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VOLUME 2 NUMBER 5 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003

$5

CCooppppeerrssttaattee 11000000• Jaguar: we road test the new all-aluminum XJR, XJ8 and XJ Vanden Plas

• Jim Click celebrates the Ford Motor Company centennial in Tucson

• Porsche Cayenne: we take this potent SUV to the wilds of the Arizona Strip

• Harley-Davidson: the water-cooled V-Rod and the centennial Open Road Tour

• Teens: driving skills for life • Quiz • Aftermarket gear • and more!

CCooppppeerrssttaattee 11000000• Jaguar: we road test the new all-aluminum XJR, XJ8 and XJ Vanden Plas

• Jim Click celebrates the Ford Motor Company centennial in Tucson

• Porsche Cayenne: we take this potent SUV to the wilds of the Arizona Strip

• Harley-Davidson: the water-cooled V-Rod and the centennial Open Road Tour

• Teens: driving skills for life • Quiz • Aftermarket gear • and more!

VOLUME 2 NUMBER 5 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003

$5

Hayden mine is spectacular—the depthand the scale both unbelievable, thecolors fascinating.

Following the Gila River before turn-ing northward towards Globe, Highway77 gave Copperstaters a good look atsome of the enormous saguaro cactithat populate the desert. Headingsouth toward Safford and the firstnight’s stop, rallyers got their first tasteof the wide-open valleys that gave carslike the Ferrari 275 GTB—brought bySidney Allen from Longview, Texas—achance to really stretch their legs.Those who had come from theopposite coast, like New Hampshire’sPeter and Debbie Hosmer, mentionedthe big, open spaces of the first day’sroute as one of the reasons they comeWest for the Copperstate year afteryear with their 275 GTB/4.

Day TwoPerhaps more intriguing to local driversare the rock spires and pine forests of theChiricahua National Monument, an11,000-acre portion of the CoronadoNational Forest whose dramatic forma-tions were created over the millennia bywind and water. Sacred to the Apaches,the Chiricahua gave Copperstaters achance to meander slowly through anarea of exceptional natural beauty, beforehitting the open road again to Bisbee. Thisold mining town is a museum in itself, fullof 19th-century architecture and artifactsof Arizona history. Lunching at the historicCopper Queen hotel, many rallyers couldbe heard saying that they hoped to returnto spend more time in this fascinatingtown, exploring the nearby wildlifereserve as well as the well-kept town itself.

Leaving Bisbee, two-lane route 80 gave

Copperstaters another chance to blow outthe cobwebs, its big sweeping turnstesting the stability of the vintagemachines as well as horsepower. This is areal Corvette road if one can be said toexist, whose long uphills seemed tailor-made to test big-block acceleration.Plenty of E-type Jags could also be seenenjoying themselves on this road beforebringing the day to a close in Benson.

There, the Copperstate crew hadopened the bar by the time we arrived,and a Southwest barbecue was alsounderway to the tune of country swingfrom a local band. By now, even new-comers to the Copperstate had madeplenty of friends en route, and the socialscene was in full swing. This, after all, isa big reason that many of the partic-

I f you live here, you know, and ifyou’ve driven here you’ll agree:Arizona’s landscape is the Westat its most spectacular, whether

you’re talking about wide open sagebrushvalleys ringed by mountains or cactus-filled canyons hemmed in by red rockspires. And the roads that cover the stateare as diverse and as fascinating as thelandscape itself, from arrow-straight high-ways with infinite vistas to twisty backroads that carry adventurers into little-known corners of the desert.

Of course, it’s always better to explorewith friends, and it’s better still whenyou’re in a group of car nuts and drivingenthusiasts. That’s why the Men’s ArtsCouncil of the Phoenix Art Museum hasbeen putting on the Copperstate 1000 for13 years now, and it’s why the event con-tinues to be such a success. For four days

and 1000 miles, the Copperstate givesmore than 50 vintage cars and their driv-ers/co-drivers the opportunity toroam Arizona’s best roadsin cars as compel-ling—and varied—asthe terrain.

