Rainbow Classics of Utah: 20 years on the road

by John Northup

Ever feel like hitting the road or just talking cars with other car geeks in the LGBTQ community? Rainbow classics from Utah is your tribe. Each year the group takes local tours, participates in car shows, visits museums and private collections and enjoys dinners, cooking classes and social gatherings. All vintages and types of cars are welcome and appreciated – from Packards to Pintos to Priuses – but you don’t even have to own a car to participate.

As the group celebrates its 20th anniversary this summer, Brett Clifford, former president of the group, recalls: “The club was originally organized at a classic car gathering at Sugarhouse Park in the late summer of 2004, led by Lou Dellera, a flight attendant who now lives in Phoenix and remains active in the LGBTQ car community there. He began a long tradition where some of the club’s cars always participated in the annual Utah Pride Parade, sitting above the red leather backseat of his dark blue 1964 Cadillac DeVille convertible, wearing his presidential sash.”

Recently, the group became affiliated with Lambda Car Club International, joining a nationwide brotherhood of LGBTQ car enthusiasts. This summer, the group will head to Rangely, Colorado to meet with members of the Denver-based LCCI region and tour an automotive museum. Closer to home, the group will be at the Utah Pride Parade again this year and also plans to participate in car shows in Moab, Logan and elsewhere.

For more information, see facebook.com/groups/RainbowClassics or contact [email protected].