VAIL, Colorado — Every September the Colorado Grand brings a rolling museum to Vail, Colorado, featuring about 90 unusual, pre-1960 sports cars.
The cars are all driven on a four-day, 1,000-mile tour of the Rockies. The Grand, which starts and ends in Vail, generates more than $200,000 annually for small Colorado charities and towns. After completing this year's tour, the cars will be on public display on Sept. 18 in the Lionshead.
Entrants from across the U.S. and around the world drive their prized collector cars, some dating from the 1920s and 1930s, through all kinds of weather. Typical makes include Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Maserati, and Allard, along with such lesser known names as Amilcar, Cisitalia, Squire, Delage, and Delahaye. In addition, sponsor Mercedes-Benz will display a special array of its AMG high-performance models, including the new E63 AMG.
This annual charity tour, founded in 1989 by Englewood, Colo., auto enthusiast Bob Sutherland, is now on its 21st running. During the peak fall color season, entrants gather in Vail to begin covering a fresh route each year. The non-competitive tour sticks mainly to scenic byways and less-traveled roads.
Some favorite features are the Million-Dollar Highway, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Grand Mesa, and Trail Ridge Road. Typical overnight stops, which change yearly, include Estes Park, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, Telluride, Grand Junction, or Crested Butte. Lunches are usually staged in parks in smaller towns such as Meeker, Walden, Hotchkiss, Salida, Paonia, Dolores, or Lake City.
The Grand generates funds for small Colorado charities and Western Slope towns as well as college scholarships to graduating high-school seniors in those towns. Typical charities include the Robert Sutherland Foundation for treatment of bipolar disorder, Flight for Life, childrens' advocate CASA, the Aging Well program of the Visiting Nurse Association, the Colorado State Patrol Family Foundation, and medical facilities in small towns. Cumulative donations since 1989 are expected to hit $3 million this year.
For more information, including an entry form and an application for charity assistance, visit www.coloradogrand.com.
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