With the recent gain in poker's popularity in our everyday lives (poker tournaments are seemingly run round-the-clock on cable TV), it's no wonder the phenomenon has spread to the indoor car circuit.
Rick Perry, promoter of the San Francisco show (an area once crowded with indoor car shows, but now only Perry's show remains), recently raised the ante in the car show game by offering two different amounts of cash to the owner of a show-winning car.
Covering his bases by awarding a top D'Elegance prize to each of the winners in three different categories (Rod, Custom, and Motorcycle), Perry has been assured that the best vehicles in the country in those divisions will compete.
However, just to push the stakes a little higher, Perry implemented a new payout structure this year. If you won your division with the D'Elegance Most Elegant Rod award, then you received $2,000 plus other prizes. But if the San Francisco event was the vehicle's debut, making it first-time-shown, then you'd get a bonus of $5,000. If you wanted to hedge your bets, you could still be eligible to win one of dozens of other awards, or at the very least just show up and have a good time!
The San Francisco Bay Area has always been a hotbed of rodding activity (the first indoor car show for customized vehicles was held there in 1949), so you know the cars chosen from hundreds of applicants would be a sight to see, but indoor shows also bring a little showbiz razzle-dazzle to the table.
Featured attractions, whether they are cars or TV stars, have always factored into the indoor car show scene. This year, stars of the big and little screen were in attendance, signing autographs and talking it up with the gathered crowd. Chip Foose, star of TV's Overhaulin', drew cars for everyone in line. Much of the original American Graffiti movie cast (including Cindy Williams) signed autographs and talked about the film that made such a huge impact on American culture.
But the event wouldn't be a happenin' place to be if it weren't for the 500-plus vehicles that fill the huge (300,000 square feet of display space) Cow Palace facility. Nearly every style of car is featured, and even the suede (or rat rod) crowd got their space as dozens of the long and lowered took up residence in some of the outside buildings. It's a different way of seeing things when you're out in those buildings, and that's just the way those folks like it!
Upstairs in the main arena, though, every shade of color could be seen as entrants competed for the top prizes (more than $65,000 in cash and awards were given out). When it was all said and done, Dick Long from Napa, California, went home with the D'Elegance Most Elegant Rod award for his '37 Ford cabriolet (built by the young Zane Cullen), while a '50 Ford convertible owned by Steve Frediani of Claremont, California, was given the D'Elegance Most Elegant Custom award.
Indoor car shows have always been a great place for builders to get ideas for future projects, even if it's for the paint schemes alone. You can walk the aisles and look at the faces of those who are off in some other world while they take in what they're seeing. You can almost hear the, "If I had a little bit of money, I'd sure like to have that one, but I'd change only one thing..." After all, everybody likes nice cars. And as for inexpensive family entertainment, this type of event can't be beat. And over the years, the San Francisco Rod, Custom, and Motorcycle Show has always been a safe bet when it comes to giving people-both the public and entrants-exactly what they want from a car show.
San Francisco Showstopper
Sometimes when you attend an indoor car show, you'll find a unique car that grabs your attention and deserves a second (and sometimes third) look. Such is the case with Eric Lewis' car, a study in design done the Army way. You might think Lewis is ex-Armed Forces, but that's not true. He and his buddies were sitting around trying to come up with a theme for his ride, a '23 T-bucket. Once the thought, "How 'bout a bomb for a gas tank?" was put on the table, Eric ran with the idea and the Army-inspired ideas flowed from that point on. The idea was to try to finish the car for about $2,000, and he figures he might have $2,200 into it, owing much of the low cost to swap-meet parts and hand-fabricating others. Lewis runs a body repair and paint shop in Vallejo, California, and you can see some of his other work at www.hotrodsbylew.com.