MARYSVILLE – As car shows go, Rodz on 3rd every year the second Saturday in July is one of this area’s best.
One reason that makes it so is the original hand-made trophies by Will Borg of Marysville.
Borg, a member of the local Nimrodz Club, which puts on the event, works in his spare time almost year-round to make the 40 or so awards presented at the end of the car show. Borg goes to swap meets around the Northwest and picks up spare car parts, which he mounts on wood to make the trophies. He uses pistons, carburators, gears, cams and more. He also uses tools often used in auto mechanics, such as wrenches.
“I use random, old car parts. It’s time-consuming but it makes the show unique,” Borg said, adding there also is the coveted Water Tower award.
The show, in its fifth year, had 110 cars last weekend. “The first year we had 100 cars and that blew us away,” he said.
He got involved that first year because his sister had a clothing store on 3rd Street, and they wanted to draw crowds there, instead of people going to big box stores. “The people on third were excited,” he said.
Borg and the 10-member Nimrodz Club put on the event. There are much bigger car clubs in the area, he said, adding the Thursday Night Garage Club won an award for having the most cars at Rodz on 3rd. “It’s an excuse to drive the old cars around and meet new people,” he said.
In its third year, the show grew to 200 cars. But a car club in north Everett changed its show from July 4 to the following Saturday, leading to smaller numbers here the past few years.
Borg said both the turnout in attendance and number of cars was lower this year, but much of that had to do with threatening skies.
Car fans young and old did attend the event. The cars themselves, many of them owned by Marysville residents, were also young and old.
A 1915 Dodge is owned by Ken Knoes, a 1924 Ford Model T by Donna and Tom McCutcheon, a 1927 Roadster by Toniky Swineford, a 1950 Thunderbird by Todd Humphrey and a 1950 GMC Caballero by Fred Sealund.
Among the cars with Arlington owners was Darren Watland with a 1923 Ford T bucket.
Stan Strid was one car owner who didn’t make it to the show. He died last week. But his daughter, Melanie Zerr, made sure the car still made it.
“The week he was in the hospital I kept telling him he needed to hurry and get better so we could get out of there and be ready for the car show on the 9th,” Zerr said online. “In his sleep at the end he was mumbling out loud about winning a trophy.
“As I was saying my goodbyes to him in the hospital before he passed away I promised him I would still get his car to the show so people could see all of his hard work.”
She kept that promised, and followed up with: “We made it dad. We hope you are in heaven looking down seeing how many people love your car.”
