Keeping The Youth Alive: Carson City graduate featured at Downtown Revival Car Show
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Fri, 07/16/2021 - 8:50am
Carson City just had a car show over the weekend called “The Carson City Downtown Revival Car Show” and there were over 300 entries of classic cars.
But one classic car stood out over most, a 1965 Plymouth Valiant owned by 25-year-old Dale Tatum.
Dale bought the car back in 2012 and he used the car for his high school senior project at Carson High School.
“I grew up hearing stories about my dad when he was in high school and he would always cruise his 1968 Chevy Camaro around and he always told me about all the fun things he did with his and his buddies," said Dale. "So it inspired me to have a classic car of my own.”
Dale bought the car for $500 in Gardnerville with the money he saved by mowing lawns and pulling weeds, and the restoration began from there.
“It was a fun project and it was something that my dad and I got to do together," said Dale. "The car is still a work in progress even after all these years, but it was amazing seeing it go from this ugly little car to this pretty rad hot rod. I used this car for my high school senior project at Carson High School (Class of 2014) and the car literally helped me graduate. It’s not every day that someone can say that. The Valiant was the first car I bought and it’s really something really special that I can cherish for a long time.”
Dale has won a few awards over the years from car shows, been in newspapers, and even got an article written about the Valiant from TV’s Fast N Loud’s Gas Monkey Garage.
“I wish more of the younger generation would get into classic cars, sometimes I feel like I carry the torch at the car shows I go to and nobody even realizes that somebody young owns and drives the car until it’s time to leave," said Dale. "It’s funny when I hop in and start the car and people are like 'woah, you drive that?' And I’m like 'yeah, this is my car.' I want to see more of the youth involved.”
