Rat rods take over Mars
MARS — The rat rods were running rampant through the streets of Mars Saturday.
The Third Annual Mars Rumble car show took over the town from 3 to 9 p.m. John Podolak, event organizer and owner of Social Club Barber Shop and After Hours Tattoo Studio, said earlier this week he expected the event to draw 4,000 visitors and 1,500 vehicles.
Natasha Spreng, manager of the barber shop, said Saturday before the event, “We’re going to shut the whole town down for it. It’s as many cars as we can fit in.”
“Last year we had over 1,000 cars and we hope to have that many again this year. It was the biggest event last year and we can do it again this year,” said Spreng.
Grand Avenue was closed and lined with vendors and cars on display, and the parking lot adjacent to Railroad Avenue was filled with vehicles.
Plans called for visitors to be shuttled in from parking at Mars Area High School and the Vogel Disposal parking lot.
In addition to the cars on display, the event featured live music, food trucks, circus acts such as stilt walkers and fire breathers, an auction and a raffle.
Also laid out was a collection of rat rods — vehicles that had been rescued from fields, garages and barns. Their mechanics are overhauled but their rust is left untouched. Owners deliberately preserve their vehicles’ worn-down appearance.
Vince Krapp drove his 1939 Dodge truck and his friend Mike Shoop drove his 1942 Dodge truck from Belleville, Ohio.
“It was in a barn for 20 years,” said Krapp. “I left the rust on the body. You have to respect the rust.” He sprayed a patina to stop the rust from spreading.
Shoop said his ’42 truck was in pieces when he found it. “It was pretty much a 4-and-a-half year project. He helped me with mine and I helped him with his.”
Krapp also had his rat rod rider on display, a minibike covered with truck fenders and sporting a rebar handlebar.
Mike Smits of Rixeyville, Va., drove his modified 1997 Thomas school bus six hours to make the Mars Rumble.
“I found it on Craigslist from a government surplus auction,” Smits said. “It had been sitting for 10 years. I slapped a new battery in it and some fuel and it started right up.”
Smits cut the bus in half, adding the hydraulics for a rollback bed and building the bed himself. He used the rollback to transport his wife Shirley’s 1930s roadster to Mars.
The roadster is a real rat rod. It started out as a pickup truck but Smits handmade it into the roadster it is today.
And he’s still not done with the bus, which he calls a work in progress. He’s swapped out the headlights and added two Cadillac bumpers and a Pontiac bumper to the front.
He added a floor made from repurposed wood to the inside, along with a porch swing sitting on a car axle as seating on one side.
Shirley Smits said she didn’t mind making the trip.
“It’s fantastic. This is family. We’ve made so many friends,” she said.
Kerry Stabler of Gibsonia had to get his friend Ray Tutelo of Wexford to drive his 1955 Chevy former race car to the Rumble because a recent injury left him unable to work the stick shift.
“You have to get it out of the garage and get it running now and then,” he said.
“I bought it off the original owner,” said Stabler. "I had to tone it down a little so I could drive it on the highway.“ The car still boasts a stick proclaiming it the 1965 National Hot Rod Association champion.
Stabler said he had a 1948 Plymouth back home that he plans to turn into a true rat rod.
“You don’t paint them; it’s how you discover it. You take the vehicle the way you found it and you preserve it the way you found it. It’s car art,” he said.
