Couple wins big at custom car show

In the Colby family, hot-rodding is a his-and-hers sport.

And at the recent Goodguys' Great Northwest Nationals show in Spokane, both Mark and Tina Colby of Kalispell were winners.

Mark's 1926 Ford Model T roadster won one of the coveted Builder's Choice awards at the Spokane show that featured close to 1,500 vehicles. Earlier this year the hot rod placed second at the Grand National Roadster Show in Panoma, Calif.

Tina's 1955 Plymouth Belvedere was one of 10 cars chosen by a panel of Street Rodder magazine editors and experts to compete in the Top 100. Street Rodder picks 10 cars at 10 shows throughout the country and then names a Street Rod of the Year.

The Colbys are no strangers to classic cars.

They were car enthusiasts and sweethearts at the same time during high school at Flathead - Tina graduated in 1990 and Mark in 1989.

They have the first cars they ever owned. Tina's 1969 Camaro is in the throes of being restored while Mark's 1978 Chevy pickup is beautifully restored as a low rider.

"I did all the work except it was painted by Dan Fredenberg of Kalispell," he said. The original color was green, but today the pickup is a much brighter green.

"It's an addiction," Mark said about restoring and transforming old cars into street rods and hot rods.

Hot rods are older classic cars, generally 1930s and older, that have been modified or rebuilt to increase speed and acceleration. Street rods are also called custom cars and generally have undergone some type of modernization.

While the Colbys are still basking in the glory of winning big at the Spokane show, they're quick to note that there were many behind-the-scenes people who helped them on their road to acclaim.

The 1926 roadster was built in 1967 by Scott Young in Kalispell and was bought a decade later by Dick Hampton, who turned the Model T into a show car.

"I'd see it as a kid when I'd go to car shows with my dad," Mark recalled. "I was always bugging him (Hampton) to sell it."

Mark's wish came true in 2007 when Hampton called him to say the roadster was for sale, but was in pieces. Due to ill health, Hampton was unable to finish the second restoration on the car.

"I was there in 20 minutes," Mark said. "Me and my dad finished what he started and it took a year."

Mark's father, Melvin Colby, has been both a mentor and a fellow fan in building hot rods.

Hampton wrote about his treasured roadster in a Glacier Street Rod newsletter last year:

"I couldn't have found a better home for this beast," he wrote. "I sure enjoyed it for 25-plus years and 90,000 miles ... I'm happy for Mark and he did a good job on finishing the roadster."

Several others had a hand in the restoration. Jerry Taylor of Evergreen painted the roadster; Valley Upholstery did the interior and Bradford's machine shop lent its expertise to the project.

Even a novice can recognize the beauty and style of the '26 T. The gas tank is fashioned to look like a wooden whiskey barrel. At 500 horsepower and a 440 Chrysler engine with a rare long-ram intake, the car is built for power and speed.

Mark and his dad finished the restoration in July 2008, just in time for the annual Glacier Rod Run.

"Dick knew we'd be people to respect it and get it out and around," Mark said.

There's a story to go with Tina's '55 Plymouth, too.

"I'd just finished [the 1926 roadster] and we found out Tina was pregnant," Mark recalled.

Afraid she'd make him sell the Model T to "get something with a back seat," Mark asked the street-rodders coffee klatch at Nickel Charlie's if they knew of any "project cars." That led him to the '55 Plymouth that had been restored and was owned by Lloyd Turner of Kila. When Turner died in 2007, Turner's wife Norma sold the car to Mark two years later and it became Tina's car.

"He had done everything," Mark said, explaining how Turner had rebuilt the car with a new suspension and motor. "He also did a unique phantom Hemi. It has a 350 Chevy engine custom-made to look like a Hemi. I take it to shows and people don't know the difference."

Hemi is short for hemispherical and describes an engine originally built by Chrysler engineers that had hemispherical combustion chambers, according to the Dodge Talk website.

The Plymouth was ready to go when Mark bought it, except for the upholstery, which Ron Francis at Valley Upholstery installed.

The license plate says it all: HMIWNAB.

"It's different. You don't see many Plymouths at these shows," Mark said. "At Spokane, we were the only '55 Plymouth and we usually are."

Tina drove the Plymouth all the way to Spokane, and with a car seat in the back for 18-month-old Carter Hudson, she got plenty of wide-eyed looks along the way.

Their son, true to form, is named after the Carter carburetor and the classic car made famous by the Hudson Motor Car Co. that operated from 1909 to the 1950s. Carter has his own custom-made stroller fashioned to look like a classic car. It's been autographed by dozens of professional hot-rodders.

While Tina doesn't get involved too much in the actual restoration work, she keeps the cars clean.

"I'm the professional brass polisher," she said with a laugh. "That is a feat."

She always liked older cars and had plenty of family members who liked to fix up old cars.

Tina likes the family atmosphere and the camaraderie at the various car shows they attend. She's developed another related hobby: Collecting vintage car and gas-station signs, anything that's "car-themed."

Their next project is a 1930 Ford Model A coupe, and that might max out their spacious storage shed for the vintage vehicles.

"He's already talking about adding onto the garage," Tina said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.