Hotrod-A-Rama

Hot, cool meet in street-legal car show

Bill Hutchens, for the Northwest Guardian

Hotrod-A-Rama is for cool cars, cool motorcycles and people with cool attitudes. Trailer queens (pampered cars whose wheels rarely touch the ground outside of showrooms) and Harley posers (motorcycle riders who maybe aren’t as bad-to-the-bone as they pretend to be) simply won’t fit in.

If you’re street-legal, just go ahead and drive to the show, said organizer Dale Seaholm of University Place. Brush the chip off your shoulder, leave the pretentiousness at home and get ready for a fun weekend of true cool.

Hotrod-A-Rama, now in its fifth year, takes over Tacoma’s Swiss Tavern and surrounding environs today and Saturday. With space for 500 hot rods, a dozen bands and a jillion visitors, it’ll be loud – especially when the invited vintage dragsters rev up ear-pounding salutes to engine power.

Not sure about the criteria for entering your car or motorcycle?

“If it’s too modern-looking, they can go to another show,” Seaholm said. “We’re trying to keep the spirit of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and early ’60s.”

His own vehicle is a “down-and-dirty hot rod,” a 1929 Ford Roadster pickup that is no stranger to city streets (he drove it to work just the other day). The color is flat black, nothing like some of the modern pastels and neons that fill other shows. Seaholm and his friends put the beast together in his garage.

“The thing about hot rods is that hot rods are never done,” he cautioned.

And they’re like tattoos or potato chips: It’s hard to stop at just one. Seaholm already has another project, a 1934 Ford five-window coupe, in his garage. And he and some friends plan to open a “speed emporium” shop near the Puyallup Fair & Events Center in the next few months.

The family-oriented festival of cars, motorcycles, music and food began in 2002 with about 120 vehicles. Last year, Hotrod-A-Rama drew 400 vehicles, and this year, because the city is allowing them to use an extra two blocks of space near The Swiss, organizers are bracing for an even 500 registered hot rods and motorcycles – probably the maximum under current conditions, Seaholm said.

Seaholm and his buddy Shawn Wheelock formed The Mischief Makers company to organize the show every year.

Now with more than a dozen members and the support of several local sponsors as well as the Tacoma Police Department, Hotrod-A-Rama has become “the best event in Tacoma,” Seaholm said.

The music, food and family fun are the real stars of the show, he said, adding that Mischief Makers conducts a “low-key awards ceremony.” They give out one award for the coolest motorcycle, 10 “It’s-All-About-the-Iron” plaques for cars the judges think are cool and one award for the coolest car of the show.

“It doesn’t have to be the most expensive or showiest car,” Seaholm said, “just the one with the best cool attitude. That car becomes King of the Hotrod-A-Rama.”

Mischief Makers stemmed from a need for “a brotherhood of local guys with like interest in putting together a vintage-style car club and a vintage-style car show,” Wheelock said.

Wheelock will bring his creamy yellow 1954 Studebaker to the Hotrod-A-Rama, a car he calls “a work in progress.”

“We’re looking past all the cars with modern technology updates,” he said. “You see a lot of high-dollar hot rods that have fancy electronic dashes and air conditioning and tilt steering and all the bells and whistles of a current car. But that’s the stuff we look past.”

After all, “I’m having fun with my car,” he said. “It’s so reliable and drivable. I’ve got maybe $4,000 into it, but I can have every bit as much fun in it as the guy with the $100,000 hot rod.”

Other upcoming car shows

The Early Ford V8 Club of America’s Western National Meet takes place Monday through Aug. 11. Though the meet is centered at the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel and the Courtyard by Marriott, events take place at locations throughout Pierce County. Events include a golf tournament, a ladies’ luncheon at Thornewood Castle in Lake­wood, car-care seminars, cruising parties, tours of the LeMay Marymount Museum, a Mount Rainier road tour and an awards banquet. For information, visit www.fordv-8-2006western nationalmeet.com/hometext.htm.

The 29th Annual LeMay Car Show and Auction takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 29 at the LeMay Marymount campus, 325 152nd St. E. in Spanaway. See more than 800 vintage, classic and specialty automobiles, trucks and motorcycles from the LeMay collection and hundreds of local collector cars. Admission is $10 general, $5 for children young than 12, $20 per family of four or $5 for active military. There will be vendor displays, food and music. Free offsite parking is available, with free shuttles between seven Parkland/Spanaway lots and the museum. Call 253-536-2885 or 1-877-902-8490 or go online to www.lemaymuseum.org.

What: Hotrod-A-Rama

When: 6 p.m.-2 a.m. today, 9 a.m.-2 a.m. Saturday. Tonight is the kickoff evening. Saturday is geared more toward families.

Where: In and around The Swiss Tavern, 1904 S. Jefferson Ave., Tacoma

Registration: $30 (register until 3 p.m. Saturday)

Admission: The Swiss will have a cover charge, but it doesn’t cost anything to walk around, admire the cars and listen to the bands on the outdoor stage. Visitors can dine at food booths or local restaurants.