Cars are cool, and vintage cars especially so.

Have you ever owned a car that you really loved to drive and enjoyed being with?

I have, and I know an awful lot of others who have experienced this kind of happiness. The follow-up question is this: Did you obtain the car for free, or did you have to buy it? Most of us buy our cars and do not receive them as gifts, an assertion I put forth to prove this point: money can buy happiness – it comes in the shape of a car.

This week, the Street Rodder Road Tour came to town, led by Jerry Dixey, Road Tour Director. Dixey, who is from Ohio and not the Deep South, calls his family of car enthusiasts “Road Tourians,” and their presence anywhere brightens the mood. These vintage cars bring smiles to faces wherever they go. Throughout the summer, the Road Tour embarks on eight different tour legs that take them all over the country to car shows, museums and other events. AMSOIL has been a sponsor of the Street Rodder Road Tour since 2008 and I believe this is the fourth time that we’ve hosted a visit.

The Road Tour was in the neighborhood because this year they have created a home base in St. Paul, Minnesota’s capitol city, taking turns travelling out on various day trips in different directions from the city. Earlier this week they went south into Iowa.  Yesterday was our day as they came north to tour the AMSOIL production facilities. What impresses me every time we have guests tour our plant is how impressed they are by the cleanliness, scale and efficiency of the AMSOIL operations.

Jerry Dixey’s hot ride for the 2017 Road Tour.

In the afternoon they drove into Duluth, Minn., for a tour of the Twin Ports seaway on the Vista Queen, getting introduced to the region from a point of view that you don’t get every day, the center of the St. Louis River that separates Minnesota from Wisconsin. The longest bridge in the state is here, and some of the busiest ports in the country.

Today they traveled east to a 100-acre auto salvage yard, feeling like kids in a candy store. And this weekend you’ll find the Road Tour cars on display at St. Paul’s Back to the Fifties event, the largest car show in North America today. What makes Back to the Fifties all the more remarkable is that the entire event is run by volunteers of the Minnesota Street Rod Association (MSRA).

These are people who love their cars, and love to ride. For some folks, cars are a form of therapy. And vintage cars are the best therapists of all.

This year is the 60th anniversary of one of the most beloved American cars of the past century, the ’57 Chevy. For this reason, Jerry Dixey is leading the tour in a spectacular ’57 Chevy convertible.

Life has many challenges, but getting out on the open road is one of the best ways to just let them go.

Take a look at some of the sights of the 2017 Street Rodder Road Tour below.