Just a few weeks after feasting our eyes on several hundred of the country's best rods and customs at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, we get to repeat the experience-kind of-all over again, 2,300 miles away. The Detroit Autorama is like the GNRS' eastern cousin. There is a bit of a resemblance between these two elite level car shows, but there are also some differences we appreciate every time we go to Detroit.
Partly it's the weather. At the GNRS, the cars are scattered throughout numerous buildings and spill out into the sunny fairgrounds. In Detroit, stepping from the cold gray outdoors of Michigan winter into the excitement of Cobo Hall is like stepping from black-and-white Kansas into a living-color Land of Oz, where all senses are over-whelmed by the sight, sound, and even the smell of the country's highest level of hot rods and custom cars.
Partly it's the fact that many of the cars we see at the Autorama are being seen for the first time. One of the criteria for winning the Ridler award, this event's top prize, is that the competing cars have not been publicly displayed before.
Partly it's the blend of old and new. For every never-before-seen Ridler contender, there are old favorites that have earned a place in hot rod history. For every pro-built car with a million-dollar budget (only rumors, of course), there is a low-budget homebuilt counterpart. Credit that to the success of Autorama Extreme, held in the lower level of Cobo Hall, where the quality of low-buck traditional iron is progressing even faster than some of the high-tech, high-end cars on display one floor up.
Instead of trying to describe the experience, we'll just show you. The handful of cars you're about to see represent only a tiny part of the whole Detroit Autorama experience. A tiny bit more can be found on our Web site. But you have to make the trip to Cobo Hall to get the whole experience.
The Great 8 Only one car can win the Don Ridler Memorial Award, but eight are elevated into finalist status. These are the Detroit Autorama Great 8 winners for this year.
Pinstripers' JamboreeThis Autorama marked the fourth year for the Pinstripers' Jamboree, which continues to grow in participation and popularity. The Pinstripers' Jamboree, organized by Yosemite Sam Radoff, serves multiple purposes. It's free entertainment for spectators who come by to watch a couple hundred of the country's best 'stripers, illustrators, sign painters, and other automotive artists do their thing-including the panel jam, where six 'stripers move from panel to panel, adding their strokes to each one. It's a meeting spot for all of these artists, from every corner of the U.S., to get together for a three-day reunion. It's a store for collectors who come to Cobo Hall to buy some one-of-a-kind artwork for their walls (and if an elaborately 'striped toilet seat lid isn't one of a kind, then we don't know anything about art). And most importantly, it's for a good cause. Auctions were held throughout the weekend to sell the artwork; every penny of proceeds went to the Rainbow Connection, which grants wishes for terminally ill children in the state of Michigan. This year, they had so many spectators that they had to set up bleachers just to accommodate everybody. And by Sunday afternoon, they'd surpassed last year's fund-raising total of $40,000.
Builder of the Year:SO-CAL Speed ShopSO-CAL, established 61 years ago by Alex Xydias, was honored at the Autorama this year as Builder of the Year. Several historic SO-CAL cars were displayed in the center of Cobo Hall, along with the newest of the company's hot rods-the historically influenced Spencer2, which was an AMBR finalist at the Grand National Roadster Show.
Dan Webb is in the process of creating a contemporary tribute to Harry Miller's Golden Submarine. The original car was built for racer Barney Oldfield in 1917. Webb is working with Craig Neff on this interpretation, designed by Thom Taylor, which will feature an aluminum body riding on this remarkable chassis. The engine is a Ford Focus Zetec with electronic stack-style injection, with direct drive through a hand clutch. Harry Miller technology includes using the quarter-elliptic springs in a four-bar design. The car will be displayed at this year's SEMA Show.