2015 AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER. A 1933 Ford Roadster owned by Larry Olson built by Bobby Alloway.
The Grand National Roadster Show opened Friday, January 23, 2015 and ran through Sunday, January 25 at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA. This year eighteen cars, up from the usual 10-12, vied to be America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR). 2015 AMBR winner Larry Olson’s name will be added to the base of this 9 foot tall trophy.
Below is a gallery of 12 of the contenders for AMBR and below that is a gallery of an additional 6 contenders.
Because of the greater than usual number of AMBR contenders, all of the cars could not be placed together. The cars in the gallery above were placed together in the center of the main building. Those below were in separate locations.
The theme of the 66th Grand National Roadster Show was the Great Gatsby. The car below, although not built in the 1920’s, is classy enough to be from the Great Gatsby era.
About 560 cars were on display in 6 of the Fairplex buildings and nearly 750 cars participated in the drive-ins on Saturday and Sunday. More than 250 vendors were on hand offering products and advice. As in past years the pinstriper auction was held and Friday, Saturday and Sunday and many pinstripers were kept busy striping panels, skateboards and other memorabilia which were auctioned off on each evening. The proceeds of the auction went to The Gavin R. Stevens Foundation to help find a cure for blindness. Last time more than $110,000 was raised for the Foundation and hopefully that amount will be topped this year.
This year is the 75th anniversary of the 1940 Ford – its art deco styling made it one of the most iconic hotrods ever. Some of the most exceptional ’40 Fords were on display including the ’40 coupe built by Bob McCoy in 1956. The car is now owned by Richard Munz. Also on display was a ’40 coupe owned by Rich Guasco. Like Guasco’s infamous AA Fuel Altered, his ’40 Ford is titled Pure Hell.
Bob McCoy’s former ’40
Rich Guacsco’s Pure Hell
The #992 American Eagle streamliner was on hand. Driven by Skip Hedrich, The American Eagle set the B/GS World Land Speed Record at 331.178 mph at Bonneville in 2009. This is one awesome streamliner.
There were a lot of customs including one outstanding ’59 Chevy El Camino. The bed cover for this El Camino was crafted from a trunk lid donated by a ’59 Impala sedan. Another fine custom was a 1949 Merc brought by Gary Chopit (Chopit was also the builder of one of the AMBR contenders).
Gary Chopit’s Merc
The Suede Palace was a great place to roam around.
And there were motorcycles too!
The drive-ins brought in a large number of cars which were parked throughout the Fairplex.
One person who has been involved with the Grand National Roadster Show and the car scene since he took home the AMBR award in 1955 is Blackie Gejeian. Blackie hosted his own popular indoor car show, the Fresno Autorama, for 51 years. Now he sponsors the Blackie Gejeian Award at the GNRS. This award is presented by Bones Noteboom of Bones Concept Cars.
Below are photos of some of the other cars at the GNRS.
After seeing all of the GNRS a handy bench was a welcome sight. This bench offered by Lockjaw Garage provided the perfect place to sit for awhile.
The Grand National Roadster Show is tentatively scheduled for January 29-31, 2016.
