Photos from the Old US-27 Motor Tour

[Dan Cluley]

A couple of weeks ago I took part in the 17th annual Old 27 Tour.  This event happens during the 3rd week of August and is driving the old roads and putting on a bunch of small town car shows up the middle of Michigan's lower peninsula.

https://old27tour.com/

 

 

Monday 8/21

Some of the group met up at the weekly show in Coldwater MI.

 

Tuesday 8/22

The group drove South on Old 27 to Waterloo IN and had lunch in the park across from the historic train station.

 

I left Lansing early to spend the morning in Waterloo watching trains and met up with the group there.

[Dan Cluley]

 

The local FD has restored this Bronco brush truck.

 

 

[Dan Cluley]

After lunch, we drove back to Coldwater and spent some time at the local kart track/mini golf place and then headed across town to a show in the evening.

 

[Dan Cluley]

As this show was winding down, some of us crossed town again to make a stop at Short's Root Beer Stand.

 

After a fun first day, I headed home.

 

More to come...

[TAKerry]

Looks like fun, thanks for posting.

[TerryB]

Any better pics of the Rambler with the Orange…..on the side?  Great photos.

[zepher]

Thanks for the pics, you don't see many AMXs around and that one looked very nice.

[Dan Cluley]

1 hour ago, TerryB said:

Any better pics of the Rambler with the Orange…..on the side?  Great photos.

Yes, I think there are some coming in the next day's report 

[Dan Cluley]

Wednesday 8/23

 

The group had a scavenger hunt in the morning & lunch in Coldwater before heading north.  I came down from Lansing & met up with the group as they were leaving town, and drove back north with them.  While the majority of the driving is on the pre-interstate route, we do use I-69 to bypass Lansing on the way to the evening stop in Dewitt MI.  Along this stretch a break is taken at the Potterville rest area where we meet up with the State Troopers who will escort the tour the rest of the way around Lansing.

 

 

Once in Dewitt, we fill up the downtown for the evening.

 

 

You have to have some nice Oldsmobiles around Lansing. 

 

 

Nothing like a road trip in a station wagon

 

 

[Dan Cluley]

I talked to these guys later in the week.  They had come from Denver, and it did belong to an actual band about 15 years ago.  If I remember correctly it has the original Rambler 6 with a 3 carb setup added.  A Ford 5 speed and rear end with disc brakes all around.

 

 

Some little cars to finish up the day.

 

[Dan Cluley]

Thursday 8/24

This is the busiest day.  We only cover about 70 miles, but stop and do shows in 5 different cities.

 

The morning meet up is at a grocery store in Dewitt and then up the road to St Johns

 

After a couple of hours, it was time to continue north to Ithaca MI.

 

I was not the only one with a full size convertible, although the weather was not ideal this day.

[Dan Cluley]

Next up was the city of Alma.

The sky cleared up, so the tops went down before we moved on to St Louis.

There, the local newspaper got its aerial shots the old fashioned way while I stayed on the ground and let my drone do the work.

 

The final stop for the day was in Clare MI.  This is often the largest show of the week, but it mostly got rained out for the second year in a row.  On the other hand we missed the severe storms, flooding & tornados that other parts of the state dealt with that evening, so a little rain is ok.

Some of the group stayed downtown at the historic Doherty Hotel which fills up quickly.  I stayed at the Quality Inn which also seemed popular.

[TAKerry]

I was gonna ask if you had a drone for the overhead shots, they look great! Looks like the group picked up more cars as they tour progressed? 

[Dan Cluley]

17 hours ago, TAKerry said:

I was gonna ask if you had a drone for the overhead shots, they look great! Looks like the group picked up more cars as they tour progressed? 

One of the things I really like about this event is how loose it is.  Some people show up for a couple of hours in one town, some spend a full week to do the whole thing, and everything in between.  

 

I don't have any hard numbers, but based on pictures, I'd guess we had about 50 cars the first day in Waterloo increasing up to 2-300 at some of the Thursday stops and then back down to 75 or so by Saturday in Cheboygan.

[Dan Cluley]

Friday 8/25

 

Friday we got to sleep in a little and then headed back to downtown Clare before heading to Harrison.

 

 

There are lots of opinions about where "Up North" starts, but beyond Clare the topography definitely gets hillier.

 

 

Harrison has a street festival the same weekend the tour passes through, so there's lots to do at one of the longer stops of the week.

 

[Dan Cluley]

After 4 hours in Harrison, we got back on the road for another 50 miles to our evening's stop in Grayling. Snowmobile crossings are definitely a sign that you are up north.

 

 

Time for Trucks?

 

 

A little fun with sidewalk chalk and then time to call it a day.

 

 

 

Yes, it used to be a Holiday Inn.

[Dan Cluley]

Saturday 8/26

 

After meeting up at the High School in Grayling we headed to Gaylord to spend a few hours downtown there.  We got some nice pep music to wake everyone up.  OK, that was actually for the soccer game getting started on the other side of the parking lot, but it worked.

 

 

As part of the tourism boom in the 1960's much of Gaylord's downtown buildings were remodeled to give the town a pseudo-Alpine look like many of the ski resorts being built in northern Michigan.

 

 

A small number of cars were built in Gaylord before WWI and the visitor's center has one of the only remaining examples.

 

 

Suddenly it’s 1960.

 

 

We took up 3 full blocks on the main street and some of the side streets as well.

 

 

 

What color '64 would you like?

 

[Dan Cluley]

Our short afternoon stop was in Wolverine MI.  It's a little smaller than Gaylord.

 

 

Finally around 4pm we arrived at our final stop in Cheboygan MI.  The Fraternal Order of Eagles provided not only their parking lot, but were open for food and drinks.

 

 

Conveniently, the Continental Inn is right across the street, and many of us stayed there.

 

 

The Lake Huron shore is only a few blocks away.

 

 

Since it is nearby, I made a quick side trip to Aloha MI and hiked the entire length of M-212.  At less than a mile, it is the shortest state highway in Michigan.

 

 

Back in Cheboygan, I finished up with a few night photos.

 

 

[Dan Cluley]

Sunday 8/27

 

Since I had all day to get home, I looped around through Mackinaw City and hit some places on the Lake Michigan side of the state.

 

After breakfast at Alice's Restaurant (no signs of Arlo Guthrie or Officer Obie) I spotted this GMC motorhome on the way out of Cheboygan.

 

If I had the space and the money, I would probably have one of these.

 

A closer look at the Mackinac Bridge.

 

 

The MSP Post at Petoskey had the '75 Fury out front.

 

 

Saw the bridge at Charlevoix open twice, but no aspiring Elwood's took advantage.

 

 

Crossed the 45th parallel on US-31.

 

 

Just south of there, one of my last stops was this roadside park on what used to be US-31.  The cairn contains a stone from each of Michigan's 83 counties.

 

 

Took a few more pictures around Torch Lake and then made the 3 hour drive home.

 

Total for the week was just over 1000 miles, and the only issues were the grease cap that came loose from the left front wheel (that makes a heck of noise bouncing around inside the wheel cover) and a headlight that burned out.  Shout out to the Advance Auto in Cheboygan that actually had one in stock on a Sunday morning.  😊

 

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

 

  Dan, I have enjoyed this thread.  IMMENSELY.

  And that is/was a TOUR .    Thanks for the ride.

 

  Ben

[8E45E]

Thanks for the play-by-play of the tour!

 

Sounds like everyone had a lot of fun for sure.

 

Craig

[Lowo]

This looks amazing, thanks for posting