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Hot wheels

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POLSON — The shiny blue 1967 Ford Fairlane was Jerry Brenner’s high school car. Brenner’s mom and dad bought the car for him in 1974. 

It was a wrecked piece of junk, according to Brenner, but he fixed it up and added lots of custom work.

“I love the car,” Brenner said. “We call it Cruze. It gets 30 miles to the gallon, and it’s got a 300 horse motor.”   

Brenner and his wife Kristie drove the Ford to the Summerfest Car Show in Polson last weekend, sponsored by Anderson Broadcasting. They’re just one example of why car shows tend to be a family event — from dads and moms who instill the love of cars in their children to cars that are kept in the family for generations to the folks who have fond memories of cars their parents or grandparents drove. Families with children, courting couples, older people and lots of dogs filtered through downtown Polson to view approximately 125 cars.  

In Brenner’s case he decided to keep his Fairlane throughout his life because his dad had a 1949 Mercury in high school and always regretting selling it, as did his father-in-law with his ’57 Chevy.

Sharing his love and knowledge of cars,   Brenner is also a freelance writer for CruZin’ magazine. 

After watching “American Grafitti” in seventh grade, Bridget Riddle wanted a car like ones featured in the movie. Her dad bought a 1932 three-window coupe, and they worked on it together. 

“That was my high-school car,” Riddle said.

The memory made her cry, and she called her dad immediately. 

Riddle brought her totally custom sea-green 1950 Mercury to Summerfest. She has owned it since 2007. 

“There is nothing stock in this car,” Riddle said.

Four colors were blended together to produce its unique green paint.  

A California car man named Marv Giambastiana owned the car originally. It appeared in the movie “Peggy Sue Got Married” in black. Calling the car one of his favorites, Gaimbastiana painted the Mercury pearl pink and called it Cotton Candy when it was the 1993 poster car for the Hot August Nights car show in Reno, Nevada. 

After the Riddles bought the car, they replaced the engine and added bags, an air bag system that allows a car’s suspension to be raised and lowered at the push of a button. They brought it up from Newman, California, to their new home in Bigfork.

Bob and Carleen Elsberry call Polson, not Bigfork, home. Their 1947 Ford coupe is all original and belonged to the same family for 50 years. The last owners, a husband and wife, died, and the Elsberrys purchased the coupe. 

“It was stored in the basement of the Sears store,” Bob said, adding that there used to be a car dealership where Beacon Tire Center is located, and the basement of the building was where the mechanics repaired cars.

A big draw at the Summerfest Car Show was the Wounded Warrior truck. With $80,000 spent on just the paint, the custom truck honored Wounded Warriors with images of soldiers, planes, weapons and symbols of the United States anywhere there was a piece of metal. That didn’t even count the chrome.  

Car show judge Mark Giacoletto said it and the semi it’s hauled in should be in the Smithsonian.  

“It was a good car show,” said Dennis Anderson, whose business sponsored Summerfest.

As with any event, there are always things to fix for next year, he said.  

With about 125 cars, “a lot of cool venders,”  and special exhibits, Anderson said people had a lot of great cars to look at and talk about. 

 

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