For more than five decades, the country's best customizers have been meeting once a year in Detroit so they can see how everyone else had spent their winter months working on their cars. Originally organized by local car clubs as a way to finance a drag strip, it took a professional promoter, Don Ridler, to move the show in the late-'50s from just a gathering to a real production.
After his passing in 1963, the Don Ridler Memorial Award was created as a way to honor his vision of what car building and car shows could be. In the past few years, the award has become the "gold ring" for car customizers, and they come from all over the country (and a few from Canada, too) to see if they have what it takes to win.
Any type of car can win the award (everything from a Mercedes SEC to a '49 Chevy custom has), but the build quality and execution of design has to be the best. This year, after working with Chip Foose's design team for several years, Ken Reister's Impression '36 roadster left an impression on the judges, as he won the Ridler for his ride, which reportedly had 4,000 hand-crafted parts involved in the build.
The Autorama has always done a good job of providing spectators the appropriate amount of "razzle-dazzle" to accompany the 600-or-so cars on display, but this year the building's downstairs was opened up to welcome dozens of more cars, many of which were of the "suede persuasion"-where rust and gloss don't matter. The grouping was wildly popular with the crowd, a sure sign that they'll do it again next year.
And for 53 years, that's exactly what they've been doing in Detroit-giving the people a chance to see what's new, crazy, and interesting in the world of custom cars. See more on all of the 23 World of Wheels and AutoRama shows held around the country at www.autorama.com.