Old names resurface at Karson Kruzer run

The names come from Detroit's roll of Missing In Action: Nash Metropolitan, Edsel, Studebaker Hawk Grand Turismo, Chrysler Highlander, Kaiser, Chevy Nomad, Pontiac Starchief.

They should have been ghosts long ago, killed off by advancing technology, marketing decisions, changing consumer tastes and rising gasoline prices.

But nearly 400 vintage autos, classic cars, lead sleds and street rods are alive and well in Carson City this weekend, rumbling on the lawn at Fuji Park and roaring along the streets.

The Karson Kruzers' annual Rung What Cha Brung car show attracted about a hundred more cars than last year, ranging from a brass radiator Model T Ford phaeton to a 1999 GMC Denali.

The event started with a street dance Friday night, featured a parade up Carson Street and another dance Saturday night and winds up with a poker run and noon awards ceremony today.

The "Rung What Cha Brung" label meant that not every entry was car show perfect. Among the works in progress was the 1940 Buick Special that John and Kathy Moss drove over from San Lorenzo, Calif.

Bare steel showed through where the original brown paint on the Buick has been sanded away. Pink bondo spotted the Body by Fisher.

Underneath, though, the entire original drive train - straight eight flat head engine, transmission, covered drive shaft and rear axle - had been pulled, rebuilt and replaced, Moss said.

"It's all to original specifications. And we've restored the interior to original, too. All that's left is the body." Moss said. "We've spent about three years on it and we'll probably have $12,000-13,000 into it when it's done."

Kathy said they bought the car, which they had seen sitting in a neighbor's yard for a dozen years, for $1,500. The Buick is their first complete restoration project.

But not their first street rod - they've also got a T bucket, a rag-top hot rod built around a Model T passenger body.

"We came to Carson for this run last year and I got caught in the snow storm up in the mountains on the way back," Moss said. "After sitting in the storm for a few hours, I made a decision - this year we're bringing something with a roof!"

Also returning for a second year was Bill Elsholz of Acampo, Calif., who took first place in his class last year with his Firebird.

Elsholz was driving a General Motors ride again this year, but in a different class - a 1940 LaSalle, a short-lived make produced by Cadillac.

The restored V-8 powered sedan looked like it drove out of a showroom catalog. And it had garnered first place on the competition concourse at the National Cadillac-LaSalle Club car show.

But a photo album on the front fender showed the LaSalle as it was when Elsholz first saw it - a rusted hulk, its front end gaping from missing grill work. The body-off restoration was also Elsholz's first and took about six years, he said.

Hundreds of onlookers wandered between rows of rods Saturday, peering under hoods that folded back or through windows that curved with the help of chromed dividers.

"My dad had one of those!"

Massive chromed bumpers sported protrusions that may have inspired drivers to put bras on cars.

"I learned to drive in a car like this!"

Factory stock paint jobs sat side by side with schemes like the "Two-Tone Black to Red Harlequin" on the '37 Chevy that Glenn and Pam Rogne drove over from Susanville, Calif.

"Man, I wish I had kept that car!"

Well, for a sufficient number of thousands of dollars, several of the entries are still available today for quick sale.

Or, under an awning in the food and merchandise bazaar at Fuji Park, Martin Morris will be happy to fix you up with a shiny '58 Chevy Impala or a '51 Mercury cruiser just like the one in "American Graffiti" for a mere $28. At about 15 inches long, Martin's little cars are easy to park and don't break the gasoline budget.