Durant automobiles were manufactured during the 1920s and may have been part of the reason the decade was called the Roaring Twenties. Submitted photo

The Durant Motors Automobile Club (DMAC) will hold its 11th annual car meet from Sept. 11 through 13, in Astoria and the surrounding area. Approximately 50 people with 17 or more Durant/Star/DeVaux/Buick cars from eight states and Canada will be in the area. The cars were built between 1923 and 1932 and will include various models and body styles.

The event is especially significant to vintage automobile fanciers because the 100th anniversary of the founding of General Motors will take place Sept. 16. The founder of General Motors, Billy Durant (who also founded Chevrolet and Frigidaire), formed his own auto company, Durant Motor Company, in 1921 after leaving GM, and it was that company that produced Stars and Durant cars.

Durant motorcars a very rare and the DMAC members welcome the opportunity to take them on tour with other similar cars. Club president Rick Botti believes that the Northwest has more running Durants than any part of the country because the main distribution center was located in Portland.

The club meeting will be headquartered at the Red Lion Inn in Astoria and members will be taking the classic cars out touring each day. They will leave the hotel around 9:30 a.m. and return around 3 p.m., at which time the public may expect to see the cars and talk to the owners. The club will journey to Seaside Thursday, Sept. 11; to Cape Disappointment and Long Beach, Wash., Friday, Sept. 12; and to Fort Stevens State Park and around Astoria Saturday, Sept. 13.

For more information about Durant automobiles and the Durant Motors Automobile Club, visit www.durantmotors.org