Car show to have rods and odds: Werner's Crash Shop owner brings festival back to Magnolia
By: Russ Zabel
This year's Magnolia car show almost didn't happen, which isn't a surprise. The last organized one took place in 2006, although an informal show did take place last summer when some local car owners showed up almost spontaneously, according to Eric Berge, a car nut and lifelong Magnolia resident.The problem was that the original organizers moved on, with one taking a job in Detroit and the other too busy, said Berge, who owns and runs Werner's Crash Shop in Lower Queen Anne.Having an auto-body shop proved to be key in the event's revival. "Customers were asking me, 'What's going on with the car show?'" he said. They figured he would know since, in 2006, four of the 40 cars on display were his. "It seemed a shame to not have (the car show)."So Berge checked in with the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce and was told a sponsor besides the neighborhood business organization was needed to put on the show, he said.No problem. Berge decided to be a sponsor, got the permits, sent out mailers to participants in the 2006 car show, furnished applications at such businesses as the 34th Street Garage, made arrangements to bring in some street barricades and printed up posters, he said. His sponsorship efforts will cost Berge more than $2,000, he added. "I'm going to write it off as advertising."Berge started his efforts last April, and owners of 32 cars had signed on by the time he was interviewed for this story on Friday, Aug.15. "I'm anxious to see what happens."Owners will pay $20 for each car they bring, and Berge is hoping there will be 40 altogether. The money will be donated to Northwest Harvest, and Berge said he would kick in an additional $200 of his own money to bring the total donation to an even $1,000.There is a possibility that 40 - or more - cars will be on display. Magnolia, it turns out, is a kind of car collectors' capital, according to Roger Kennedy, who manages and maintains 30 rare and often hyper-expensive cars owned by Magnolian Bill Cotter of DaVinci Gourmet fame.Cotter owns a Ferrari KR 200 Messerschmitt featured on the poster for the car show, but Cotter is far from alone in having a passion for collecting cars. "There are seven collections in this neighborhood," Kennedy said from inside the warehouse holding Cotter's collection near West Commodore Way.Cotter goes all over the world to race some of his cars, Kennedy said. But there's more than the need for speed involved in collecting cars, according to Berge. "I think part of the whole car thing, it's an art thing."Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.
