By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times, May 2025

Often, the things we appreciate the most are the things for which we work the hardest or wait the longest. That is certainly true of Dennis Lehman and his 1970 Chevelle. Lehman and his car have been through a lot of challenges — together and separately.

“In 1968, my friend, Bob Tunink, and I decided to go into the service together. But the summer before we left, we decided to drive around, and we went to Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and came back through Colorado and Missouri, and we came across a brand new Chevelle on a car transport. We both decided we wanted one when we got out of the service.”

The two each served in Vietnam, although not together.

“Halfway through my tour, I decided to order my 1970 Chevelle, and I wrote to Bob, but he wasn’t ready to order one yet,” Lehman said. “Through correspondence with my dad, we got it ordered.”

After waiting for his dream car while serving our country, Leman was eager to enjoy some fun times behind the wheel. But he had more waiting ahead of him.

“When I came back from Vietnam, I had bleeding ulcers in my stomach, and I spent four weeks in the hospital in San Francisco,” Lehman said. “Then I came home and got the car.”

Lehman was finally able to get his Chevelle out on the open road, and he did. But, a few years later, another roadblock arose. 

“My house burned down, and the roof of the garage came down and smashed the car.”

The car sat for many years before Lehman was able to start the restoration process. 

Despite the damage the car had sustained, Lehman was able to salvage some important parts of it to use in his planned rebuild. 

“I took the motor, the transmission and rear end out of the original car,” he said.

Eventually, and purely by chance, Lehman heard about someone who had recently passed away and who had owned a 1970 Chevelle that was being restored. According to Lehman, the various parts of that car were lying around, and restoring it would be a major challenge. Because the owner’s family didn’t want to move the car and all its pieces to Colorado, Lehman was able to buy it at a reasonable price and found someone who agreed to rebuild and restore the car for him. 

“In 2018, we started finding the parts, and then the body shop had it for a year, and then about another year later, it was done,” Lehman said.

Although decades had passed since the car was drivable, the wait was worth it for Lehman. 

“It’s identical to what I had when I came back from Vietnam,” Lehman said.

Although Lehman is pleased with his car, he is amazed at the increased costs compared to when he first bought his Chevelle.

“When I put tires and rims on it, that cost more than when I bought the whole car new,” Lehman said. “The car cost $3,950 brand new.”

Now that he finally has his Chevelle running smoothly, Lehman enjoys letting others appreciate it as well.

“I’ve taken it to a lot of car shows and won a lot of trophies. I’ve had it in lots of parades, too,” Lehman said. “It doesn’t like to drive in parades. It wants to go faster.”

Lehman has a busy schedule of car shows and parades planned this year.

“I’ve got one in Grimes, Stuart, Adair, Casey, Anita, Greenfield, Winterset and Guthrie Center,” Lehman said. “Shows and parades are 99% of the driving that the car gets.”

Lehman proudly shared that his son plans to use the car in a wedding this fall. 

Over the years, Lehman has stayed active but doesn’t care to do some of the more challenging work on cars anymore.

“I’m a farmer and still farming today,” Lehman said. “But I don’t do any of the work on the car myself anymore. I’ll be 75 this summer; I just don’t climb underneath stuff anymore like I used to.”

But, occasionally, Lehman will get out on the open road and see what his Chevelle can do.

“Last spring, we were driving it, and it was my nephew Anthony driving, and I was just about to say it was time to slow down, and we looked at the speedometer, and it was 120 and still climbing,” Lehman said. “So, it will go as fast as you want it to go. When you step on the gas pedal, you’d better be hanging on, or it will put you in the back seat.” 

 

Guthrie Center man has spent many days enjoying the car on the open road rather than keeping it in his garage.

By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times

Robert Klever of Guthrie Center has a car he has enjoyed for more than 20 years, and he has a good story to go along with it. He told of discovering the car for sale and said he was immediately interested.

“I bought it in 2003, after seeing it advertised in the Des Moines paper. It was in north central Missouri, so I went down and got it,” Klever said. “I bought it from a sheriff down there. It was pretty plain, but I’ve added a few extras to it. I had power steering put on it, and that made it a much better driving car.”

Because the car drives so well, Klever has spent many days enjoying it on the open road rather than keeping it in a garage.

“I guess there were about 10,000 miles on it when I got it, and I’ve got 89,000 miles on it now. It’s not a fancy car, just a fun car,” Klever said.

