River Valley Car Club set to bring car show to 2024 Labor Day Festival
• MALTS • SU ND AES
The Labor Day Festival in downtown Big Rapids is set for a new addition this year with a car show hosted by the River Valley Car Club.
The 2024 Car Show will be working in conjunction with the Band of Locals Labor Day Festival this year, with the show running from Horizon Bank to the Department of Public Safety Building.
“We are always looking for opportunities for growth since moving from the park, and now we moved it up to downtown, which was a huge boost for any of the businesses that were open,” Band of Locals board member Lisa David said. “Now
adding the car show, that just adds a whole other aspect to what people could come downtown for.”
Registration for the Car Show will begin at 9 a.m. and go until 11 a.m, Sept. 2 with the car show running from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
There will be 30 trophies up for grabs and the first 100 registered vehicles will get a dash plaque, 50/50 raffle tickets, five $100 drawings for registered participants and food trucks.
There will also be a touch-a-truck with the Big Rapids Fire Department.
“The River Valley Car Club is excited to be bringing back the Labor Day Car Show as well as partnering with the
Band of Locals this year,” River Valley Car Club president Bruce Reges said. “The River Valley Car Club is a dedicated group of volunteers, and car lovers, with a mission of raising money to help support local non-profit agencies including our local veteran organizations. We hope everyone is able to stop downtown and experience some great vehicles as well as supporting our local non-profits.”
Funds raised will be donated to local veteran and non-profit agencies.
For more details, visit: the BandOfLocals.org/ events or call River Valley Car Club
President Bruce Reges at 616-617-1424.
Brendan Sanders Staff writer
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Ferris State student wins best classic at Bulldog Motorsports Car Show
The Bulldog Motorsports Club hosted its annual car show Saturday afternoon with several dozen of the area’s best looking cars from West Michigan.
From classic cars and muscle cars to mud trucks and Italian imports, the Bulldog Motorsports Club spring car show brought in a host of vehicles while raising money for. Angels of Action — a non-profit organization in Big Rapids, 200 S. Stewart Ave. With live music, food trucks and spring-like conditions, the event drew rides and many onlookers.
Among the winners for the event was Brian Myers, a Ferris State University student who brought his yellow 1972 Dodge Challenger to the show. It was something that he questioned whether he’d be able to do after the car’s driveshaft was broken the week prior. Spending all week working to make the car able to run, Myers would win best classic for his efforts.
“This is obviously the show to go to for our program, and it turned out pretty good with live music, food,” Myers said. “This past week alone it went from ‘Okay, the car is going to make it’ to ‘Okay the car isn’t going to make it because I don’t have this part and I broke the driveshaft.’ I said to myself that I had to make it to this show since I’m helping set some things up here.”
The day was a culmination
of three years of work for Myers, who bought his Challenger at 18 years old. When he saw it on Facebook’s marketplace, he didn’t even have an account. He had to have his mom message the car’s seller. The owner sold it to Myers, wanting it to go to a good home.
Since buying the car, Myers touched everything but the yellow paint job.
“This past winter alone I rebuilt the engine, redid the engine bay, rewired the whole car and added power steering,” Myers said. “Essentially anything mechanical on this car I’ve touched.”
Myers’ car was one of many cars, trucks, and motorcycles that made its way to the Ferris State University parking lot. These cars ranged from 1920 buggies to mud trucks the looked like they could compete in monster truck competitions, a mid1970s Ferrari was also in attendance. Multiple bikes were on display ranging from a BMW bike to Kawasaki’s.
Category winners were:
Best in Show: 1960 Ford Thunderbird
Best Domestic: Ben Hooper 2007 Corvette Z06
Best Import:
Tom Vine 1979 Ferrari 308 GTB
Best Classic:
Brian Myers 1972 Dodge Rallye Challenger
Best Off Road: Tim Seipke
2021 GMC 2500 HD Denali
Best Bike: Gavin Rudlaff 2004 Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 Roadster
Best Build: Mark Anthony Custom 1998 Chevrolet 1500 Bulldog Motorsports Club Pick: Jim Smith 1954 International Pickup “Woody”.
Over $700 was raised for Angels of Action, including many non-perishable food items.
“We had nearly 125 vehicles enter and roughly 350 people showed up to our car show,” Bulldog Motorsports Club president Zach Seipke said. “This event was a dream becoming a reality, and for the first year back in over four to five years, it was truly a success. It was amazing to see the vast support from alumni, students, and the local community. Everyone involved was enthusiastic about the entire event. A special thanks to my team for helping make this possible and to all our trophy sponsors who were involved.”
