2006 Fresno Autorama

You're only invited once!

By Brian Brennan

There are indoor car shows and then there is the indoor car show! The significance of attending the annual Fresno Autorama hosted by rodding icon Blackie Gejeian and Paul Evert's R.V. is you get one shot at making the program. There are indoor cars shows with a great deal of significance, but there is only one Fresno Autorama, and this year was the 47th continuous presentation. According to Blackie, he invites what he feels is an outstanding cross-section of many different build styles and years of cars to appear each year, but your car can only attend once. So, if you get the call, take it and enjoy one of the most diverse and high-quality shows of which you will ever be part.

Each year Blackie honors a Builder of the Year who he feels has performed outstanding service to the hobby, and this year he honored Chip Foose of Foose Design by having three of his most recent street rod efforts on display. The three cars were The Grand Master (former Ridler winner) owned by Wes and Bob Rydell of Grand Forks, North Dakota; The Stallion (former Ridler winner), a Deuce coupe owned by Ron Whiteside of Scottsdale, Arizona; and Ken Reister's Impression, a '36 Ford that is both a Ridler and America's Most Beautiful Roadster award winner. It made for quite a sight and was a crowd stopper.

Directly across from the Foose exhibit was the 1934 Stugatti (to be featured in an upcoming issue of SRM), brought to the show by its owners, Rick and Valerie Strain from Arbuckle, California. It should be noted that while the car was absolutely stunning in its current glory, it is said that the story behind the story is the story! According to folklore, the Stugatti was found and its heritage tracked through Oklahoma, Illinois, and, again, according to a semi-reputable source, found under a tarp in Temecula, California, where it was still owned by distant relatives of a former Uruguayan ambassador. One will never know, but there may have been a time when Studebaker and Bugatti Motor Company enjoyed a close relationship and joined forces to build this beauty. Unfortunately, this one-of-a-kind car can only make us stop and wonder what could have been!

While there was plenty to look at, there was one hot rod of particular interest belonging to Rick and Roy Flake of Fresno, California, presented in the main hallway as you entered the Autorama. (Rick is the dad and Roy is the 16-year-old son.) In fact, this area has been set aside in recent years for some very interesting cars, and this year was no different with the likes of vintage representations of early race cars. In this setting was Rick and Roy's '34 pickup with an interesting presentation that may have escaped the casual observer at first.

It seems the two of them have a sense of humor as well as a flare for building hot rods. The '34 black fenderless pickup sports Moon discs (17s and 18s) wrapped with Coker/Firestone whitewalls on the passenger side, while on the driver side there are the '33 Olds centers with Gary McLean modified outer rims. The Olds wheels are a one-year-only with the artillery-like spokes. (Other Olds wheels had fewer spokes.) It is truly amazing the difference each style presents, yet the truck looks great in either dress. Oh, did we mention on the passenger side the pickup runs with a hood while the driver side is sans hood? For the full scoop on the Flake creation, turn to page 80.

This year the Autorama had a healthy contingent of custom rods. We have come to expect this effort with street rods, but it has become more and more apparent that custom rods are here to stay--and grow in popularity. Take a look at this year's sampling of cars and then mark your notebook for next year to stop by. Oh, should you find yourself with an invitation to show off your ride, don't pass it up--make the effort to show up.