When asked what attracted him to the 1958, Klever said it was similar to a car he had owned many years ago.

“When I first got out of the service, I bought a 1958 Bel Air two-door hard-top, and I drove that for 100,000 miles,” Klever said. “It was a good car; I wish I had it today.”

Since buying his car in 2003, Klever has participated in many car shows and cruises with it. He has taken it as far as Illinois for car events, and he enjoys chatting with other car enthusiasts, which has led to many friendships along the way. Although Klever has definitely enjoyed his car for the past 20 years, he is ready to pass it along to someone else.

“It’s time for me to sell it,” Klever said.

Klever told of an unexpected passenger who was with him the first time he drove the car. Although Klever had brought a trailer to transport his 1958 back home in 2003, he decided to drive it home and was fortunate that his guardian angel was apparently riding in the passenger seat.

“It’s a wonder I’m here today, because when I first bought it down there in Missouri and was driving it home, I was daydreaming, and I went right across a main highway. If there had been a truck coming, I wouldn’t be here now.”

 

Car enthusiast says he has owned more than 1,000 vehicles in his lifetime.

By Rich Wicks | Panora Times

Randy Dorr of Panora likes classic cars and trucks from the era before computers began controlling nearly every motor vehicle function. Growing up in the 1970s, that decade of vehicles in particular seems to have caught Dorr’s attention.

“Right now, I’ve got three classics,” Dorr said. “I’ve got my 1979 Chevy pickup, 1978 Ford LTD, and 1979 Dodge Magnum. The LTD has only got 39,000 actual miles.”

Dorr said he came by his love of cars, and working on cars, from his family.

“My dad’s been into it all his life. My brother’s been into it. It runs in the family,” he said.

Dorr’s teenage years taught him many lessons about working toward a goal. He also learned firsthand how to work on cars.

“I worked my butt off to get my first car. My very first car was a 1974 Chevelle I bought from my psychology teacher in high school,” Dorr said. “I was making $3.35 an hour working at the grocery store.”

Dorr said buying and working on cars quickly became his main hobby.

“I’ve been doing that since I was 16 years old,” Dorr said. “I owned seven cars my senior year.”

Dorr told the story of a hard lesson he learned during those years.

“My favorite car that I’ve owned was when I was a senior in high school. It was a 1978 ‘Smokey & the Bandit’ Trans Am,” Dorr said. “I lost my license in my senior year; I got caught drag racing with a bunch of other guys, and I ended up walking my entire senior year, so that was no fun.”

Although that was a hard pill to swallow then, Dorr can smile about it now. He recalled the temptation to speed in the Trans Am being tough to resist.

“My dad advised me not to trade for it, but I did anyway,” Dorr said. “I guess he knew what he was talking about. That was my favorite car. Nowadays, I see them for sale, but they’re so expensive.”

That incident may have taught a lesson but it did not dampen Dorr’s love of cars.

“Since I first got my license, I’ve owned over 1,000 cars. That’s no exaggeration,” Dorr said.

Dorr said he doesn’t have any particular “Holy Grail” vehicle that he dreams of someday owning. Instead, he has enjoyed buying vehicles, working on them, and eventually selling them to make room for more.

Although Dorr occasionally drives a vehicle in a local parade, nowadays he prefers car shows.

“I belong to, and I run, the Guthrie County Cars & Coffee group with Galen Carter and my brother, Roger,” Dorr said.

Besides his father and brother, Dorr mentioned another mentor who helped him learn to work on cars.

“I’m a retired auto body and paint guy,” Dorr said. “I learned everything that I know from Denny Shroyer.” 

 

Dennis Pickering did some research then purchased the car sight unseen and had it trucked to Iowa. 

 

By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times

Dennis and Joyce Pickering have lived at Lake Panorama since 1987. The pair were high school sweethearts, growing up in a small town in northeast Missouri. They both graduated with bachelor’s degrees in social sciences from Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville, which later was renamed Truman State University. The couple will celebrate their 57^th wedding anniversary in August. 

After Dennis earned a master’s degree in school counseling, they moved to Iowa in 1978. Dennis spent 34 years as a high school counselor, working in four different schools. One of those was YJB, where he spent 14 years. During some of those years, he was in a shared counselor position with the Bayard School District. 

He ended his high school counseling career at Guthrie Center, retiring in 2003. Next came six years where he and a colleague received a federal grant to create and present programs in schools on healthy relationships.

