(Photos and Words by Darr Hawthorne) Between Christmas and New Years there’s a tradition being carried on with some of the oldest vehicles on the planet. It’s not held at a museum, because most of these century-old cars and trucks are drivers.
The 59th Annual Horseless Carriage Holiday Excursion assembles yearly at SoCal’s Irwindale Speedway to celebrate this vanishing breed of cars that transitioned us out of the horse and buggy as the mode of transportation down some of the lousiest roads of the period. The show brings together hundreds of pre-war (both WW1 & WW2) vintage automobiles driving in and onto the Irwindale property for their annual holiday run, that’ll take the participants on a cruise of the local San Gabriel Valley foothills into Pasadena, home of the Rose Parade.
There were only a dozen of these cars trailered, but if your car was to drive on the secret route, no trailer queens were allowed. The route is so secret that no one receives the printed instructions prior to the late-morning fire up and march to the outer gate.
This show has museum-quality automobiles powered by gas, batteries, steam and even kerosene, sporting chrome or nickel plating, wooden and metal spoked wheels, and brushed lacquer finishes, many with handcranked engines to test the owner’s strength.
This is one of the largest events of its kind in the U.S. and each owner is their car’s own historian. It’s also a celeb magnet with the likes of Jay Leno, Wheeler Dealers Edd & Mike and collector car guy Bruce Meyer.
