Watch out for colorful traffic in Orange and Bridge City Sunday morning. Hundreds of custom hot rods will be traveling though as part of Hot Rod Magazine’s Power Tour, an annual event for car enthusiasts
The tour begins in Baton Rouge and will end in Kansas City on June 17. The participants will be driving their vintage cars and trucks from Gonzales, Louisiana, to Baytown on Sunday.
Chuck Ivey, who lived in Bridge City for several years before moving back to his home state of Alabama, will be driving a bright orange 1970 Ford Ranchero. He’s driving with friends and family. His father will be in a 1936 Ford and his uncle in a 1957 Ford Fairlane. Their friends will be driving a 1966 Chevrolet Malibu and a 1964 Ford pickup.
He said he thought about driving an older car, but it didn’t have air conditioning, a comfort for traveling in June. His father’s 1936 Ford has an air conditioner, he added.
Hot Rod Magazine has been sponsoring the tour for more than 20 years in different parts of the country. Ivey said he did part of the tour in 2014, but he had to leave for work. This time, he’s going on the whole trip.
“It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said.
The schedule has the parade of hot rods leaving Gonzales at 8 a.m. Sunday, rain or shine. They should arrive in Orange within two to three hours after leaving. Ivey said he understands the tour will leave Interstate at Highway 62 and then travel south on the highway to Highway 87. From Bridge City, the tour will go through Port Arthur and take Highway 73 back to Interstate 10 in Winnie.
Ivey said he has some friends in Bridge City who will set up at the Wal-Mart parking lot. He and his family will stop to visit with them.
Ivey helped build the Cheniere Energy LNG plant in Sabine Pass. He plans to take his father and uncle to the plant to show them. Then they’ll join up with the Power Tour in Baytown at the Royal Purple Raceway.
From Baytown, the tour will go to Austin, Grand Prairie, Oklahoma City, Valley Center in Kansas, and end in Kansas City. Ivey said his group will have to drive back to Alabama for a trip of 4,600 miles.
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