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The 60th Grand National Roadster Show - Ain't It Grand
The 60th Annual Grand National Roadster Show
By The Rod & Custom Staff
America's Most Beautiful Roadster
The Willett Special
Built and Owned by Harry Willett
Will you look at that?! America's Most Beautiful Roadster is nostalgic!
When Harry Willet, who builds cars at Willett Coach Works in Orlando Park, Illinois, talks about his Willett Special '32 Ford, he tosses out phrases like "1950s design" and "period styling" and "Modified Specials" and "Ak Miller." His influences seem to come from all corners of mid-century motorsports, combined with contemporary engineering. Harry made numerous modifications to the dimensions of the all-steel body, creating what he calls a "uniside" body. The entire body is built from individual removable panels. It's channeled over a GT road racing-style chassis featuring lower rails tied to a tubular upper frame and roll bar, with front and rear independent suspension. The Viper V-10 engine is fed by the 10-port FI system used on the LeMans-winning Vipers in 1997. It's set back on the rails for the correct 50/50 weight balance. A Hurst shifter operates the Tremec T-56 six-speed. Harry says the engine makes 600hp and that the roadster will go 200mph. The sports car-style bucket seats are dressed up for comfort and elegance, and the engine-turned dash maintains the period-appropriate look of the whole car. Inside and out, the whole combination looks beautiful-just like the trophy says. Just try contacting a rod shop during the first three weeks of the year. As soon as the holidays are over, the realization that the Grand National Roadster Show is only a few weeks away sends a wave of panic through the pro builder side of this hobby. Any shop trying to finish a car (which is most of the shops we know) have the doors locked, phones off, and coffeemakers perking overtime until it's time to drop the wrenches, get the car on the trailer, and head to Pomona. This year's GNRS marked the 60th celebration of the world's longest running indoor hot rod show, established by Al Slonaker in 1950. Although the GNRS welcomes all body styles and includes hundreds of rods, customs, musclecars, bikes, trucks, lowriders, and race cars, it's the handful of roadsters competing for the America's Most Beautiful Roadster title that draws the most attention and generate the most drama. Bill Niekamp's tracknose '29 was the first AMBR winner in 1950, followed for several years by roadsters that today we call "traditional." George Barris' Ala Kart changed that in 1958, ushering in an era of wildly modified show rods. Tall tops and crazy paint dominated the mid Seventies. Another new trend marked the Eighties: smooth high-tech cars with billet accessories. In the Nineties, the emphasis shifted to elaborate engineering and sophisticated color schemes. We can't predict the next trend for AMBR competitors, but we're glad to see a nostalgic influence coming back. The judging contains enough emphasis on innovation to prevent a genuinely old-time hot rod from winning in the near future, but it's great to see that style honored in some of the 2009 entries, including the 60th America's Most Beautiful Roadster.  |  John D'Agostino never ceases...  John D'Agostino never ceases to amaze us with his elegant customs. His `58 Olds Super 88, The Egyptian, rolled out of Oz Kustoms in Oroville, California, looking like a factory Motorama custom. John and Oz Kustoms certainly have the ability to build radical customs that don't slap you in the face with modifications. |  AMBR Contender The centerpiece...  AMBR Contender
The centerpiece of the main hall was Michael Feinstein's Black Widow '26 T pickup, Hollywood Hot Rods' reverse-engineered recreation of the popular Monogram model kit. Most of the BW was built from original Ford parts found on eBay and elsewhere, including the '56 Chevy 265ci engine. The display, also based on the model kit, was equally amazing. |  AMBR Contender After eight...  AMBR Contender
