August 13, 2007

Car show draws crowd to Sorosis

By ELROY KING
of The Chronicle

     The annual Show in the Shade on Saturday at Sorosis Park drew more than 300 cars from near and far, and at least one from really far.
There were 325 entries in the show, down a little from past years. But unlike the past two years, the temperatures hovered in the 80s, a lot better than the 100s in recent years.
     Among the entry was a 1938 Studebaker which traveled 2,284 miles to get to the show. The owner of that car is Evelyn and Howie Thomas of Hampshire, Ill.
They met Steve Hudson, local Studebaker car enthusiast, at a Good Guys Car show in Spokane and also at a Studebaker International show a couple of years ago. He encouraged them to bring their Studebaker to the show here, and this year they did.
     He said he gave the car to his wife on their 40th anniversary a few years ago. They were headed to the Oregon coast after the show here.
     Howie said that he thought he might win the “long distance: trophy, which he did, as well as the Best Orphan trophy. That one is given to a make of car no longer built. However, Howie said they were in a show in Pennsylvania a while back and thought then they might win the long distance award, but there was someone there from California.
     The award for Best Under the Sun award (the car judged tops in the show) went to a 1949 Mercury owned by Fred and Laura Ayers of Tygh Valley. It was the first show they had entered.
     There were also some unusual cars in the show, one of them a 1977 Stutz Blackhawk owned by Lee Spriggs of Wasco. Information on the car said it was one of only 500 made in Torino, Italy.
     A 2002 Chevrolet Corvette owned by Jonathan and Carlyn Johns of Yakima, won the award for best Corvette, and featured an engine block signed by members of the Baltimore Ravens football team. That car was featured on the Mid-Columbia Car Club’s t-shirts 2007 edition. It won best non-red last year. Johns club, the Yakima Valley Corvette Club, won the club participation award. Seventeen Corvettes from there made the trek to The Dalles.
     Another unusual car was the 1934 Hupmobile owned by Robert and Mavis Olson of Moro. It was picked as the best host car.
     There were several Nash Metropolitans in the show, a few sports cars including a 1951 T-series MG/