By Marianne Christy
Old Forge is one of 22 designated stops along the 2nd Trans-America Challenge, a 5,892-mile trek that will take 45 international owners of classic and vintage cars from Halifax – Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada, to the west coast of the U.S. in San Francisco, CA.
Participants will depart on Sunday, June 7 and make stops in New Brunswick and Quebec before their scheduled arrival in Old Forge on Thursday, June 11 where they will spend the night at Water’s Edge Inn.
From Old Forge they head through Buffalo, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada before reaching their destination in California.
Expecting to complete the challenge in 22 days are drivers representing the United States, Great Britain, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Malaysia, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Vehicles include a vintage (pre-1941) 1927 Bentley 4 1/2 Le Mans, a 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II and a 1936 Packard Super 8 Sedan 120, among others. Among the field of classic cars (pre-1975) are a 1963 Daimler SP250, a 1958 Jaguar Mk1, a 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III, a 1965 Aston Martin DB5, and a 1967 VW Beetle.
The Trans-America Challenge is organized by The Endurance Rally Association (ERA) which is responsible for organizing 60 major events in more than 50 different countries around the world. Its inaugural event, The Pirelli Classic Marathon in 1987, took drivers from London to Italy and back and was the first-ever international car rally.