J.F. Launier finished his '55 Chrysler two-door hardtop wagon just hours before it debuted at Detroit. The Hot Hues Revolution Yellow wagon started as a two-door sedan but now features a 2-inch chopped custom wagon roof with a laid-back windshield. A late-model Hilborn-injected Hemi resides under the hood. The judges liked the custom Chrysler as much as I did, and proved it by awarding it with a Great 8 award. Check out R&C in the near future for a full feature.
If you're building a show car and want to compete against the best there is, there's really no better place than the Detroit Autorama to bring it and see how you measure up.
The Ridler award has become one of the most coveted awards in the hot rod and custom car world. The unique thing about the Ridler is that it can be awarded to just about anything- the winner doesn't have to be a roadster, a custom, a hot rod, or anything else (one stipulation is that the car does have to be debuted at the Autorama).
This fact makes the field of hopefuls very diverse and exciting. Once the group is narrowed down to the Great 8, sponsored by Pirelli Tire this year, it's everyone for themselves as the judges go around and try to find the most minute detail that makes one better than the others.
The Autorama isn't all about show cars that will never see road time. Cobo Hall is filled with just about every kind of vehicle you can think of, and the basement where the Autorama Extreme has taken place the last couple of years is filled with plenty of rough-and-ready traditional hot rods.
I could go on and on about the virtues of this indoor car show, but instead I'll let the photos show what it's all about.
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Here's the big winner, and one of the cars I wanted to take home right from the start. When the judges finished counting points, Mike Warn and builder Tim Divers, from Divers Street Rods Inc. in Washington, rolled away with the coveted Ridler award. The wild '60 Rambler has a late-model Ferrari V-12 sitting behind the driver-something that didn't make very many Ferrari purist happy, as Tim found out when he went to the Ferrari dealer to buy some parts. Fitted luggage under the hood and lots of custom body and chassis work made the little wagon a deserving winner. |  | 
The Autorama Extreme exhibit in the Cobo Hall basement once again provided spectators and participants a whole different vibe than the one upstairs. The talk of downstairs was Aaron Grote's latest custom creation. Aaron started with pieces of a '59 Plymouth and wound up with a bubbletop that would make Big Daddy Roth proud. We'll be hooking up with Aaron in the future to bring you a closer look at this incredible machine. |
One of the coolest things at the Autorama was found in the basement. The "Finkosel" is a custombuilt carousel built by Chuck Kaparich with some help from John Detrich as a tribute to the creations of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. | 
Harry Willett took influences from vintage sports cars with the build of his '32 Ford highboy roadster. Making sure the roadster has the bite to meet the bark, he stuffed a 600hp Viper V-10 and a six-speed under the custom hood. Harry was rewarded with a Great 8 pick for his efforts. |  |
I'm a sucker for mild customs, and Rich and Malana Cordova's '60 Cad is deserving of praise on its own, but it was all the better when I learned they drove it out to Detroit from Colorado. | 
This sweet little 3-inch-channeled and 2-inch-chopped A-bone pickup was brought to Detroit by its builder, Jason Grimes of The Garage Inc. There's a 350/350 combo under the hood and a Super Bell I-beam and Speedway hairpins hanging out in front. The custom louvered rear roll pan and side panels finish off the fenderless bed perfectly. |  |
Making a reappearance after years out of the public eye, Dan Woods' Ice Truck has recently been restored by Dave Shuten and serves as a vivid reminder of the over-the-top show rods of the early 1970s. We're hoping to hook up with Dave soon and bring you the whole history of this wild ride. | 
Another traditional Model A that stopped me in my tracks was this low Tudor with an unusual rear-mounted spare. Dustin Corl brought the 6-inch-chopped and 4-inch-channeled '31 sedan to the show as a tribute to his friend, Sean Vesely, who had just finished the sedan about a month before the show and then passed away unexpectedly a few days later. The frame has been Z'd 4 inches in the front and 9 in the rear, and holds a detailed 59AB Flathead backed by a '39 'box. | 
This '32 roadster may look like it's a well-preserved early hot rod, but it's a Brookville body assembled with a careful collection of vintage parts. A '57 392 Hemi backed with a Muncie four-speed and '54 Olds 'caps wrapped in bias-plies add to the nostalgia theme. |
If you've been reading R&C for a few years, you might recognize Denise Sheldon's '47 Olds convertible from our last Ego-Rama event. Since then, she has just about completed the old ragtop, with the latest job being a new interior by Fat Lucky's in Austin, TX. The big Olds looked plenty presentable all cleaned up. | 
Pete Kroeker recently finished this '60 Chevy, which sits on an '86 Caprice chassis. Some of the body mods include shortening the body 3 inches, widening the hood by molding it with the tops of the fenders, and widening the decklid by molding it with the tops of the quarters. One-piece bumpers are tucked close to the body with custom roll pans. To ensure it was an instant classic from the start, Pete brought Gene Winfield up to Canada and had him lay down one of his signature blends, in this case fading from white to gold to copper to brown. The interior features '66 Riviera buckets and console with a custom rear package tray built from a '59 Chevy dash. | 
Gene Winfield was honored as the Builder of the Year, and there were several of his builds there, as well as cars inspired by him, in a large area of the show floor. Larry Grobe brought out his tribute to Gene's Voodoo Idol. The top of the '46 Ford coupe has been chopped 5 inches in front and 7 1/2 inches in back and shorten 8 inches in the rear and the B-pillars slanted. The body was channeled 4 inches, sectioned 3 inches, and widened 4 inches. The rear quarters were lengthened 12 inches. |
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