CLEVELAND – To celebrate Ohio’s bicentennial in 2003, the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum will take seven of its vehicles from the collection on two tours through the state of Ohio this summer.
600-mile trek. On July 17-23, in coordination with the Tall Ships on Lake Erie festival, the Crawford Bicentennial Road Rally will travel a 600-mile route from Cleveland to Toledo to Dayton to Columbus and back to Cleveland.
The tour routes will take the Crawford collection through more than 42 villages, townships, towns, and cities. This is the first time that the Crawford has taken the collection “on the road” in Ohio.
The cars will travel on the older, traditional U.S. and Ohio highways including routes 20, 6, 25, 68, 40 and 42.
Scheduled stops. Leaving early from the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum on July 17, the cars will make various stops along the way including the Lorain County Historical Society in Elyria, Marblehead Lighthouse, Toledo Zoo, Air Force Museum in Dayton, the State Capital Building and Ashland County Historical Society.
Then on Aug. 2 the entourage will make a one-day run through Cleveland, Akron and Canton following Ohio Route 91.
Automobiles have been manufactured in Ohio for over half of the state’s 200 years, and auto manufacturing continues to be a large employer of the citizens of Ohio.
Ohio-made cars. Ford, GM, Daimler-Chrysler, and Honda have large manufacturing and assembly plants in the state. Auto parts manufacturing has been and remains an important business.
Especially in the early history of automobile manufacturing, most of these autos were built in the northern part of the state, principally in the Cleveland area, Warren, and Toledo.
The Crawford has many examples of these automobiles, trucks, and buses. However, new generations Crawford Road Rally of Ohioans are often surprised to learn of the importance of the contributions of Ohio, and especially Cleveland, to the history of the automobile. The tours this summer will give the museum a chance to highlight that history .
Cars featured. The autos making this Ohio bicentennial tour represent a fine selection of unusual and dramatic examples from the museum:
* 1921 Winton, Winton Motor Carriage Company, Cleveland
* 1926 Chandler coupe, Chandler-Cleveland Motor Company, Cleveland
* 1929 Jordan Speedboy, Jordan Motor Car Company, Cleveland
* 1942 Willys “Jeep,” Willys-Overland Company, Toledo
These vehicles were also selected for their level of restoration and operability – they each need to be able to make the more than 600-mile tour and return to Cleveland under their own power.
Crawford staff and volunteers are preparing the vehicles for the summer tours. The volunteers have also been recruited to drive the cars along the route and provide maintenance along the way if needed.
The rallies are funded by a grant from the Ohio Bicentennial Commission.
The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum of the Western Reserve Historical Society is located at 10825 E. Boulevard in Cleveland’s University Circle area.
Admission is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors and $5 for students. WRHS members and children 5 and younger are admitted free.
Learn more. For additional information, call 216-721-5722.
