Keith’s Blog: Come to Oregon for the Emerald Invitational

There’s a new classic car tour here in the Pacific Northwest: The Emerald Invitational, conducted by Vintage Underground, a high-end restoration facility located in Eugene, OR. This is an all-inclusive tour, with accommodations and dining included, happening July 6 – 10. It’s limited to just 35 cars, built before 1974 (or by application).

I have always been a lover of driving events of all kinds. But there’s something special about multi-day tours limited to classic cars. When you’re on a twisty two-lane with other vintage cars in front and behind you, it’s almost like you are time traveling.

You get a chance to really “know your car” in a way that you can’t on a one-day event. Your car becomes a focus. It’s the last thing you see each day and the first thing in the morning. You learn how to live with your car. How to fit all your luggage. Where to put your jacket. The trick to squeezing your morning latte between the seats so it won’t spill.

The tour begins in Bend, OR, and covers 800 miles of exhilarating driving through Southern Oregon’s most dramatic landscapes. You’ll see the prehistoric lava flows of the high desert, the largest coastal sand dunes in North America, a sprawling stretch of the Pacific Ocean, four national forests packed with giant redwoods and dense evergreens, iconic Crater Lake, and sweeping climbs of the Cascade and Coast mountain ranges.

Driving routes are point-to-point, with overnight lodgings in Bend, on the dunes of the Driftwood Shores in Florence, OR, at the historic Curly Redwood Lodge (or modern lodgings if you prefer) in the quaint coastal town of Crescent City, CA, and at the full-service Running Y Resort in Klamath Falls, OR. The schedule is designed to foster camaraderie with your fellow participants, with stops at Vintage Underground, the waterfront in Old Town Bandon, OR, the historic Ashland Springs Hotel, and other unique places of interest.

My favorite part of these tours are all the new friends you make, from the morning breakfast to kicking tires in the parking lot at the end of the day. The entry fee is $9,500 per car, including a driver and co-driver.

I look forward to seeing you there.

More information can be found here, or by emailing [email protected].