Vintage car fanatics cruise through Laurel Highlands for annual Countryside Tour

Dave Antram had no choice in the matter. He was raised to enjoy classic cars.

Antram, 56, of Somerset Borough took his white 1954 Kaiser out for a spin Thursday morning to Ligonier’s Ramada Inn, where more than 50 vintage vehicles departed for more than 100 miles of driving through the Laurel Highlands.

The Countryside Tour, part of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, winds along back roads to Ohiopyle State Park in Fayette County before circling back to Jamison Farm in Unity.

The traditional route is about 105 miles, said event Chairperson Bud Osbourne, but there is a nearly 170-mile route for those seeking more time on the road.

“It’s all country roads and at a comfortable pace,” Osbourne said. “Hopefully (it will be) a fun day for everybody.”

About 50 drivers typically come out for the hourslong adventure, first held in 2012. Vintage car enthusiasts travel from states across the country, he said — including Ohio, New York, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina and even California.

Groups of three to five cars depart from the Ramada Inn in 20-minute waves. The groups are divided into pace preferences, separating the brisk travelers from the “Sunday drive” cruisers.

Antram and his travel partner — Keith Olena, 62, also of Somerset — opted for the latter pace group in their second time completing the Countryside Tour.

Antram’s 70-year-old car, which he and his dad purchased from a man in Florida in the ’90s, is a labor of love.

“We hauled it back, and over time had to redo the paint, the top, the interior and the engine,” he said.

But the cars are only half the reason Antram returned to the tour this year.

“Most of these people, I think, would tell you that as great as their cars are, the best part is really the fact that it’s a chance to meet people from a lot of different backgrounds and economic cultures,” he said, surveying the drivers milling about the cars lining West Loyalhanna Street.

That’s what inspired Bill Walton and his wife, Debbie White, to make the seven-hour drive from their Charlotte, N.C. home to participate in the tour.

“This fella here, we’ve never met him,” Walton said, pointing to a fellow car aficionado who struck up a conversation with him and White.

“There was a guy just taking a picture. We met him. He wants us to come to his show,” said Walton, 75. “So it’s really the people involved.”

Karena Graves and her wife, Elena, were just happy they made it to the Countryside Tour this year.

“Our previous car was totaled on our way to this event last year,” Graves said of the couple’s 1974 MGB.

To Graves’ gratitude, no one was injured in the crash.

She sees this year’s tour as an opportunity to unwind.

“Just getting out and kind of forgetting everything else, just coming out and relaxing for the weekend — it’s nice,” said Graves, 50, of Farrell, Mercer County.

Graves admits she is no car expert. It was her wife who inspired her appreciation for the antiques.

“I’ve been into (cars) since I was a kid, and I’ve owned a number of different kinds,” said Elena Graves, 72.

For Mike Reese and his family, the Countryside Tour is a multi-generational event.

Reese, 48, of Greensburg drove a ’70s Jaguar XKE alongside his dad, brothers, son and nephew.

“Our father got us into turning wrenches when we were in trouble in high school, or even before that. (He’s) kind of a product of growing up in the ’50s, the heyday of the American automotive movement,” Reese said of his dad, Dave Reese Sr., who used to own the Ageless Autos antique car shop in New Stanton.

“He’s been our inspiration for keeping this going.”

There is no better place for a vintage car drive than the Laurel Highlands, Reese said.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “You get to cruise through the Laurel Highlands — let the cars behave like they were designed to.”

The family has participated in the tour for about six years, said Dave Reese Sr., 83.

“We’ve done this every year for a long time, so it isn’t like this is going to be very new. The exciting part is, ‘Will our car make it the whole way?’ ” he joked.