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Annual Orphan Car Tour Description

The Orphan Car Tour is an annual afternoon long driving tour for antique "orphan" (discontinued make) automobiles held every June in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area.  Each year since the Orphan Car Tour began in 1990, the Tour has taken place in different locations in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

The tour's purpose is to encourage the driving enjoyment of independently produced antique vehicles.  Pictured above left is an example of an 'orphaned' automobile, a 1969 American Motors Corporation (AMC), AMX.

 

 

Over the years we've welcomed cars bearing such long-lasting nameplates as AMC, Alvis, Avanti, DeSoto, Durant, Edsel, Essex, Franklin, Frazier, Graham, Hudson, Kaiser, LaSalle, Metropolitan, Nash, Packard, Rambler, Reo, Stearns-Knight, Sterling, Studebaker, Terraplane, and Willys.

Depending upon the year of the tour, we've attracted as many as 118 attendees and over 50 cars.

 

 

The formula is simple, with some variations from year to year.  There's a route of between 30 to 70 miles passing through a mixture of picturesque rural areas and quaint towns.  Each driver is given a printed direction sheet and proceeds at his or her own speed.  Each car's navigator reads the directions, and also tries to answer written questions regarding sights glimpsed along the way.  Often there are one, two, or even three stops along the route, where participants can visit a historic site, private collection or museum, enjoy some ice cream or a drink, or just stop and stretch.  At the end of the afternoon we congregate for a buffet-style meal where awards are given for various achievements.  Examples of achievements include answering correclty the most questions on the direction sheets, oldest car, longest distance traveled, hard luck award, etc.

It's a great afternoon for the entire family, even for passengers with a minimal interest in old cars!  On the Orphan Car Tour, an antique car once again becomes the means for enjoying a great outing with friends or family and not a static object of veneration on a hot show field.

 

 

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