Among the rows of gleaming hoods and polished chrome at Saturday’s Philomath Classic Car Show, one truck carried more than just horsepower.
Denver and Niky Richter, who own Richter’s Automotive Repair in Philomath and live just outside of town, brought two vehicles to their first-ever car show — a 1964 Ford Falcon and a 1956 Ford F100 named “Jigger.” Both came with stories the couple wanted to share — but it’s the F100 that carries the weight of loss, love and one final ride.
Gallery: Philomath Classic Car Show (July 11, 2026)
A collection of photos from the Philomath Classic Car Show on Saturday.
The F100’s story starts with Denver Richter’s father, Jay Mehr, known to family and friends as “Jigger.” Mehr owned a truck just like it when he was in high school — the same red color, Richter said — until his mother forgot to put oil in the engine and it blew. Richter and his siblings grew up playing in the dead truck in the garage, always hearing their dad talk about someday getting it running again. That day never came.
About three years ago, Mehr was diagnosed with cancer. He chose not to pursue treatment.
“Everybody in our family who’s ever had it and done treatment has just been through hell and it hasn’t really worked,” Richter said, recalling his father’s reasoning. “He’s like, ‘I just want to live it out and be healthy as much as I can,’ so we did that and we all accepted that. We spent as much time as we could with him.”
About three months before his father died, Richter had a dream that jolted him awake with a single thought — find his dad’s truck. Within about a week of searching online, he found one — matching in color, matching in nearly every detail, except this one still ran.
Richter brought it home and got it running well enough to bring his father out for a ride.
“He sat in the passenger seat,” Richter said. “He looked young. He looked healthy. He had the biggest smile on his face. His skin was bright, like it was supposed to be. And for that 30 minutes that we were out driving around, I got to experience life with my dad again.”
Mehr hadn’t known about the truck until it pulled into view.
“He comes walking outside and says, ‘You brought my truck home,'” Richter said. “I said, ‘Yeah, I did and I’ll take you for a ride.'”
His father, too weak to drive, asked Richter to take him instead — a request Richter said meant just as much.
Richter later swapped in an LS4 engine and worked to have the truck running again in time for his father’s birthday, which fell on Mother’s Day this year. Mehr, by then confined mostly to his home, watched through a window as Richter parked the truck outside.
“My brother says, ‘Dad said exactly what he needed to see today was that truck here,'” Richter recalled. “And he passed away the next day.”
Mehr was born May 10, 1955, and died May 11, 2026, at age 71.
At Saturday’s show, a small sign stood beside the truck, topped with a framed photo of Mehr sitting next to the F100. The sign read: “Jigger, 1955-2026,” followed by a short list of the truck’s specs — 1956 Ford F100, 2007 LS4 engine, manual disc brakes, power steering, five-speed manual transmission. Below that, a handwritten note: “This truck was bought for my dad, Jigger, for his final drive. We just made it — two weeks before his day.”
The F100 — still a work in progress, Richter said — now runs with a locally built motor and a five-speed manual transmission he installed himself, producing about 425 horsepower.
“This truck’s got a lot of sentimental value. I’ll never get rid of it,” Richter said. “This motor was built by a local guy — I try to keep most of the things local in our community if I can.”
The Richters’ other entry, a 1964 Ford Falcon four-door, has its own history. Denver Richter said he’d been showing his daughter used cars on Facebook Marketplace when the Falcon came up — and she chose it over anything modern.
“Out of all of the new cars, she says, ‘No, I want that classic car,'” Richter said. “It’s got character. It’s exactly what she wanted. There’s room for her friends to be in it, you know, down the road when she gets there, and it’s pretty, so that’s what she wants.”
The Falcon came with its own restoration story. A Vietnam veteran found the car rotting in a field, tore it down and rebuilt it himself, Richter said. He never got the chance to drive it — he died before completing the work, and his widow kept it in her garage for roughly 15 years before deciding to sell.
“We went up and we met with her and decided we were going to buy it, and we’re going to put his name on the back of it,” Richter said. “Now that we’ve got a few hundred miles under it, we know that it’s solid and it runs good. We’re going to go up and take her for a drive, take her out to dinner, let her enjoy it a little bit, get some memories back.”
The car show, which runs for six hours at Philomath City Park, attracted 144 registered vehicles, organizer Greg Henderson said. In addition, 25 other unregistered vehicles were on display.
A 1970 Dodge Charger 500, owned by Jeremy and Erin Scott, won the Best of Show award. The inaugural Ed Grinstead Memorial Trophy by Beggs Tire went to Les and Colleen Bond of Yachats for their blue 1967 Camaro.
This year’s Fab 5 awards went to:
- Cassie England, Kelso, Wash. — Ford Cab Over Engine, green.
- Jeremy and Erin Scott, Corvallis — 1970 Dodge Charger 500, green.
- Ron and Diane McClellan, Newport — 1966 Chevy Nova, butternut yellow.
- Al and Patti George, Gleneden Beach — 1969 Chevy Camaro, orange and black.
- Bill and Carole Cote, Corvallis — Ford Mustang GT Fastback, ivy green.
Henderson reported that the vendors did well at the event with 3 Potato More selling out of its breakfast and lunch items and Fat Kitty Teriyaki down to its last couple of pounds of chicken.
