19th Annual FSB Car Show: Back In Action

With the perfect soundtrack of cruiser hits from all decades being played by Travis Rhoads of Montarctica Productions, the 19th Annual FSB Car Show got underway on Saturday, June 5, at 11 a.m.

Cars, trucks, motorcycles, drag racers and tractors were on display for all to see. Altogether, there were about 60 entries. There was food and drink available from many of the area restaurants and bars, and many local vendors were selling their goods along the sidewalks and in Memorial Park.

Local Malta resident Mike McCorkle said, "I didn't figure it would be as full as years past, only because the border isn't open, but there's a good number of cars up here."

It was a very hot day, with highs well into the 90's, but that didn't stop the locals from heading out to see the classic vehicles.

The winners for the car show are as follows; People's Choice Car- Dennis Bebee, People's Choice Motorcycle – Sam Owen, People's Choice Tractor – Clair Waters, Darryl Seeley Award – Dan and Sheri Stilson, Longest Distance – Bill Foster, Judges Choice Top Six – Dennis Bebee, Stacy Klungland, Dan and Sheri Stilson, John Carnahan, Dylan Bergos, and Martin Waters.

The one car that seemed to catch the eye of everyone passing by was the 1936 Chevy 5 Window Coupe restomod of Dennis Bebee. It is a sharp looking car in corvette red, black and silver with white leather interior, digital gauges, and a chromed out Edelbrock 350 motor.

"This has been a labor of love for over 30 years." Said Bebee of his car. "A little over 30 years ago, I was driving by Lee Jones' coulee and saw the car down there. So I stopped and asked him how much he wanted for it. He said it wasn't for sale, so I left. About a week later he called me and asked why I hadn't come to get that car yet. I said, you said it wasn't for sale. He said I won't sell it to you, just come and get it."

That day started the love affair with the car. Bebee said it wasn't in very good shape when he got it. The doors were full of rotting wood and had to be replaced completely with new metal ones. He molded and reshaped some of the body. Put in the flip out headlights, and added the sequential Chevy bowtie taillights.

"I had never done any kind of automotive painting in my life." Bebee said. "So me and YouTube did the painting on this car."

He went on to say, "The last few years I haven't been able to move as well as I used to, so my son-in-law Ryan has been helping me."

Ryan Salsbery (the son-in-law) said, "Dennis did 99 percent of the work. If he needed something done underneath the car, that's when I helped him. He did the painting, then I would do some of the striping."

When asked how long ago he finished the car, Bebee said with a chuckle, "Well, we were still working on it last night."