Street Rod of the Year 2001

Every year we give it the ol' magazine try to see which street rod will end up with the coveted title of STREET RODDER magazine's Street Rod of the Year. Aside from some incredible bragging rights, the honoree will have a photo on the STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year Wall of Fame at Darryl Starbird's National Rod and Custom Car Hall of Fame in Afton, Oklahoma, along with other past winners. (There will be lots more to this program in 2003, but right now we are on double-secret probation and can't tell!)

By now you should be aware that in order to receive coveted this title or a STREET RODDER Top Ten award you must attend at least one of seven Goodguys events. By doing so your car becomes eligible for a Top Ten selection. If you are wondering which events were on the cherished list for 2001 and which issues SRM covered them in, they were: Del Mar (August '01), Indianapolis (November '01), Columbus (December '01), Puyallup (January '02), Pleasanton (February '02), Rhinebeck (March '02), and Charlotte (April '02). For 2002, six of the seven events will be the same with Charlotte swapped for Kansas City, Kansas--a first-year event.

Once you have attended one of the "magnificent seven," your car is in the running. A SRM staffer is appointed to select each Top Ten. Now all you need to do is hope for good luck and a dose of fate to take over. When your car is selected for a Top Ten, it's entered into a group of 70 from which one is selected for the title Street Rod of the Year.

Before we make the announcement, here are some thoughts on what were some of this year's notable trends. There's little doubt red, black, and green hues were the shades of choice. A good guess would be that black and red will always be in favor. Eighteen rods selected had red as a primary color, while eight were black and four were in primer. As for green--six made the list. The most brilliant paint we saw all year was at Columbus, and it was on an incredible Apple Green '40 Ford coupe owned by Don Bunch of Morristown, Tennessee. (We know this is highly subjective, kinda like being an ice-skating judge.)

Since we are on a fact-finding mission, here are some other bits of info: We lumped roadsters, convertibles, or removable hardtop rods into the same category. Hence, 29 that were chosen are considered "open" cars. Wow! We might add that five open cars were selected at Rhinebeck (East Coast), matching Pleasanton's (West Coast) number, while Del Mar (West Coast) had six. It appears that Right Coast rodders love their roadsters as much as anyone does. In the fendered-versus-fenderless group we had 16 sans fenders and, yes, the West Coast does appear to be highboy, or lowboy, heaven. Twenty-seven that were chosen would be termed fat-fendered rods and, you guessed it, Chevy was the engine of choice.

If you want specifics, here goes: at Del Mar ten Fords were selected; at Indy, seven Fords, two Chevys, and one Willys; at Columbus, seven Fords, one Chevy, and two Mopars; at Puyallup, seven Fords and three Chevys; at Pleasanton, eight Fords, one Mopar, and one Crosley; at Rhinebeck, eight Fords, one Chevy, and one Willys; and at Charlotte, six Fords, two Chevys, and two Willys. Safe to say, Ford is still the emblem of choice, while Chevy is holding its own and Willys and Mopar are hanging onto the edge. The "lunatic fringe" award this year goes to the Crosley--it takes a great deal of effort to make a Crosley stand heads-up with the rest!

Trucks, including woodies, were more popular than ever. Just think: 10 Top Ten winners were trucks from around the country, and four different staff members were involved in the selection! However, it's not the '47-54 Chevy/GMC truck that was the trend several years ago, but rather the Model A (mostly open), '33-34 closed cab, the woodie, and '37 or '40 pickup that showed up. The early models appeared to be built in the old-timey nostalgia style, while the later models were built with a more contemporary feel. It makes for good viewing--we like what's happening with trucks.

One of the top three picks in the truck category was the radically chopped (5 inches) and channeled (6 inches) '34 Ford closed-cab pickup of Southern California's Jimmy Shine. It had the "look" in its bare metal finish, '40 Ford dashboard, properly outfitted Merc Flathead, period wires, and wicked set of exhaust pipes. It's our belief that this truck could stand with the best in the rodding world without ever accepting a drop of paint. Jimmy captured his Top Ten while attending the Goodguys Del Mar event.

Another truck fave was the '37 Ford pickup owned by Jim Lambert of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. Complete with its "mile-deep" black paint, set of Torq Thrust II wheels, and Chevy LS1 for power it's a stunner. We saw this black beauty while covering the Goodguys Charlotte event and couldn't resist placing it into our final selection.

Up next in our trio tribute of trucks is the '37 Ford woodie of Dave and Kathy Geiger of Bristol, Indiana, who captured their Top Ten while attending Goodguys Indy. The Lobeck-built lumberyard was highlighted with a very appealing PPG Copper paint, Billet Specialties wheels, and Classic Instruments. Boy, does it sit low and right!

