Ted Bowers Honored to Participate in the 2017 Rose Parade!

This image on nationwide TV set off a cell phone text barrage on Celeste Bowers' mobile and a Twitter storm on Allyson Felix's feed.
2017 started bright and early for Ted Bowers and his family!
Ted and son Ted III started January 2nd at 2am. Invited to participate in one of the most iconic American events: the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena.
Ted is happy to share the story of his very special honor.

The Grand Marshals - Greg Louganis, Janet Evans and Allyson Felix - were driven in triangle formation, Ted Bowers with Ted Bowers III and Allyson Felix on the second row right, surrounded by security detail. 

The Tournament of Roses organization invited Ted and his 1911 Pope Hartford automobile to participate in the annual Rose Parade, an incredible experience. It all started months earlier!

Ted: "My car was referred from a good friend to the director of parade entrees in early September. I didn’t want to get too excited until my car was confirmed.  I learned mid-October my car was included on the final list of confirmed entrees. I still didn't consider it confirmed until I received the formal letter from the Tournament in late October. It was also confirmed I would be carrying a Grand Marshal in the parade."

This was the beginning of many weekends and evenings of volunteer work to get the Pope ready for the special occasion.

The Tournament organizers work diligently to ensure the automobiles suitability.

They visited Ted for an inspection:

"The drivetrain of the Pope is completely original and requires frequent upkeep. I’ve always maintained the car in top running condition, however I wanted to assure I would finish the parade with a running car. I’ve spent enough time with the car to know the strengths and weaknesses of the design. In the category of “what could go wrong?” I focused on the possibility of a sticking valves. The engine is equipped with overhead valves and they tend to run hot and build up carbon. My rule of thumb is a valve job is required about every 1,000 miles to remove the carbon deposits and eliminate the possibility of sticking valves. Although the car was only at the 700 mile mark I decided a valve job would be prudent. When I removed, and inspected the valves I found one valve was working itself apart which would have caused huge damage to the engine. The fix was relatively simple and I felt comfortable that I found and fixed the potential problem. I continued to perform the usual maintenance including proper lubrication and checking each bolt and nut on the car.

In November the tournament sent a team of three inspectors to check out the car and feel comfortable it would finish the parade. They arrived in two official Tournament of Roses vehicles wearing Tournament apparel. They spent about two hours with me reviewing the mechanics and discussing my maintenance practices. The inspection included idling the car for about an hour plus a 30 minute drive at normal highway speed and finished with driving at “parade speed” of 2.5 mph. The Pope Hartford is a large powerful car and develops a top speed of 80 mph on a good day. It was not designed to run at 2.5 mph and the inspection team was well aware of this. Even in 1st gear and with the engine at idle the car moves along at a minimum of 5 mph which is too fast for the parade. To maintain the walking parade speed it requires slipping the clutch for the entire 5.5 mile trek. The Pope is equipped with a leather cone clutch and shifts like a truck. The leather clutch requires frequent treatment with neatsfoot oil to assure smooth shifting.

I proved that, with proper maintenance and skilled driving, the car could maintain walking speed. The final step of the inspection was reading the temperature of the engine to confirm it wouldn’t overheat while running at very low speed. The car past in all areas and the inspectors had confidence the car will perform well."

5 days prior to the Parade, Ted delivered the car to Pasadena where all  classic car drivers as well as Director of Floral Design, Keith White from FTD, were feted with a Reception at the Tournament of Roses House. 

             Celeste and Ted Bowers with Tournament official Rudy Castro and automobile collector friend Chris Kidd who had referred Ted.

         

Following the reception the cars were driven to a staging area near the Rose Bowl for preparation, the painstaking work of floral designer Keith White and his team of volunteers to decorate the cars with exquisite floral designs.

Ted and his family drove to Pasadena repeatedly to check on the Pope.

                         

On the morning of January 2nd it was finally Showtime!

Ted: "The morning of the parade our day started around 2:00am, with a report time of 3:30 in Pasadena. My son and I only had three to four hours of sleep that night. The cars were staged at the tournament house and standing by for the riders at 7:00am. Once in position I noticed Teddy fell asleep in the seat next to me. There wasn’t much action at the moment so I decided to let him nap for a few minutes. I forgot to wake him up and about 15 minutes later he was awakened by the commotion of several volunteers and parade riders all commenting that he was their favorite participant in the parade!

Celeste Bowers and family and friends followed shortly after to reach their seats!

Ted: "It was fun to see several family and friends along the parade route. My wife Celeste had seats just ahead of TV coverage. Friends and family as far as the east coast reached out via text for updates on when they would see the “Pope”. About 10 minutes after we passed Celeste, her  cell phone blew up with texts and notifications from friends around the country who saw us live on the world wide coverage. Each friend sent pictures of their own TV big screen shots. Every photo and caption were awesome!

 

About half way through the parade with no end in sight you start to realize how long the route really is. Even the Olympic athletes’ endurance was tested. The car was running well but I was starting to feel a little driver fatigue, and not to mention some pain in my clutch leg. I wished there were mile markers so we had a clue how much longer the parade route was. A block later a spectator was hold a sign reading “only 4 more miles”. I couldn’t believe we had only gone about a mile! About 50 yards further along the route another spectator was holding a sign reading “JUST KIDDING! There are only three more miles”. We all had a good laugh and knew we were up to finishing the parade in spirit!

 

I knew with the 128 years of history the parade would be well organized, but I was very impressed how every detail was thought out to the nth degree. The positive energy from the parade directors and volunteers, who enjoy what they are doing, is wonderfully infectious.

I’ve experienced several parades and couldn’t believe we only had three or four brief pauses along the 5.5 mile route.

Driving my 1911 Pope Hartford in the Tournament of Roses Parade was an experience of a lifetime!

I felt honored to have had the opportunity to participate in the parade. And yes, despite the long and early hours, I would do it again!"

Thank you for reading!

Have a great week!