Hundreds show off at the Greenwood Car Show

Jim Freeburg loves his 1962 Chevrolet Impala convertible. Silver on the outside, bright fire-engine red on the inside. A beauty ready to be shown off.

Except that most of the time, she sits in a garage.

He takes her out for a spin every now and then. But he worries about getting dings if he leaves her in a parking lot. And she doesn't exactly get great gas mileage.

But Saturday was a different matter for Freeburg and fellow enthusiasts. About 500 car owners took part in the 16th annual Greenwood Car Show, showing off vehicles ranging from vintage to street rods to those run on gas alternatives. Hundreds of spectators came out to enjoy the sun and fun.

Many of these cars "sit in the garage most of the time," said Freeburg, 63, a Ballard resident who owns J&J Auto Supply in Shoreline. "It's nice to come out, show your car and see other people's cars."

Freeburg bought his Impala some six years ago after seeing the car at a swap meet.

"I fell in love with it and had to have it," said Freeburg. He loved the car's straight lines. And the Impala reminded him of his youth, since the car came out around the time he was graduating from high school.

Practical the car is not, he admits.

Miles per gallon? "It might get 10," he guessed.

"On a good day, going downhill," retorted Paula McNeil, Freeburg's office manager, who stores the car in her big garage in Edmonds and drives it occasionally. "But it's worth it."

The Impala caught the eye of Glenn Switzer, 63, of Bothell, who was wandering by. He used to own a two-door, hardtop '62 Impala, so, he said, Impalas "draw my attention every time. This one's gorgeous."

Also drawing attention was Al Rustad's 1929 Lincoln L limousine, a dark-blue-green vehicle that wouldn't look out of place in "The Untouchables."

Sitting next to his vehicle, Rustad and other members of The Ain't No Heaven Seven band played traditional Dixieland jazz.

Rustad, 68, a retired mechanical engineer from Edmonds, and his brother saved the car from the scrapheap decades ago when the garage it was housed in was being torn down, he explained between stints on the tuba. They used to drive it around town and on trips to Mount Rainier. But since the engine froze around 1968, it's been sitting at his parents' place.

Then, they took the car to a shop in Monroe to fix the engine and do extensive body and paint work.

"This is the first time it's been out for a show, ever," Rustad said proudly.

And, of course, this being Seattle, it wouldn't do to have a car show without some alternative-fuel vehicles.

So there were biodiesel cars and hybrids and, in a corner lot, some 20 electric vehicles that had been converted from regular cars.

Basically, it's a matter of ripping out anything to do with the engine — motor, radiator, gas tank — and putting in an electric motor, an electric carburetor and a big set of batteries, explained Dave Cloud, a Woodinville resident and a member of Seattle Electric Vehicle Association.

Cloud's own converted neon-green Geo Metro will go about 70 miles on one charge, topping out at 85 miles per hour.

He's seeing more interest in electric cars these days, what with skyrocketing gas prices and increasing environmental concern. In the last month, he's gotten at least one call a day asking about conversions, he said.

And at the Greenwood Car Show, people passing by Cloud said "Cool!" and stopped to ask questions.

Cloud was an early convert to alternative vehicles. He was one of those people who waited in long lines for gas during the 1973 oil crisis.

"I got fed up," he said. "I thought: 'We need to have something else.' "

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com