Jim Brand with his 1926 Model T
Brand with his custom car Modeled after Curella DeVil’s car
98-year-old Canadian Lakes resident owns one of history’s iconic cars
Nestled in a pole barn just outside Canadian Lakes is not one but two pieces of American history — two Ford Model T cars.
At 98 years old, Jim Brand has had an eventful life. Recently celebrating his 75th wedding anniversary with his wife, Merrelyn in 2022, Brand is a World War II veteran and a retired program director of Ferris State University’s heavy equipment program.
Nowadays, he uses his equipment knowledge for the upkeep of two unique vehicles.
A mile out of Canadian Lakes is a pole barn across the street from a potato farm. In the barn, there are not one but two Ford Model Ts. The Ford Model T is one of the most well-known vehicles in automotive history after beginning production in 1908 with the last model rolling off the assembly line in 1927. More than 15 million were sold throughout the vehicle’s lifecycle, making it the most-sold car model until the Volkswagen Beetle in 1972.
One Model T is owned by Brand in this pole barn, while the other is owned by his daughter and stepson.
Brand’s Model T is a 1926 grey, four-door vehicle with two rows of seats. The engine is almost completely stock, with four cylinders producing 20
horsepower. The only addition to the engine is the use of a 12-volt battery and an alternator from a GM car that converts the battery’s power. When in high gear, the car can get up to 35 miles per hour.
“Nobody knows how many are left, but there is a heck of a lot of clubs across the country. There are many of these that are found, dragged out and rebuilt. People find some wrecks in a barn or something — you can still get most of the parts — and they put them back on the road again. They’re relatively easy to fix. A lot of people specialize in engine rebuilds and transmissions”
This Model T has three pedals on the floor and a transmission lever. None of the pedals on the floor are used as a throttle, instead, the throttle placed as a lever on the steering wheel column. The pedal to the left is the transmissions clutch, which is used to help operate the transmissions’ three gears The right pedal is the brake, and the middle pedal is the reverse. The vehicle has no power steering and has 3-inchwide tires.
Brand is a senior instructor at the Model T Driving Experience at the Gilmore Car Museum in Kalamazoo. Thus, making him an expert at driving the nearly 100-year-old machinery. All the cars he owns he works on and manages the upkeep
himself with some help from his stepson.
Brand bought his Model T in 2011, saying that in his earlier years, he and his buddies were able to buy these cars in high school for as little as $15.
“I had three of them in high school. They were 15-20 bucks at that point. A lot of the guys in high school had them because they were cheap.” Brand said.
That’s not the only classic car that he owns. To get to the pole barn, Brand drove a custom car out of Florida. Modeled to look like Cruella DeVil’s hot rod from the Disney movie 101 Dalmatians, the car boasts an extended front end and is fitted with a 1983 Ford Mustang engine and drivetrain. The Zimmer Motor Cars Corporation made 1,500 of these cars, with the design sketched out on a napkin by creator Paul Zimmer.
“I tell people I bought this from Cruella DeVil,” Brand said with a laugh.
“It was in pretty bad shape when I got it. It took me about a year to get it up and going. I was going to sell it and make some money, but we’ve had so much fun with this car. If we go out to eat, people are out there with cameras taking pictures of it.”
Brand intends to show off his cars at the Canadian Lakes Cruisin’ at the Castle set for Sept. 3, which he has been part of for several years.
Paris resident owns one of the rarest hot rods in the world
For Kelly Welling, car restoration has been a lifetime hobby, whether it was with his first car, a 1969 Dodge Charger, to “The Phoenix” that he owns today.
After years of restoring and selling old cars, for much of his adult life, Welling has his crown jewel — a black 1938 Hudson Victoria.
Nicknamed “The Phoenix,” the Victoria is often at the top of it’s class in whatever car show he takes it to. These shows range from local shows to Autorama in Detroit, where he won the “Best Radical Custom Rod from 19351948” category in February.
Welling had been around cars and motorcycles his entire life. His grandpa owned a Sunoco Station in Remus for years, which was passed to his uncle Bob. His dad was a truck driver who had a convertible and grew up as a greaser from the 1950’s. Welling said whether it was working on motorbikes to his first car, he always had been working on engines.
“I don’t think I really wanted to get into it, but we always had hot rods, and I just didn’t like driving boring cars,” Kelly Welling said. “I mean, I grew up when muscle cars were big, you know? My dad kind of talked about them, and out of necessity, you have to have a car living out in the country, so I tried to have the coolest one I could find and then work my way up.”
Wellings first car was a 1969 Dodge Charger that he bought off the lot for $450. He joked that right next to the car was an old Pontiac Superbird with giant wings that today would go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He didn’t buy that because of how goofy it looked back then.
