As early as this month, Wade said he hopes to have food carts on the property. By spring, his plan is to house Clark County’s first-ever permanent food cart pod.
The museum will contain Wade’s personal collection of about 25 rare cars, as well as some temporary, visiting exhibits.
Wade’s career story is one of rags-to-riches, or, perhaps more accurately, jalopy-to-showpiece. In 1981, he had recently ended a business partnership with his brother, in which they ran a salvage yard and used car lot.
He began selling mail-order classic car parts, which he stored under the bed in a room he rented.
“Everyone’s got to start somewhere, I guess,” he said with a laugh.
Wade knew that plenty of other companies sold parts for early Ford models, as well as for Chevrolets from 1955 and later. But from 1937 to 1954, Chevrolet sold more cars than any other manufacturer “and nobody else was doing real complete coverage of them,” he said.
Finding a niche
Wade honed in on this niche. It was long before the arrival of the Internet, so he printed a catalog and advertised in car publications such as Hemmings Motor News, which he calls “the Bible of the old car industry.”
Today, Wade bills his company, Chevys of the 40s, as “the world’s most complete supplier of 1937 to 1954 Chevrolet car and truck parts.” He also owns StreetRodHQ.com, which sells parts for hot rods of various makes.
Business has grown steadily, according to Wade, although he declined to give dollar figures. His company has 22 employees. Customers find him from all over the world, with parts regularly shipping to China and Japan.
Some clients are buying parts to restore their old cars. Others are building reproductions from scratch. Wade’s companies do not sell finished cars, but they do build cars to better understand the components — and to turn heads at more than 1,000 car shows each year.
Back in the 1970s, Wade made a wish list of all the models he would like to own someday. Recently, he’d crossed so many off of the list that he turned his focus toward another challenge: What to do with all of these cars?
For years, he dreamed of opening a museum, but that never seemed like a realistic possibility. Then, about a year ago, he bought an empty car lot and showroom at 1015 N.E. 78th St. in Hazel Dell. Built in the 1960s as a Volkswagen dealership, the space later became a Dodge and Mazda dealership before sitting vacant for several years.
Restoring the old building has been unlike any of his car restorations, Wade said. A die-hard classic car enthusiast checks to ensure that historically accurate bolts are threaded through the exact holes that they would have been in back in the day. But with a building, “you’re not necessarily just restoring it, you’re updating it some and making it suitable for a different use,” he said.
But similar to building a hot rod, the renovation has required some flourishes of the imagination, Wade said. In the museum building’s bathroom, an old automatic transmission has been transformed into a modern, functional urinal. Another transmission was reworked to serve as a sink.
Work is continuing on the building’s interior, and Wade said he hopes to begin moving in his car collection at the start of next year. He plans to hire about 10 employees to staff the museum, and charge about $5 admission.
Food cart pod
Wade’s car collection is “very eclectic,” he said, with models as old as 1931 and some rare new sports cars, too. With just a few exceptions, each automobile was one that Wade went out of his way — and, in some cases, waited decades — to find.
Luxury and high-performance cars appeal to Wade. So do convertibles.
“So predominantly, I have convertibles, although most of the modern (sports cars) aren’t even available as convertibles,” he said.
He’s paying for the new museum out of pocket. It’s an attempt to help his collection live on after Wade, who is 76 and in good health, is gone.
“I would like them to be around for people to enjoy,” he said of his cars.
Wade said he is talking with local food cart owners about parking on the site as early as next month. He plans to install a tented common area to provide year-round seating.
An old used-car sales office is being revamped into a taproom, to be run by Matthias of Beaches Restaurant & Bar, with five or six menu items that complement the food cart fare. Matthias said he’s optimistic the site will succeed as Clark County’s first-ever pod of permanent food trucks.
“I think Vancouver is ready for it, and I think the site he’s putting together is a good space for it,” he said.
The location offers plenty of parking, good freeway access and a possible venue for private events, too, according to Matthias. He added that he thinks it makes sense to locate the pod on Vancouver’s west side.
“It’s a destination … it’s really like you’re going to one restaurant location but you get eight or 10 different venues to choose from,” he said.
To Wade, the carts will offer one more reason for locals to check out his car collection. And perhaps some will be inspired to build or restore their own classic cars.
“Oh, I think it’s a given,” he said.
