Rod & Roll Auto Show attracts massive crowd downtown
Published 8:00 am Monday, August 21, 2017
The 27th annual Rod & Roll Classic Auto Show returned to downtown Dowagiac Saturday. Nearly 200 modern and vintage vehicles were featured during the event, which attracted hundreds to the city that afternoon. (Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
(Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
(Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
(Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
Watervliet's Steve Gagliano receives the Best of Show award from Miss Dowagiac Madison Phelps for his 1956 Chevy Bel Air. Gagliano also captured the title in 2015. (Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
Coloma’s Rod Burgoyne receives the Queen’s Choice award from Miss Dowagiac Madison Phelps (left), as well as the seventh-place trophy from Emily Dodd, first runner-up on the Miss Dowagiac Court. Burgoyne received the award for his 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle. (Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
Dowagiac's Curt Rhody also took home a trophey for his 1949 Willys Jeepster. (Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
Dowagiac's Steve Lutes also won an award for for his 1931 Ford two-door sedan. (Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
After being slowed down by a massive rainstorm last year, one of Dowagiac’s most beloved events powered through downtown Saturday, with a huge amount of horsepower behind it.
The 27th annual Rod & Roll Classic Auto Show, organized by The Greater Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce, returned to the Grand Old City that afternoon. Around 180 vintage and modern vehicles, representing nearly every era of automobile manufacturing, rolled into Front and Commercial streets for the show — and drew hundreds of spectators to downtown in the process.
Taking home the coveted Best of Show award Saturday was Watervliet’s Steve Gagliano, whose red and black 1956 Chevy Bel Air was voted by his fellow auto enthusiasts’ top vehicle on display that afternoon. The award, dedicated in memory of longtime car show organizer Ed Kazlauskas, was the second Best in Show title Gagliano has captured at Rod & Roll in three years.
Miss Dowagiac 2017 Madison Phelps also bestowed the Queen’s Choice trophy to Coloma’s Rod Burgoyne and his black 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle, which was also voted as the seventh best vehicle at the show.
Both the Best of Show and Queen’s Choice trophies were custom made by brothers Chris and Michael Symonds, with Dowagiac’s Symonds Machine Co, respectively. The brothers used auto parts and tools to craft the metal pieces.
Among the people showing off their vehicles Saturday was Dowagiac’s Larry Greenman, who also volunteered to help with the show. Greenman brought his customized red 1932 Ford Truck “rat rod” to display during the car show.
Greenman purchased the old vehicle from a seller on the other side of the state four years ago. With the help of his son, Greg, and others in the community, Greenman restored and customized the eight-decade old vehicle, which had sat unused in a garage for nearly 10 years before.
“I’m still not done with it,” Greenman said. “I do something else with it every winter. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many hours I have poured into it.”
The Dowagiac man has taken his rat rod to many car shows in the area since then, and has racked up several awards in the process. He took home five trophies from shows throughout the area last year, and earned another two during this year’s Ride 4 the Homeless in Dowagiac earlier this summer.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Greenman said about the Rod & Roll show. “You get a lot of complements from people checking out your car.”
