Finger Lakes Tour

Bob Bidonde

Bob Bidonde

Well-known member
I attended the MARC Finger Lakes Tour in Penn Yan, New York. Driving my Victoria, I went a total of 685 miles from Long Island to Penn Yan plus tours to the Curtis Museum, the Boat Museum, and joy riding around the town. The countryside is fantastically scenic! It was thrilling to ride "Shot Gun" in a friend's 1930 Coupe around the Glenn Falls Raceway in a thunder storm. I discovered that the right front wheel on my Victoria is out of balance and it tamps at speeds of 52 to 55 MPH. The Victoria's gas mileage was consistently +20.
I attended the MARC Membership Meeting and the big news items to me are: >The MARC office building has been sold and replaced by a new digital website; >There is no national plan to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Model "A" yet. The Ford Motor Company is unresponsive. No MARC Region has region has volunteered to host the 2028 National Meet highlighting the 100th Anniversary; Dearborn Village has been unresponsive. In my opinion, MAFFI should be the prime mover for the 100th Anniversary!
The MARC meet was primarily a self-guided tour event that I hope will not be repeated as a "modus operandi."
 
I love that area...very long drive for me though. The American Banjo Fraternity holds their Rally in Palmyra (which is closer to Rochester). You could have seen the only 19th Cent. 5-string banjo orchestra extant in North America...last weekend was their Spring Rally. I usually go in October...but have missed the past two years. The orchestra director has 3 Franklin's and he drives the '26 coupe daily.

If I lived up there, I'd be a volunteer at the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport.
 
It was a great tour. Weather wasn't great, rain two out of three days, but we were troupers the last day and drove wth the top down in the roadster.

Day 1 was tour on your own and a group of us circled the lake. We met up with others in Hammondsport.

Day 2 - drive to Corning to the Corning Glass Museum. In the afternoon, we went to Watkins Glen and did two laps around the race course. Memorable.

Day 3 - Glenn Curtiss Museum (fantastic), lunch on the lake and Finger Lakes Boat Museum in the afternoon.

Attendees were from 26 states and Washington, DC. Around 135 cars, about half of which drove there. Hats off to the organizers. Lots to see in the area.

First shot is members of our club in Hammondsport on the first day. Second is lineup of cars at Watkins Glen, third is the Glenn Curtiss world record V8 motorcycle from 1907 - 136 mph. Last shot is June Bug, the first plane to fly at least 1 Km in front of a crowd.

Here is a video of the second lap at Watkins Glen: https://youtu.be/rWSEjjez2f0
 

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Bob, was there any mention of where the 2027 MARC National meet will be? I had heard that they were having trouble finding a club to host both years.
 
Yes, there is always difficulty having a group raise their hands to host a National Meet.
2027 has been decided and will be announced at French Lick.
 
I live in the Finger Lakes even though my wife and I stayed at the Best Western in Penn Yan. I thought the tour was very good. I spent some time in the repair tent along with Larry Shepard and Max Rohl. Max is a young enthusiastic member of our group the Sullivan Trail A's. He really excelled at the repair tent. A highlight was 120 Model A Ford cars going around the Watkins Glen Racetrack. What a week. Thanks to all the volunteers and organizers that made this tour great!
 
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