My City September 2022

recent Sloan Museum Auto Fair where he won the Top Rat Rod award. “Another thing I frequently hear about rat rods is the old saying, ‘the rule of rat rods is there are no rules’,” adds Stormer. He went on to exhibit his car at the recent On the Road show in Burton where he again won the Top Rat Rod award, and at a small local show where his car took first place overall. It’s all very interesting, considering Stormer never meant to enter the Ratillac in competition at all. “I didn’t think it stood out, really. It was just a classic car to me,” he states. “I mean, at shows in the past, people would just walk by without even taking a look at it.” His mind soon changed after a recent show in Frankenmuth. “A guy told me I should have entered it to be judged on the previous day,” Stormer remembers. “I told him that it was just a car and the guy said, ‘You have a very cool car – don’t underestimate it.’That made me appreciate it and I got to thinking about it.” At the Sloan event, he en tered it as an afterthought and wasn’t even parked in the required area. “I didn’t even have my hood up when it was judged,” he laughs. “I didn’t know that was a thing. I was lucky that the judge hadn’t turned in his score yet. He came back to take another look.” Needless to say, the Ratillac is here to stay and for Mike Stormer. “It’s the perfect investment,” he says. “This car is a survivor.” ® “It’s just a cool-looking car and I have only seen two others like it so far in Michigan.”

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