Autorama Is Medicine For A Gearhead’s Soul

Winter up North is tough for us gearheads. The days get shorter. Our roads get slathered in metal-destroying salt so everyone keeps their prized cars inside. Wrenching in below freezing weather is left to the truly desperate or masochistic, or those lucky enough to have a heated garage. People forget how to drive when the snow falls so routine trips become treacherous. With the Detroit Auto Show now basically a lineup of SUVs you can see at your local dealership, it seems all hope is lost until spring. That is until Autorama graces your fair city.

Autorama hits 13 cities in the US and Canada over the winter, and is like a healing salve for a gearhead’s soul. The show has been around for 72 years, and is a big deal in the hot rod world. Every year the best car builders pull out all the stops to create a car worthy of the coveted Ridler Award. I’ll let past-Steve explain some of the history in my report from last year.

The show was started in Detroit in 1953, over 70 years ago. The newly-created Michigan Hot Rod Association held a small show of about 40 cars in the University of Detroit memorial building. After a few years, local promoter Don Ridler was hired on to help, which he did for a few years until his death in 1963. The coveted “Ridler Award” was started in his honor — it’s a hallowed prize dreamed about by the biggest names in auto customization all around the globe.

While pre-70’s American hot-rod style cars are the show’s raison d’etre, you can find something for everyone at Autorama. The contrasts are what make it fun. One section will have race cars purpose-built for speed, while another will have wildly impractical kustom cars built solely for artistic expression. Million dollar builds where every square millimeter is so clean you could eat food off it share floor space with rusty creations slapped together in someone’s barn. It is epic.

When you first hit the show floor, you see cars like this — the main contenders for the Ridler where every panel has been massaged and sculpted. The paint and bodywork is the best money can buy. If twin turbos or a supercharger can be squeezed into the engine bay, it will. The tires look like they’ve never seen asphalt. I have mixed feelings about some of these cars, but the craftsmanship is undeniable. This is the best car builders in the world bringing their A-game.

Beyond these fever dreams are vehicles that are a little bit more down to earth, but still stunning. Different car clubs will have space on the floor, some sections will be themed. Local racetracks will have a rectangle with different track rat cars. Here are a few more nicely done cars that are a good mix of show and go.

Foxbody Mustangs have become ubiquitous as you can see. Other “Rad” 80’s cars are filling up the floor at Autorama as they can’t survive solely off boomer nostalgia. Want another sign that time waits for no one? There were several SN95 Mustangs there. It won’t be long before they become as popular as the Foxbody and classic Stangs. Maybe I should buy a few before prices skyrocket.

Speaking of Mustangs, we have that multi-generation mashup above. There are a lot of chimeras like this out there; grafting old styling onto a new body. They usually look terrible, but this one isn’t too bad.

They had a whole section that looked like space age concept cars from the 50’s and 60’s. The colors on these beauties are top notch.

There was a section of low-riders, or “jumping cars” as my three-year old likes to call them. This is the first time I’ve seen a station wagon modified this way, I dig it. Next to that was a crowd of low-rider bikes.

While we are looking at malaise vehicles, I’ve never seen a fourth generation Dodge Charger given this much love and polish. It is heartwarming to see. You never know what’s around the corner at Autorama.

There were a few German cars there, mostly Volkswagens. This Karmann Ghia was pretty in its satin purple paint job. The orange creamsicle Beetle had a matching bike, trailer, boat, skis, and a mini power-wheels under the hood. Throw in a helicopter in and you could go anywhere in style. There were a handful of VW busses and dune buggies as well.

Other foreign makes were thin on the ground compared to the Germans. I know this is a Detroit Hot Rod show but I’m sure they could find more cars from across the pond that fit with the theme. That Renault Twingo apparently has a record on the Nurburgring.

It wasn’t just cars, there were lots of trucks too. From classic, low, and shiny to monster trucks and military style vehicles.

There was a significant section devoted to vendors selling toy and model cars. There were hundreds of thousands to choose from. Somehow we made it out with only four; three for my kid and one for myself. It took considerable restraint not to load up and blow a stupid amount of money.

Downstairs things were brought back down to earth, sometimes literally. These were the more attainable, home built, rat-rod style vehicles; usually slammed. There was live music, drinks, and a few pin-ups walking around. There were also tons of booths for automotive artists, whether they worked with a pen, brush or welder. I’ve bought some cool prints here in the past to hang in my office.

Yes that is a dual-motorcycle powered chariot above, like a cross between Cinderella and Rob Zombie.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of the Detroit Autorama. There were thousands of incredible vehicles there, this was only a small fraction. Although this is squarely an older person’s show, there were tons of kids and “youths” running around admiring these beautiful machines. It will be interesting to see how Autorama changes with the times. If those SN95 Mustangs are any indication, we may see some heavily customized 90’s or 2000’s cars win the Riddler in the future. Who knows?

If you are lucky enough to have Autorama roll through your town, definitely check it out. It’s well worth it.