Annual Goodguys Nostalgia Nationals - Where Time Stands Still

It took two cars: a '49 four-door and a '48 Sedanette rust bucket, to make one '48 Caddy sled, built by owner Brad Hutsler. With a 509 Merlin motor and a full 'cage, it's clocked low 8s in the eighth-mile. Hutsler also uses it for runs to the burger stand and trips around town. The hood emblem contains a forward-view camera.

T.K. James' red-all-over contemporary '34 three-window coupe, from Sikeston, Missouri, rides on a completely homebuilt chassis, with a finely finished and plated undercarriage.

Completing John Schauberger's copper '32 coupe took 10 years and a couple different builders. The car, up from Henderson, Tennessee, started out with a Hastings fiberglass body and a 355ci ZZ4 crate motor. Jason Bullock finished the coupe and shot the paint.

With Dayton wires, piecrust rubber, and Mexican blanket interior, Rodney Payne's '32 five-window jumps right out of the history of hot rodding (and the pages of STREET RODDER's July '06 issue). The 283 Chevy is matched up with a '40 Ford trans. Rodney and his business partner Butch Boyette at High Gear Hot Rods built the car in collaboration with Dayton Wheels.

We photographed Dustin Colclasure's '27 T Modified in the award-winner parade on Sunday. We liked the skinny bias-plies, front quarter-elliptic suspension, drilled I-beam, and pinstripes on the louvers and rims. The judges did too, and awarded the Ford the Traditional Homebuilt Heaven prize.

The Buick Nailhead was dropped into Gene and Carol Pearson's '50 Ford two-door back in the '60s when it was raced. The IROC blue paint came in 1987. A water pump was added right there at the show and painted on the spot to match the engine. Goodguys gave the car a Rodders Rep Pick.

Ferdinand leaving the starting line during Sunday eliminations. Owner/driver Ron Doran said the Willys Gasser has run 9.40 at 142 mph. Doran is a member of the Geezer Gassers Club, that promotes vintage drag racing at strips around the Midwest and follows the original racing tradition, using no electronics and running only on gasoline.

All Ford and all owner-built describes Dave and Vicki Mangon's just-finished, original-bodied '36, winner of the Homebuilt Heaven award. The seats are from a Ford Contour; the engine is a Ford 302. The paint is a combination of PPG colors: Pewter and GM Green. Wait a minute ... GM?!

The inspiration for Jimmy Hervalin's in-progress '30 Ford pickup came from the Keith Weesner painting Emerald Tide, displayed in the windshield. The body is handbuilt from aluminum. Other highlights of the 327-powered pickup are the Lancer caps, custom headers, owner-made air cleaners, and 410 grille bullets.

Helter Skelter, David Donaldson's '48 Thames panel from Washington, Indiana, competed in B/Gas eliminations on Sunday after qualifying the day before with a 10.346 at 91 mph.

Here's a better look at Mark Hendrickson's two-tone Deuce three-window, out of Boonville, Indiana. The body is from Rat's Glass and the Chevy 327 has been bored to 331 ci, with a pair of four-barrels, and a pair of handbuilt equal-length headers. The five-spokes are from Billet Specialties.

Elden Miller's Black Widow '33 Willys from Lawrenceburg, Indiana, is popular and successful on the vintage drag racing circuit, running B/Gas.

Not much cash, but a lot of imagination went into Jim Roepke's '31 lowboy. In converting it from a coupe, Jim shortened the doors and extended the quarters. The flathead is a bored '41 59AB with dual 94s on an Offy intake. The buckets are homebuilt and padded with leather from some old recliners.

Another Geezer Gasser representative was Bill Caughron's '48 Anglia from Louisville, Kentucky, a spot-on reproduction of a mid-'60s race car that was wrecked. The original was a national record holder and U.S. Nats runner-up in 1964.

We keep predicting that Fad Ts are on the verge of a big comeback, and Leigh Anne Lemke showed up at Beech Bend to support that prediction with this cool blue '23 T bucket, channeled over polished rails and pulled along by a Chevy 350 with triple 2V carburetors.