Modern Rodding EVENT
InTheGarageMedia.com
The crowds are always spectacular at the Detroit Autorama, filling the very wide aisles the show is known for. 
Photography by THE AUTHORradition is sometimes hard to find, even when something has been around for 70 years but, since 1953, the Detroit Autorama has been able to deliver on its boast of being “America’s Greatest Hot Rod Show.” Through seven decades the Detroit show has demonstrated its perfect blend of tradition and contemporary, with a little sideshow mixed in for good measure.
Many facets of today’s Detroit Autorama are firmly entrenched in its long history. Celebrity autograph sessions used to feature TV’s Batman Adam West or well-known sports figures; this year’s show featured TV personality Dave Kindig, actor Henry Winkler, and hip-hop’s Falvor Flav.
Thirty years ago, the Autorama debuted the Toy-A-Rama, where collectors and fans of model cars continue to meet and trade. More recent additions to the program include the Mavens Pinstripe auctions where pinstripers from all over the country gather to create artwork and put it up for auction to raise thousands of dollars for the Leader Dogs for the Blind organization.
But the main attraction, both in 1953 (when only 40 cars gathered) to today (where 800-plus vehicles are shown), has always been the cars. Located in the Motor City’s downtown Huntington Place convention center (called Cobo Hall for decades) you’ll not only be able to see a wide range of customized vehicles but also a high build standard.
In 1964, to honor the late show promoter who was instrumental in putting the Detroit Autorama on the national map, the Don Ridler Memorial Award was first given out. Open to any type of vehicle that demonstrates exceptional creativity, engineering, quality workmanship, and is of a first-time-shown status is eligible. The one and only next step in the process is to be awarded a BASF Great 8 trophy—the exclusive group of eight car owners from which the Ridler will be picked.
This year’s eight qualifiers highlighted two facts: This was the first time no pre-’49 vehicles were in the competition and, even with two trucks making it into the Great 8, no truck has won the Ridler since the Alexander Brothers did so in 1968 with their custom Deora. This year’s finalists also demonstrated the diversity the Ridler always provides in that a ’67 Nova, a ’65 Mustang, a ’50 Mercury, a ’58 GMC, a ’55 Chevy convertible, a ’69 Super Bee, a ’53 3100 pickup, and a ’78 Mustang were all competing for the show’s highest honor, which is handed out during the last few hours of the show on Sunday evening. The intense guessing game on who will win the Ridler is just a part of the spectacle the Detroit Autorama has always been and will continue to be.
To finance the building of their own dragstrip on 60 acres in New Baltimore, MI, members of the Michigan Hot Rod Association not only used their club dues but also organized a car show to raise funds. The car show became the Detroit Autorama, and the track, which opened in 1959, became Motor City Dragway, and closed in 1996.
One of the most-talked-about trucks at the show featured a complete carbon-fiber Chevy C10 body, engineered and built by Fiber Forged Composites and Z Rodz and Customs for the owner, Rod Parsons, to go autocross racing. To achieve that goal, they used a Moran Motorsports 434ci engine with a Dart LSX-Next aluminum block, a MoTeC M150 fuel injection system, and a Detroit Speed Engineering chassis in the build.
Jon Hall is a longtime hot rodder and owner of Shadow Rods. He modified the sheetmetal on this XL27 track-nose roadster before giving it to Greening Auto Company to paint, upholster, and mill all the extra parts, including the wheels. Hall was this year’s recipient of the CASI Cup (the show’s highest honor outside the Ridler and Great 8 awards).
Downstairs at the Autorama Extreme (mostly for non-glossy and patina’d hot rods), Donnie “Lightening” Ferrier had his channeled (but not chopped) Deuce coupe that was getting a tune-up on the ol’ Hemi.
There was a well-deserved multi-car display of the Alexander Brothers (aka “A Brothers”) creations, including Mike Alexander’s personal Grasshopper pickup truck. Also in the grouping was the Deora pickup—the car the A Brothers won the Ridler award with in 1968. 
Adam Williams’ ’67 Fairlane looked sharp with its use of both glossy and flattened paint throughout. The Pro Touring Ford (built by Eugene Braswell Motorsports) gets power from a supercharged Coyote engine.
Another sano build was found with Mike Copeland’s ’64 Ford Falcon, which was outfitted with a 5.0L Coyote engine and Baer disc brakes behind the 3030 Autosport alloy wheels.
Though it looks contemporary with the wheel choice, Ken Delgreco Jr.’s ’63 Mercury Meteor still had the factory 260 V-8 in the car (though nicely dressed up).
Another well-built truck in the show was Tim and Marianna Gunsalus’ ’66 GMC crew cab. They say there are eight years and 100 body modifications in their former forestry vehicle, including the suicide rear doors.
Darryl Stennetto’s ’23 Ford T coupe is radically channeled (though not chopped) and the chassis is even Z’d behind the rocker panels to get the body that much lower.
