The Rodders History
In the early seventies, there was a group of local young hot rodders who liked to hang out
together in Cape Girardeau. Some of us rented a shop together where local gearheads would
stop by to BS. We cruised Broadway together, had wax-ins at Capaha Park and without fail
drove to the St. Gen car show every May. At that time, unlike today, the St. Gen car show was
the only car show in the area. This was when street rods were just becoming popular and we
were mesmerized by the ones at the show, even though they would just be average by today’s
standards. At some point, John Farquar, one of our group’s leaders and the owner of a really
nice ’57 Chevy 2 Dr Hardtop, suggested that we consider forming a club and hosting our own
car show. With the assistance of John’s wife Matilda, a local attorney was contacted and the
River City Rodders, Ltd were officially established on March 29, 1977 as a Missouri Not-For
Profit Corporation. The legal fees came to $330 – equivalent to $1420 in 2021 dollars. In order
to cover this expense, a total of 22 charter members were recruited and required to pay an
initiation fee of $25 – equivalent to $107 in 2021 dollars. Dues for our charter members were
$60/year – equivalent to $258 in 2021 dollars, making our current dues of $75 look like a real
bargain. The charter officers and member of the River City Rodders were as follows:
John Farquar, President (from Cape – 1957 Chevy)
Danny Eaker, Vice-President (from Cape – 1955 Chevy)
Dennis Clark, Secretary-Treasurer (from Cape – 1931 Ford 2 Dr Sedan)
Rick Arnzen, Member (from Kelso – 1956 Chevy)
Mike Caldwell, Member (from Cape – unknown)
Mike Cracraft, Member (from Jackson – 1965 Corvette) *
Don Dannenmueller, Member (from Kelso – 1938 Chevy Coupe) *
Danny Essner, Member (from Kelso – 1937 Chevy Coupe) *
Steve Ford, Member (from Cape – 1968 Chevy PU)
Dave Haupt, Member (from Cape – 1968 Camaro) *
Matt Hampton, Member (from Cape – unknown)
Mike Hodges, Member (from Matthews – 1927 Ford T-Bucket)
Wes Morris, Member (from Cape – 1937 Chevy Coupe) *
Boyd Morton, Member (from Cape – 1936 Chevy Coupe)
Jack Morton, Member (from Cape – 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo)
Larry Morton, Member (from Cape – 1931 Ford PU)
Scott Morton, Member (from Cape – 1973 Corvette) *
Tom Schoen, Member (from Cape – unknown)
Brad Teichman, Member (from Cape – 1962 Chevy II)
Rick Wilson, Member (from Cape – 1949 Chevy Sedan Delivery)
Paul Vrbosky, Member (from Jackson – 1962 Chevy II) *
Gary Lukow, Member (from Gordonville – 1940 Ford Coupe)
Represents charter members who are still active members today
Today, most of our members are in their sixties and seventies. In 1977, most of us were in
our twenties. With street rods (formerly called hot rods) just arriving on the scene and with
very few car shows and no cruise ins available, we had a lot more impromptu activities in the
early days, including meeting other clubs (like the Southern Fried Tin out of Murphysboro and
the E’ville Iron out of Evansville) for picnics and just hanging out together.
The Rodders hosted their very first car show the summer of 1977 on the parking lot at the
Town Plaza Shopping Center. That first year we roped off the show area, charged admission to
spectators, manned our own concession stand, got a liquor license to sell beer, and made our
own trophies. It was totally different than the show we have today. None the less, we were
excited to host one of the only car shows in the area. Our friends in Murphysboro started their
Apple Festival show about the same time and the E’ville Iron started a show they called the
Frog Follies the year before we got started. The E’ville Iron is still going strong today and the
Frog Follies now draws around 6000 cars from all over the country.
The Rodders eventually stopped charging admission, started buying trophies and hired
someone to handle the concession stand. We moved at some point to Cape County Park, then
later to Capaha Park, where we stayed for many years. After one of our members attended a
really nice car show in Downtown Springfield, IL, our members decided to pursue moving our
show to Downtown Cape. After some collaboration with Old Town Cape and Cape’s CVB, we
hosted our first Downtown show in 2008. It was a lot more work than when we were in the
park, but the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive and we have been there ever
since.
