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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 1920)
SECTION SIX Pages 1 to 10 Automobiles, Road Trips arid Northwest Highway News vol. xxxix. PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 13, 1920 NO. 24 I.' i: OVER THE FAMOUS SHASTA ROUTE IN AN OVERLAND 4 . SEDAN - ' - m ' " ... . , , . . - .' L - . . Closed Car Makes Real Automobile History in Non-Stop Engine Run by Pacific Highway From the Canadian Border at Blaine, Wash., South to Tia Juana, Mexico. ' : I . . . . .. , t - v s . . - . - II s Iff VfVA AA-O . : . f?tri: ; 1-5- -v-. .&Mi&X'Ji ?4 II V' I :-7-r-S r ; . . , rill Sir, fe . r - I I BT L. H. GREGORY. THIS is the story of the Portland-to-Sisson (Cal.) leg of a remark able non-stop run made four weeks ago by an Overland 4 sedan rYom the Canadian boundary at Blaine, Wash., down the Pacific higrh Wftjr through Washington, Oregon and California and across the Mexican border into Tia Juana. This run of 15$4 miles made lnclosed-car history. Never before has anything like it been done with an inclosed car. This run was not made to set any speed records, but to demonstrate under actual 'touring conditions the ability, endurance and economy of the Overland 4 sedan. One of these same cars, a model Identical with the sedan that made the non-stop run, set a new economy record on the official econ omy run last month from Los Angeles to Tosemite park, California. On this non-stop run there was no limitation to the number of stops the car might, make, but the engine was to be kept running continually. The sedan -left Blaine, Wash.. a 9 o'clock Thursday morning. May 13. It crossed the line into Tia Juana at 2:45'o'clock the following Sunday :f- In the 1D84 miles registered by its speedometer, the engine of the little car flopped Just once. This was . in Sacramento, as the tank was being Hied preparatory to continuing the run to j?resno. i ne stopping or tne ernoon. May 16, and 15 minute la ter ! motor Was discovered to be due to a was officially registered at the wain I clomped gas line, caused by dirt in the customhouse. ' ' gasoline, and was so certified by the official observer at that place. The engine was stalled for five minutes while the gas line was r taken off and cleaned out. " - But this I: primarily the story of that leg of the run between Portland and Sisson, Cat, 430 miles, on which the writer went aa observer. This was by long odds the hardest leg of the whole tour. It was not only much longer than was assigned to any other crew, but it had worse roads and mere obstacles to test the mettle of a car. No run is an easy one that Includes the steep, rough old road over Rice hill, a moun tain in Itself; Roberts mountain. Cow Creek canyon, still referred to In S hushed ' tones by California drivers;' t' Glendale hill. Wolf Creek hill. Sexton I mountain (Smith hill), the climb over the Siskiyous, where at the summit the highway, attains an altitude of 5000 feet, and the final climb up to (Concluded on Pass 6.) -