How The San Diego Excursion Got It's Start.

A Recap of the 2025 Event.

By Newell Booth

Photographs by Chirs Mannerino

After organizing the Centennial Commemoration of the Panama-California Exposition (1915, San Diego, CA), we felt that we could not duplicate the success of the Centennial itself, so we decided to wait till a future date.

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I remember waking up in early November of 2024, after dreaming of the 2015 Centennial, and realized that 2025 would be a good time to revive the concept.

I spoke with the La Jolla Regional Group of the Horseless Carriage Club along with and other clubs in the San Diego area and was able to obtain the assistance of Dave Ness, Ben Oakes, Greg Long, and Jim Price in planning, advertising, and execution of the revival.

Our experiences with COVID and a divisive 2024 National Election, combined with the outstanding effort of the team, led to a very successful 1st Annual San Diego Excursion, held January 12, 2025.

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While different from the Centennial, it eclipsed its popularity by expanding to include pre-WWII cars from all clubs in the San Diego area.

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The event drove through Mission Hills from the San Diego Automotive Museum, reconvened the procession on Shelter Island, completed two laps of the Race Route, and stopped for lunch at Liberty Station.

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The 2025 Excursion attracted around 1,000 spectators at the venues where the 90 cars assembled, drove, reconvened, and paraded.