The cars this yearranged in age from a1926 Bentley Le Mansre-creation of Tucson’sEarl and Alan Snodgrass, to apair of 1970 Mercedes 280SE 3.5convertibles (one driven by ParadiseValley’s Robert and Sydney Anderson,the other a visitor from Mary land drivenby Lawrence Macks and James Halle),and in rarity from a one-off Ferrari 250GT TdF Zagato entered by Nevada’s RobWalton and Nance Larson to more-numerous but no less enjoyable

Corvettes like the all-original ‘67 roadsterbrought by Scottsdale’s Don and Barbara

Kaitz. A bevy of Jaguars, Porsches,Mustangs and Mercedes

filled the ranks.

Day OneThis year, the Cop-perstate’s organizers

picked a route throughthe southeastern corner

of the state that was certain tokeep everyone entertained regardless ofwhat kind of car they drove. Starting atthe Phoenix Art Museum—where visitorshad a chance to check out the cars atclose range—the rally meanderedthrough the city’s eastern suburbs on itsway through Superior and south to thecopper mines of Hayden. No matter howmany times you’ve seen it, the open-pit

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SPECIAL EVENT : COPPERSTATE 1000

By Pilar Covarrubias

A Thousand Miles of Great Roadof Great RoadA Thousand Miles

ARIZONADRIVER • September/October 2003 • 33

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ipants come—there’s no attitude orsnobbery on display at the Copperstate,no matter how lofty or lowly a person’ssocial status or automobile. This is a rarething in the world of vintage rallying, andwe can only attribute it to the positiveand welcoming attitude of the organizersthemselves, who make sure the fullspectrum of eligible autos is present andtherefore ensure a diverse bunch ofparticipants, as well.

Day ThreeDepending on how much they’d enjoyedthemselves the night before, rallyerscould leave Benson for breakfast atKartchner Caverns the next day anytimebetween 8 and 10am. This was morethan just an early-morning picnic, how-ever—the organizers had arranged forprivate tours of the caverns before theyopened to the public that day. Since toursof the caverns are booked well inadvance, this gave rallyers a chance tovisit a spectacular feature of Arizona’sunderground landscape that they might

otherwise have missed. From there, theroute took an eastward detour toTombstone—a can’t-miss destination fortourists that’s perhaps a bit past its primeas a historic site—followed by a meander-ing drive along highways 82 and 83through Elgin and lovely Sonoita on theway to Patagonia and Nogales.

The driving schedule was relaxedenough to allow for a short cross-borderhop, but most participants chose to headstraight for Arivaca Junction and ArivacaRoad, one of the real drivers’ roads onthe tour. With its constant elevationchanges and endless left-right turns,Arivaca Road is more like a smoothmotocross course than a public road.

Although it might have been taxing forbig cars like the Mercedes 3.5s or the ‘63Thunderbird Sports Roadster—broughtby T-bird collectors Jim and Karon Eisbergof Prescott—it no doubt delighted driversof smaller, more nimble cars. You can betthat the effervescent Jess and EddieMarker were having a ball on ArivacaRoad in their 1960 Lotus Type 14 Elite,and so were Ron and Joan Yagoda in their‘62Porsche 356 Roadster.

After Arivaca Road, the easygoing route286 into Tucson almost came as a relief,but it wasn’t without its scenic distrac-tions, particularly as it became SR-86approaching the city. Even though wedidn’t actually enter the Saguaro NationalMonument, the giant cacti and spectac-ular red rock hills were mesmerizinglybeautiful, and Copperstaters as a wholeslowed down to take in the sight of it allbefore heading into Tucson and our finalevening on the road. Staged at theappropriately grand Westin La Paloma onthe edge of the desert, the resort gave usa chance to relax by the pool, get amassage or perhaps do some shoppingbefore sitting down to a fantastic dinnerserved in the garden, again in thecompany of new friends and old.

