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closeRain doesn’t keep the classic car buffs away
Ninth annual Classy Chassis car show hosted in downtown Sumner features hot rods and vintage vehicles of all shapes and sizes
Roxanne Cooke
Sheepskin-covered bucket seats. Stick-shift topped with a skull wearing a top hat. Exposed engine. Glossy green body.
Its name: Kermit.
Recently, the 1925 Ford T-bucket won a “Best of the 20s” trophy. Last Sunday, it was featured in Sumner’s ninth annual Classy Chassis classic car and hot rod show.
Del and Janet McDowell sat alongside Kermit during the show, with Del in a top hat to mirror the stick-shift skull. The Orting couple spends a portion of their summer at car shows like this one.
Del McDowell, a retired trucker, bought Kermit from a guy in Bonney Lake five years ago. It wasn’t so pretty back then.
“When I first bought the car, it was really a piece of junk,” he said.
After taking it apart in his garage, he rebuilt the car with all sorts of new parts. He even incorporated some Maple wood purchased from Sumner Wood Worker. McDowell chose the vibrant green color on a day that his granddaughter was visiting and watching Kermit the Frog on TV.
But the part he loves most is the 392-cubic-inch Chevy V8. It’s a full race engine.
“I just like a lot of power,” he said.
The combination of power and the lightness of the exposed engine mean McDowell can lift the front end about 2 feet off the ground if he were to take it on the freeway. But that’s not something he shows off.
“It gets a little hairy to handle,” he said.
On nice days, the couple will take Kermit for a ride. But the T-bucket only gets four miles to the gallon, so they stick to Orting, Sumner and Puyallup.
“I stay local,” McDowell said.
He said he puts in about 10 hours of work on the car each week, and has spent approximately $35,000 on it.
“It’s just a fun car and I enjoy it,” McDowell said. “When I retired I had to have something to do. This was my idea of something to do.”
More than 200 people registered cars to show at Classy Chassis, said Theresa Fremont, co-chair of Friends of Downtown, a volunteer coordination group of the Sumner Downtown Association.
Several members of the Demonos Car Club were in charge of judging the cars and selecting winners.
Judges looked at cleanliness, how well the car was assembled and other features based on the specific category entered, including the lowest ride and the best muscle car. There were 24 trophies awarded.
“It’s a very good turnout,” said Demonos member and show judge Fred Stockman. “It’s just a lot of fun.”