After eight years in progress, Kim Vranas' '27 T touring earned its spot in AMBR competition. Once a clown car (seriously), then stuck in storage for 30 years, it's now a showpiece featuring a '64 Buick Super Wildcat 425 (punched to 437) with twin Edelbrock TVX carbs, a Hurst-shifted Muncie 4-speed, and root beer metallic paint. |  We're used to seeing Jim Benitez'...  We're used to seeing Jim Benitez' handbuilt roadster pickup in bare metal in the Jalopy Shoppe booth at GNRS but this time, it was in AMBR competition. Six original 97s top the '57 392 Hemi. The seats are crafted from 8-ounce leather, dyed and molded, and tooled to follow the pinstriping design. What a knockout. |  Bill Holland's love for racing,...  Bill Holland's love for racing, especially dirt oval track racing, is evident in his '23 Track T roadster, built by Spitzer Concepts. Those Kinsler injector stacks top an EFI system on a World Product's 427 small-block. The 2x4 tube chassis has an Indy car style front suspension (inboard coilovers and rocker control arms) and rear triangulated 4-bars. |  Hot Rods by Greg built Charlie...  Hot Rods by Greg built Charlie Tachdjian's '32 Ford unibody street rod. It was red when it was a Ridler contender in 2007, and has been redone since, including the addition of the sweep-around trim. The body is handformed from double panels, including the hood and running boards. |  This is one of Kugel Komponents'...  This is one of Kugel Komponents' ten fendered Muroc Roadsters, built around a Marcel DeLay body. Jerry Kugel's personal car is powered by a Ford 514ci crate engine, sitting on a one-off SAC frame. Jerry's son Jeff said they might've lost AMBR points for some dirt picked up while driving the car to Pomona. In the rain. And doing burnouts. (In our book this should've got them some extra points.) |  This '36 Ford custom rod bears...  This '36 Ford custom rod bears little resemblance to Roger O'Dell's A Fuel dragsters-or to most '36s, except the ones wearing a modified '39 LaSalle grille and headlight housings, '38 Zephyr fenders with '41 Lincoln skirt trim , Marcel front fenders, a '41 Lincoln hood, '39 Ford side trim, and Cadillac wheel covers. |  Starting with S.Co.T. blown...  Starting with S.Co.T. blown Ardun, Steve Kormondy let the engine determine the Sixties drag racing style of his Double Trouble '32. Builders Jason and Jim Smith from Hot Rod Garage, said it's as if Big John Mazmanian raced a Deuce. We published the concept drawing in the March issue; go back and see how well the real car follows the dream car. |  When planning the buildup...  When planning the buildup of this '32 roadster, Phil Friedrich wasn't thinking nostalgia, he was thinking modern and minimalist. The clean lines of the Brookville body, including the door cut-outs-and the bonspeed 5-spokes-achieve that. A 347 Roush engine features TWM Induction EFI. Lakeman Chassis built the car. |  Building a '33 roadster for...  Building a '33 roadster for Ferrari collector Larry Carter required Roy Brizio to mix some of Enzo's influence with Henry's. The interior, gauges, taillights, and other elements blend old and new Ferrari. The owner-built '72 365 GTC V-12 Ferrari engine was built to Concours standards. Of course, the Brizio crew made some tasteful body mods. |  It started out as a half-built...  It started out as a half-built bare-metal car intended as a driver and progressed from there. Mike and Linda Perry picked every component on their steel-bodied '32, built by Mike Graham. The side draft EFI set-up on the 550-horse Brodix engine-with exposed valve cover welds-is consistent with their goal to combine high tech and old school. |  If the British had designed...  If the British had designed the '33 Ford roadster, it might've looked like Bob Rosenthal's highboy, built by California Street Rods from a concept by illustrator Steve Stanford. The Jaguar theme carries over to the blown Jag engine, wire-spoke wheels, and emerald green paint-even to the dash inserts and correct Smiths gauges. |  Dana Harvey's '33 roadster...  Dana Harvey's '33 roadster (with '34 grille) was fresh out of Circle City Hot Rods. Believe it or not this was once a rough coupe body prior to extensive metal surgery which is now enjoying topless motoring powered by a 325ci Dodge Red Ram Hemi. |  Limeworks Speed Shop proprietor,...  Limeworks Speed Shop proprietor, Steve Dennish, displayed his long term project gennie '32 in a unique display. This side shows the open hood side and lakes-inspired styling while the other side featured a solid hood side and steelie wheels in a Pasadena Reliability Run scenario. That tri-carbed baby Hemi is an English Daimler motor. |  Roy Brizio had a whole corral...  