VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION Meets, Tours & Events 3 Main Bearing Tour

Suggest you keep the kids and women off the roads the next few days. We will be headed to Yreka, CA for some serious touring. Understand our tour leader Cal Bisson has some interesting tours laid out for us to include several miles of "natural earth" roads.

I am taking the camera and hope to post a few pictures when I return.

When I return it's just enough time to service the 1928 Touring and then it's off to Cody Wyoming for the National 4-cylinder (pre-29) Tour.

Will update you on that one also.

Another fantastic tour was enjoyed this past week when 12 cars/families assembled in Yreka California for the 3 Main Bearing Tour. Attendance was down and I think it can be attributed to the price of fuel.

Our Tour Organizers were Cal and Inger Bisson and what a great selection of routes for our enjoyment. The first day took us west, and up and over a mountain range, a distance of 93 miles. The second day we went east, over some natural earth roads that led us to the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden. If you ever find yourself on Highway 97 and in the vicinity of the Memorial Garden, it is an emotional stop. This placed us almost at the base of Mt Shasta. Taking a different route back home, we clocked 86 miles total.

The oldest vehicle, a 1918 490, was driven by our tour leaders. The newest car was a 1936 coupe. We had one brake down, the 1918; it digested the timing gear.

The date for the next 3 Main Bearing Tour is September 2005 and the location is tentatively set for central Oregon with tours to and through several covered bridges. Other routes will take us west and toward the ocean.


This is the group gathered near the trouble trailer and having our morning coffee and donuts.

Lunch stop on the first day.
A tour of this size is actually perfect. At each stop all can gather for chitchat and check how the tour is going.

My supervisor and me stopped on a very old iron bridge. The 1928 Touring was selected for this tour.

For most of the trip on this route we were blessed with a beautiful day and the sun shining on the snow covered Mount Shasta. Lead car is a 1931 coupe, Jim and Val Schoffstoll in their 1928 Touring. Next, are my 1928 Touring and another 1928-closed car to the left.

How practical can you get? This was our trouble truck equipped with it’s own porta potty. The 18 was placed on the back of the trailer for the embarrassing trip back to camp. Hitching a ride, and wondering how she was going to use the porta potty, is Tiffany, owned by our hosts the Bissons.

Looks like it was a beautiful area to tour and enjoy old Chevys and Chevy nuts. All that and with the penultimate trouble trailer to boot. Does it get better than that?

How new of a Chevrolet has three main bearings?
Looks and sounds like it was a great tour and a nice size group. How many usually attend? I'm looking forward to the Early Six Cylinder Tour in September in Vermont.

See you down the BACK ROADS.

Three main bearing group is 1936 and back. This tour normally attracts the limit set of 20 cars. Sometimes too many cars become a problem, such as traffic control, feeding, places to pull off the road to regroup and have refreshments, etc. A tour of 15-20 is considered the ideal group.

Jim Schoffstoll and I are in charge of the tour next year.

We have always had a limit of 50 vehicles 1929 - 1954 for the Early Six Cylinder Tour. There have been times we split into two groups during the day. We don't travel in a caravan. We all have instruction to follow and small groups take off together traveling but we all end up at the same place and sometimes meet up during the day. What ever works for each group is best.

See you down the BACK ROADS

Your tour is somewhat similar to the National 4-cylinder. Full instructions are provided to each driver and a start and stop place. Kinda like having several people all touring on the same day. The three main bearing tour is more structured to provide aid to the other cars if problems develop. We have a strong rule that you do not depart from a turn unless you see the car behind you. Frequent stops are planned for social and nurishment requirements. Routes are selected where another vehicle on the road is a rare sight. The instructions are so flexible that an unscheduled stop at an antique store does not cause any problems. The trouble truck is always bringing up the rear to pick up any problem cars or to provide assistance.

I sure would not mind a few more pics of the different cars.

Looking forward to doing the tour thing myself...one day...

In reviewing some of my pictures I find two more that are interesting.

What a great drive toward Mt Shasta. All that was necessary was to follow the airplane. The propeller actually turns starting at about 25 MPH.

A typical greeting party encountered on the back roads. Notice that the cars behind are reflected in the mirror. After being stopped for perhaps 2 minutes 3 more puppies came up out of the grass.

Put some MMO on the prop and maybe you will save some gas mileage with the help of air power.

So who got new puppies to take home? Did you feed them? Cute puppy... Remember when you answer the JYD will be listening...

The mirror part of the mirror picture enlarged and cropped would make a great logo for a news article in the G&D on your tour.