The Midwest Brass & Gas Tour, a division of the regional group of the Horseless Carriage Club of America, will be bringing a caravan of approximately 30 classic vehicles to Dowagiac in August.

Vickie Phillipson, Chamber of Commerce and DDA program director, said Lawton residents Jane Lyon and her husband are heading up the auto tour, which marks the second time in recent years they have brought an organized sanctioned tour to the community.

“We just love Dowagiac and your central business district,” Lyon said. “How many towns still have their own dress shop and shoe store?”

Approximately 67 people from across the Midwest are expected to arrive in the central business district on Wednesday, Aug. 24. The tour will pull into the downtown around 10:30 a.m. That afternoon, the group will have lunch at The Wounded Minnow Saloon and will visit both the Heddon Museum and the Dowagiac Area History Museum, along with a private collection of autos, located outside of Volinia.

Phillipson said parking along Depot Drive, adjacent to the railroad tracks, from the train depot to Commercial Street, would be reserved that morning for the 31-car tour.

Business owners and residents are encouraged to come out onto the street to welcome the auto caravan as it swings into town, and to also view the vehicles once they’ve parked along Depot Drive.

“All of the cars will be 1912 and older,” Lyon said.

People can expect to see such rare vehicles as the Velie, a brass-era automobile produced by Velie Motors Corporation in Moline, Illinois, from 1908 to 1928. Lyon said people would also see a seven-passenger touring car, manufactured by Winton Motor Carriage, which was founded in 1897 in Ohio.

Others include a Hupmobile, first manufactured in 1909, along with a Chalmers Detroit, Rambler and Mitchell.