Veterans at Rod Run enjoy it again

Next year, the way Sandy Hammond looks at it, she and her partner, Jerry Wade of Plains, should get a 25-year pin.

Saturday marked the 24th time the two of them have attended the Hi-Line Cruz'n Association's annual rod run at the Great Northern Fairgrounds.

The two sat in lawn chairs in front of their 1933 Plymouth at the fairgrounds, gladly explaining to passersby the car's rather unusual history.

Originally it was a coupe, Hammond explained. But when Wade bought it about five years ago, it was just a shell of its form

Havre Daily News/John Kelleher

Sandy Hammond and Jerry Wade of Plains stand by their 1933 Plymouth at the Great Northern Fairgrounds on Saturday. Wade rebuilt the car after buying it five years ago.

er self.

It had no hood and no windshield, she recalled.

So, over the course of the next nine months, Wade rebuilt the entire car. Along the way, he turned the coupe into a convertible.

The story is interesting to people who visit the annual show, Hammond said.

The couple caught the old-car bug about a quarter of a century ago and can't shake it, she said.

It has been a great way to spend their summers, touring rod runs across Montana and the West. About every other weekend, they take their classic car on the road.

They travel to Billings, Butte, Lolo and elsewhere, Wade said.

"But Havre is the best, " Hammond said. "They are the best people. We always have a good time in Havre. "

Younger attendees seem to lake cars from the '50s and '60s, she said. But older people love cars from earlier eras.

Throughout the show, Hammond sat next to her longtime friend, Kathy Johnson of Butte. Johnson and her husband, Jim, have their own 1930 classic at home, but it was in the garage.

"Se we brought our old grocery-getter to the show, " so they wouldn't miss the fun — even if they didn't have a car to show.

"We didn't want to miss the Havre show, " she said.

The Johnsons don't have the experience at rod runs their friends have, she said, laughing.

"This is our 11th year, " she said. "We're the newbies. "

"This is only the second time in 11 years that we went to a show without a car, " she said.

They spend a lot of time traveling around the state — and sometimes the country.

A few years back, they joined a group of classic car owners who traveled to Maine.

"We went to Maine for a lobster dinner, turned around and came back, " she laughed.

Along the way, she said, she met many great people and turned some people to rod running.

"Everywhere we went, people were waving at us and asking questions about our cars, " she said.