A car show with turbocharged traditions returns

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Islanders can ogle hot rods, roadsters, muscle cars and other fossil-fueled finery when Engels Repair and Towing hosts its annual car show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, at 22725 Dockton Road SW.

For Paul Engels — the third-generation operator of the 75-year-old family-owned service station — the show is a labor of love. Since he launched the event more than 20 years ago, it has been free to enter, giving it an ecumenical feel missing in many other car shows in the region.

“It’s a carnival of machinery,” he said. “People show up with rust buckets, dump trucks, tractors, motorcycles, hydroplanes, you name it. If it’s got a motor and it moves, you can bring it to the show. I’m just waiting for a space alien to land and say, ‘Yeah, park it over there.’”

In recent years, the event has exploded in size, with collectors coming from Vashon, Port Orchard, Bremerton, Puyallup and beyond to fill up the field adjacent to the gas station — a picturesque place where old, rusted trucks peek out from a graveyard of blackberry bramble lining the property.

But only one island vehicle has the distinction of being designated as the official Engels Show Car of the Year and memorialized on the annual collector’s T-shirt for the show, designed by Chris Barnes, a local artist, racer and founder of Wagons of Steel.

This year, that car — a 1970 Sherwood green Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible — belongs to Brett Bacchus, who cruised into the gas station last week.

Eternally a teenager behind the wheel, Bacchus couldn’t resist revving his engine and spinning the convertible out in a wide section of the field on the way to a photo op there.

“I knew he was going to do that,” Engels said with a laugh as a small cyclone of dust rose in the air.

Bacchus, playing it cool in a brief interview, wasn’t sure how long he’s owned the Cutlass — saying he bought it “about three houses ago.” But when pressed, he added that he’s had the car long enough to see his kids grow up. Recently, he said, his daughter had gotten married, and she and her groom had peeled off in it after the wedding.

He also downplayed his bona fides over the years as a car collector.

“I’ve only had about 17 cars,” he said. “I’ve had way more girlfriends than I’ve had cars. I made a list.”

“A list of cars or a list of girlfriends?” a reporter asked, trying to pin him down.

“Both,” he deadpanned, earning another belly laugh from Engels.

Bacchus, a lifelong islander, has also played another role at the car show since its inception as the hard-driving drummer of the house band Engels invites each year to rock out between the gas pumps and garage.

Bacchus and the other musicians, Loren Sinner, Scotty Johnson and Jerry Toto, were all once part of The Doily Brothers — a storied island band whose frontman, Michael Spakowsky, first gave Engels the idea for the car show. And ever since Spakowsky’s death in 2014, Engels has kept inviting the surviving members back to play the event — billing them as “The Band Formerly Known as the Doily Brothers.”

This year, though, there will be two bands at the show, he said. The SIK, the electronic rock duo of Dylan Frombach and his wife Jody, will also play music further out in the field, among the cars.

What else is new this year at the show?

Engels is especially excited to welcome Rich Hernandez — better known as “Riviera Rick” in Puyallup car circles — who will bring his 1973 Buick Riviera Boattail lowrider.

The car, with a green paint job complete with heavy lace patterns, metal flakes, geometric paneling and pinstriping, is “a feast for the eyes,” according to Engels, who spotted the car earlier this year in the parking lot of a Puyallup grocery store and hung around long enough to meet Hernandez and invite him to the show.

Engels — a big fan of the lowrider car culture that flourishes in Mexican American and other Latino communities nationwide — said he hopes to see more lowriders at future Engels car shows.

Tacoma resident Alex Mejia, who rides a vintage Harley Shovelhead chopper, plans to come to the show with a group of his friends who ride classic motorcycles, Engels said. Several members of the Western Washington Firebirds — a club devoted to the preservation of the classic Pontiac pony car — will also attend, Engels added, crediting Zydan Werner, a 19-year-old Engels employee who is a member of the club, with drawing those collectors.

Islanders can show up hungry at the show: La Isla Mexican Food will be there to serve up hamburgers, hot dogs and street tacos. Emerald City Pet Rescue will also be on hand to give kids and their parents a chance to meet some of their favorite farm and foster animals and learn more about the organization.