Thousands of vintage rides passed through Talladega County Thursday as part of Hot Rod Magazine’s Power Tour 2010. This year’s tour concludes in Mobile.
Hot rods, muscle cars, street cars and classic automobiles rumbled through the area on their way to Birmingham as part of the Hot Rod Power Tour 2010.
The tour began in Newton, Iowa on June 5 and proceeded through Springfield, Ill.; DuQuoin, Ill.; Bowling Green, Ky.; and Chattanooga, Tenn. before rolling into Talladega, reaching Childersburg and Birmingham Thursday.
Mike Suchomel of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, stopped in Talladega for lunch during his third tour in a blue 1980 Corvette.
“We take a different route every year, and we get to see parts of the country that are brand new to us,” he said. “That’s really the best for me, taking these routes with things to offer that people might not even know are there.”
Pat Fisher of Madison, Miss., is making his fifth or sixth tour in a 1952 Chevrolet pickup truck.
“I just love the cars, the hot rod people, and diving stop to stop. We take a different route every year, and this year we’ll be ending up in Mobile on Friday.
In Childersburg, several locals parked outside the Water Works, set up chairs next to the highway and watched the caravan of vehicles roll into town on Alabama 76.
One of the tour’s participants was Childersburg’s Peter Wallenfang and his fiancée, Linda Pankake of Jacksonville, Fla. They drove in a red, 1966 Pontiac GTO.
“The trip is a lot of fun, especially for car buffs and enthusiasts like us,” Wallenfang said.
Pankake said the trip takes the participants down a lot back roads through the Midwest and Southeast, allowing them to take in plenty of gorgeous scenery.
They have also been able to meet and get know several of the other tour participants, who hail from all over the United States and Canada, Pankake said.
Wallenfang said between 4,000 and 5,000 participants take part in the large-scale event.
Childersburg’s Alfred Harwell was also rolling along in the tour, driving a 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS. He has been in every tour since 2005.
The tour wraps us today and Saturday in Mobile.
