When trying to make a good thing better the obvious approach is to add more of whatever made it popular in the first place. When it came to improving the Grand National Roadster Show, promoter John Buck did just that by adding more cars to look at with the Grand Daddy Drive-In.

One of the unique features of the Grand National Roadster Show is the layout of the event. Each year effort is put forth to assemble a grouping of vehicles contained within Building 9 to represent a particular historical theme. This year, the 80th anniversary of the ’32 Ford; the iconic design in the world of hot rodding.

For the Top 100 program, STREET RODDER attends 10 particular car shows each year and picks 10 vehicles at each to make up the Street Rodder Top 100. For more on where those shows are and how they’re voted on, check www.streetrodder.com.

Quite possibly the most well-known accolade in hot rodding—the Amercia’s Most Beautiful Roadster award—originally came into being as a publicity stunt. When Al and Mary Slonaker were busy organizing the first National Roadster Show (later to be called the Grand National Roadster Show) for 1950, Al came up with the idea of having a magnificent trophy to really impress people and call attention to the show—and it worked.

A few spectators, upon entering the Grand National Roadster Show’s Suede Palace, expressed surprise at the fact that most of the rides inside weren’t finished in flat paint. The Suede Palace is dedicated to cars and trucks built in traditional style on a (relatively) low budget. “Suede” paint is not required.

The longest running indoor custom car show in the world, the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS), recently completed its 63rd annual installment and was held at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, California.

Well, they've gone and done it again, the good people at Coker Tire and Honest Charley put on another great cruise-in Saturday April 21st. When you manufacture tires for virtually every collector car, hot rod, muscle car, antique or early motorcycle you obviously embrace all things automotive. This was reflected in the wide range of cars in attendance, everything from Great Race cars to hot rods, muscle cars, VW's and even the Porsche club rolled in to enjoy live music, good food, and a great tour of the Coker building and associated museum. While the weatherman was calling for bad weather the rain never arrived, but several hundred cool cars did, and it was an all-around great day. The plan is to have a cruise-in twice a year, and with restaurants within walking distance and there is plenty of ways to occupy your afternoon. We'll update you on the fall dates when we have them, or just check in at www.cokertire.com for all the news, they also have an Honest Charley and Coker Tire e-newsletter you can subscribe to while you're there. For now, check out some photos of the Coker Tire/Honest Charley Spring Cruise-in.

If you live on the East Coast, nothing gets your adrenalin flowing better than knowing the long cold winter is finally past. It's a time when you can open up the shop doors, fire up your hot rod or custom, and get ready for that first blast down the boulevard. With the 38th Boston World of Wheels rolling into town to officially welcome springtime, it was perfect time to blow the cobwebs off your ride and head out to the Seaport World Trade Center (formerly known as the Commonwealth Pier Exhibition Hall) to not only enjoy the great weather, but to check out close to 200 of the area's hottest rods, customs, and motorcycles you could imagine. Upon entering the hall a dazzling array of horsepower-fueled excitement unfolded before you with countless cars displayed, many waiting to be judged for the Pilgrim Award for the first time being shown in Boston. As you wove your way though the aisles, it was a great time to catch up with old friends, stop for some of the tastiest treats in town, and dig the latest cutting edge products being offered by the GM Performance Division and many other neat vendors. There were plenty of new rides making their debut's including Rich Boriello's traditional '41 Ford pickup, and David and Nancy Tocci's elegant '33 Ford Speedstar coupe and Dave Donoian's seductive '35 Ford cabriolet, to name but a few. The Drag City USA exhibition was packed with fuel-burning race cars while other exhibits included Dean Jefferies' Mantaray, the bubble-topped Roswell Rod, and the BASF '57 Mercedes Gullwing designed and customized by Chip Foose. A major focal point at any World of Wheels event are the appearance of numerous celebrities and this year you had a chance to meet TV's Billy "the Exterminator" Bretherton, Disney's Debby Ryan and Stefanie Scott, and New England Patriot's player Patrick Chung. This is one event you can't afford to miss. You can check it all out at www.autorama.com

Southern California hot rodders are raised to believe that we live in the center of the hot rodding universe, where trends are born and where all the finest cars can be found. That’s actually in our school textbooks. So naturally, we feel a little confused when we drive across the desert to Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Goodguys Spring Nationals (in March) or the Goodguys Southwest Nationals (in November) and find ourselves surrounded by thousands of exceptional rods, customs, classic trucks, and muscle cars that aren’t from California! We’re getting used to it though.

The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association has had a long history with Indianapolis, starting in 1989 when they held their first event at the Indianapolis Raceway Park—an event that lasted 21 years at that location. But with weather and other problems seemingly always plaguing the show, Goodguys created a new show to be held in September (when the weather was better) and at a location that hot rodders would naturally want to go and see: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

If someone wanted you to come up with a formula to create a perfect car show, what would it be? Thousands of the best cars from the surrounding seven-state area? Timed autocross racing to test the driving skills of your average hot rodder? A swap meet that offers great items at good prices? An area set aside for displays for hundreds of manufacturers of parts and services you’re interested in? Well, lucky for us, Goodguys perfected that formula years ago and has implemented it for nearly two decades in Charlotte, North Carolina.

