Burien + Classic Cars = A Fathers Day Hit

Millions of dollars worth of antique cars & trucks lined the streets of Burien last week for the annual Fathers Day Car Show, turning the the city’s downtown into a spectacular parking lot for car lovers of all ages. With a turnout of more than 200 vehicles crowding the city streets, participants proudly unveiled the fruits of their hard labor as onlookers came from all over the Puget Sound area to appreciate their pristinely shined mechanical beauties.

It was chrome and aluminum as far as the eye could see down 152nd street in the shadow of the new Burien Town Square, which includes a new 7 story condominium building, a 20,000 square foot City Hall and an 18 million dollar public library. The long line of displayed classics continued on down 6th Avenue Southwest and also along 4th Ave SW. Some car show guru’s who were unwilling to pay the entry fee participated in the show but were excluded from the competition by parking their project cars in legal street parking spaces around the perimeter of the exhibition. The official portion of the car show was hosted by The Discover Burien Association.

For Airport Towing the event was a tribute to it’s founding father, Mark Storer who birthed the company 21 years ago and remained heavily involved as the CEO until he died 1 year ago. Mark was a committed father of 3 children but also took on a fatheresque role to several towing industry professionals whom he trained throughout his tenure as the company’s owner. Today Airport Towing remains a family owned and operated business and the people employed are adopted as additional members of the extended family.

Mark was responsible for collecting 13 unique trucks that comprise the Storer Tow Truck Collection. Three of the trucks were on display for the annual Fathers Day car show:

• “The Dodge” is a 1937 Dodge Brothers 1 1/2 ton truck with a Holmes tow unit attached.
• “The 29″ is a 1929 Ford Model AA tow truck with a Weaver crane and is said to be the most beautiful and valuable truck in the collection.
• “The T” is a 1925 Ford Model TT flatbed that was turned into a tow truck by Mark as his first antique vehicle project.

All the trucks in the Storer Tow Truck Collection have some historical significance in Airport Towing’s history and are the product of Mark’s passion for unique & beautiful treasures. The three tow trucks drew a steady crowd throughout the day as they were decorated with photos of Mark and his youngest son Brian who died with him in last years airplane crash. Showing the trucks was one of Mark’s earliest and most reliable employees, Rocky Willis, the tow truck driver / mechanic who was responsible for a vast majority of the restoration work to the antique trucks. Rocky began his career with Airport Towing in 1989 and continues to volunteer to drive the tow trucks in local car shows and parades. Next week Rocky will be driving the Model T in the Burien 4th of July Parade. The parade route begins at the Airport Towing / Burien Towing office and continues through downtown Burien.

VP Climbs Stairs for Charity

I was honored to be part of a tremendous fund raising effort for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at this years Big Climb Seattle. With 300 participants on our team, we were able to raise over $40,000 for charity. Together we battled 1,311 stairs and 788 vertical feet of elevation all in the name of our sponsored patient.

Our team was named “Climbing for Caleb” because a 2 year old cancer patient inspired us to give it all we had on a cold Spring morning. Caleb Thorsteinson, nephew of North Highline Firefighter Scott Thorsteinson has been battling cancer for about a year. His family and friends have drawn together to back him in the difficult fight against Leukemia. Airport Towing has a close relationship with the North Highline Fire District as we have donated vehicles to them for training, they performed honor guard services at our founder & sons memorial service, and I personally volunteered for the district and consider the Thorsteinson’s personal friends.

In our effort, team Climbing for Caleb finished 4th out of 234 total teams for time and I personally finished 125/2931 with a time of 10:39. We are hoping to finish first in fund raising as a team. If you would like to support my fundraising efforts or help the progress of the team go to my personal page and fill out a pledge form. All donations go to a great cause and have made a huge difference in many people’s lives.

I was truly honored to be a small part of such a large effort to help fight blood cancers. The event was fun as well as inspiring and I encourage anyone in the Seattle area who appreciates a challenge to sign up for next years event. Climbing the Northwest’s tallest building can be intimidating, as is taking on something as terrifying as cancer, but it is possible if you face it head on and take it one step at a time.