Each entry in this Saturday’s “Cruzin’ the Harbor” car show in downtown Oak Harbor will be a labor of love, but none more so than the entry with Gail Jaeger’s name on it.
Her unique hotrod, built on the frame of a 1930 Model A Ford, was a labor of love lasting 2 1/2 years for her husband of 42 years, Chuck Jaeger. It was Gail’s 60th birthday present, and it took some time to develop.
“I knew for two years about the present,” said Gail. Chuck had asked her what she’d like for her milestone 60th birthday, and Gail estimates she thought two seconds before coming up with the answer.
“I want a car that looks cool and goes fast,” she told her husband. “I want a hotrod.”
Chuck, a retired commercial fisherman, said he’s been restoring cars all his life. But usually to their original condition, rather than fabricating a whole new vehicle. But he was up to the challenge.
He bought an old Model A belonging to Herb Williams, famed locally as the owner of the fondly remembered Kow Korner drive-in restaurant. “It was a rust bucket,” laughed Gail. But when Chuck finished sanding, there was enough solid metal left to serve as the frame for the new car.
For the front end, Chuck copied one of his favorite cars, the 1932 Ford Model A. On top of the two pieces of Model A’s, he place the piece that makes the car look like a speed machine — a 21st Century hotrod. That would be the top of a 1988 Plymouth Caravan mini-van. Somehow, he made it fit, and the result was a sleek looking hotrod. “I got lots of help from the Cruzers,” he said.
Chuck outfitted the vehicle with a plush, all-electric interior, and dropped in a 224 “crate motor” V-8 engine, which perfectly suited Gail’s desires.
“It goes fast!” she said.
The car was finished in time for Gail’s birthday last October, which turned out to be an elaborate affair at the CPO Club, featuring some 160 guests including family, friends and fellow members of Whidbey Cruzers. As Gail tells it, the crowd sat in admiring silence as the car was unveiled beneath a flood of spotlights.
Since then, she’s driven the car to town a few times, and occasionally as far away as Arlington. But she has no plans to baby her hotrod — it’s for driving. “It’s going to be a travelin’ rig,” she said, announcing plans to drive to California this summer to see relatives.
Gail couldn’t be happier with her 60th birthday present, although she admits she has friends who wonder what a woman her age needs with a hotrod. “They probably think I’m nuts, but at 60, who cares?” she said.
Street closes
for car show
Pioneer Way in downtown Oak Harbor will be closed to vehicular traffic Saturday, March 27, as the street hosts the third annual “Cruz’n the Harbor” car show presented by Whidbey Cruzers Car Club.
Show hours will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with custom and stock entries in a wide variety of car, truck and motorcycle categories. Members of the public can enter vehicles, or just enjoy looking at the cars and voting for your favorite. Entry forms are at local auto parts shows or at www.whidbeycruzers.com. Call 675-6420.
