Hot-rod fans revving up for annual Rod Run

Nothing goes together quite like street rods, soft serve and sweet nostalgia.

That's what brings together the members of the Glacier Street Rod Association for weekly gatherings at Arctic Circle and Dairy Queen, and what will be drawing a crowd of chrome-enthusiasts this weekend during the club's annual Rod Run in Kalispell.

"That's the thing you used to do," member Bob Casey, 64, says of days past, when cruising into town for ice cream was the activity of choice.

One of Casey's four street rods, though, won't be cruising this week. His 1933 seafoam green Plymouth will be displayed at the Kalispell Center Mall through Sunday.

Casey will choose from his red 1930 Plymouth hot rod (complete with flames on the sides), black cherry 1947 Buick Roadmaster and cream with orange-red fenders 1951 GMC pickup while the other car is on display. He drives each of his cars every week.

"I just get a charge out of driving them," he says. "It makes you feel young again, and they get more looks."

The cars draw stares, and admirers, wherever he goes - much more so than does his 1998 Ford Windstar van he also drives, he jokes.

Casey, a retired mechanic for the Boeing Company, has been building street rods for 20 years. He gets his cars from family members or junkyards. But when he starts on them, they barely resemble the shiny beauties they will become, he says.

He upgrades his with new motors and transmissions, and also adds modern components, such as power brakes and steering.

"They all look basically original," he says, "but they've been updated. They're made to drive."

Street-rod builders typically spend $25,000 to restore a car, Casey says. He does most of the work himself, but he takes the cars to Jim's Paint Shop for painting. Craig Smith of Kalispell does the interiors. Casey stores his cars at his Kalispell home in a garage that holds eight to 10 cars.

Casey joined the Glacier group six years ago when he and his wife, Ardell, moved to Kalispell. Ardell grew up in the Flathead Valley, but Casey is from South Dakota.

The club has introduced him to fellow street-rod enthusiasts in the area, so whether he's at a weekly or the annual Glacier gathering, he's among friends. But it's the out-of-towners he really looks forward to at the Rod Run each year, he says.

Those people bring cars that members of the Glacier group don't have, so it's fun to see new cars, he says.

"But it don't make any difference to me what make or model," he says, "I like them all."

Reporter Camden Easterling can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at ceasterling@dailyinterlake.com