Over the years Welling would buy many of the muscle cars from old Vietnam veterans who were beginning to settle down with families and didn’t need muscle cars anymore or had blown the engine. Welling estimates that he
had 65 cars before he was 25. He said you always had to sell one to get more.
Decades of car restoration led
Welling to get in contact with a man from Long Island to sell an old 1959 El Camino that Welling had restored.
“A guy living on Long Island (New York) was on the internet and he wanted my 1959 El Camino which is kind of rare since it was the first year El Camino was made, so he wanted to buy it,”
Welling said. “He asked me what I was going to buy after I sold him the car and I said a “tail dragger.”
He said ‘Well, you might like this Hudson’ and I said, ‘Nah they’re pretty ugly’ but he said ‘You’ll like this one’”
What the buyer showed Welling was the body of a 1938 Hudson Victoria. Welling said from what he knows, there are a total of three Hudson Victoria’s working on the planet.
“There’s only one. There’s a 1939 in Germany that’s not chopped like this, and there’s one in Japan that’s a two-door sedan,”
Welling said. “This is the only car like this, I’m sure there’s more out there, but we don’t know where they’re at this point. They’re probably just in parts. Lots of cars now are parts cars.”
Welling made this Hudson a little different. First, one of the things he didn’t like about the old coupes was how bubbly they looked, so he chopped the roof down two inches. He also extended the fenders out and flared them to make the vehicle look almost like a teardrop. With such a large front end, the car was able to be fitted with a Ford truck engine and a new transmission to go along a new brake system, electronics, air ride system to lower the car to the ground.
It took Welling about two years of working every day on the car. Being retired, he would focus each day on trying to knock at least one item off a seemingly unending list.
His best advice to car restoration fanatics like himself is to always aim to knock an item or two off this list on the restoration project each day.
“It takes a commitment to get these things done. Every little thing, if something doesn’t work, there isn’t an after-market for this like there is for ‘57 Chevys, or Camaros or Firebirds. Those are just so popular so there’s a lot of aftermarkets.” Welling said.
Once the project was completed, Welling began taking the car to car shows across the state and started winning trophies in 2017 with the car.
“It has won every show I have gone to. If it doesn’t win best in show, it usually wins best custom, best traditional,” Welling said. “Cars for Cancer (in Muskegon), there’s 800 cars there and when I go back there this year, I’ll be the grand marshal. It just gives you kudos and respect or whatever.”
Welling said his buddies jokingly get annoyed when he shows up with the Victoria because they know they won’t be able to win the top prizes. Welling said everyone should be proud of the cars they are able to restore, though.
“With restoration projects like this, the sky is the limit depending on the budget,” Welling said. “What’s your budget and what makes you happy. Some guys are happy with an old 1930s body and others hate it. You’ve just got to start with the basics and work your way up. If you know what to do and what you like, don’t worry about what anybody else likes.”
This isn’t Welling’s last project either, as sitting next to the Hudson Victoria is a Hudson Terraplane pickup truck body from 1936. Welling picked up this truck from Montana in January and he’s currently in the beginning stages of putting the body of the truck onto a new chassis.
Kelly Welling and the Phoenix
2023 Car Fest, Kids Fest pack Michigan Avenue in Big Rapids
The 2023 Car Fest saw one of it’s largest turnout ever as cars line Michigan Avenue in downtown Big Rapids on Saturday.
Running from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 24, many of the area’s coolest cars made an appearance in downtown Big Rapids. Ranging from muscle cars to mud trucks and even a asphalt modified race car, well over 100 cars packed the area.
Car Fest expanded to include a Kids Fest this year, with bouncy houses and an expanded TouchA-Truck segment.
The whole event was coordinated by the River Valley Car Club, Ferris State University, Mecosta County Visitors Bureau and Big Country 100.9FM. It ran in conjunction with the annual Air Fest held Saturday morning at Roben-Hood Airport.
“For the first year coordinating three different sites with Air Fest, Car Fest and Kids Fest, I think it went extremely well,” River Valley Car Club President Bruce Reges said. “We want to do more next year. We want more people coming next year alongside more local vendors. This is the first taste of the first thing, see what we did right, see what we did wrong. I think we did a lot of right stuff today, and that’s what you want to concentrate on.”
Over 30 trophies were handed out for categories such as Best of Show, Best GM, Best Ford, Best Mopar, Best Import, Best Truck, Best Motorcycle, Best Tractor, Mecosta County Visitors Bureau Choice, Mayor’s Choice, Big Rapids 100.9 Radio Choice and Top 20. One
of those top 20 cars was a asphalt modified race car owned and raced by Cole Carper, who brought the car off an idea from his step-dad.