For 23 years, Joyce was an addictions counselor in Guthrie, Greene and Audubon counties. She retired in 2007.

Once fully retired, the couple started to explore the United States. 

“We did a lot of traveling by car in our 60s, and we needed to be comfortable. We discovered BMWs are wonderful cars, and we owned several over the years,” Dennis says. 

They’ve since switched to an Audi for their main vehicle. Yet, Dennis still has a love for BMWs. He particularly admired the BMW Z3 Roadster convertible. BMW Z3 is a range of two-seater sports cars produced from 1995 to 2002.

Dennis kept his eyes open for his dream car. Not surprisingly in today’s world, an ad for a 2001 BMW Z3 Roadster popped up on his laptop computer three years ago. It was located in Chicago and owned by a corporation. 

“I called and talked to a sales rep. Although the car was 20 years old, it only had 22,000 miles on the odometer,” Dennis says. “I think it probably was used by the company for short trips to pick up people they wanted to impress.”

Pickering says he did some research then called back to purchase the car sight unseen. He had it trucked to Iowa. 

“It came in July, just in time for his birthday,” Joyce says.  

It’s almost a requirement that a car like the BMW Z3 Roadster have a specialty license plate. For most of his life, Dennis’ friends have turned his last name into his nickname — Pick. 

“Since this was my dream car, it was an easy decision to choose ‘4 Pick’ as the license plate,” he says. 

Soon after buying the sports car, the couple decided to drive it the 180 miles to their northeast Missouri hometown. The top was down. Dennis says he loved the trip.

 Joyce says, “Never again! The wind was terrible, there were bugs hitting me in the face. Especially on the interstate, it was bad. I hated it.” 

In August, the couple’s 60^th high school class reunion will be held in their former hometown. Dennis gives Joyce a sideways glance then says he’s been thinking about driving the BMW Roadster to the reunion. 

“I think it would be fun to share it with our classmates, maybe get some photos with it,” he says. “But I haven’t yet said this to Joyce.”  

“That’s fine; I think it’s a good idea,” Joyce says. “But only if we drive with the top up.” 

Most trips in the BMW are shorter and more casual. 

“I like to just drive around the lake when the weather is nice and the top is down,” Dennis says. Joyce says she enjoys those excursions, too.

Over the three years the couple has owned the car, they’ve added just 2,000 miles to the odometer, which now stands at 24,000. 

“Everything works great,” Dennis says. “I haven’t had any work done on it. It’s automatic transmission, the air conditioning and radio work well, and it gets decent gas mileage. I just really like driving it and having it in our garage.” 

There has been one other unique vehicle in the Pickering garage. That was many years ago, when he purchased a 1956 Ford half-ton truck. 

“I had a friend who was an auto body guy. We searched through junkyards to find the parts to get it running. He painted it purple and added wide tires. I called it my Purple Passion truck. Sometimes I would drive it in parades, but mostly I just drove it back and forth to work.” 

During his years as a school counselor, Dennis also coached several high school sports. 

“I was the girls track coach at YJB. I always left my keys in the truck. One day some of the girls thought it would be fun to hide it. The brakes on that truck weren’t very good. They drove it around the building, and as they were parking it, they crashed into the building,” he says. “They came into the gym, crying. I thought they were trying to trick me, but eventually I realized they really had wrecked my truck. I told them it was OK, I wasn’t mad. I got both the dent and the brakes fixed.”  

The couple has two sons. Brent lives in Atlanta, and Eric lives in Boone. Each has a son and a daughter, giving the Pickerings four grandchildren to enjoy. 

The Pickerings spent 13 years in their first Lake Panorama home. In 2000, they had a new home built on a large lot along the fourth fairway of the Lake Panorama National golf course. Dennis enjoys golf. Both Dennis and Joyce enjoy reading, and are history buffs. 

“We’re homebodies,” Joyce says. “We enjoy our home, our retirement and our grandchildren.” 

Dennis has been teased by some friends about his small sports car, asking if he’s having a midlife crisis or trying to regain his youth. When the car is parked in the couple’s driveway, random people sometimes stop to ask if it’s for sale. 

“I don’t plan to ever sell it,” he says. “And I don’t mind the teasing. I just love this car. I have, sort of, promised I would give it to my grandson in Boone. But he’s going to have to wait until I’m done with it.” 

Ask Joyce how she likes driving the sports car, and she says she has never driven it. She’s content being the passenger. 

