Owls Head Museum announces new Antique, Classic and Special Interest Tour

A Lincoln dual-cowl phaeton parked outside the Marshal Point Lighthouse. Photo courtesy Owls Head Transportation Museum.

The Owls Head Transportation Museum (OHTM) in Owls Head, Maine, is well-known for its antique car shows, “History Comes Alive” demonstrations, vintage-aircraft fly-ins, and annual New England Auto Auction, but despite a location surrounded by stunningly scenic byways, has never sponsored a driving tour. That changes on Sunday, May 21, when the OHTM hosts its inaugural Antique, Classic and Special Interest Tour, featuring some of the area’s best driving roads blended with a host of interesting stops.

Per Toby Stinson, OHTM’s special event and auction coordinator, the museum has long supplied suggested tour routes to visiting groups, and its members have often requested a museum-guided tour of the area. The debut Antique, Classic and Special Interest Tour will hit on the area’s popular attractions, such as the Marshal Point Lighthouse and Montpelier: The Knox Mansion, but will also feature stops of interest to those in the old car hobby, including Andy Swift’s Firefly Restorations and George Sprowl’s Antique Express restoration shop. Participants will also have the option of driving the Mt. Battie Auto Road in Camden, which (on a clear day) offers views of Penobscot Bay, the area’s coastal islands and even Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.

The tour will begin and end at the OHTM, traversing roughly 80 miles of area back roads in between. The museum’s gates will open at 6:30 a.m. to allow off-loading of trailered vehicles, and a route briefing will be held at 8:45 a.m. ahead of an anticipated 9:00 a.m. departure. The tour is expected to return to the museum at roughly 4:00 p.m.

Early registrations have included everything from Model T’s and vintage trucks through cars of the 1960s from both sides of the Atlantic, and though the focus is on antique and collector cars, “special interest” vehicles (i.e. sports cars, convertibles and roadsters) of all ages are welcome to participate. The advance registration fee is $50, which includes box lunches for two; for those signing up on the day of the tour, box lunches will not be available, but the cost drops to $40. Proceeds from the event will go to benefit the OHTM summer internship program.

For additional details, or to register for the debut Antique, Classic and Special Interest Tour, visit OwlsHead.org.