That’s what Rick Olson of Tacoma said two years ago when he picked up his sleek, black custom 1937 Ford convertible.

He saw an ad in a magazine and decided he had to have it, said Penny, his wife, adding that the hot rod is very much a “couple’s car.”

“He drove down to California to pick it up,” she said. “And when he saw the car, he said ‘Oh, yeah.’”

On closer inspection, Rick said, he saw that the words “Oh, yeah” were stenciled into the car’s orange-red pin striping.

“It was a good omen,” he said.

Indeed. The car earned them two trophies Saturday.

The event was the 12th Annual Classic Car Show, hosted by the South Tacoma Business District Association. More than 300 hot rods filed into about half a mile of South Tacoma Way, which was blocked off near South 56th Street for six hours of music, food, games and automobile worship.

The Kingsmen car club took home the award for best club representation, with eight vehicles shown. And the People’s Choice trophy went to Gail and Linda Farley’s 1968 Mercury Cougar.

Then it came time for the Ladies’ Choice award, which went to the Olsons’ Ford.

Judge Taanya Tucker made the call.

“It’s just a beautiful car,” Tucker said, adding that she likes “everything” about it: the lines, the custom pin striping, the Corvette engine, the leather seats, the individual air bags that allow Rick and Penny to independently adjust the heights of the car’s four corners.

Judges strolled up and down aisles of cars and voted on their favorites.

“I walked by, and I was, like ‘Oh, yeah, that’s the one,’” Taanya said.

A few moments after handing the Ladies’ Choice trophy to the Olsons, the judges announced that the couple had also won the top prize, the Show Favorite award. The couple accepted their second trophy to the music of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”

Rick and Penny have been sweethearts since junior high, they said. They graduated from Stadium High School in 1966 and were married a year later. They show their Ford at other car events including the annual Mild to Wild show at the Tacoma Dome and the Good Guys show at the Puyallup Fair & Events Center.

“We figure they go to the trouble of putting these thing on, we should come out and support them,” Rick said.

Plus, now they’ve got two new trophies that can sit next to their car at upcoming shows, right?

Not likely, Penny said. The trophies will be stashed in the bedroom of their 7-year-old grandson.

Is he a hot rod fanatic, too?

Rick fielded that question:

“Oh, yeah.”

Bill Hutchens: 253-597-8460

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