By Chuck Conrad, with excerpts related by Max Graham, originally published in 1997, updated by James Bartlett, Nichole Gambulos and Greg Herbert
It all started in 1953 in the minds of a few enthusiastic old car buffs who wanted to get together with other “squirrels” to kick tires and swap talk about their “tired iron.” There was left only the task of finding someone to take the initiative, and the late Dave Whitehead of Fort Worth was that person. Dave started formulating plans for a statewide tour. Working with Dan Williams of Dallas, Carl Binner of Waco, the Hillsboro Car Dealers Association and the State Fair of Texas, plans began to take shape. Dave made a number of trips to Waco in his ‘25 Pierce Arrow along with Max Graham to work out the route and other details.
The 1st Texas Tour started in Waco, with a stop in Hillsboro and an overnight stop in Waxahachie. It ended up at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. There were 35 cars on the tour. Its success was due in large part to the support of such well-known hobbyists as Liston Zander of San Antonio, Claude Cato of Houston, H.B. Carroll of Abilene and Boone Dowdy of Austin. Sponsorship by Magnolia Petroleum was a contributing factor. HHCA Houston sponsored the next tour in Galveston; the tour ran into stormy weather.
“The Texas Tour was the first big antique car tour in the entire Southwestern U.S.,” recalled Glen Pray, famed Tulsa-based antique car enthusiast who in 1960 bought out the Auburn-Cord factory parts inventory and later manufactured the first replica Auburn speedsters. “Those early tours attracted cars from multiple states surrounding Texas, and we all looked forward to attending. Back then most car tours were located up in the Northeast.”
For a while it seemed as though a few disgruntled participants around the state might kill the tour for all. Two tours were held in 1961, one sponsored by the Texas Region AACA in Kerrville and one by the Dallas HCCA in Temple. But then the Texas Tour Association was formed in 1960 and under the leadership of its members, harmony and cooperation began to prevail. The following year, after smooth sailing had been restored, the association was dissolved.
From its tentative start, the tour grew to the point that it attracted more than 200 cars several times during the 1970s and 1980s. Then, as the year-range of the cars attending became wider, spin-offs occurred, with enthusiasts founding separate Texas Tours for Ford Model T’s, Model A’s and V-8’s, and horseless carriages. A special 50th edition of the Texas Tour featured a display of surviving cars that had been on the very first tour.
Serious threats to continuation of the original Texas Tour came in 1999 and 2016, when no club initially stepped forward to serve as sponsor. In 1999 James Bartlett obtained pledges from multiple clubs to each handle a distinct tour function, and chaired a joint tour in Huntsville and implemented a formal assigned sponsorship rotation. Then in 2016 after the assigned sponsoring club withdrew from the rotation, the Golden Crescent Region stepped forward to fill the gap, sponsoring tours for two straight years. Another obstacle came along in 2019 as the COVID pandemic forced a one-year cancellation. The Texas Region AACA stepped in and volunteered to host a scaled back version of the tour in 2021 with 7 weeks of planning time allotted to pull it off. Rotating trophies were the only ones awarded that year but 45 cars pre registered for the event allowing the event to continue successfully.
Also during this time frame, the original website (texastour.co) which is run by Greg Herbert from the Central Texas Region AACA was hacked resulting in delays while trying to gain access back to the website. In the meantime, Nichole Gambulos from Texas Region AACA began a registration information site (TheTexasTour.com) and partnered with Greg to keep the information posted for these great tours. Videos from past Texas Tours are also available on our public facebook page (search Texas Tour or click here)
The Texas Tour is currently managed by an ad-hoc committee of representatives from each participating club that meets during the annual tour. It verifies which club will host during a particular year, either following the rotation or accommodating new requests, and helps iron out any difficulties. Currently six clubs remain in the sponsorship rotation including the newest addition, the Rio Grande Valley AACA. The remaining original group includes Central Texas Region AACA (Austin), Golden Crescent Region AACA (Victoria), Gulf Coast Region AACA (Houston), Northwest Texas Region AACA (Greenville), and Texas Region AACA (Dallas).
Tours have been held all over the state, giving participants opportunities to enjoy off-the-beaten-path attractions that highlight our state’s remarkably diverse geography, history and culture. It would be unfair to call any particular tour better than any other, since each is unique. If the desire is there, it’s possible to have a good time under almost any circumstance. Having a good time is what the Texas Tour is all about.
And the story continues annually!