The Detroit Autorama - The Best Reason

When I get bored of the turntables and velvet ropes I head down to the basement and get brought back to reality. There are always some top-notch traditional hot rods and customs down there and the people seem a little more down-to-earth as well. A couple of my favorites included the Shocker Model A coupe which featured a six-carbed early Hemi, stock top, and channeled body covered in '59 Pontiac Plum paint, and Charlie Bull's A-V8 roadster which he lengthened the doors 6 inches into the quarters and dropped the floor so he could get in easier and sit down in it better.

If there was one car talked about more than the Ridler winner it had to be Nancy and Roger Ritzow's '56 Chrylser 300B fresh out of Rad Rides by Troy. The big Chrysler sits on a custom chrome-moly frame with Viper components and a twin-turbo RS Dodge engine. There was not a detail missed and, if it wasn't at the show as just an exhibition, it would have been in strong contention for the big prize.

Kirk Hanning brought out his '34 Ford pickup lowboy which is powered by an early dual carb 365ci Cadillac. The Cadillac theme was covered over to the tailgate where a Cad valve cover was sacrificed to replace the Ford logo.

I'm not sure if T.J. O'Grady is a pinstriper, but if he had to pay for all the lines pulled inside and outside of his '28 Ford roadster pickup it could have busted his budget. The 'stripes aren't the only thing interesting on this channeled, tri-carbed, six-cylinder hot rod.

Jennie and Darren Clor's '59 Edsel proves that with the right stance and wheel-and-tire combo you can build a cool cruiser out of just about anything. The Edsel's suede paint is complimented with a gloss 'flake on the roof.

Cory Taulbert's '34 Ford highboy pickup was right on the top of my list of ones I'd like to have taken home with me. Cory is still in college but that didn't stop him from building a lot of this pickup himself.