Street rods in Alaska? You're damn right, and some nice rides too. In a place that is generally associated with snow, icebergs, and cold winters (yes, they still have it all), there exists at least one group of certified car nuts. While only able to drive their rides about five months out of the year, they all make the best of it and have five months of weekly fun! Meet the Midnight Sun Street Rod Association.
This rodder had the pleasure to meet up with some of the 175-member-strong Midnight Sun Street Rod Association on a recent vacation to our 49th state in the land up North. And I do mean way up North. For those of you who slept through geography in the sixth grade, Anchorage, Alaska, is the same north latitude as Greenland, and would take you more than 50 hours to drive the 2,692 miles from Seattle, Washington. Alaska is more than twice the land area as Texas and ranks number 48 out of 50 states in total population.
The weather in Alaska takes its toll on the highways, roads, and city streets, so street rods and restored cars are driven very gingerly. The one advantage is that the summer sun is out at midnight! We visited in mid-June, and the sun rose at 4:30 a.m. and set at 11:59 p.m. Imagine daylight-cruising for seven hours after getting off work at 5 p.m. That is exactly what we did. Cool.
After a short ride with the club officers of the MSSRA from our hotel to a nearby shopping center, we hung out and enjoyed the 75 cars that filled the parking lot. The MSSRA was founded in 1974 by nine street rodders, and while it is a street rod club at heart, it is unique in that it is an open-vehicle club. In other words, members have musclecars, sports cars, street machines, trucks, gennie tin, and, of course, street rods. It's just a bunch of folks who like to have fun with cars. Most of the club activities occur in the months between May and September, highlighted by the Summer Solstice picnic (a.k.a. the Rumble) on June 21, the longest day of the year. Imagine 21 hours of daylight fun! In 2005, the MSSRA raffled off a 1970 GTO and raised more than $21,000 for the Ronald McDonald House.
We would like to thank all of the members of the MSSRA who showed us Land of the Midnight Sun hospitality, and encourage all of you readers to visit our 49th state. The cars, the people, and the scenery are all truly spectacular.