The Muddy River Run lived up to its name Saturday, as rain assured that only true car enthusiasts showed up for the 36th annual event.

Put on by the Fort Wayne Street Rod Association, the Muddy River Run celebrated cars and their owners at IPFW. These are the types of cars that make other drivers rubberneck on the road to get a better look – and make them feel a little bad about their poor 2009 Mazda 3 or Toyota Camry, no matter how clean.

Event planners expected about 500 cars to turn up at the show, a number on the low end of a typical festival; the river run has attracted up to 1,200 cars on a sunny day, said Jeff McCracken, a member of the association.

This year, the event drew gearheads from the tri-state area, plus Kentucky, Canada and Colorado. Often, McCracken said, retired guys will plan cross-country trips around shows like the Muddy River Run.

In fact, a number of entrants in Saturday’s event were en route to a larger car show in Louisville next weekend, which expected 12,000 to 14,000 cars.

Aside from the daylong car show, the Muddy River Run also featured music, games, a cruise through Fort Wayne and a blown-up engine.

That’s not to say the street rod association exploded an engine. Instead, it found a junk engine – something someone threw out because it didn’t work anymore. The engine was fixed and, at the River Run, started with no water or oil, said Denise Stump, president of the association.

Bets were placed on how long the engine would run before it blew up. At other shows, it took from 17 seconds to 34 seconds.

Only once has an “explosion” entailed flying parts. Normally, “blown up” just means the engine smokes so bad you can’t see it, and it stops working. But just in case, there is a cage surrounding the engine to catch airborne parts, she said.

All the cars at the Muddy River Run are driveable and restored by either the owner or a professional, McCracken said. Many of the details are quirky: One 1968 Chevy had a piece jutting up from the hood. The piece featured matching orange eyes. Frankly, it looked like Wall-E.

The owner, John Martin of Angola, has attended the Muddy River Run for about a decade, and he’s been restoring cars since 1969. He owns three, but he said what keeps him returning to the River Run – even in the rain – is the people.

“If you go around and ask people why they come, that’s what they’ll say,” Martin said. He said the hobby takes “broken fingernails, greased fingernails, a lot of beer and a very patient wife.”

Or a wife who enjoys working on cars as much as her husband does. For Diana and Doug Koomler of Roanoke fixing up cars is a partnership. They worked together on their 1963 Chevy Impala with the deep red leather seats.

The Koomlers also brought a 2009 Pontiac Solstice coupe – “It’s a girl’s car,” Diana Koomer said, “a hottie car.”

This is the second year the Muddy River Run opened up to cars of any year, though most were street rods – pre-1949, McCracken said – or muscle cars, which are from 1949 and after.

Participants paid $15 to show their vehicles. The proceeds go to the Turnstone Center for Children and Adults with Disabilities and an association endowment for IPFW’s Services for Students with Disabilities.

jyouhana@jg.net