Town of Bermuda Run and Hampton Inn Host Vintage Automobile Tour

A Rolling Museum
Most of us aren’t too patient when we get behind a slow-moving car on a country road, but chances are that Davie County residents will be a little more forgiving than usual during the week of July 21-26. That’s when the NC Regional Group of the Horseless Carriage Club of America will be taking part in the organization’s 63rd Annual NC Tour. Five dozen pre-1928 autos – all preserved or restored to their original condition – will be tooling along the back roads and byways of Davie County and the Yadkin Valley as their owners harken back to the bygone tradition of auto touring – and fellow motorists will probably want to slow down to get a view at these rare automobiles.

Headquartered at Hampton Inn Bermuda Run
Headquartered at the Hampton Inn Bermuda Run in Advance, the group will head out daily to a variety of regional attractions including the Fort Dobbs State Historic Site, Bethabara Historical Park, Love Valley, Troutman Chair Company, Shiloh General Store, Hillbilly Hideaway, and the Richard Childress Racing Museum. For the first day of the tour, the group will visit Vienna Village Assisted Living Center to give older residents a real-life trip back in time, with many owners dressing in period clothing to add even further to the ambiance.

Organized by Sharon and Ricky Adkins of Winston-Salem – owners of a 1903 Oldsmobile Curved Dash and a 1924 Model T, the latter of which they’ll be driving – the tour will roll into the Town of Bermuda Run on Tuesday, July 22 as the town welcomes the group with a “Horseless Carriage Day” proclamation. But don’t worry if you’re not able to make it to the Town of Bermuda Run for the celebration. Ricky Adkins says the group encourages the community to stop by the Hampton Inn each evening to view the cars before they’re put into trailers for safekeeping. Nightly cookouts, ice-cream socials, a pizza party, and an end- of-tour bash on Friday, July 26 round out the festivities.

In all, the Hampton Inn will host some 150 guests from eight different states.

This is a unique opportunity for anyone interested in automobiles to get an up-close look at vehicles that were crafted at a time when many car designers considered their creations equal part works of art and functioning transportation. The tour is practically a rolling museum because, as Ricky Adkins points out, “You don’t often get to see that many vintage vehicles together.”

To learn more about the Horseless Carriage Club of America, visit the national Web site at http://www.hcca.org/hcca.html or the organization’s North Carolina regional page at http://www.hcca.org/regions.php#NORTH-CAROLINA. You can also give the Hampton Inn Bermuda Run a call at 336-998-3480 to find out where the tour is headed that day and when the vehicles will be on display in the evenings.