Bug Tussle Trek Antique Auto Tour

The Bug Tussle Trek is run by the Texas DFW Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America and has been a fixture of Northeast Texas autumns for more than half a century. Each fall, collectors fire up antique and classic automobiles from the 1910s through the 1970s and beyond, then point their hoods toward Paris on a rolling, two-day tour across back roads and small towns. The 2026 edition reaches Paris on Saturday, October 10, 2026, per the City of Paris events calendar.

What to expect

Unlike a static car show, the Trek is a moving exhibition. Cars travel the route in groups and arrive over the course of the day, so spectators can watch them roll into town, park, and talk shop with their owners at the terminus. Expect prewar treasures, finned Fifties cruisers, and beater sedans someone has kept running for forty years, all of them driven the way they were meant to be driven. It is a free, roadside event. Bring a lawn chair, find a good stretch of two-lane that looks across open pasture, and listen for the tappets long before you see the chrome.

For the latest route, arrival timing, and any day-of changes, watch the Visit Paris Texas events calendar, which lists the trek's Paris date and coordinates local coverage each year.

Why this matters for the area

The Trek lands in Paris at the height of fall event season. Fannin County Fair runs October 7-10 in Bonham, the Red River Valley Fair has just wrapped up the fairgrounds, and Festival of Pumpkins fills downtown later that month. It is the kind of calendar that lets a buyer see the area at its best: a region small enough that a parade of old cars rolling through town is front-page news, big enough that it happens every single year without fail.

For anyone considering a move to rural Northeast Texas, October in Lamar County is a reminder of what small-town life actually runs on: traditions with decades of momentum, neighbors who show up, and weekends that cost nothing but the price of a tank of gas in an old car you love.