$30 million in vehicles on display at Richmond event

The vehicles were lined up throughout the complex, the early-afternoon sun reflecting off chrome bumpers and gleaming paint jobs.

People meandered through vintage cars and trucks in the Richmond Raceway Complex parking lot yesterday, eyes wide with wonder as they took in the multitude of restored antique vehicles.

They came for the final day of the fifth Richmond Nationals sponsored by the National Street Rod Association, celebrating a trip through time of the automobiles. The event drew nearly 1,000 cars and hundreds more visitors from across Virginia and the country.

"We just wanted to check them out," said Terry Bender of Colonial Heights, who attended the event with wife Stephanie and daughter Taryn. The Benders won tickets to the event from a radio station.

A street rod, according to the NSRA, is a modernized automobile manufactured in 1948 or earlier, but vehicles dating to 1979 were on display as well.

For Jim and Sue Jewett, more than 3,200 miles from home, Richmond was a natural stopping point to show their 1934 Oldsmobile. They stopped on their trek back to West Richland, Wash., from visiting family in Atlanta.

Attached to a hitch on the back of the dark green Oldsmobile is a trailer decorated with pins and decals from previous destinations across the U.S.

"We've got to have a place for all our stuff," Sue Jewett said.

They have put nearly 155,000 miles on the car since 1994 as they have traveled the country attending NSRA events. Each time, they try to take a different route home to see new parts of the country, Jim Jewett said.

Some car owners try to keep their restored cars in the garage and off the street. After Fred Phipps of Mechanicsville and A.P. Judy of Chesterfield County restored Phipps' 1955 Plymouth, he put about 3,000 miles on it the first three months. But now, he said, he's eased off driving the car, limiting it to just about every weekend during the summer.

Phipps also restored a 1964 Plymouth Valiant, which was not on display yesterday.

"I'm at the low end of this hobby," he said.

Some of the vehicles are worth as much as $40,000, and at the three-day Richmond Nationals, the combined value of the restored automobiles on display is more than $30 million, according to NSRA estimates.

Cars of all makes and models, all shapes and sizes were featured, including a restored 1934 Dodge school bus and a UPS truck with flames painted on the hood and along the sides. Ron Tatum of Chesterfield showed off his 1959 Chevrolet Impala, which features bat wings along the rear and cat-eye taillights.

In addition to the restored exteriors, some vehicles' interiors were upgraded to incorporate current technology. For example, a 1962 Chevrolet Impala was outfitted with a jack to plug in an iPod.

Among the oldest vehicles at the event was Henry Nelson's 1926 Model A Ford, which he rebuilt from the frame up over the course of two years. The'26 Ford on display was one of nine vintage vehicles Nelson owns, including several other Model A Fords and a 1982 Cadillac Eldorado.

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or .