Karen Sierer/C-N Photo

The 15th annual Three Rivers Antique Car Run, based in Defiance, will be held Aug. 6-9. Participating will be the owners of approximately 108 antique vehicles. Planning for the festivities are, from left: Fran and Jim Barney in their 1914 Ford Model T Roadster and Pam and Bob Brown with their 1912 Buick Model 35 Touring car.

By JENNY DERRINGER

derringer@crescent-news.com

The Defiance Chapter of the Veteran Motor Car Club of America has reached a milestone in its membership and will be hosting its 15th annual Three Rivers Antique Car Run this month. It is also the 55th year for the Defiance chapter, organized in 1953.

Festivities for the event are scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday, and organizers are expecting approximately 108 antique vehicles which date from 1909-42. Local members will join up with participants from across the country.

"People travel as far away as Florida, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky," said car run chairman Bob Brown. "There are 108 antique cars registered with 30 different makes. Many of the cars are no longer produced such as Brush, Cord, Daniels, DeSoto, LaSalle, Essex, Hupmobile, Interstate, Lewis, Lohr, Maxwell, Monroe, Overland, Oldsmobile, Packard, Reo, Studebaker, Velie and White."

A picnic for participants will get underway Wednesday evening under a large tent in the parking lot of Super Kmart, Stadium Drive, in Defiance.

Thursday through Saturday, residents of northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana will see the vehicles throughout the area as participants go on a tour to various communities.

Thursday's 93-mile tour will stop in Hicksville and continue on to the Auburn-Cord Duesenberg Museum and National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States, both in Auburn, Ind. The day will wrap up with an ice cream social back in Defiance at the Super Kmart parking lot.

Friday's 85-mile excursion will include a tour of the Central Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Fire Museum and the Van Wert County Historical Society Museum in Van Wert. Other stops during the day include Paulding and Charloe.

Saturday's trip includes visiting the Meadows in Leipsic, the Harley-Davidson collection of Bob and Sally Schroeder and gardens and a bed and breakfast in Defiance.

The closing ceremony will be held Saturday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

The best time for the public to view the cars and trucks is in the evening when they are parked back at the Super Kmart lot, noted Brown. Antique tractors will also be on display.

"What has made the Three Rivers Antique Car Run such a success is the roads we have in northwest Ohio," explained Brown. "The participants don't care what we do or what there is to see, they just come to drive their antique cars and renew old acquaintances."