The 37th annual New London to New Brighton Antique Car Run

The cars travel from New London to New Brighton making several stops along the way, including at the Anoka Historical Society. This trip commemorates the “London to Brighton Veteran Car Run” in England, the original Emancipation Run of 1896. This event celebrated the passing into law the “Locomotives on the Highway Act of 1896” which raised the speed limit for “light automobiles” from four mph to 14 mph and abolished the need for a person to walk 20 yards in front of all vehicles waving a red flag. Eighty-four years later, some farsighted antique auto enthusiasts organized the first New London to New Brighton Antique Car Run, 120 miles long in Minnesota. This historic tradition continues 37 years later, with rest stops Grove City, Litchfield, Kingston, Buffalo, and Anoka. Observers have referred to the Antique Car Run as a “rolling museum of historical cars.” The event has become one of the premier antique automobile tours in the world. This is a real exhibition of the earliest automobile technology of the time, a time when there wasn’t a clear direction on who had the winning combination. Steam, gasoline and even electric were each viable options and may be seen. Some thought the answer was a light, small car, some thought the answer was big and high horsepower. One-, two-, four- and six-cylinder cars can be expected. Even driving the rear wheels had various proponents, from “rope” drive, to chain, to drive shaft. Of course, transmissions had lots of variations from continuously variable to planetary to progressive and selective gearing. And it’s all something that gets to be seen up close and in operation. It’s one thing to observe a 110 or a 120 year-old artifact behind a rope in a museum, it’s another to see it in operation.