MARYSVILLE — The “Rodz on 3rd” car show returned to downtown Marysville for its second year on Saturday, July 13, adding one street block to its showing space and exceeding its attendance from last year.
Event organizer Will Borg noted that more than 140 hot rods and rat rods, as well as classic, custom and muscle cars, lined Third Street between State and Quinn avenues, up from last year’s total of approximately 120.
“We hadn’t even expected 100 last year, so we hoped for even more this year,” said Borg, who credited the day’s sunny summer weather with boosting attendance. “That’s also why we went from handing out four trophies last year to 23 this year.”
While Borg sees the rat rods as a trend that’s catching on locally, he also cited the camaraderie of automobile enthusiasts as attracting more attendees.
“It’s great when everyone in the community comes out to see these shows,” Borg said. “When they wave to each other and say, ‘Hey, how’s it going,’ it feels like a family. It’s also nice that we can support our local stores like this.”
Ed Rogelstad of Mill Creek was happy to show off the teardrop camper trailer he’d built practically from scratch, albeit working off a purchased kit, and proudly touted the same standards in its four months of building that he’d employed before retiring from Boeing.
“This is actually my third one,” said Rogelstad, who estimated he’s logged about 20,000 miles of travel on all three trailers together. “Every time I build one, I find another that has something else I want. I really work on putting them together to make sure they don’t come apart, because I travel on back roads and I need these to be able to go anywhere.”
Although Bryan Hanke is the one who purchased his 1969 Dodge Super Bee 23 years ago and has invested close to $100,000 in it since, it was his 13-year-old daughter Courtney Curry who was eager to share the car’s connections to her family’s history.
“His dad had the same car when he was growing up,” Curry said of her father. “His mom used to go grocery shopping with that car. He spent five years looking for another Super Bee, and I’ve been begging him for the past three years to take it to more car shows.”
Curry explained how the car’s hood comes completely off, because it was built for drag-racing, but because Hanke doesn’t want to scratch the paint, he now mounts the hood on four posts when he removes it.
“I’ve grown up with this car just like he did,” Curry said. “I detailed and polished it for this show, because it all had to be perfect.”
Arlington’s Norm Ross promoted his own auto restoration business with his customized 1931 Ford Coupe, which he’d originally obtained from Roger Graafstra at the Country Charm Dairy.
“It cost me $7,000 and took seven months to rebuild, but most of that was swap meet parts,” Ross said, before laughing, “I don’t shop in catalogs. I’d wanted a Coupe ever since I was a kid, and now I’ve got three of them. Of course, my brother has four or five of them, but still.”
For more information on “Rodz on 3rd,” log onto www.facebook.com/RodzOn3rd.
