Grand National Roadster Show

Last weekend I took the Tsukagawa Deuce to the Grand National Roadster show in Pomona. This show has been going on for 60 years and is an amazing display of hot rods of all kinds. There are 12 building full of cars and vendors displays plus another 500 plus cars displayed outside between the buldings in what they call the drive in cruise. I was part of a special display honoring the 80th anniversary of the '32 Ford.

There was way too much to see, but here's a few highlights!

This hand made Indy style roadster won the top award. It was simply beautiful.

Here's another view of this year's AMBR winner. I don't want to sound elitist but I first saw this car in bare metal in 2009 and I think it looked better then. The body is hand made from aluminum sheet.

This 32 Roadster is channeled, which means the body had the floor removed and raised so the car sits lower to the ground. A lot of work and this one was flawless. I really liked the color combination as well.

There were several '34 Roadsters in the big room, they were all built from the new steel reproduction body that came out a few years back. This one was just perfect.

Just look at that profile! Another great color choice as well.

This '34 3 window coupe was all black and flawless. Black is by far the most difficult color to get perfect but this coupe hits the mark. Just look at the reflections!

It was powered by an Oldsmobile Rocket V8 with three twos. The work is simply perfect.

I am a little biased here, but I really liked the look of this '54 Studebaker. This one is still under construction hence the bare metal and coppered trim. I really liked the oversized Indy style Halibrands wheels, that's more money in wheels than my whole Studebaker has in it! Careful viewers will note my friend Willie making faces in the background...

This 1928 Chevrolet roadster is an old prewar dry lakes car that was brought back to life. Check out that track nose, just bitchin'. Somebody made that thing by hand from aluminum sheet. It's like magic to me.

Here's the car from the backside, you can see how it's been modified to a center steer one man car configuration.

Remember this guy?

It was great to see this old friend out and about, having fun in the sun.

My friend Tom Branch found this old hot rod on Craigslist! It is the real deal, a hot rod built in the 1950's and parked in 1959.

Tom installed new tires, gave it a basic tune up, put in a new battery,  did the brakes and cleaned out the gas tank. He had to install some tail lights to make it street legal, but other than that it fired up and drove great. He drove it the 15 or so miles to the show!

This is exactly how they did it in the 1950's. Pretty crude but it all worked.

At the other end of the spectrum is this coach built 1936 Ford roadster. This car is entirely handbuilt and is a marvel of craftsmanship. The car has gullwing doors and is powered by an early Ford Y block V8 with two Paxton superchargers.

They parked me with 80 other 1932 Fords. I was looking good in the Tsukagawa Deuce and the car drew a lot of interest!