Cadillac & LaSalle Club HANDBOOK for DRIVING TOURS Updated November, 2019 by Stephen Page Developed by: Doug Bailey, Peach State Region, CLC David Rubin, Two Rivers (Lower Hudson Valley) Region, CLC April 30, 2017 Acknowledgements and Sources: Richard Esposito of the New England region of CLC developed an extensive guide entitled “Regional Handbook for CLC Driving Tours” (undated). That document, plus Jeff Shively’s (Indiana region) handbook for driving tours served as the backbone of this update. Peach State region has earned a reputation as one of the premier clubs for conducting successful regional driving tours; well over 75% of all badges awarded under the CLC’s touring program are riding on the grilles of Peach State Cadillacs. I imagine that was one reason David Rubin, Executive VP of CLC and of the Two Rivers (Lower Hudson Valley) region, asked if I would be interested in drafting an update to the guide. I’m honored to be part of the team that has prepared this edition. We dedicate it to the many members of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club who will participate in one of the club’s many fine driving tours in the coming years. Restrictions: Reproduction and distribution of this manual by anyone not a member in good standing of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club must be pre-authorized by the CLC. CLC Handbook for Touring November 2019 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 3 CLC Requirements for Hosting a Driving Tour 5 Tips and Guidelines for Planning Your Tour 8 Past CLC Driving Tours 18 CLC Touring Badge Winners 18 Appendix A – Application: Hosting a National Driving Tour 21 Appendix B – Touring Badge Program Outline 22 Appendix B – Regional Tour Event Notification 23 Appendix B – Regional Tour Recording Form 24 Appendix C – Two-Year Timeline: Planning Calendar 25 Appendix D – Sample Tour Promotional Write-Up 28 Appendix E – Sample National Registration Form 30 Appendix F – Sample Tour Book Segments 31 Appendix G – Touring Packet for Participants 36 Appendix H – Evaluation Packet 38 Appendix I – Sample Region Tour Packet or Flyer 39 Appendix J – Sample Driving Tour Wrap-Up 45 CLC Handbook for Touring November 2019 2 INTRODUCTION Participating in driving tours offers a time to enjoy our Cadillacs and LaSalles as they were initially intended… to be driven. What a great way to test the quality of your preservation work! Let’s get out and drive our Cadillacs to the thousands of automobile museums and collections, cultural sites and scenic attractions that may be found anywhere in this great country. They should be part of just about any good driving tour. Not only are all Cadillac & LaSalle Club members welcome to participate in these tours, but it’s been our experience that these are among the most attractive events a club can host. For regions, a driving tour can be a wonderful way to show your members and their guests they are valued by the club. It’s also a hugely successful way to draw more Cadillac aficionados into the fold. We have found that a driving tour can be so much more than a car show. As you roll through the byways people will flood out onto the sidewalks to admire the chrome… You are bringing your car show to the people! Thinking of hosting a driving tour? This guide was designed to offer you some assistance in making it a success – and to clarify the expectations the Cadillac & LaSalle Club (CLC) has for your region when it hosts a tour. You might as well all have the benefit of our experiences, the good and the bad. 1. Two Types of Tours: There are two types of tours: • NATIONAL DRIVING TOURS: Since 1997 the Cadillac & LaSalle Club has sanctioned three- or more-day driving tours conducted by its regional affiliates, open to any member of the CLC world-wide. These events are “big-ticket” events that attract a large number of drivers, their cars and their guests. They require substantial planning and coordination to be successful. • REGIONAL DRIVING TOURS: Since 2011 the Cadillac & LaSalle Club has made available to participants of CLC-sanctioned touring events special awards that commemorate significant driving milestones. Regional Tours must be two days in duration and 100 miles minimum in distance to be included in this program. These awards include special grille badges awarded to eligible cars1. This guide offers a few requirements and a number of suggestions based on successful driving tours of recent years. Your NATIONAL tour must be approved by the National Meets and Tours Committee (NMTC) and the full Board of the CLC for your tour to be sanctioned by the CLC. A National Driving Tour application must be completed and submitted to your Regional Vice President (see example in Appendix A). Much of this guide can be applied to REGIONAL tours as well, except that the approval process (for inclusion in the CLC Touring Badge Program) is less rigorous (see Appendix B). 