Day FourOn the rally’s final day, we said goodbyeto Tucson and started on the road back toPhoenix, taking route 77 north pastBiosphere II and into the saguaro-peopleddesert south of Hayden. Passing again byone of the world’s largest miningoperations, we pressed on toward the

ARIZONADRIVER • September/October 2003 • 3534 • September/October 2003 • ARIZONADRIVER

■ Day Two brings the clean sweeps of desert and mountain highways through Willcox, Chiricahua, Sunizona and Bisbee, to our next stop in Benson.

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■ Sunday morning, Phoenix Art Museum: public viewing Monday morning, Safford:

dawn’s early light reaches divergent entrants. Clean and eager, everything from classic

Jaguar to Bondurant track-prepared Corvette to ’67 GTO is ready to hit the road. >> COPPERSTATE 1000 - cont’d

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Copperstate 1000 is a celebration of the Arizona landscape and the artfuldesign of the automobile. Over 60 cars from around the worldparticipate in this 4-day vintage car road rallye that travels1000 miles through Arizona.

If you would like to receive an applicationpacket please call 602.307.2060 orvisit copperstate1000.com.Sports, touring, or vintageracing cars manufacturedbefore January 1, 1970are eligible to apply.

Vintage Car Road Rallye

The rallye is a fund raising event for Phoenix Art Museum and is organized

by Men’s Arts Council, a support organization of the Museum.

Saturday, April 17 – Wednesday, April 21, 2004

■ Day Two includes a refreshing mountaintop stop in Chiricahua National

Monument and a crowd-drawing lunch stop in Bisbee. Day Three loops from

Benson to Kartchner Caverns, Tombstone, Sonoita, lunch at Patagonia Lake State

Park, a pass by the Mexican border at Nogales and Tuesday night in Tucson.

Boyce Thomson Southwestern Arboretum and our final lunch stop.Tours of the arboretum enabled Copperstaters to put names to thefantastic desert vegetation they’d been seeing, and more than a few tookthe opportunity to bring home new succulents for the garden.

Before returning to Phoenix proper and our final night together atthe Westin Kierland, the Copperstate route took us over the UseryPass and along the scenic route past Mormon Flat and Horse Mesadams. The higher elevations brought cooler air as well as a change ofscenery, which was welcomed by car and participant alike as a brief

respite before the heat of Phoenix engulfed us on our return. For locals,too, it was a great reminder that it isn’t necessary to drive 1,000 milesto find great roads or fascinating scenery—there’s plenty of both inPhoenix’s back yard.

The rally over, we spent a final evening together that included an awardspresentation and a sincere thank-you to both the Phoenix Art Museum crewwho’d put the event together and to the officers of the Arizona Department ofPublic Safety who’d made sure everyone had fun on the roads without lettingthings get out of hand. The rally had been superbly organized, and thanks tothe DPS officers neither accidents nor traffic tickets characterized the event.Those who’d needed mechanical assistance had been promptly taken care ofby Arizona AAA, and those whose cars couldn’t be fixed en route wereprovided with shiny new Lexus cars in which to continue. Between theorganization, the cars and the people, the Copperstate 1000 was a realsuccess, reminding all who participated that there’s more to driving thangetting from point A to point B, or worse, sitting in traffic. There’s still plentyof fun to be had with a good car, a good road and good friends. Throw in someof the world’s most spectacular scenery, and you’ve got it made. ■

PILAR COVARRUBIAS has been a motoring journalist for over 15 years. She grew up on dirtbikes and later turned to club-racing 125cc grand prix motorcycles. Having survived thusfar, she turned her attention to performance and vintage automobiles.

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■ Tuesday evening ended at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson. A local crowd mingled

with the machinery, the DPS officers dusted off their boots and polished up their bikes,

and dinner was served in the gardens. Wednesday, Day Four, brought us back to the

Valley of the Sun, for an awards banquet at the Westin Kierland. See you next year!

38 • September/October 2003 • ARIZONADRIVER

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