“I’m from Ashley, Indiana, and my stepdad told me about this, rattled it through my head a little bit,” Carper said. “I’ve been in the racing community for a couple of years now and I’ve been in the car community, so I decided why not bring the car up here since I heard it was going to be a good turnout.
“It was pretty good. I like socializing. I like showing the car off. I like to see people’s reactions and talk to them about the car,” Cole Carper said.
“Especially if they don’t know about the whole racing world. I just like to inform them a little bit and just give them an idea of what it’s like.”
Investing in “Wheel-estate:” Big Rapids resident owns award winning truck
The saying has always been to invest in real estate, but for Big Rapids resident Matt Smith, he prefers to invest in “wheelestate.”
Smith has many interests and hobbies. One can tell just from walking into his garage, where he keeps tabletop games, Dungeon and Dragon sets, and an entertainment area. In the back room, he has a storage area for his resale business.
And in the center of his garage, he has two classic cars.
The first is a 1957 Mercury Voyager, and Smith’s prized possession, “The Kraken,” a 1956 Ford F100 truck. The truck has begun to draw notice at various car show competitions, from Canadian Lakes to Detroit.
“The Kraken” is more than just an old truck with a sparkling paint job. Smith and his team combined many of the utilities from today’s vehicles into the 1956 Ford truck body, ranging from an engine taken from a 2018 Ford Mustang to an interior design that features a digital dash, a touch screen center console, and many other modern amenities and security features.
“It’s got every feature a new car would have. It’s got air conditioning and a backup camera, power windows and power locks. Everything from tip to stern is all new and all upgraded.” Smith said.
The truck has won multiple awards over the last year. At the Sept. 4 Cruisin’ at the Castle Car Show in Canadian Lakes, Smith and “The Kraken” won best of show. At the Detroit Autorama, Smith won the best modern custom truck with the truck. He also won the best truck bed at the fifth annual Grand National F-100 show and was mentioned as one of the best-in-class trucks.
The build wasn’t easy for Smith. After buying the truck, he took it to Vic Pugh in Hart, where Pugh started sandblasting the body and found multiple rust holes in the body that had been covered up by the seller.
“The only thing I could save was the cab. It needed a ton of work. The doors were shot, the front and back fenders were shot alongside the grill and bed. Really, from one end to the other, it was a complete build.”
Smith said.
It was then Smith realized both the work and financial toll it would take to turn the truck into what he wanted it to be.
Eventually, the bills added up, and Smith didn’t have enough money to finish the project. Pugh decided to finish the project and have Smith pay him back at a later date.
The investment proved fruitful for the duo.
“At one point, he talked with his wife, and he was like, ‘We want to fund this for you. We want to pick it up, and then when this is done, you’ll have to pay us back.’ What other person would do that? It was such a blessing for me. Luckily, I didn’t have to take advantage of that. I was able to pay for it,” Smith said.
THE CAR SHOW GUYS
Smith has owned and sold a number of classic cars, beginning with one of the first cars that he turned around — a wood panel mini van that he won at an auction in Cadillac for $500 and sold for $1,500. He worked his way up from there to more and more cars. Over his career, he has owned and sold close to 50 cars.
“In cars, I joke around and say I invest in ‘wheel estate.’ You rarely ever lose money. Like your
grandparents always say when you’re growing up, invest in real estate like they don’t make anymore. It’s the same thing with these cars, I think. I’ve found it’s a safe investment, and why not enjoy your investment while you have it!” Smith said. Alongside the financial positives of owning these cars, it has also helped Smith work alongside his dad. Both own classic trucks now, but the duo has also teamed up to create a YouTube channel named “Car Show Guys,” which highlights interviews with classic car owners, reviews and car show highlights. The channel has attracted over 171,000 views since its inception in 2021.
“My dad started in the automobile industry and worked there for close to 30 years. It kind of runs in the family with owning and having old vehicles. The trouble for younger people is that it’s expensive, so I couldn’t really afford anything until I was closer to 30,” Smith said.
“My dad and I started doing car shows together, and it’s just a good way to bond and to appreciate cars. We started thinking, ‘What can we do in our downtime?’ Since car shows take so long, we started doing YouTube. It’s nothing wildly popular, but it’s something we enjoy doing.”
Outside of the car scene, Smith wears many different hats. He works as the director of online development for Ferris State University after teaching for years at Big Rapids High School. On the side, he works in resale online, with part of his garage storing different items from clothing to old kids’ toys, old cameras and appliances. He also owned the Big Rapids Hobby Shop from 2008 to 2019.
Matt Smith and the Kraken