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FATHER & DAUGHTER MEMORIES OF THE COLORADO GRAND
By Linsey Mounger & Glenn Mounger
Glenn Mounger and Linsey Mounger at Snowmass Village on the final day of the rally.
The Colorado Grand is an annual charity tour for sports and racing cars of distinction built before the end of the 1960s. Every September at the peak of the fallcolor season, approximately 85 cars are driven in this relaxed, non-competitive event, covering 1,000 miles through the Rockies over five days. Founded in 1989 by Englewood automotive enthusiast Bob Sutherland, the event is run with the cooperation of the Colorado State Patrol and the tour travels through many small towns of the Western Slope. Our former Concours Chairman and longtime Grand veteran Glenn Mounger teamed up with his daughter Linsey Mounger to tackle the route in 2019, and they talk about it here.
The Lancia Aurelia B24S is a popular choice of car for the Colorado Grand.
Knox Kershaw at the wheel of his 1935 Duesenberg SJ "Mormon Meteor" Speedster in 1991 with Glenn as navigator.
Glenn Mounger: You never know what kind of weather you’ll get — from glorious sunshine to rain or snow — so your car needs to be ready for anything. It’s always great to see so many of our Pebble Beach Concours friends as well as those we see every year at the Grand. In addition to the scenery and wonderful cars, the camaraderie is hard to beat.
Linsey Mounger: I grew up with the car enthusiast culture. The 2004 Colorado Grand was the first event in which my sister Meaghan and I could drive. We participated in the Grand as a family that year with two cars: our 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina Cabriolet Series I and our 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing. My sister and I each got to drive that year, but this year was a special trip for Dad and me. As life gets more complicated and work gets in the way, opportunities like this are few and far between.
Glenn: 2019 was the 31st anniversary of the Colorado Grand, and I have done probably 25 of them. I participated in my first Grand in 1991 when I was a co-driver in Knox Kershaw’s 1935 Duesenberg SJ Speedster (the “Mormon Meteor”) and, after driving that fabulous car through the Rockies, I was hooked on the event. The Duesenberg would go on to be awarded Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours in 2007 with its current owner, Harry Yeaggy.
Linsey: Last year we had initially planned to take our 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Coupe. However, hoping to take full advantage of the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, Dad went on the hunt for an appropriate convertible car.
Glenn: I had long admired the Lancia Aurelia B24S convertible and heard owners talk about how wonderful that car is for an event like the Grand. The good news was we had
Sadly, breakdowns can occur even in the best prepared automobiles. Mike and Adam Dopudja of Vintage Racing Motors and Nate Lander of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center offered much-needed mechanical assistance.
Left: Linsey en route to the beautiful snow-capped mountains surrounding Durango.
The glorious countryside around Vail on day one. The 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB of Mark Haddawy.
the opportunity to buy one shortly before the event and I was able to complete the purchase while sitting in my room at Pebble Beach in August. The bad news was that we had only four weeks to ship the car to the Grand!
Linsey: Dad was determined to get the car ready for the tour so he shipped it to Mike and Adam Dopudja of Vintage Racing Motors. Mike is one of the original founders of the Grand and knows how to prepare a car for just such an event. The car was — and is — beautiful. But, although well restored, it had sat unused for many years and needed to be properly sorted out for five days of serious driving. Mike and Adam had only three weeks before the car was to be picked up and that’s not a lot of time to prepare for an event as demanding as the Grand — especially since I knew that we were to be going up and down Independence Pass.
DAY ONE ➡
Vail to Paonia to Telluride
Linsey: Incredibly, the Lancia made it to the start of the tour, and we were ready for the trip from Vail to Telluride. We have a family touring rule, which is that if our car is a convertible or an open car — the top stays down. As it turned out it was very cold, but when I got behind the wheel the Lancia performed really well and was everything we had hoped for. Shortly before lunch, we came to road construction and a backup of cars — and that’s when the fun began! While waiting in a line of cars, we realized our car would no longer shift into gear without a terrible grinding noise from the transmission. Dad and I pushed the car to the side of the road, and fortunately, Mike and Adam — along with Nate Lander of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center — were just a few minutes behind us.
Glenn: Mike, Adam and Nate worked on the car for over two hours, lying in the gravel at the side of the road, and thankfully they were able to put enough band-aids on the hydraulic clutch system to get us back on the tour. With their help, we were able to make it to Telluride, but not surprisingly we were the last ones in for cocktail hour.
