10 am when there is a driver’s meeting where the tour route is described and the rules laid down. Then the drivers and passengers of 1932 and earlier cars saddle up, tour maps are handed out, and off we go on a scenic tour of some of Pasadena and San Marino’s most beautiful neighborhoods. Many of the locals look forward to this event and are standing on the curb watching what must seem like a scene from a movie. The ones in town for the Rose Parade and game probably think this is a weekly occurrence for these crazy Californians.

***Here is a Locomobile from the early '20's that looks like it***

***Jay is always generous with his time***

***Jay Leno always brings something exotic -- this is a 1920's***

***Lianne LaReine inspects a genuine Stanley Steamer.***

After about 2 hours of touring, with 2 bathroom/donut breaks along the way, everyone who wants to gathers at a pre-arranged restaurant to swap stories of breakdowns, rear-end collisions, and on fuel additives for these pre-1932 cars, which were generally built to run on 60 octane gasoline.

***Some people car-pooled in this Ford Model T bus***

Everyone with any interest in old cars should go to this at least once, whether you have an old car or not. Just search “Horseless Carriage Club” on the internet, and you’ll find the date and location of the tour for 2022.