New forum group, Nor-Cal Mopars
Do you have anymore info on this touring group and how often the tour. my father inlaw has a 55 Chrysler. This sounds like fun. We cant make this sunday but if this is something that happens on regular basis we would be interested.
"Founded in 1997, the California Melee is the ORIGINAL low buck classic sports car rally. Each year in mid-September (specifically the weekend after Labor Day) the California Melee gathers a limited group of approximately 50 mischievous classic sports car buffs and treats them to a three-day, +750 mile tour of the most beautiful backroads Northern California has to offer... on the cheap! Unlike some other classic sports car driving events, we understand the cost of building and running old cars, so we have always believed that an event entry shouldn't cost more than a set of tires, or maybe a wiring harness."
Yahoo page:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/californiamelee/
Web page (not updated for this year):
http://www.californiamelee.com/
It says "sports car", but it is open to anything built in 1974 or earlier, excluding trucks and station wagons. Since it always attracts more entries than can be accommodated, the organizers "pick & choose", preferring models they haven't seen before (although a certain number of seats seem to be reserved for long-time entries and buddies). The name is a pun on "California Mille", which is a famous high-buck tour celebrating the classic Italian Road Race, the Mille Miglia.
This is only one of many of these events. For a calendar, go to:
http://vintagerallyecartel.com/events/eventlist.html
I have run the Melee twice in my Barracuda and once in an MG. I have also run the Motherlode 400 in the Barracuda. The multi-day tours are great fun and can challenge your car's fitness and your own driving skills, as they usually involve serious mountain backroads. Most cars are at least somewhat performance-oriented -- either factory sports cars, or "restified" classics (hint: brakes are important). The one-day events are basically fun runs with a very diverse group of gearheads, and are usually free and open to all. These are the ones where you will see pure cruisers (62 Cad convertible) and oddballs (Citroen 2CV, microcars).
This is a slightly different world than the muscle car scene or Mopar shows, but the people are interested in all sorts of cars (well, maybe excepting some of the Porsche crowd), and they respect anyone who is willing to drive a classic hard. No trailer queens...