Classic cars shine in Sisters street show

The hot July sun beat down on a rainbow of polished paint, from bright yellow classic Chevys to a creamsicle orange 1937 Ford in Sisters' fifth annual Glory Daze car show on Main Avenue on Saturday.

Folks took a walk down memory lane as they stopped to check out their favorite vintage automobiles.

"The car show just started and we already have 95 entries," said John Rivera, new event coordinator for Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce. "We have more community involvement this year. Melvin's Fir Street Market will be delivering sandwiches to the classic car owners that order them. This way they can stay close by their cars if people have questions."

R.D. Mitchell, from Bend, watched as folks slowed to a stop to take a peek at his candy apple red 1955 Chevy Del Rey.

"I've had 'Candy' for 25 years. When I first bought the car the body was in good shape, but not the interior. I took my time and restored the inside with a white tuck 'n' roll interior," said Mitchell. "I wanted the wheels to look like the ones I had on my car when I was in high school. So I added reverse chrome wheels, called a 'smoothie,' with baby moon hubcaps."

The most intriguing part of the car show centered on stories each car carried from its past.

"I found the body, cab and bed of my 1932 Ford on the floor of an old airplane hangar in Vancouver, Washington," recalled Paul Null, from Woodburn. "I carried the airplane theme inside and outside of the car when restoring it. I had Clark Berryman, a local artist from Sisters, design the artwork on the car. He painted a pinup girl with the name "Lucky Lynnda Raye" after my wife, like you'd see on the old vintage planes. It took me two years to complete the restoration."

Bob Buckmann, one of the Glory Daze car show judges, had the difficult job of making decisions about the 15 categories and who would take home a ribbon.

"Most of these guys spend their life savings building that car from the ground up," said Buckmann.

Roger Dwight, a Sisters local, found his 1955 Corvette at a warehouse in Springfield wrapped in 1970s newspapers.

"The car parts were literally in pieces. It was a giant jigsaw puzzle and I had to put it back together again," Dwight recalled. "Now that is a true barn find.

"I restored the car like it came off the production line back in '55. It's 97.8 percent original and is in correlation to the National Corvette Restorers Society regulations. I have owned it for four years and it took about a year and a half to fully restore. I painted it gypsy red, one of the stock colors back then."

At 2 p.m. the official winners in the show's 15 categories were announced. The excitement grew as classic car owners gathered near the platform where John Rivera handed out over 45 ribbons.

Roger Dwight not only won first in the sports-car category but took Best of Show for his 1955 Chevy Corvette.

Winners in other categories included: Best Street Machine, Mick and Susie Hunter for their 1955 Chevrolet Del Ray. The Peoples' Choice ribbon went to David Childress for his 1934 Ford Cabriolet. And first place for Traditional Rods was awarded to John and Beverly Carrion for their 1949 "English" Ford Anglia.