By Emma Bouthillette
Staff Writer


Summer is prime time to take the “classy chassy” out of the garage and onto the road and that is just what some drivers plan to do next week.
The third annual Barnstorming Maine Classic Car Road Tour organized by the Trade Association of the Maine Tourism Association is taking place June 9 to 13. Maine Tourism Association CEO Vaughn Stinson said last year 16 classic cars participated, and this year they currently have 12 vehicles signed up for the tour.
“For a number of years we were looking for something entirely different to do. The idea was born to do a classic car event to bring people into Maine in early June, before the height of tourist season. And to travel on the roads less traveled, using the back routes,” Stinson said.
Participants in the road tour pay a registration fee of $3,950, which covers lodging and food. Stinson said while promoting tourism in Maine, the association also wants to give back, so any profit from the registration benefits a “charitable cause,” which has yet to be selected. Stinson said in the past two years, $2,500 was donated to the Pine Tree Society, an organization that helps disabled people live a full life, and another $2,500 to the Johnson Sawmill, a historical site in Waterboro.
Stinson said three years ago, the event began under the guidance of Brian Redman, a world-renowned Grand Prix driver. Now retired, Redman advises many road tours and advises racing of historic cars. Redman plans to drive a new Porsche.
“My company has organized tours including one in Maine, which we had stopped doing. But then I received a call from Vaughn Stinson asking me to help out with the road tour for the Maine Tourism Association. I enjoy touring the areas of Maine,” Redman said.
Stinson said the tour’s classic cars are usually from or built prior to 1976, but some exceptions can be made.
Past participants have come as far as Colorado and Puerto Rico to drive through southern Maine. However, while the event takes place in Maine, participants are all from out of state.
The Maine Tourism Association gears the road tour to promoting tourism in Maine and therefore discourages Maine residents from participation.
Drivers will stay at the Colony Hotel in Kennebunkport. Routes are mapped out daily and cover nearly 300 miles of road. Each morning takes the drivers in a different direction.
On the first day, the tour travels south, down the coast of Maine through Kennebunk, Wells, Ogunquit, York and Kittery.
“On the second day, [Wednesday] in the morning we will come up Route 9, past the University of New England and into downtown Biddeford. Then we will work our way into Old Orchard where we will stop for coffee at the Myst. There, the cars will be parked all in line,” Stinson said.
The tour will then continue north along the coastline, driving through Scarborough, Pine Point and Cape Elizabeth. Highlights of the drive include Two Lights State Park and Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth, and lunch at Maine Indoor Karting in Scarborough.
By the third day, the tour moves inland, stopping at the Saco River Grange Hall for coffee, then traveling through Salmon Falls, Waterboro, Cornish, Kezar Falls, Parsonsfield, Limerick and Newfield, returning to Kennebunkport for a last night’s stay.
For more information on Barnstorming Maine Classic Car Road Tour, call Vaughn Stinson at 623-0363 or visit www.barnstormingmaine.com.