Historic Highways and The Albaugh Collection

July 12, 2024

2024 Heartland Driving Tour
Saturday, September 7th

Travel the Lincoln and Jefferson Highways and Stroll Through Iowa’s Premier Car Collection

For 2024, the Heartland Driving Tour sets out east of Des Moines on a journey to explore three historic highways that connected Iowa to the rest of the nation. The Tour will take you back in time to explore early roads that helped open travel to more automobiles for commerce and travel.

The tour will start with a visit to Southeast Polk High School to get a glimpse at the future generation of car enthusiasts, and efforts to prepare them for work in the automotive trades.

Historic US Route 6 carries the Tour east through rolling countryside and farmland. Route 6 once ran 3,652 miles from Bishop, California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. The route will carry us past the former factory of one of Iowa’s locally built car brands.

Heading north, the Tour will join the Lincoln Highway and follow segments of the iconic highway’s history. The Lincoln Highway was conceived by Carl Fisher, the creator of the Indianapolis 500, and was developed specifically for use by automobile.

Following the Lincoln Highway west will bring us to the crossing of the Jefferson Highway, also known as the Pine to Palm Highway. The brainchild of E.T. Meredith, the Jefferson opened travel between Winnipeg, Manitoba and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Our final leg of the Driving Tour takes us to Ankeny, Iowa. The Albaugh Collection has over 150 examples of Chevrolets, particularly convertibles. Explore examples of the first decade of Corvettes, see every color combination of 1957 Bel Airs, or gaze at the massive GM Futurliner bus. A catered lunch will be provided.

Join us on Saturday, September 7^th from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The tour will start at Southeast Polk High School (7945 NE University Ave, Pleasant Hill, IA) and end at the Albaugh Collection (1505 NE 36th St, Ankeny, IA).

Each car receives a printed Tour Guide. Each participant (drivers and riders) is provided food, drinks and a commemorative sticker. Cost is $40 per participant. The Tour is limited to 150 participants.

The Des Moines Concours d’Elegance™ is a premier automotive exhibition held each September on the weekend after Labor Day in downtown Des Moines. The Des Moines Concours is a community event, open to the public at no charge, and presents an extraordinary display of vintage and classic motor vehicles, selected to celebrate the fine art, design evolution and amazing innovations of motor vehicles through the years, as well as the talented designers and engineers that created them. Proceeds from the Des Moines Concours benefit Children's Cancer Conection. Mail Checks to Des Moines Concours, PO Box 13322, Des Moines, IA 50310. Or email us at info@desmoinesconcours.com