Blackie's 46th Annual Fresno Autorama

There are car shows and then there are car shows. You pay your money and you get your entry. Not so fast. Calling Blackie Gejeian and asking for entry paperwork isn't goin' to work. You see, in order to find you and your car on the Fresno Convention Center (Fresno, California) show floor you will have to receive a personal invitation from the man himself--Blackie Gejeian. The presentation of the 46th annual Fresno Autorama is an invitation-only show, unique in the world of indoor car shows. The show committee is made up of one--Blackie. He has chosen each and every car (and motorcycle) that has appeared on the show floor since its inception 46 years ago.

This year Blackie personally invited (yes, personally invited) 194 individuals to bring 161 cars and 33 motorcycles. Of the participants, 66 were from out of state and two of them took home the awards of significance: the Best Rod award went to Littleton, Colorado's Ken Reister's '36 Ford roadster. This Chip Foose-designed and built rod has won everything so far this year, including the Detroit Autorama's Don Ridler Memorial Award. (Look for this roadster to appear on the pages of STREET RODDER soon!) Another non-California resident to take home the hardware was the Best Custom award to New Smyrna Beach, Florida's Gary "Chop-It" Fioto's '55 Ford bubbletop. Also honored this year was George Barris (Barris Kustom Industries) as Builder of the Year. He brought one of the Batmobiles and it was an immediate hit with the crowd.

One thing is for sure, everyone goes home a winner. For Blackie to invite you, he has already seen your car at a show and the chances are you were one of the top dogs at that show. Blackie is known for awarding the largest trophies of the indoor season. Everyone is recognized, brought on stage and acknowledged (a nice touch), and Blackie (again) awards you personally with your own piece of immortality--your own trophy. (The rank-and-file trophies measured 48 inches in height, actually taller than the windshield on my '29 Ford A/V8 that was fortunate enough to receive an invitation).

To further personalize the show, each of the invitees is placed on the floor in such a fashion so that there's variety (make, model, color, and build style) down each row and throughout the entire show. For instance, just inside the front door in the foyer there was an "island" comprised of four street rods that typifies what's currently the rage in street rod build styles. Imagine finding these four cars in one show, aligned side-by-side and bumper-to-bumper.

Let's start with Jon Hall's "oversized" highboy roadster Tall T (in this issue), Zane Cullen's recreation of an open-wheel board racer (in this issue), the Troy Trapanier-built Deuce highboy roadster that won the 2004 Goodguys Street Rod of the Year, and the Eric Peratt-built '29 Ford roadster pickup (SRM, June '05) in a traditional style that clearly raised the "bar" when debuted at this year's Grand National Roadster Show.

Of course, for the not-so-easily impressed, you could have stepped through the doors that led onto the main showroom floor and immediately witnessed the Ken Reister '36 Ford roadster that is this year's standard bearer of what can be done with copious amounts of time, talent, and budget--and, oh yes, patience. Did we mention that it was displayed in all of its glory accompanied by the Ridler Award it had won a mere week before? From here there was an incredible collection of street rods, 'cycles, machines, and custom rods. Given what the SRM staff has seen during this year's indoor season, there can be little doubt that Blackie's was clearly a "target-rich environment" full of custom rods that would bring any car aficionado to the doorstep of rodding heaven.

Get comfortable and make sure you have plenty of light (just like your mom told you when you were a young'un) and enjoy this collection of photos of the 46th annual Fresno Autorama--sorry, we meant Blackie's.