In the world of phantom rods this year's nod has to go to the Coast to Coast '39 Ford roadster, as four made the selection group. The "final four" were comprised of cars belonging to Jeff and Judy Osborn of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, who received the Top Ten at Indy for their lime-green ride; John and Pat Miller of Gahanna, Ohio, received the award at Columbus for their burnt-orange ride; Tom Simmons of Fallbrook, California, at Pleasanton, California, for his candy-flames-over-orange-paint ride; and Mark Wcislo of Westport, Connecticut, received the award at Rhinebeck for his House of Kolor Sunset Pearl ride.

One last mention on phantom rods: Wayne Leach of Penn Yen, New York, was on hand with his '30 Ford phantom phaeton at Columbus. Why a phantom? 'Cause it started life as a sedan. The workmanship was excellent, and tied with styling touches, such as the use of a '40 Ford dash, early chrome wires, Coker wide whites, you have an outstanding street rod.

What else? Probably the most unusual car to receive a Top Ten was the '48 Crosley of Bill Ross at Pleasanton. Outfitted in wild flames, a V-8-60 mill, white walls, and a Jayne Mansfield-inspired tribute to Von Dutch on the nose made it different.

Something from outside the mainstream of rodding is the, and we might add well-done, '36 Plymouth owned by Thomas Flurry of Mattituck, New York. The car is wrapped in a brilliant Candy Apple Red from House of Kolor over a 3-inch chopped top plus a combined 4 inches of sectioning and channeling. It sports a homemade grille, Billet Specialties wheels, and on and on.

Now for the fun part--which car is the SRM Street Rod of the Year for 2001? Well, it came down to three choices. One we already mentioned is the '34 Ford pickup of Shine's and two we haven't. The two remaining street rods come under the heading of "incredible." The all-black-and-chrome TrackStar coupe of Bobby and Cindy Alloway's from Louisville, Tennessee, takes a time-honored design and comes away with something fresh and fun-filled. Next up is Barry and Ginny Lobeck's black-with-red-grille-insert '32 Ford cabriolet of Cleveland, Ohio. Barry has done what Barry does best--make a Deuce look right. All three rods fulfill a major criteria--innovative.

In selecting the STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year there are a number of critical factors. The car must exhibit freshness and creativity in its style and quality of workmanship. This doesn't mean a checkbook car, but it does mean well-thought-out styling and well-executed engineering. The final criteria is one that will most likely cause a car to "stumble and stutter;" The car must have a great deal of "street" in it. Remember, we are STREET RODDER, the World's Street Rodding Authority, and we are looking for cars that perform on the street. We define "street" as a car that looks "gooood," is driveable, has relative passenger comfort, and is blessed with loads of overall performance (handling, acceleration, and braking). We don't get our boxers in a bunch over trailers. We can tell if a car is streetable and trailered versus trailered and not streetable.

It's with a great deal of confidence that we feel all of the cars that receive a Top Ten award are driveable, if not daily drivers. To be recognized as best of the best we are looking for that incomparable street rod that's a driver as well as something special.

The pickup of Shine's is a driver--he will drive it anytime, anywhere, and under all conditions. We believe Shine has more off-road miles on his hot rod than any in the country. (Remember the photos from El Mirage?) We also found Shine's workmanship first rate and filled with innovative ideas--a real breath of fresh air.

The TrackStar coupe of Alloway's can be driven, but even Bobby will admit that the super low stance does make for some tense moments. It's hard to beat the quality of workmanship on any Alloway car. Couple his attention for detail and ability to attain just the right stance (a trait all three cars share) with the trademark Alloway brute horsepower, and it makes his coupe a true hot rod.

Lobeck's cabriolet is a road warrior as well. We have watched him drive his hot rod from home to Charlotte and back, all points in between, regardless of the weather. Okay, no snow driving! Lobeck's treatment to the cabriolet by gently sloping the windshield posts and frame rearward give it a roadster appearance while at the same time keeping the cabriolet side glass. To this he introduced a roadster top--innovative and highly functional. By allowing the use of the more stylish roadster top, which enhances the look of the car, coupled with the inherent cabriolet features, this street rod is even more desirable as a driver. It combines the best of both worlds, the roadster's look and cabriolet comfort. Lots of street here!

What to do? It's was a great deal of anxiety, but the '32 Ford highboy cabriolet meets and exceeds all our criteria. The cabo is beautiful in its appearance; is infused with innovative treatments; and can be driven anytime, anywhere, with loads of performance. It can do it all and do it well. Congratulation's to Barry and Ginny Lobeck for receiving our 2001 Street Rod of the Year.