Rod Run to End of the World
Written by Keith Fudge

America’s Pacific Northwest is known for its beautiful scenery, rugged natural coastlines, and fine wines and seafood; however, last September it was known for something else in Ocean Park, Washington: Hot Rods forever! In this segment of My Classic Car, we take a trip out west to join up for the Rod Run to the End of the World!

After we arrived in Ocean Park, Dennis found Jerry Benning, President of the Beach Barons Car Club, the organization who sponsors of the event. Jerry told Dennis that this was the nineteenth anniversary of the show and that the event has grown from 61 cars at the first Rod Run to more than 1,500 participants in this year’s event. This year’s show was the third year at this facility, grounds that are owned by the Beach Barons themselves! Jerry told Dennis that since the show kept getting bigger each year that they wanted to have their own place to expand the activities that are held in conjunction with the show. In addition, Jerry told Dennis that they throw one heck of a seafood feast including salmon, corn on the cob, and all the trimmings for the participants. Speaking of trimmings, Jerry mentioned that he had some favorite dishes in this show in the form of some really rad rods, and with that thought in mind Jerry and Dennis went to look for a few of Jerry’s favorites.

On the first stop, talk about a rare find! Dennis came across Wayne Upchurch and his ultra rare 1940 Nash Lafayette. Wayne told us that there were only 50 of these cars ever produced and that this one was one of four that were accounted for! He said that he took the car as a basket case and that it took four years to complete the restoration. The paint on this rare rod was flamed to perfection, and this bad boy is powered by a Chevy ZZ4 crate motor running through a 700R4 tranny. Even thought this is one unique car it isn’t exclusively a trailer queen; Wayne has put about 2,000 miles on it in the last ten months! Way to go Wayne, and as Dennis said, “Flame On!” Next, Dennis found a cool and hip “Rat Rod” that was a 1928 Ford Phaeton powered by a Cadillac Flathead! This bad boy was a “driver’s driver” and had even made a round trip of 4,500 miles from Vancouver, Washington, to Nebraska for an auto show! The power of this rad rod was obvious for when it was fired up it definitely stirred the air! Keep on truckin’!

We had a great time at the Rod Run to the End of the World and the Twentieth celebration promises to be something special for sure! If you would more information on this year’s event, give the Beach Barons Car Club a call at 360-665-3565, or look for them on the web at www.beachbarons.com. So, until our next road trip, remember, “Honor the timeless classics. Happy Motoring!”