LA Roadster's Show - Pete's Party

You know it's getting out of hand when a few thousand of your friends show up at your place for a party. When Pete Chapouris, president of SO-CAL Speed Shop, first organized his little open-house gatherings, it was for the guys in the shop who were bored at night and thought it would be great if they asked some friends to stop by and someone would cook some hot dogs.

Well that idea caught on, and soon there was an open house on the first Wednesday night of each month (including the month when the L.A. Roadsters' meet was in town). Pete supplied the food, but soon it was getting too chaotic with hundreds of folks showing up every month.

So Pete put a stop to the monthly meets, except for the one before the Father's Day show; but it, too, has grown to several hundred cars and (by police estimates) more than 5,000 people over the years. That's a lot of people coming through a shop for only a couple of hours on one day! Plus he still feeds everyone for free (he books an In & Out mobile hamburger stand to handle the hungry masses).

Now the show-within-a-show has become a must-attend for anyone who likes hot rods and is in town for the Roadster Show. And, as an added benefit, it's a great way to see a lot of cars that aren't allowed into the fairgrounds due to their year of manufacture.

L.A. Roadsters Show & Swap MeetThe 43rd Annual Meeting For Open Hot RodsThis year's L.A. Roadsters Show & Swap was a milestone for the L.A. Roadsters car club. It was the 50th anniversary of the club itself (having been formed in 1957), the 43rd anniversary of the show, and it didn't hurt that 2007 is the 75th anniversary of the '32 Ford-the quintessential hot rod.

But even if those particular stars did not align, the L.A. Roadsters Show & Swap, more frequently referred to as The Father's Day Show, should be among the top five events hot rodders should attend. Why? Because it's the largest roadster show on the planet.

More than 900 open cars (that's pre-'37 roadsters, cabriolets, roadster pickups, and T-buckets) fill the parking area around vendor and manufacturer booths that number in the hundreds. In another section, hundreds of swap meet sellers fill more than 500 spaces with vintage hot rod equipment, and the preferred parking area (for pre-'75 vehicles) overflows with more than 2,600 cars.

The event is a celebration of the roadster and a general promotion of the street rodding hobby. And, in the course of the two-day show, more than $10,000 is raised by the L.A. Roadsters and donated to the City of Hope organization. Folks come from around the world (dozens from Australia, plus numerous hot rodders from England and the Scandinavian countries) for the spectacle and all leave with sensory overload.

And, for the first time in the history of the show, a special guest of honor was named. Vic Edelbrock Jr. and the entire Edelbrock Corporation were given the distinction for their years of service to the industry, and Vic was on hand both days of the show signing his "Edelbrock: Made In USA" book on the life of him and his father.

When something is good, it's hard to say there is room for improvement, but somehow the L.A. Roadsters Show gets bigger and better every year, and we're already looking forward to next year's show.