Cool cars take to the street at Spring Festival car show

MOSES LAKE — Warren Strader of Moses Lake said the sticker in the window of his 1961 Volkswagen was really a joke. He hasn’t really gone bankrupt working on cars. “I’ve got 10 more at home,” he said.  

Strader brought four cars to the Spring Festival car show sponsored by the Lakesiders Car Club. He encouraged people to sit in them for photos, take a close look at the interiors, and check out the engines. Showing them off is what makes cars fun, he said. “I love people; I love old cars,” he said. “I want these people to enjoy my cars.” 

Strader’s 1940 Pontiac, 1978 Corvette, the VW bug and 1928 Chevrolet were among the 161 cars that filled West Third Avenue Saturday morning. Entries were big and small, equipped with hydraulics, lift packages and sound systems. Some were faithful restorations, while others were limousines and, well, not limousines.  

Brad Payne’s 1949 Chevrolet truck is on a chopped Chevy S10 chassis, and he added suicide doors and a 400 small block engine.  “I don’t know what else to say,” said Payne, also from Moses Lake. 

Well, there are the rails on the truck bed. “That’s my son’s old bed frame,” he said.  

The seat isn’t standard for either a 1949 Chevy truck or an S-10. “It’s the back seat out of a 1976 Cadillac, so it’s really comfortable,” Payne said.  

That’s how he’s worked on the truck over time, he said, finding cool stuff and adding it, and if it doesn’t work, he removes it. 

The bright yellow 1950 Chevrolet sedan parked further down the street has had some work done, as they say.  “They usually come with three on the tree and with a big six,” said Luis Garcia, who was driving it for owner Francisco Alejandres. Both are from Quincy. 

Alejandres replaced the six-cylinder engine, converted the manual transmission to an automatic, moved it from the steering column to the floor and switched out the gauges, among other things. “It drives like a new car now,” Garcia said. 

“A lot of work went into it,” Alejandres said. “Old school to new school.”

The bright yellow color is in tribute to Alejandres’ favorite cartoon character. “I love Tweety,” he said. 

 David Keyser’s 1970s Chevrolet Suburban was, he said, a reflection of changes in his life. He had a truck, but then life came along, and children. “I sold my truck and bought this,” he said.  

 But that didn’t mean its replacement had to be just any old van. According to the magazine ad Keyser had on display, the Suburban was supposed to be the new, hip, sporty Suburban, hence its coppery orange color. Keyser said he found it in Kansas, where it had been a show truck for a while.  “It was pretty beat up when I found it,” he said. 

A post in a social media group for truck owners revealed that while it had traveled far and wide, it had come back to its Washington roots. “A guy from Everett actually built it,” he said. 

The big truck from Scotty’s Auto Repair was the high school project of owner Timothy Myers. He works at Scotty’s and said it’s fun to show the truck off at various car shows and events like Touch a Truck.  And it’s got a definite lift to it.  “We always have to bring a ladder,” he said. 

Looking back on the build, Myers said he’s mostly satisfied with it. “It can always be bigger,” he said. 

    A 1969 Chevrolet Nova gleams in the sun at the Spring Festival car show.
  

    A Corvette draws attention at the Spring Festival car show.
  

    Jay Tal catches some shade at the rear of the company show truck at the Spring Festival car show Saturday.
  

    Cars of all eras line up outside Frontier Middle School during the Spring Festival car show.