Americruise is about driving...
Americruise is about driving your car and having fun. Steve and Karin Law and their kids brought the family '57 to Lincoln and had a great time throwing it through the cones.
At last count, there were a whole lot of car shows in the United States. Americruise is Rod & Custom's car show, and for more than 15 years we've tried to make it more fun than all those other shows by promoting it as a place for driving your rods and customs, instead of just displaying them. Somebody else can host Ameripark; we like Americruise.
In addition to actually driving to Lincoln, Nebraska, on tours from California and Texas, we set up some old-fashioned driving challenges at State Fair Park-the kind of fun that was part of almost every hot rod show 30 or 35 years ago. The Go & Whoa course, as well as the twisty handling course, gave Americruisers a chance to push their cars and trucks a little bit, without really risking anything-except maybe their egos.
These driving events were also part of our Rod of the Year and Custom of the Year competitions. The R&C staff picked five pre-'49 rods and five '49-64 customs from the judging area, based on our subjective opinions, and invited them to shoot it out in the timed driving events, followed by testdrives through the streets of Lincoln. Our foolproof points system determined the RotY and CotY winners, identified elsewhere in this issue.
Of course, in addition to the driving events, there were plenty of other activities at Americruise. There was a vendors midway, Participant Choice judging, the ever-popular Miss Americruise contest, plenty of roads for cruising, and plenty of shade for parking and relaxing (yeah, that's allowed).
We'll be taking Americruise to a new location in 2008, and we'll tell you where as soon as we figure that out. Wherever it is, it'll be cool, fun, and all about the driving.
Steve Hansen's got the right...
Steve Hansen's got the right idea. We couldn't keep his cool stretched T roadster pickup (running a Ford 351W and AOD) off the handling course-not that we wanted to.
You'd leave your hood open...
You'd leave your hood open too if you had a super-sano dual-quad small-block powering your gasser.
It's hard to see it here,...
It's hard to see it here, but Josh Dunwoody is throwing his hot rod around a handling course somewhere amongst those cones.
Hours before the gates opened...
Hours before the gates opened on Friday,co-anchor Kate Ellingson and cameraperson Cassie Anderson from KOLN TV in Lincoln were out there with the Rebels Auto Club.
The highlight of the awards...
The highlight of the awards ceremony was when R&C Editor Kevin Lee presented the 2007 Custom of the Year and Rod of the Year trophies to Bruce Ricks (pictured here) and John Boyce, respectively.
Kim and Nancy Johnson know...
Kim and Nancy Johnson know how to cruise in style. Their '40 Mercury convertible custom has toured 47 states and Canada since being completed.
Bet you've never seen a Mercury...
Bet you've never seen a Mercury wagon that wasn't a woodie before. Dave Dolman never had either, so he built one and lowered the lid a little in the process.
There were some sweet trucks...
There were some sweet trucks at Americruise, but John Bills' pickle-green '54 F-100 was one of our favorites.
Who says time machines don't...
Who says time machines don't exist? If you're not transported back to the late '50s after jumping behind the wheel of this Model A coupe, you just might not be a hot rodder.
This '29 roadster pickup has...
This '29 roadster pickup has been finished for five years-out of the 35 years that Jerry Henke has owned it.
On Saturday evening, "Speedy"...
On Saturday evening, "Speedy" Bill Smith invited all the Americruisers over to Speedway Motors for some ice cream and a tour of the amazing Smith Collection Museum.
Nick Hoesing has put more...
Nick Hoesing has put more than 17,000 miles on his '62 Galaxie since rebuilding it.
John and Nancy Burke's old-timey...
John and Nancy Burke's old-timey '28 highboy makes a great first impression, starting with the custom grille inserts, and the '53 DeSoto six-cylinder engine behind them.
R&C showed you Duane and Lisa...
R&C showed you Duane and Lisa Pecka's '29 Tudor as a salvaged survivor in our July 2001 issue.
This sedan provided Editor...
This sedan provided Editor Kevin with lots of inspiration to get back home and get going on his own '47 Tudor.
His friends told him it was...
His friends told him it was junk when he dragged it out of a ditch in 1973, but Bob Smith rebuilt the '33 coupe anyway, using all old parts, such as the Flathead, wishbone suspension, '40 Ford brakes and wheels, and the original instruments.
We did a double take when...
We did a double take when we first saw Ernie Adams driving his Dwarf Car '42 Ford on the Americruise Southern Tour a few years back, and did another one when we spotted him in Lincoln this year.