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Page 1 of 6 South America's top motoring rally isn't just about how fast you go. It's about soaking up Argentina's finest sights—and looking the part while you do it. It would be the perfect Norman Rockwell American tableau: a father and son bonding behind the wheel of the family car. Except that in this case, Junior is driving Dad’s nearly priceless 1934 Bentley 3.5-liter touring car, hurtling around a blind curve on a serpentine mountain road in the Argentine Andes with the speedometer into triple digits.  > ACCESS Nonstop flights between major U.S. cities—including New York, Miami, and Houston—and Buenos Aires start at $700. On the ground, connect to Bariloche on daily flights with LAN (lan.com) from the domestic Jorge Newbery Airport (AEP), a 45-minute tra... It doesn’t help that all the maps, rules, and instructions are in Spanish, nor that Ed and Ned are complete rookies in this 1000 Millas Sport de la República Argentina, the 19th-annual running of the most important classic-car competition in South America. Inspired by the legendary Mille Miglia road race of Italy, it’s a three-day, 800-mile scramble through the endless postcard of northern Patagonia. More than 160 rare and classic cars built between 1920 and 1982, plus an assortment of ringers like Biscayne Ford Cobras and coffin-like Bugatti replicas, rolled off this morning from the race headquarters at the swank Llao Llao Hotel perched atop a hill between two impossibly blue Patagonian lakes. The Rowans traveled more than 6,000 miles to make the start, enticed by the idea of some quality father-son time in their gleaming blue Bentley, the kind of car Daddy Warbucks, or maybe Juan and Evita Perón, would have been proud to drive. “It’s nice to have the time together with him to talk,” Ed says, “and to argue.” In hot pursuit of the Rowans are Ross and Mark Longfield, another father-son team from the States, piloting a 1969 E-Type Jaguar SII coupe. Mark and Ned were school chums, and it turned out that their fathers shared a passion for old cars. When the Rowans told the Longfields about the rally, the two families immediately recognized a chance for some laughs and adventure and shipped their cars to Buenos Aires in the same container. |
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