(Radio Iowa) – Several dozen classic cars and trucks are parked along the Iowa State Fair’s Grand Concourse today (Friday). Organizer Tom Kline says it’s the 40th year for the one day show during the Fair. He enjoys reminiscing with the crowd about the cars. “People like to come and show their cars off,” Kline says. “We like to drive them. You’ve got nice Fords here, Chevys, Plymouths, an original Packard down there.” Most owners were polishing their vehicles before the fair gates opened — some even polished the motors. Howard Cruchelow of Altoona wasn’t shining up his vehicle, though — and he may have the most unique entry.

“It’s a ’49 Dodge panel van,” he says. “We found it in the woods. It was buried. It took a Bobcat and about 15-20 trees to cut it down.” One of the trees was growing inside the vehicle. Last fall, Cruchelow entered it in a competition in Illinois called a Rat Rod Build Off. He and the pal who pieced the truck back together could only spend three-thousand dollars on the project and while it does have a new engine, the original paint is still on the vehicle and wooden ladders are mounted on top. They won third place in that competition — and Cruchelow has been driving the vehicle around the Des Moines metro a couple of times a week. “It’s unique. Nobody has one like it,”Cruchelow says. “It’s fun to drive. You get a lot of looks at it. It’s a good time.”

The vehicle sits just three inches off the ground. It also has the word Pest-X painted on the side, which Cruchelow says is probably the name of the business that abandoned the vehicle in the woods.