2. Purposes: The purpose of touring is to promote the maintenance, preservation, and drivability of our Cadillacs and LaSalles – they were meant to be on the road! This touring guide is meant to encourage CLC regions to plan and conduct National and Regional Driving Tours 3. Goals: We sincerely hope that each region of the CLC will eventually have an opportunity to host a REGIONAL tour, and perhaps eventually a NATIONAL tour. We want to build camaraderie among folks who may not have shared the road before, and to foster a rolling love for our Cadillacs and LaSalles. If our tours can show off our nation’s beauty, provide a nostalgic visit back to the earlier days of motoring, and generate a little excitement, well then, we will have given our participants yet another reason to stay actively involved with the CLC! How do those goals play out? In three ways: • Ensure that a range of tours will be open to CLC members across the United States during touring weather, while offering a major NATIONAL event to balance with the Grand Nationals. 1 Also go to www.cadillaclasalleclub.org/touring-program CLC Handbook for Touring November 2019 3 • Increase participation in REGIONAL and NATIONAL driving tours, while attracting and retaining members as another benefit of CLC membership. • Ensure that members who participate will experience the ultimate in Cadillac and LaSalle driving pleasure: a maximum of enjoyment with a minimum of disruptions. 4. Vision: The CLC encourages hosting regions to use a mix of creativity and structure to make each driving tour special. It is the hope of CLC leaders that each regional affiliate would one day plan and host a multi-day REGIONAL driving tour, and eventually find it so rewarding that they will enroll as the hosts of a NATIONAL driving tour. 5. Values: The principles underlying this manual include: • A driving tour should be a vacation-like interlude from the daily grind. It does not have to organize each and every activity, or occupy every waking moment. Allow some time for casual conversation with someone who shares your love of Cadillac automobiles. • Driving tours should be FUN for the whole family, children as well as adults. • Hosting regions are serving CLC’s members, who deserve the highest quality of planning, communication, events and tools (e.g., tour guides, maps and flyers). • Our tours honor the local customs and rules of the road. Speed limits, traffic patterns, and other rules are there to encourage safe travel and must be obeyed. • We want to be welcomed back by the communities and venues we visit. We are always going to be high profile guests due to the nature of our vehicles, and therefore we must go out of our way to represent Cadillac and the CLC with the highest of standards. Be Cadillac ambassadors! • Many of our members are individualists and iconoclasts. Leave room for personalities and diversity. Not everyone thinks like you, or thrives in too much structure. • Put yourself in the shoes of your touring guests: If they struggle with heavy luggage, make sure there are baggage handlers around. If they can’t eat what others eat, make sure there are alternatives. If physical barriers are a challenge, make sure there are ramps and special parking. • Always make sure you’re thinking of the exception, because those are the situations that will give you heartburn, and that people will remember for years. For example, have extra seating available for dinners, as family groups will want to sit together. CLC Handbook for Touring November 2019 4 CLC REQUIREMENTS FOR HOSTING A DRIVING TOUR The CLC imposes a few requirements governing the planning process, and some minimum standards for conducting your driving tour. These address the lead time needed for CLC approval, the proposal process, and length and duration of the CLC driving tours, and responsibilities of the CLC and its regions. 1. Planning Ahead and Coordinating with CLC: Regions wishing to host a NATIONAL driving tour must provide their Regional VP with a proposal. NATIONAL tours will be presented to the National Board. A two-year planning calendar is offered in Appendix C. 2. CLC Region Hosting: Any non-provisional region of the CLC may host a NATIONAL driving tour with the support and involvement of the Club. Any CLC region may host a REGIONAL tour. 3. Member Participation: Participants in CLC-sanctioned driving tours must be members of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club and must provide their CLC membership number to the host region. Applicants may bring non-member guests with them on a driving tour. It is not a requirement that participants drive Cadillac-built vehicles on the tour, although Cadillacs are encouraged.