DAY TWO ➡
Telluride to Durango for Lunch
Glenn: With Linsey driving, the car performed flawlessly. However, with the top down we hit the mother of all rain showers shortly before Durango. After the lunch stop in Durango, I took the wheel but after just one mile, sitting at a stoplight, the car once again failed to shift into gear. Linsey and I pushed it into the Durango High School parking lot and once again flagged down Mike, Adam and Nate. While sitting in the parking lot, police cars pulled in and we learned that the high school was on lockdown. Thankfully, we were told the threat was on the outside and it was a lock in and not a lock out. I’m still unsure whether we caused it! After another box of band-aids were applied to the clutch, we got back on the road to Telluride, and once again we did the cocktail “walk of shame” — the last ones in.
DAY THREE ➡
Telluride to Gunnison to Snowmass
Glenn: Full of optimism that our troubles were now behind us, we hopped into the car in the parking garage but this time were met with total clutch failure. It now appeared that all the band-aids had fallen off and the car was DOA. Thanks to the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center, we were given a brandnew Mercedes-Benz AMG C63, and we sadly left the Lancia where it was. Although Linsey and I were disappointed, we could rest assured that we wouldn’t be the last ones in! At the cocktail hour we worked the bar with hat in hand and negotiated to finish the Grand on Day Four as passengers alongside friends in other cars.
DAY FOUR ➡
Snowmass to Salida to Vail
Linsey: I hitched a ride with Paul Hageman and Hans Wurl in Hageman’s 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Vanden Plas Tourer, and Dad rode with David Gooding in Scott and Joanie Kriens’ 1939 Alfa Romeo Tipo 256 Coupé.
Glenn: It was a perfectly beautiful sunny day as the Alfa cruised effortlessly through the curves and altitude of Independence Pass. At the 12,095-foot summit we pulled over and met Colin Feichtmeir and his co-driver Tim Nedom driving the Kriens’ 1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Long Chassis Tourer. After stopping to admire the views, Linsey was the first to leave the summit in the Hageman Bentley, followed by David and I, and Colin and Tim. Just before the lunch stop in Salida, our Alfa developed a misfire and started running a little rough, so we pulled over. One of the trouble trucks saw us and the mechanic assessed our problem as an ignition issue. We decided not to push our luck and waited for Paul and Colin to show up. Linsey: I realized that since Dad and David didn’t show up for lunch, they had probably broken down again. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but since every car Dad sat in ended up on a trailer, one of the Colorado State Patrol Troopers secretly named him “The Curse” and asked him not to get within ten feet of his motorcycle!
Glenn: When Paul in the Bentley and Colin in the Alfa showed up, we decided to quickly rearrange things. Linsey crawled into the cramped, shelf-like back seat of the Alfa 8C, and David Gooding and I squeezed into the back seat of the Bentley — along with a tool roll, fire extinguisher, coats and all the other things that seem to find their way into the back of a vintage car!
Linsey: There was very little room in the back of the 8C Alfa and no protection from the wind, so I put on my coat and pulled the hood tight around my face. I noticed that Dad and David did the same in the Bentley. It was a crazy ride through the canyons and over the 12,126-foot Cottonwood Pass, but Paul and Hans made it fun and we had a great time. It was a different Grand since we didn’t finish in our own automobile, but I stand by our assertion that the Grand is better in an open car, and I’m glad we took the chance on the Lancia. By the end of the event I had managed to ride in five different cars on some incredible roads alongside my Dad and other good friends and fellow “Grand-ers.” It was an experience I will never forget!
Glenn: Here’s some advice if you really want to know what’s happening with your children (or they want to know about you): Spend four days driving a collector car in an event like the Colorado Grand. You soon get past mundane questions, like how’s the job? and other small talk, and you are reminded how special your children really are.
Clockwise from top left: Paul Hageman and Hans Wurl in a 1929 Bentley 4½ Litre Vanden Plas Tourer; one of the many challenging bends encountered along the way; Snowmass Base Village at the end of day three; David Gooding in Scott and Joanie Kriens’ 1939 Alfa Romeo Tipo 256 Coupé; four-up in the 8C Alfa with Colin Feichtmeir happily behind the wheel.
