Hot Rods to mark 10th at Palouse

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | May 28, 20140

The hot rods are coming and they’d best get here early.

Palouse’s 10th annual Spring Barbecue and Hot Rod Gathering will take place on Main Street Saturday.

“We busted out of our seams last year and had to turn people away,” said Marc Van Harn, owner of Vintage Velocity Rods and a founding member of the Knuckleskrapers Car Club which puts on the show.

Last year’s 150 cars were lined up in the space allowed for the event, which again will be downtown between Bridge Street to Hall Street starting at 11 a.m. Since both Main Street and Bridge Street are state highways, detours have to accommodate semi-trucks, which restricts the downtown show space.

Aside from pre-1973 hot rods, jalopies, sleds and choppers, other attractions will include C&D Barbecue from Moscow serving pulled pork sandwiches and other items, Paradise Creek Brewery of Pullman running the beer garden and the Barnyard Stompers, a band from Texas, playing rockabilly from noon to 6 p.m.

At 3 p.m., the Rolling Hills Derby Dames will perform.

“There was a major change in 1974 with emissions and plastics on cars,” said Van Harn. “’73 was kind of the last year that everything was metal. A lot of automobile purists would say that is the end of the muscle car era.”

Many of the vehicles will be older than that.

“Our show caters to pre-1963 owner re-built and driven hot rods,” said Van Harn who re-built a motor in a 1961 International truck in junior high.

Two things you won’t see are “trailer queens” and “billet barges.”

A trailer queen is a car that rolls to show on a trailer. A billet barge refers to cars which include high expense custom parts derived from milling a billet block of material.

“There’s a lot of open shows out there. We are catering to a specific crowd of people that build these in their garages and drive them,” Van Harn said.

Beginning in 2004 with 36 cars, the annual event has grown steadily drawing as many as 1,500 - 2,000 spectators.

Cars come from as far away as the coast, southern Idaho and Ohio.

“Friends of friends,” Van Harn said, of how the Ohio owner heard about the Palouse event.

With a few days left until annual Hot Rod Gathering, Van Harn said plans are set.

“If I’m not ready at this point, it’s too late,” he said. “It takes all year to plan this show.”

Prizes?

“We don’t do that,” Van Harn said. “There are no classes. This is all about the social aspect of like-minded people hanging out, having a good time.”