The Detroit Autorama regularly brings in cars from Canada but Greg Haliday’s all-steel ’41 Willys made the trip all the way from New Zealand. It had a BDS 10:71 blower atop a 472 Hemi and sat on an Art Morrison chassis, but still had a well-designed leather interior (which included a leather-wrapped rollcage).
Sometimes it’s hard to make something look like you didn’t do anything to it. Ellsworth Wolf used vintage parts (’36 Ford rear, Merc trans, 276-inch Merc motor) with his Washington Blue Deuce roadster to get the right vintage look.
If you want to know what a perfect chop on a ’38 Hudson Victoria looks like, look no further than Kelly Welling’s black coupe. A 4-inch chop with leaned B-posts is coupled with moving the roof forward 6 inches.
Franny Drummond’s (@PaintZoo) exceptional artistic talents were on display with the skateboard he painted and airbrushed for the Maven’s Pinstripe Auction going on during the show that raises thousands for charity.
They don’t call Detroit the Motor City for nothing! Big engines stickin’ out of the hood are always crowd pleasers, and we can guess Henry Ruiz’s ’68 Plymouth Road Runner is a big crowd pleaser!
Twenty-three-year-old Jack Malloy had Platinum Custom Cars build his dream ride, which included adding a turbocharged 2.3L EcoBoost Mustang motor to his ’61 Ford Falcon. The installation looked factory, and the rest of the car utilized a long list of aftermarket parts.
Gene Winfield was roaming the downstair aisles all weekend. The 95-year-old customizer brought the Reactor—the front-wheel-drive aluminum custom he built in the ’60s that was featured on TV’s Star Trek and other hit shows.
Model A roadsters are always well represented in the downstairs’ Autorama Extreme, and this year didn’t disappoint. Destin Pewitt’s ’29 Ford from Grand Rapids looked great with a distressed brown interior, a chrome dash, large-face Stewart-Warner gauges, and a Police Special speedo.
Steele Rubber Products sponsors and selects the Autorama’s Preservation Award and this year’s recipient went to Tony Bartone for his clone of Connie Kalitta’s Bounty Hunter Top Fuel dragster. It’s a faithful recreation of the racer Kalitta won at the ’64 March Meet in Bakersfield, CA, with Kalitta being the first driver to go 200 mph in the quarter-mile.
Another of the show’s special displays was set aside for the cars (and clones) of Big Daddy himself: Ed Roth. The “Tweedy Pie” is an original Roth creation from the early ’60s, built for a customer then reacquired by Roth before being modified to his liking. 
What if Mercury made a roadster pickup? That question was answered by Roosterz Rod Shop in Florida who built this ’31 roadster with many Mercury touches, including the dash, gauges, and a 312 motor.
One of two trucks that got a Great 8 trophy belongs to Jim McDaniel of Cumming, GA. Originally a ’56 Chevy panel truck, the back half was converted to a truck bed and the front from a ’58 truck by Hot Rod Construction in South Carolina. A 348 W engine, Zebra wood veneer bed strips, curved tailgate, and a contemporary interior are just some of the highlights that makes this truck a winner.
Sampson Design presented this ’67 Nova for Missouri’s Shawn Nichoalds. A chromed and polished 700-horse 496 stroker that’s coupled to a TCI 4L80E trans and sits on a chassis equipped with Total Cost Involved’s Mustang II front clip that’s been dropped 3 inches and a four-link rear that’s been dropped 6 inches.
Out of New Brunswick, Canada, Rejean Desjardins’ ’65 Mustang incorporated layered glass panels across the back half of the roof. Under the carbon-fiber flip-forward hood is a Boss 302 Coyote with INNOV8 injection. Carbon fiber is also used to create the front splitter, dash console, and even the roof overlay, and titanium fasteners are used throughout the vehicle.
Brian Mosbek’s ’69 Super Bee was an understated and refined Pro Tourer. Variations of gloss and flattened paint schemes throughout showed exemplary attention to detail. You don’t notice the flush-fit glass or the eight-point rollcage, though the 392 Hemi makes a pretty good statement on its own.
The Snodgrass family out of Florida really knows their Tri-Five Chevys and they went all out with this ’55 convertible with a reported 8,000 hours in build time. An LS3 engine and 4L60E trans are mounted to a custom tubular chassis and the exterior is a combination of Twisted Blue Pearl, Orange Effect, and Sunset Gold.
King Coyote is the name given to George Conrad’s ’78 Ford Mustang and it fits once you see the supercharged Coyote engine up front. The ’stang is bolted to an Art Morrison chassis and uses a custom grille and headlights along with ’67 Shelby Mustang front and rear bumpers.
Tim Hampel, out of Arlington, TX, which is also the home of builder Killer Hot Rods & Customs, and Killer incorporated an IFS to the stock ’53 Chevy chassis and narrowed the rear section a whole lot to fit the wide 18-inch Schott wheels. The interior is simple and clean, and a 10:71 Dyer-blown 462 big-block uses twin Holley Sniper EFI throttle bodies to feed it.
