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Hot rodders of all types turned out for the 58th year of the Detroit Autorama. The current economy combined with the typical Detroit snowy weather could not hold back fans of the custom car hobby and all things automotive. Cobo Hall transformed its massive floor space into a celebration of classic and late model customs.
For a more detailed look at some of the stand out cars and trucks at the show check out the links below:
Lingenfelter Debuts Black Trans-Am Concept
Two Cool Shop Trucks on Display
Translam 1968 Pontiac Trans-Am
For a little history on the show, it’s a natural that the birthplace of the American car have an event that celebrates those that like to personalize their ride. With thousands of engineers, assembly line workers and mill rights looking to join a hot rod club, the Michigan Hot Rod Association was founded in 1951. While some of its 400 members were all about the show, many members were more about the go and a fundraiser was created to help fund organized speed trials for the members. By 1952, the club held their first Autorama to help fund the clubs street racing activities and planned raceway just outside of Detroit.
By 1956, the club hired local sports and band promoter Don Ridler, who grew the event to one of the premier events in the country. For the street rod enthusiast, Detroit’s Autorama is second only to Southern California’s America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Show in prestige. With Don Ridler efforts to put the event on the show car map, his name is placed on the ultimate award for the best show car of Autorama, the Ridler Award.
The 2010 Ridler award Great 8 contenders were placed front and center in the hall and a flood of admirers stood and gazed at the details, paint and brightwork on each car. The Great 8 contenders were: Rich, Paige & Hoochie Udell’s ’34 Ford roadster, Scott & Jan Burton’s ’34 Ford 3 window, Sue & Bill Keck’s ’37 Chevy Master Deluxe, Jim & Dana Linton’s ’34 Ford 3 window, Bob & Jean Walrich’s ’33 Ford Victoria, Francis J. Roxas’ ’34 Packard Boat Tail Coup, Tammy Ray’s ’33 Ford Phaeton and Steve Frisbee’s ’33 Dodge pickup.
After intensive scrutiny by the show judges, Tammy Ray’s 1933 “Gold Digger” Ford Phaeton was named the 2010 Ridler Award winner. It was the first time that a female owner had won the award and the southern bell from Dahlonega, GA was surprised to get the nod from the judges.
Ray’s car was built by Ted Thomas (T&T Customs) of Canton, Georgia and featured Pirelli P Zero Nero rubber, Foose wheels, PPG Gold Paint, and digital gauges. The custom interior was done by M&M Interiors.
Ray, who owns a gold mine in North Georgia, is no stranger to the Great 8. She was the first female recipient of the award during the 2006 Autorama. That experience led her to plan and prepare to win it all at this year’s show.
No Detroit Autorama would be complete without a turnout of racecars. The Drag City USA exhibit was presented by Milan Dragway and featured historic Top Fuel cars from the greats like Michigan native Connie Kalitta’s ’67 “Bounty Hunter” Ford SOHC powered FED.
Don “The Snake” Prudhomme’s ’70 Yellow “Wynns Winder” reminded all of the days when Prudhomme criss-crossed the country match racing and hitting all the big sanctioned events.”Big Daddy” Don Garlits’ sent his ’60 “Swamp Rat III” ’62 “Swamp Rat IV” & ’66 “Swamp Rat VIII” cars to the show for all to admire.
Since the show is “local” for the Big Three, Autorama is typically the first stop for the performance divisions touring displays. GM Performance Parts showcased some of their factory built and in-house performance tuned cars. A 2010 Corvette ZR1 was bookended by a turbo Buick Grand-National and 1969 big block Camaro from the GM Heritage Collection.
GMPP also had a selection of LSX based crate engines scattered around the display. A 2010 Transformer Camaro and White Tuner edition Camaro showcased the latest offerings from GMPP for the popular sports car.
Ford Racing had their silver edition 2010 Super Cobra Jet on display. Thankfully the factory built Super Stocker was on a drive on lift so folks could admire the overall build quality and work-of-art rear suspension set-up. The 500 cubic inch Ford Pro Stock engine placed in the back of the Molten Orange SVT Raptor was also a nice touch.
Dodge’s Mopar display was all things Challenger with a street and strip edition of the best looking new Dodge on the road IMHO. In an attempt to embrace the popular Drag Radial crowd, a screaming yellow 2010 Mopar Dodge Challenger 1320 rotated on the stage with plenty of lights, video screens and action going on in the background. A Red 2010 Challenger with plethora of Mopar parts sat on the show floor for all to admire.
While the main floor at the Detroit Autorama is where the big boys and jet set polish their rides, the Cobo basement is where the Midwest Rat Rod scene is a’ rockin and a rollin’. For the last five years, the Rat Rod and psychobilly builders are taking up more and more real estate from the played out import or ricer “crowd”, and that’s a good thing in my book.
The cars, trucks and bikes in the Cobo basement, labeled Autorama Extreme by the show organizers, is getting more press that some of the cars and car builders on the main floor.
