Vintage car owners enjoy lunch in Durango during fundraising ride

Rick Rome from Dallas gives his 1959 Devin SS some TLC after arriving in Durango as part of the Colorado Grand, an annual charity ride involving owners of sports cars and race cars from 1960 and earlier. More than 100 vintage cars and their owners arrived Thursday for lunch in Durango during their 1,000-mile ride through the Rocky Mountains. The four-day event raised more than $300,000 for small Colorado charities,Western Slope towns and college scholarships for graduating high-school seniors.

Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald

×

Rick Rome from Dallas gives his 1959 Devin SS some TLC after arriving in Durango as part of the Colorado Grand, an annual charity ride involving owners of sports cars and race cars from 1960 and earlier. More than 100 vintage cars and their owners arrived Thursday for lunch in Durango during their 1,000-mile ride through the Rocky Mountains. The four-day event raised more than $300,000 for small Colorado charities,Western Slope towns and college scholarships for graduating high-school seniors.

Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald

Vintage cars line Main Avenue on Thursday during a lunch stop in Durango by the participants in the Colorado Grand, an annual charity fundraiser. Owners of sports cars and race cars from 1960 and earlier arrived in Durango as part of their four-day, 1,000-mile ride through the Rocky Mountains. The car owners raised more than $300,000 for small Colorado charities, Western Slope towns and college scholarships for graduating high-school seniors.

Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald

×

Vintage cars line Main Avenue on Thursday during a lunch stop in Durango by the participants in the Colorado Grand, an annual charity fundraiser. Owners of sports cars and race cars from 1960 and earlier arrived in Durango as part of their four-day, 1,000-mile ride through the Rocky Mountains. The car owners raised more than $300,000 for small Colorado charities, Western Slope towns and college scholarships for graduating high-school seniors.

Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald

Barreling over Red Mountain Pass, a motorcade of 1960 or earlier sports and race cars entered Durango on Thursday, part of an event in its 27th year that has raised more than $4.5 million for Colorado charities.

This year, the Colorado Grand embarked on a four-day ride covering about 1,000 miles from Vail, Grand Junction, Telluride, Durango and back to Vail, said longtime board member Mike Dopudja.

“These cars come from all over the place,” said Dopudja, a resident of Seattle. “Argentina, Canada, Germany, England. The list goes on.”

The Colorado Grand was founded in 1989, and it generates more than $300,000 each year to charities in the state. Dopudja said a regular recipient is the Colorado State Patrol Family Foundation, which helps widows and children of fallen officers.

Among the estimated 130 drivers pulling into Durango on Thursday was Rich Darling, a Long Beach, California, resident who stood by his 1953 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT.

The vintage car, which Darling purchased in Italy, features a steering wheel on the right side of the car, which made for an interesting experience over Red Mountain Pass, he said.

“It was harder for my co-pilot because he could see when I slightly crossed over the line,” Darling said. “But for me, I’m looking right over the edge and know exactly where I am.”

Some of the oldest cars in the tour were several 1930s BMWs, and even Bentleys from the 1920s. Some cars, Darling said, extended to three generations of a family owning a vehicle.

jromeo@durangoherald.com