“I’ve encouraged her to drive it, but she always says no,” Dennis says. “I just want everyone to know she has the ‘green light’ to drive it if she ever changes her mind.” 

 

Brian Rumple enjoys these two classics.

 

By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times

Farming just north of Casey has provided Brian Rumple with many years of sitting in the cab of a tractor. He apparently hasn’t tired of that quite yet, as he still chooses to spend some of his free time in a family favorite. 

Rumple recently showed his treasured old tractor, which has been in the family a long time. It’s a John Deere, but it’s one of a kind.

“My dad bought it brand new in 1967. It’s a 4020 gas tractor,” Rumple said.

“Then, in 1973, the engine had problems, so he took it to a guy who put a 4430 engine in it, and we named it 4420. It’s been here ever since.”

Rumple noted that tractors, like everything else, have risen greatly in price over the decades.

“It used to be our main tractor. Everybody in my family drove it, even my grandpa,” Rumple said. “It cost $8,000 new, and I’m thinking the repower was around $2,800 or something. Nowadays, I spent more than that on new tires.”

After a long career working in the fields, the tractor now is retired from active farm work. Rumple explained that, because the tractor has so much sentimental value in the family, he chose to keep it, fix it up and let everyone enjoy it.

“My brother and I repainted it a few years ago,” Rumple said.

Since then, it’s been seen in tractor shows and many local parades, including the Casey 150^th anniversary celebration in 2019. Rumple noted that the family showcased tractors from each decade, from the 1960s through the 2000s. 

When asked what makes his 1967 tractor unique, Rumple had a ready answer.

“John Deere never made a 4420. It’s a 4020 with a 4430 engine in it, which is a bigger engine.”

Another vehicle that’s near and dear to Rumple’s heart is his 1969 Chevelle.

“I bought it from a guy, probably 10 or 12 years ago, maybe a little longer,” Rumple said. “It’s a Yenko clone. It has a 427 engine in it. It’s a little more rare version.”

Rumple said the car reminds him of one from his past.

“My brother had a 1969 Chevelle in high school,” Rumple said. “I take it to car shows, maybe two or three a year. I’m not planning on getting rid of it.”

Rumple isn’t actively looking to add another classic car, but he admits he has considered the possibility. 

“Well, I had a 1973 SS four-speed Nova in high school,” Rumple said. “That would be nice, but I don’t really have a spot for it. One’s probably all I’m allowed.”

 

 

Car has become the icon of her business.

By Rich Wicks | Panora Times

Some things naturally seem to go together, such as hot dogs and baseball or summer and the beach. But what about a hair salon and a classic car? Although this might not seem like a natural match, Kellie Flanery of Panora explained why this pairing works well for her.

“I grew up out at the lake, and my husband is from in town,” she said. “He and his brothers had a garage, and they were always hot-rodders. I never really liked cars all that well, but I started a hair salon and named it Retro LUX. Then I kind of started getting into doing pinup stuff, and it brought me a reason to like that old car stuff.”

So she talked with her husband, Tom, about incorporating a classic car image into her salon’s motif. After some asking around, Kellie and Tom found someone who owned a 1953 Chevy and who was willing to sell it. 

Flanery recalled that the car was in fairly good shape. 

“The body was all done, except it needed a paint job,” she said. “It drove. It had the original motor, and it was a ‘three on the tree.’ So, we drove it home, and I picked out a nail color from my salon that I really liked and got it painted that color.”

She recalled that the car didn’t have power steering, and the engine smoked. But when Tom had extra time during the pandemic, he started fixing the various issues the car had. Kellie’s brother-in-law, Dan Flanery, also did some work on it, and Kellie is appreciative of the help in getting her car all fixed up.

“It’s running perfect now,” she said.

The car has become the icon of her business, and its personalized license plate says “RETROLX.” Flanery rattled off some of the other details about the car.

“It’s a 1953 Chevy 210 two-door. It has a 355-cubic-inch small-block Chevy automatic transmission and posi-trac rear end,” she said.

But, she added, the specific technical details are not her focus.

Flanery enjoys driving her car in the Panorama Days parade so that others can enjoy it, but the car is especially meaningful to her since it’s been worked on by family, and she likes driving it locally just for fun.

“I just like the look of it and the sound of it,” she said. “I wanted something I could drive around town and look cool in. I love to go out to the lake in the summertime, roll the windows down, and just remember good old times.” n