Brent Reese Memorial Car Show raises $4,000 to fight ALS

LAKE MOSES — The first Brent Reese Memorial Car Show drew old cars and new cars, muscle cars and street rods, tricked-out trucks and rat rods, and more than enough cars to fill the Scotty’s Auto Repair parking lot. The event gave locals an opportunity to enjoy the cars while raising money to fight Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Jeremy Reese organized it in memory of his father, Brent, who passed away in December 2020. Brent Reese battled ALS, and proceeds from the show will go to the ALS Foundation and the Team Gleason Foundation, which provides support for ALS patients and their families . .

“We’re raising money for ALS. This is the reason, to honor my father and give back to SLA (support) in a big way,” he said.

With the support of the community, he was able to do that, he said.

“We had 64 registered cars. By tomorrow night I will have donated about $4,000 to ALS (charities),” he said on Monday.

Despite the windy and cooler weather, turnout was good and Reese said she appreciates the community’s commitment to the event.

There was a lot of variety between the vehicles, but their owners all had a love of cars in common. They know each other and support each other, said BJ Reyes, who crashed his 1967 Chevrolet Caprice on a windy and dusty Saturday afternoon. Reyes is part of the Lakesiders Car Club and said he wants to support the new car show the way people supported the Lakesiders when they put on the show at the Moses Lake Spring Festival.

Caprice is a different breed of car from 2024. He changed the wheels and painted the car, but the engine is original.

“You can feel the horsepower,” fellow Lakesider Anthony Reyes said.

The Caprice always draws attention when it rolls down the road, BJ said, a trait it shares with the truck-like rat rod owned by Chris Matthynssens. The car is built from a 1954 GMC truck cab with a bed from the 1960s, Mathynssens said, and some sort of modified engine.

“It’s a lightly built Chevy 350,” he said. “Lightly built.”

It certainly has a look as it goes down the road, he said. And that’s why he built it, he said.

“I did it because I wanted something that nobody else had,” he said.

He did it once, decided it needed some changes and ended up rebuilding it.

“I changed everything. We kept the cab and the engine – everything we changed,” Matthynssens said.

Chuckie Koepke didn’t run his gear at the event, but it was kind of indescribable. It’s the body of a 1957 Ford Custom sedan sitting on a 1986 Ford F-150 chassis that Koepke shortened by 16 inches.

“It originally started as a joke,” Koepke said.

The body had been sitting on his farm for some time, and a friend found the truck, which had a long bed and twin wheels on the back, which he still keeps.

“I made a joke about it — ‘I wonder what (the sedan body) would look like on that frame,'” he said, and that was all it took. He wanted to attend a car show in Darrington and gave himself less than a week to do the job.

“Every show I go to, I usually work on it the day before,” Koepke said.

He’s a car guy with multiple vehicles, including a demolition rig.

Frankencar is a work in progress and will be for a while. Technically, it can be driven without windows, he said, but it travels on a trailer. Koepke said he has the windows and windshield and plans to install them. The body and frame need some tweaking, and they might paint them, but probably not.

“I play with all kinds of cars and trucks,” he said, a hobby that keeps him awake for hours after his day on the farm is over.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached by email at [email protected].

What is Lou Gehrig’s disease?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS, is a disease that affects the nearby cells that make muscles work in both the upper and lower body. The disease causes nerve cells to stop working and die, causing the patient to lose the ability to activate specific muscles, which can cause them to become weak and eventually paralyzed.

As of 2017, there are about 32,000 cases of ALS in the United States, with most people diagnosed between the ages of 55 and 75. Average life expectancy after diagnosis is 2-5 years.

Chuckie Koepke, second from left, who built the Frankencar shown here, chats with an audience member at the Brent Reese Memorial Car Show.

Jeremy Reese, second from left, talks to attendees of the car show he started in memory of his father.

A car owner gives his vehicle a little extra shine while visiting a car show attendee on Saturday. The first Brent Reese Memorial Car Show raised approximately $4,000 to support ALS sufferers.

A car show enthusiast takes a picture of a replica inspired by a popular television show of the time.