Roy Brizio had a whole corral of early Fords in the main building, including Mark Mariani's beautiful '32 5-window, packed with an Ardun Flathead with three 2-barrels and a 4-71 blower. Mark's dad Dennis had a similar Brizio-built 3-window not far away. |  Gil Granucci's Flathead-powered...  Gil Granucci's Flathead-powered '31 coupe was on our cover in September 1958, the year it entered the GNRS. The fenders, channeled body, and unchopped top screams East Coast flavor-and those pipes are just wild. It was a four-year job to restore the coupe; Herb Martinez added pinstripes to sheetmetal originally 'striped by Tommy the Greek. |  |  |  Pinkees seems to have started...  Pinkees seems to have started its own tradition of displaying bare metal cars at the GNRS, and there's nothing wrong with that when the quality is this good. Shock Therapy is a ground-hugging, blown and injected Hemified '27 that uses one of Pinkees' own sectioned frames and a Shadow Rods XL roadster body. The T is destined for street duty and maybe even Bonneville. |  First built in 1966, the Radoumis...  First built in 1966, the Radoumis & Moore '42 Willys pickup raced at Lions, Irwindale, and Orange County, before going to Texas. It was sold in the Seventies and rebought 20 years later by Ted and Peggy Radoumis. The Chevy small-block has a 6-71 blower and Hilborn injection. |  A double bubbletop, space...  A double bubbletop, space race style fins, and House of Kolor chrome paint reminiscent of the finish on Eisenhower-era kitchen appliances, kept a crowd around Dean Arnold's shaved and channeled '61 Thunderbird, which he calls Thunder Flite. |  This is the 50th anniversary...  This is the 50th anniversary of Otto Rhodes '53 F-100's profile in Hot Rod magazine. Otto showed the custom pickup for several years, continuing to modify it, and stopped in 1965. Tom and TJ Pagano found it, bought it, and restored it, retaining Otto's bodywork and chassiswork and almost all the chrome from the Sixties. |  When Larry Shinoda built this...  When Larry Shinoda built this '32 coupe to go drag racing in 1953, he shoved the Flathead rearward (it's got a 26-inch driveshaft), and ran 120 on the strip and 138 on the lakes. Ross and Beth Myers now own the restored '32. Shinoda went on to design the '63 Sting Ray and the '69 Boss 302 Mustang. |  Mike Fennel did most of the...  Mike Fennel did most of the work on his `59 El Camino himself including the beautiful candy apple red paint. Mike says he drives the Elco regularly and we bet the 409 under the hood backed by a 700-R4 makes it a pleasure. |  The second-ever AMBR car was...  The second-ever AMBR car was this '23 turtledeck T, originally built by Rico Squaglia, with a hood and tracknose by Harry Westergard. The roadster was missing in action for some years, but has been found and restored by Carter Fisher, including the '38 Flathead and 3-speed. |  It was an international show,...  It was an international show, thanks to Lars Lindberg from Stockholm and his '61 Impala bubbletop. A BMW provided the front clip, V-12 750il engine, 5-speed, and interior. Jaguar XJ headlights, VW Beetle fog lights, and Fiat Barchetta door handles, are other European components. |  It was an international show,...  It was an international show, thanks to Lars Lindberg from Stockholm and his '61 Impala bubbletop. A BMW provided the front clip, V-12 750il engine, 5-speed, and interior. Jaguar XJ headlights, VW Beetle fog lights, and Fiat Barchetta door handles, are other European components. |  Matt and Colleen Beckdolt's...  Matt and Colleen Beckdolt's Roseville Rod & Custom-built '54 Chevy, dubbed Eden, rides on an Art Morrison chassis with an Imagine injected 572ci Bill Mitchell Chevy under the hood. Evod Industries supplied the one-off 18- and 20-inch wheels. |  You already saw the illustration...  You already saw the illustration of Erik Hansen's wild Riv as our Dream Car in April. Builder Tim Strange grafted a chopped '48 Buick fastback roof onto the '52, along with a '51 Buick decklid and '54 Merc taillights (for starters) to create a 2009 version of a Fifties-era Autorama-style sled. The 500ci Cadillac runs six Barry Grant 98s. |  Bill and Maureen Cromling...  Bill and Maureen Cromling opted for maximum visual impact on their '40 Ford coupe, built by Squeeg's Kustoms. From the stance to the brightwork all over the 500hp Roush 402 IR engine (backed up with a Richmond 6-speed and 9-inch) and, most of all, Doug Jerger's paint, there was no way we could just walk by. | |
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