ShawneeDispatch.com

Photo by Kevin Anderson

The 3rd Annual Wheels and Dreams Car, Truck & Bike Show Sunday took over the streets of downtown Shawnee. There were more than 200 entries for this year's event, according to officials. For more on this story, check Wednesday's Shawnee Dispatch.

Photo by Kevin Anderson

Carlos Loubriel had the most tricked-out wagon with 11.5-inch rear wheels cruising around the Wheels and Dreams Car Show Sunday with his 5-year-old daughter Natalia in the back.

Photo by Kevin Anderson

All eyes were on the details of this 1947 Chrysler Town & Country Sunday at the 3rd annual Wheels and Dreams car show.

Nick Fromholtz sat proudly in the green 1928 Chevrolet Coupe, open to questions from passersby at his first Wheels & Dreams Car, Truck and Bike Show.

Fromholtz explained that the four-cylinder, three-speed transmission car, one of the older cars at Sunday's show, wasn't a specific model, just a two-door Chevy.

"There were no models back in '28," the Shawnee resident said. "They only had one kind of car back then."

Fromholtz has only had the car for about a year; friends found it for him in Minnesota.

"This barely ran when I got it," he said. "I had to overhaul the motor and put in new brakes and a new clutch. I also rebuilt the back end - it was full of mud."

Fromholtz's love of cars formed while growing up in Fairway, where his dad owned a gasoline station.

"I've worked on cars all my life," he said.

The '28 is not his ideal car, Fromholtz admits - he would have preferred something with a rumble seat and spare tires on the running boards.

"I was really looking for a '32, but I found this and it was so nice," he said.

After driving the car in the Old Shawnee Days parade, Fromholtz found out about the Shawnee car show, run by the Downtown Business Association, and decided to enter. He said he'd also planned to go to the Turkey Creek car show in downtown Merriam on Saturday, but the rain kept him home.

"I didn't want to get my car out in the rain," he said. "It looks as good underneath as it does on top, so I don't want to clean out any more mud."

This was the case for many visiting Sunday's event. While rain all but canceled Merriam's event the day before, Sunday afternoon was free of precipitation and the overcast skies brought out owners of 245 cars, trucks and bikes - only five fewer than the sunny second-annual show last year - as well as a good group of automotive fans.

Pat Donovan, owner of Donovan's Service, 5912 Nieman Road, wandered the show as a judge and said he was glad none of the owners or show-goers had to dodge raindrops. He said the success of the show was evident in his discussion with those showcasing their vehicles.

"Whenever these guys get to come out and show off their cars, they love it," Donovan said.

The vehicles on display again ran the gamut in age and type, and even some pedal cars or other toy and miniature vehicles had been entered. Fromholtz's Chevy wasn't quite the oldest on display - there was, for example, a souped-up 1922 Ford T-Bucket.

But not all vehicles designed to look old were old. Some cars, like Chad Musil's purple 1923 T-Bucket, were made from scratch. Musil's car also was an example of those who went all out to attract attention, painted a black-marbled purple with purple accents on the interior and even the motor.

"It's unique - that's what I was going for," he said.

It took the Kansas City, Kan., resident seven years to build the car, getting a little help on the bodywork from his father. But everything on the car is custom, Musil said.

"You don't find very many T-Buckets with a steel body that are in good condition," he explained.

He built the custom car in the 1920's style because he liked the look of the roofless hot rods. This was his first time to attend the Shawnee show, he said, explaining that he enjoyed any chance to get out and show off his hard work.

"On Saturday, I was thinking 'It'd be nice for it to quit raining so I could come up here and enjoy it,'" he said.