There’s nothing better than filling up your fuel tank and hitting the road on your way to a national event. It’s as much about the time getting there as the time spent at the event that creates a level of excitement that continually builds throughout the weekend.

The 2012 Detroit Autorama Don Ridler Memorial Award Winner
Dwayne Peace of Tyler, Texas takes home the coveted Ridler award for his '55 T-bird.

If you're lucky enough to live in the sun-belt, you can enjoy driving your hot rod or custom throughout the year. In the Northeast, the winter means you'll have plenty of time in the shop to work on your ride. However, once the winter sets in full force it's a real treat to get out and experience the occasional get together at a friends garage or a builders open house. There are some events that over time have achieved a cult status so vast that attendees fly in from around the U.S., and even England, to attend. Regardless how nasty the weather can be, rodders flock to the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop in the tiny town of Greenfield Center, New York, each February to catch up with old friends, make new ones, and check out everything wicked the Bones team has been working on since their last visit. Entering the shop you are immediately transported back in time, where traditional post-war designed hot rods come together and catch their first breath. This year there were well over 200 visitors who braved the icy cold to hang out with two of the coolest hosts in town, Ken Schmidt and Keith Cornell of Rolling Bones. Once you got settled in it was time to hit the overflowing food table, grab your favorite beverage, and check out the latest rides taking form in the shop. Jeff Eber's fresh Brookville-bodied Deuce roadster equipped with a Jim Fleming built 276ci Flathead was just pure evil while a pair of Deuce coupes well under way illustrated perfectly what it takes to infuse plenty of vintage heritage and style. With a very deep commitment to racing at Bonneville, visitors were also able to check out Cornell's '32 Ford coupe which blazed across the salt last year at 175mph. The coupe is now undergoing revisions to tackle 200mph plus this year. Also in the construction phase was the team's latest endeavor, a '29 Ford modified roadster being prepared for competition this year. There was plenty of new Rolling Bones gear available to hop-up your wardrobe as well as a neat little art gallery set up in the spray booth featuring some of the coolest prints and goodies from our old pal Jeff Norwell. If you've never attended Rolling Bones Garage Night, be sure to mark your calendars for next year. You can dig it all at www.rollingboneshotrodshop.com.

I should get excited when I’m paid to go to car shows but I admit I wasn’t exactly gleeful when I heard I was to cover Goodguys Great Northwest Nationals in Spokane. On one hand it was a blessing; I have lots of pals in Spokane and every year I use the show as a good reason to visit them. And to be fair the event is pretty good: it attracts a number of feature-worthy cars. But would it attract enough cars to warrant full-blown coverage, much less a Painless Performance Products/Street Rodder Top 100 selection?

A lot went on at this year’s Shades of the Past Street Rod Association’s Hot Rod Roundup No. 29 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, now held at Dollywood’s Splash Country Water Adventure Park. But, before we get into this year’s goings-on how about a little background on why this event is rapidly becoming one of the country’s premier rodding events?

For the past few years, the NSRA has highlighted some of the best hot rod builders in the country by organizing a group of them to showcase their latest rides in the foyer of the main hall that houses the hundreds of manufacturers attending the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville. There were 25 builders featured this year, but we only have space for a few. Here are some of the best:

Louisville Nats

The big story at the swap meet this year was not to be found in parts, rather the real deals were on cars. From barn finds to finished cars, the prices were right. Reports from the swap meet vendors were all the same, “The parts are selling but complete cars are barely being looked at.”

Unlikely Candidates

The 38th Annual Daytona Beach Turkey Run is history, and history was made. Car count was up from last year by over 300 cars topping out at 4,845, the 3,000 assigned swap meet/vendor spaces were all taken, and additional swap meet spaces were set up in the over flow area, and the over 1,500 spaces car corral was full. The weather was picture perfect for four days making the Florida Thanksgiving weekend perfect for the many visitors from the chilly North. Add 125,000 spectators and this year's Turkey Run broke all records.

For rodders, there’s nothing like setting course through the picturesque winding country roads leading to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, New York, to take in the Goodguys East Coast Nationals. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, it’s an event that showcases not only the finest in rods and customs the East has to offer, but also its culture and history. When you finally motor into town you’ll immediately note the classic architecture that frames the quaint little town of Rhinebeck. Loaded with historical sites, it’s a place where time seems to stand still, making it a refreshing change of pace from the everyday rat race. Even before making your way to the event there are countless points of interest that you should be sure to check out, including the vast collection of vintage aircraft from the Pioneer, World War I, and the Lindbergh/Barnstorming eras at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. Weather permitting, you might even have a chance at taking a Barnstorming flight in a ’29 New Standard D-25 open-cockpit biplane over the scenic Hudson River.

It was a pretty good idea Goodguys had a few years back when they were trying to decide where they should hold their big national event. They had 18 or so regional events, but no spot to set up shop and hold an end-all, stand-alone Nationals.

Our hot rod heritage is a rich one, and after many years of attending rod runs that frankly suffer from a certain sameness, we look forward to the annual trek to the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Holley is the major event sponsor, which seems only natural since Beech Bend Raceway is literally in their backyard.