Amid the many Fourth of July celebrations held throughout Lewis County this past Friday were the Hell on Wheels Independence Day Car Show and the Red, White and Boom Fireworks Show in the south county community of Vader.
Despite its remoteness in the southern portion of the county, hundreds of people still flocked to the car show throughout the morning and afternoon, and hundreds more returned in the evening after sunset for the fireworks display.
According to car show organizers, they had 82 official entrants to the show, and had to turn away latecomers as they ran out of display space on 6th and A streets where cars were displayed.
For the fireworks show, which lasted around 45 minutes, it was organized by Bill Claycamp, who donated fireworks along with Toledo residents Amanda and Anthony Soto, and other volunteers in partnership with the City of Vader’s Parks Department.
Some of the cars which caught The Chronicle’s eye at the Hell on Wheels show included a 1967 Mercury Cougar, a 1960 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia and a 1957 Chrysler Saratoga.
A customized Cougar
In 1967 Mercury first introduced its own entry into the muscle car market, the Mercury Cougar, built to compete with the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Charger and other muscle cars of the era.
Winlock resident and retired U.S. Navy veteran Michael Vincent had been wanting his own Cougar for a while as it had been his first car back when he was in high school.
So when a friend of his whom he served together with in Iraq said he had one sitting he wanted to get rid of about four years ago, Vincent jumped on it.
“He goes, ‘You want the cat? Come get the damn thing,’” Vincent said.
Though not in perfect condition when he got it, it was still drivable.
“I did Rod Run with it, went down to Santa Monica (California), came back on the 101 and wanted to go ahead and restore it,” said Vincent. “Then I started to run into surprises along the way. I mean, it’s 60 years old.”
With help from fellow Winlock residents John Steady and Scott Coolidge of Brock’s Garage, Vincent spent the past three years refabricating many rusted body components, along with fitting some upgrades which didn’t originally come on a 1967 Cougar — including the spoiler and front air dam from a 1969 Cougar.
“I couldn’t have done it without both of them,” Vincent said. “John even signed my car, he’s my neighbor and I’ve known him for 28 years.”
Now fully restored and customized with other modern upgrades like electronically controlled headlights, Vincent named the Cougar in honor of his late mother, Janice Cunningham.
“My first car in 67 was a Cougar, an aqua one, and she loved that car,” Vincent added. She wanted to go cruising all the time in it. So when I got this one, and my mom had been passed for about two years, I said, ‘I’ll just call her Janice.’”
A ‘constant project’ Karmann Ghia
Having now owned the car for more than 19 years, Winlock resident Marcus Keeler’s 1960 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a self-described “constant project” car.
“It’s just a toy that I mess around with,” Keeler said.
Karmann Ghias were small, lightweight two-door coupes produced by Volkswagen from 1955 until 1974. Though they look sporty, the original engines, depending on the model, only produced between 34 and 49 horsepower.
One of the many upgrades Keeler has done is swap out the original motor for a Volkswagen 1776cc engine, a popular upgrade for Volkswagen Beetles as well as the motor can be tuned to produce up to 100 horsepower.
While that may not sound like a lot, in a car like the Karmann Ghia which weighs less than a ton, it’s quite the performance upgrade.
“It’s real fun to drive,” Keeler added.
A future upgrade might be a short shifter, as the current stick shift in the car leaves very little clearance room for knuckles between the stick itself and the car’s dashboard.
“I absolutely bust my knuckles up on it. It’s a little close,” said Keeler.
A Saratoga with shark fins
Originally a “rust-bucket” when he first purchased the car, Larry Norman's custom 1957 Chrysler Saratoga now turns heads at every car show he goes to, and has even won best in show previously.
Produced on and off from 1939 to 1995, Chrysler Saratogas were the company’s highest priced cars, marketed as sport luxury sedans.
“I pulled the body off, stripped it down to the frame and sent it off to have it sand blasted,” Norman said.
Additionally, many of the body panels along with the car’s interior floorboards had to be refabricated. One of the hardest parts to find though was a new rear windshield.
“I looked for almost a year, and there were two on the east coast,” said Norman.
It was going to cost around $4,000 to get the glass shipped to him, too.
Luckily while visiting a body shop in Castle Rock, a friend of the owner overheard Norman talking about the windshield search.
“And he said, “Mind if I make a call on it?’ I said, ‘Help yourself,’” Norman said. “He found one in California, and it was only 150 bucks.”
As for the rest of the car’s restoration, Norman didn’t exactly stick to keeping things OEM. The front seats came from a Kia, the rear seats from another Chrysler and the center consoles are from Fords he found in salvage yards.
“It’s also got a push-button transmission. I’ve always wanted a push-button,” Norman added.
The Chrysler Saratoga is a dream car for Norman, as he’s always wanted one since he was a child, and even had one for a short time as a teenager.
“I had a convertible. My oldest brother had the (Chrysler) New Yorker, same body,” he said. “And then he got rid of his and got a 1960 (Chrysler) 300 letter car, and I wrecked mine.”
Having now been restoring and upgrading his Saratoga since he got his second one in 2006, Norman still has plans to keep working on it and customizing it more.
