By Don Murtha
Dale Deshon has nine reasons why he stays out of trouble.
Make that nine vintage cars he has restored at his Mount Angel home.
His favorite is a blue 1933 Ford coupe which he takes to local car shows. He has a 1966 Ford Mustang coupe and a 1966 Ford Mustang convertible both in new condition.
Of the nine cars he owns, those three are the only ones of the nine that are running. The others are in various states of restoration.
He also has a gas station but there is no gas. He has two gas pumps from 1939 and a display of gas company signs.
The inside of his garage is like a museum where he keeps displays of automobile memorabilia ranging from the gas company signs and logos to old tools, model cars and advertising posters.
There are a variety of gas company signs but there are only Ford cars and pick up trucks.
It is all part of a labor of love dating back to his teens.
“I didn’t have a license when I got my first car, but I could drive it up and down the driveway,” he said.
The time he spends at the Portland Swap Meet can lead to some misunderstandings with his wife, Kathy, he said.
“She is really wonderful. I can’t say enough nice things about her, but when I brought home a 1933 panel truck from the Swap Meet, she was not pleased,” he said. “But I smoothed things over when I told her the 1934 pickup I’m working on is for her.”
Deshon grew up in Woodburn next to the Oregon Youth Correctional Center.
“My mother always threatened that if I got into trouble I didn’t have far to go,” he said.
When he graduated from high school, an older sister was a senior at Western Oregon College since renamed Western Oregon University.
“The whole family moved to Monmouth and my mother and I started there as freshmen,” he said. “I only lasted two years when I decided I didn’t want to be a teacher and I got a job at a local gas station in Monmouth.”
After 10 years, he leased the gas station. Three years later, he returned to school at Chemeketa Community College and studied civil engineering. He got a job with the city of Monmouth and retired in 2002.
He and his wife bought their land in Mount Angel and built a new home there.
The barn on the property made an ideal garage for his old cars and pickup trucks.
His priority restoration is his wife’s 1934 Ford pickup.
The vehicle is a conglomerate of pieces from others that came from the Portland Swap Meet. A 1934 two-door sedan provided the running gear and the frame came from another vintage car. The body and the box he already owned.
“Most parts from Ford cars and trucks of that era are interchangeable, so there is not too much trouble finding what you need,” Deshon said.
Once he completes his wife’s truck, Deshon has four more pickup trucks lined up and waiting for restoration, including two 1952 pickups; a1933 Ford pickup that will become a wrecking truck and 1933 Ford pickup will be a gasoline truck.
“I bought most of these things a couple of years ago when the price was good, but still it costs a lot of money to restore them,” he said. “It takes a lot of time, but I can go out there one day and get a lot done and the next day I don’t get so much done.”
Restoring takes more than bolting pieces together.
“The body work is really labor intensive and it isn’t always fun. Fiberglass is hard to work with and to do it right,” he said.
Then there is preparing to paint which involves extensive sanding and priming.
“I do two or three coats of primer and sand between each coat then I only do one coat of paint. It’ll be shiny but not too shiny. I like it to look like it has a little age to it,” he said.
He estimates it will take about a year to have the 1934 pickup ready for his wife. Then he will start to work on the 1933 panel truck.
On one side of the panel truck lettering will read “North Howell Garage” and on the other will be stenciled “Deshon’s Ford Service.”
