The 51st Detroit Autorama

For the past year the general consensus has been that the 50th Detroit AutoRama, held last year in downtown Detroit, Michigan's massive Cobo Hall complex, was possibly the best indoor car show ever. As car shows age (there are a handful approaching the 50-year mark--only two have surpassed it), you would think that they'd get better as they go along. However, that isn't always the case and, when different promoters or organizations come along to put their stamp on a particular event, it sometimes adversely affects the show.

The Michigan Hot Rod Association, formed in 1951, is the group that came up with the idea of putting on a car show to help finance a local dragstrip. They've now owned the Detroit AutoRama since it's inception in 1953. They're also the ones who, in 1956, asked local college coach and promoter, Don Ridler, to help organize their efforts. Ridler put the event on the map, or at least on the Michigan map.

In 1961, Ridler turned the promotion job over to Bob Larivee, this just two years before he [Don] passed away. Over the next four decades, Larivee's mission was to work with the MHRA and to make the Detroit show a national concern. In order to gain national awareness he wanted to create an award that would really mean something to the people competing for it.

The Don Ridler Memorial Award was first handed out in 1964 and has become an award that not only symbolizes perfection in the art of rod building but also rewards creativity. According to Butch Patrico, MHRA's president and head of the Ridler award's judging committee, the show's top honor is decided by a combination of fit and finish, degree of difficulty, as well as the aesthetic appeal of the car (something that is very hard to "judge"). The Don Ridler Memorial Award now attracts builders from all over the United States, as well as from Canada.

The competition for the Ridler award is open to any first-time-shown vehicle, which means that spectators are able to see cars that have never appeared anywhere else. The show opens on Friday afternoon and, later that same night, the field of would-be Ridler contenders is narrowed to eight cars (or the "Great Eight" as they have come to be known). All sorts of cars have won the Ridler award in the past, from all-out Detroit dream cars from the "golden age" of car shows (such as Mike Alexander's Deora, made from a '66 Dodge pickup) to 1995, when a '92 Mercedes Pro Modified race car won. This year seven of the Great Eight were street rods, with the eighth being a custom.

And though everyone agreed that last year's Ridler winner, Bob and Wes Rydell's Grand Master Chevy sedan built by Chip Foose and his team of craftsmen, was a nearly impossible car to measure up to, this year's Great Eight pulled out the stops to capture the top honor. (The Grand Master was back at this year's show, but it couldn't compete for the Ridler due to its previous showing. However, it did take home a first place award for its class). This year, winning first in its class, as well as the Don Ridler Memorial Award, was another Foose Design creation: a bronze-colored '34 Ford coupe owned by Arizona's Ron Whiteside. And even if you weren't a Ridler contender, just having your car accepted to the show should be enough praise for any owner or builder.

Held in the middle of winter, the Detroit AutoRama has become a "must attend" for both local spectators as well as for rod builders from around the country. Travel was a little harder this year, though, due to some impressive snowfall amounts around the country the week before the show. One of the celebrities scheduled to appear at this year's show, Vern Troyer (Mini Me from the Austin Powers movies), was stranded in route to the show and wasn't able to make it (perhaps he was lost under a snowflake?), but the thousands of others who braved the weather got to experience another great AutoRama.

Cobo Hall is a 600,000-square-foot building that can accommodate roughly 700 vehicles (it's the same location where automakers debut their latest creations at the prestigious Detroit Auto Show each January). In the past, each long aisle would be filled with customs, rods, musclecars, boats, off-road trucks, and even a few imports. But more and more rodders are applying for an invitation to the show so the AutoRama's aisles are filling up with street rods and customs (and that's a good thing!). And if you want to see more than just cars, the AutoRama will fill those needs. There is also a major display from Chevrolet each year, as well as from Ford and Chrysler. And, besides the largest toy show we've ever seen at an indoor event, there were also specialty attractions. This year George Barris was honored for his contributions to the hobby and several of the cars he's been associated with were there, too (from an Aston Martin DB4 from a James Bond film to one of the Batmobiles). George was there all day long signing autographs and selling shirts and books.

Every year there is a lot to see and do at the Detroit AutoRama, which is why the show has continued for the past 50 years and why it's fast becoming the indoor show to attend.

An OPINION FROM A RODDING ENTHUSIAST COMPETING FOR THE TROPHIES

Editorial by Eric Geisert
Each year there are seemingly hundreds of events, rod runs, car shows, and happenings that hot rodders can attend if they so choose. Some owners like to compete for trophies while others are happy just to have their car on display. But because you have to have winners and losers in a car show arena, there will always be people who don't like what the judges have decided. It was true at this year's Detroit AutoRama, but it also happens at other shows around the country.

If you believe that no car is perfect, then it's the hard job of the judges to catch what's wrong. Judges will use white gloves to wipe the tops of transmissions for dust. They'll also use hand-held mirrors to see edges of air cleaners that can't be seen when they're standing over or lying under an engine. But when you compete at the stratospheric level of those contending for a Ridler or AMBR, even the timing of screws (so all of the heads line up the same way) can make a difference.

So when after an awards presentation you hear someone say that they won't ever come back to the show because they didn't like the outcome, it's a shame. The shame is that they didn't build a car that could outshine anything else on the floor. It's like a pro football team complaining about losing the Super Bowl by one point when they had four 15-minute quarters to win!

STREET RODDER Editor Brian Brennan says, "Car shows are where our hobby becomes a sport," and he's right. A car show has rules while a hobby certainly doesn't. But some folks don't like car shows because of the trophy race they inspire. Some think show cars are unrealistic and that judges can't possibly see everything that is done to their car. But many of the styling cues and parts found on this year's show cars will become next year's trends. It's a forum where innovation happens. And, to their credit, the AutoRama's judges (a nine person group comprised of Michigan Hot Rod Association members) give each Great Eight vehicle owner 15 minutes to personally plead their case during the show and to point out what is important on their car. This is so that the judges don't miss it when they come through at night to look the cars over. Every show should use this system.

But rather than see the mistakes they made to their own cars, some participants choose to bad-mouth the show, the judges, and sometimes, even the winner. Does this type of rodder need to show up again when there are others who would have loved to have the chance to showcase their ride at one of the country's top indoor shows? No.

Some rodders may elect not to return to a show they didn't like (that's their choice), but what if they returned with a better car next year? One that they can't make excuses for. It should be the type of car that not only pushes the design envelope to the limits of imagination but that is also carried out with precision and an exemplary attention to detail. That's the kind of car I want to see at an indoor car show.

If you have any thoughts on this editorial, we'd like to hear them. Please e-mail your response to eric.geisert@sorc.com, and be sure to add "Detroit AutoRama" in the subject line.

THE GREAT EIGHT

Minus this year's Don Ridler Memorial Award winner here are the other contenders for the AutoRama's top honor, which rewards creativity and excellence in design.