Not only is this the place where some of the industries biggest names appear, but it is also the event where hot roddings highest and most prestigious award is handed out. I am of course talking about the Ridler award.
As usual, some of the coolest street rods, customs, and street machines made their debut all vying for a spot in the "Great 8". This year’s group of finalist included some absolutely stunning creations from some of the countries top shops. There were more than a few cars that I found myself drooling over, including two cars from the Great 8.
One of which was Harold and Rhea Schrader’s ’35 Ford Coupe built by Dave Tucci and his crew in Marcy, New York. This incredible coupe has been cut so many different directions that the end result is a radical coupe that shows the proportions Ford designers should have given the car in ’35. As usual the craftsmanship was incredible and the one-off machined parts were truly impressive.
The second car that had me in a daze was Doug Cooper’s gorgeous RIDLER!! award winning ’32 Ford B-400 built by Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop in Gadsden, Alabama. His ’32 is the perfect combination of hot rod and coach built classic, which explains the name given to the car “Deucenberg”. This car looks as though it could have rolled out of a coachbuilders shop back in the early thirties. The perfect amount of slicing and dicing was performed at Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop, along with the machining of numerous parts for a truly phenomenal creation. Over the past few years of traveling for my job I have had the pleasure of seeing Cooper’s ’32 while it was in progress at Alan Johnson’s shop on a couple of occasions. Along with the pictures of the car from the show, I have posted a couple of pictures of the car while it was in progress so everyone can see just how much work was done. So a big congratulation goes out to Doug Cooper, Alan Johnson, and the rest of the craftsmen at Johnson’s Hot Rods for their big win in Detroit.
I would also like to congratulate everyone who made the Great 8. It is an award in itself just to make it into the 8 and you should feel a huge sense of accomplishment for that. In addition to the Ridler award and all the great cars at the show, the Autorama was once again a great place for me to meet up with a number of the countries best builders and some of the industries leaders. Check out the pictures of the Great 8 and the big winner...
See more photos HERE!
posted by Admin, 03.31.09 5:47 AM