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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Down Memory Lane Owners Of Classic Autos At The Car D’Lane Car Show Can Relive Their Youth And Make Money, Too

Winda Benedetti Staff Writer

Marvin Taber knows about turning trash into treasure.

He was 14 years old when he pulled a 1915 Dodge roadster from a garbage dump.

The year was 1957, and the car was little more than a rust-eaten frame and body, missing the dashboard and windshield, among other items.

But 38 years later, it is a shiny-red vintage automobile with beautiful curves and wooden running boards, crowned with a soft white convertible top.

“We’ve had a lot of fun in that car,” Taber’s wife Marie said Sunday, the classic machine sitting nearby.

The Tabers’ Dodge roadster was just one of 455 vintage cars registered for this weekend’s fifth-annual Car d’Lane Classic Car Show.

“Rock Around the Clock” and “Born to Be Wild” blasted over the speakers Sunday as classic car enthusiasts lined downtown Coeur d’Alene streets with everything from a Model T to a 1970 Chevy Chevelle.

With the streets blocked off to regular traffic, hundreds of people walked among the autos, ogling the old machines with their plush interiors and shiny-clean engines.

The show, sponsored by the Coeur d’Alene Downtown Association and the North Idaho Classic Car Club, was the largest in its five-year history.

The desire to restore old cars to their earlier glory is grounded in a strong sense of nostalgia, said Jim Hatfield of Spokane.

“I think you’re reliving your childhood,” he said while showing off his 1929 Model A Ford with its “demon red” paint, chrome trim and black leather roof.

“We remember the way things were done back in the old days,” he said. “It was just speed and fun. When you’re young, everything is fun. You grab your girl and jump in the old car and go for a ride.” Charlie Cates of Spokane spent five years piecing together his vintage car. He brought pieces all the way from New Zealand and England to restore the Ford Model T.

Dating back to 1910, it was the oldest car at the show Sunday.

“I like a piece of American history,” Cates said. A brass lantern perched on the back bumper of his white Model T, which sported wooden spoke wheels, oak paneling and a brass-trimmed windshield. “This car best depicts how America became motorized.”

Much of Marvin Taber’s own history is wrapped in his roadster.

A few years after finding the car, in 1961, he took his future wife for their first soda pop together in the convertible.

“Everybody asked me if I married my husband for his car,” Marie Taber said. “But I got both.”

In 1994 Taber and his son Brad would restore the vintage automobile to its original glory.

“It’s priceless to us,” Marie Taber said.

Larry Easterly of Post Falls also knows how a small investment in the past can pay off in the future.

In 1960 he offered his neighbor $10 for his 1934 Chevrolet Master Deluxe.

The brown two-tone car since has been restored. It seats five, boasts old-time “suicide doors” that open backward, and has side-mount spare tires.

It is now worth somewhere between $10,000 and $12,000.

But Easterly doesn’t hide his prize possession in a safe garage. Instead, he and his wife love to hit the road.

“We were born to cruise,” Easterly said.

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