Hot rod king has fueled dreams for 4 decades

Rich Gortsema of Spokane has fueled hot rod dreams for four decades. Recently, he received a statewide accolade for creating those buffed-up classic cars.

Gortsema, 68, was inducted recently into the Washington State Hot Rod Hall of Fame as 2019 Builder of the Year. Only one person each year receives the recognition. He and generations of his family were on hand for the ceremony in Lynn­wood, Wash.

Nominated by members of the Spokane Dukes Auto Club, Gortsema is well known in Inland Northwest circles for his craftsmanship on hot rods of various styles for car buff customers regionally and beyond.

"I've been doing hot rods for 30 years, and then I did drag race vehicles for the 10 years prior to that, so I've been around the hot rod world for a long time really — 40 years," said Gortsema.

Self-taught, his work "doing" hot rods requires hours upon hours per vehicle.

"We take a rusty old body and build it into a nice, shiny and new functioning car; replace drivetrains with late-model components, new upholstery, new paint, new every piece on it, really," he said. "What you have after is a real nice, new reliable car that's got old skin on it."

Typically, that means he rebuilds the engine and transmission. Gortsema also does most of the upholstery work, mechanical work, steel fabrication, rust repair, updates to brake and fuel lines and electrical wiring for the cars. He hires out painting work.

Another car of that style went to someone in Australia. Other cars and trucks Gortsema has built over the years include a 1932 Chevrolet "Jolly Rancher" wheel stander fire truck, 1932 Ford Vicky vehicle, 1940 Ford Coupe, 1937 Lincoln Zephyr, 1939 Buick Coupe and 1932 Ford Roadster.

And the list goes on, such as a 1953 Mercury, 1928 Ford Woodie and 1932 Ford Cabriolet. Then there is a diesel-powered salt flats truck he built in the early 1980s that is now in the Smithsonian Institution.

He opened Power Plus in 1999 initially with his sons, Brad and Mike. Both work elsewhere now, but Brad still comes by some evenings and on Saturdays to help on cars.

Gortsema spent his childhood years in Grangeville, Idaho, then moved to Spokane as a teenager with his family. He graduated from high school in 1969. That's where a car fancy was planted.

"Of course, in high school, we all had an old car because that's all we could afford," he said.

"When I was in high school, I tested my limits with my parents because I always had a nice car to drive, then I had multiple cars that I bought and sold."

After high school, he first worked as a framing contractor and built "spec" houses until the 1980s, when the housing market fell apart and interest rates skyrocketed. Before that, he'd started building cars at home when he got into drag racing during the 1970s, beginning with his own vehicles.

Increasingly, he turned to building super-comp dragsters out of his home garage. From 1985 through 1990, Gortsema ran his first shop. He also worked briefly for Spokane Diesel and traveled with the Spokane Diesel top fuel dragster for two years.

By the early 1990s, he switched over mostly to building hot rods for customers. In 1992, his first project was a 1936 Chevrolet two-door sedan. A member of the Dukes Auto Club, Gortsema owns a few prize cars himself, from a 1936 Ford Coupe and 1966 Nova Super Sport to a 1970 Suburban.

The hall of fame group at the banquet presents an award for one builder of the year, as well as recognizing an inspirational winner, community service award and car club of the year.