Our club has evolved over the years. We have grown to around sixty members. We still travel
to out of town shows and events together and have a significant turn out at the Frog Follies
every year. We don’t have as large of a turnout at most of the local shows primarily because
our older members have gone to so many car shows in their lifetime that its not as exciting as it
once was. We tend to get more satisfaction these days out of spending time together,
reminiscing about the good old days and sharing stories. With our oldest member now 85 years
old, at some point in time it’s inevitable that we will start losing members and there will be a lot
of really nice old cars for sale. In the meantime, the Rodders are still going strong and we
remain, as our club shirts state with pride, “the old guys with the fast cars”.
together in Cape Girardeau. Some of us rented a shop together where local gearheads would
stop by to BS. We cruised Broadway together, had wax-ins at Capaha Park and without fail
drove to the St. Gen car show every May. At that time, unlike today, the St. Gen car show was
the only car show in the area. This was when street rods were just becoming popular and we
were mesmerized by the ones at the show, even though they would just be average by today’s
standards. At some point, John Farquar, one of our group’s leaders and the owner of a really
nice ’57 Chevy 2 Dr Hardtop, suggested that we consider forming a club and hosting our own
car show. With the assistance of John’s wife Matilda, a local attorney was contacted and the
River City Rodders, Ltd were officially established on March 29, 1977 as a Missouri Not-For
Profit Corporation. The legal fees came to $330 – equivalent to $1420 in 2021 dollars. In order
to cover this expense, a total of 22 charter members were recruited and required to pay an
initiation fee of $25 – equivalent to $107 in 2021 dollars. Dues for our charter members were
$60/year – equivalent to $258 in 2021 dollars, making our current dues of $75 look like a real
bargain. The charter officers and member of the River City Rodders were as follows:
John Farquar, President (from Cape – 1957 Chevy)
Danny Eaker, Vice-President (from Cape – 1955 Chevy)
Dennis Clark, Secretary-Treasurer (from Cape – 1931 Ford 2 Dr Sedan)
Rick Arnzen, Member (from Kelso – 1956 Chevy)
Mike Caldwell, Member (from Cape – unknown)
Mike Cracraft, Member (from Jackson – 1965 Corvette) *
Don Dannenmueller, Member (from Kelso – 1938 Chevy Coupe) *
Danny Essner, Member (from Kelso – 1937 Chevy Coupe) *
Steve Ford, Member (from Cape – 1968 Chevy PU)
Dave Haupt, Member (from Cape – 1968 Camaro) *
Matt Hampton, Member (from Cape – unknown)
Mike Hodges, Member (from Matthews – 1927 Ford T-Bucket)
Wes Morris, Member (from Cape – 1937 Chevy Coupe) *
Boyd Morton, Member (from Cape – 1936 Chevy Coupe)
Jack Morton, Member (from Cape – 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo)
Larry Morton, Member (from Cape – 1931 Ford PU)
Scott Morton, Member (from Cape – 1973 Corvette) *
Tom Schoen, Member (from Cape – unknown)
Brad Teichman, Member (from Cape – 1962 Chevy II)
Rick Wilson, Member (from Cape – 1949 Chevy Sedan Delivery)
Paul Vrbosky, Member (from Jackson – 1962 Chevy II) *
Gary Lukow, Member (from Gordonville – 1940 Ford Coupe)
Represents charter members who are still active members today
Today, most of our members are in their sixties and seventies. In 1977, most of us were in
our twenties. With street rods (formerly called hot rods) just arriving on the scene and with
very few car shows and no cruise ins available, we had a lot more impromptu activities in the
early days, including meeting other clubs (like the Southern Fried Tin out of Murphysboro and
the E’ville Iron out of Evansville) for picnics and just hanging out together.
The Rodders hosted their very first car show the summer of 1977 on the parking lot at the
Town Plaza Shopping Center. That first year we roped off the show area, charged admission to
spectators, manned our own concession stand, got a liquor license to sell beer, and made our
own trophies. It was totally different than the show we have today. None the less, we were
excited to host one of the only car shows in the area. Our friends in Murphysboro started their
Apple Festival show about the same time and the E’ville Iron started a show they called the
Frog Follies the year before we got started. The E’ville Iron is still going strong today and the
Frog Follies now draws around 6000 cars from all over the country.
The Rodders eventually stopped charging admission, started buying trophies and hired
someone to handle the concession stand. We moved at some point to Cape County Park, then
later to Capaha Park, where we stayed for many years. After one of our members attended a
really nice car show in Downtown Springfield, IL, our members decided to pursue moving our
show to Downtown Cape. After some collaboration with Old Town Cape and Cape’s CVB, we
hosted our first Downtown show in 2008. It was a lot more work than when we were in the
park, but the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive and we have been there ever
since.
Our club has evolved over the years. We have grown to around sixty members. We still travel
to out of town shows and events together and have a significant turn out at the Frog Follies
every year. We don’t have as large of a turnout at most of the local shows primarily because
our older members have gone to so many car shows in their lifetime that its not as exciting as it
once was. We tend to get more satisfaction these days out of spending time together,
reminiscing about the good old days and sharing stories. With our oldest member now 85 years
old, at some point in time it’s inevitable that we will start losing members and there will be a lot
of really nice old cars for sale. In the meantime, the Rodders are still going strong and we
remain, as our club shirts state with pride, “the old guys with the fast cars”.