America’s Most Beautiful Roadster – Timing Tower

THE 72nd GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW, Jan.28-30, 2022, Fairplex at Pomona — SUNDAY NIGHT – JUST IN – AMBR AND SLONAKER WINNERS

admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 23:20:36 +0000

Suppose you dropped a book but when you picked it up it fell open to your place. The Grand National Roadster Show did just that by coming back to normal after losing a year to the lockdown. The buildings at the Fairplex this year were again filled with cars, vendors and spectators as they were in 2020. The 72nd show, January 28-30 featured 11 contenders for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and 12 contenders for the Slonaker Award. The Grand Daddy Cruise-in was expanded to three days and a large gathering of ’32 Fords was held outside to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the popular hot rod. Look below in the Friday posting for the contenders and winners of the AMBR and Slonaker awards. Also below are photos from the gathering of the ’32 Fords. Again, one entire building was devoted to a feature vehicle, this time “A gathering of Hot VW’s” and there were a lot of amazing VW’s. Below is the BIGGEST VW we’ve ever seen. The guy standing next to it for scale is about 6′. But the license plate says it all “HUGE BUG”. This Bug bus went the other way – it started as a 23 window VW bus and it’s been shortened There were a lot of amazing VW’s on display. There were a lot of nice cars at the drive-in . One interesting car at the drive-in was a tribute to the Paradise Fire. The top photo shows a 1973 VW Thing sitting abandoned after the Paradise Fire. The car was burned November 8, 2018. Jon Winters got a hold the burned out Thing and rebuilt the running gear, electric, etc. The Thing now sits on a fully restored Ghia chassis. The exterior of the car was straightened a bit and sprayed with a clear coat. The car is now driveable and makes the rounds. The rectangular hunk of metal sitting on the folded down window is the original license plate – post fire. Another popular stop was the Suede Palace. This building houses customs and rat rods. SUNDAY; posted last day of show 2022 AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER – JEFF BREAULT’S 1934 CHEVROLET ROADSTER Congratulations to Jeff Breault and the team at Devlin Rod & Customs on winning America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. Pat Gauntt’s 1932 Ford Coupe is the Al Slonaker Memorial Award winner. Hollywood Hot Rods is the builder. All the contenders for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and the Slonaker Award can be seen below. As always the competition is fierce for these awards. The culmination of the Grand National Roadster Show is the presentation of the awards and selection of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster, but the rest of the week-end had plenty to offer. As shown below, this year marks the 90th anniversary of the 1932 Ford – the Deuce – and the Grand National Roadster Show held a gathering. FRIDAY; posted first day of show The 72nd Grand National Roadster Show roared back to life after it’s forced shut-down in 2021. When the show opened Friday morning the buildings were full of cars and vendors and by noon it was obvious that even a virus can’t dampen the spirit of car enthusiasts. There are 11 cars contending for the coveted title of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and, as always, the winner is not obvious because each roadster is spectacular. Below are the contenders. This 1932 Ford roadster belongs to Henry Verbeck of The Villages, Florida. This 1929 Dodge roadster came from Surrey, BC Canada and is owned by Ewald Penner. Joe Dooling brought this 1932 Ford roadster from Freeport, Texas. This 1927 Ford roadster is owned by Edward McSweeney of Newhall, California. Joe Faso of Stockton, California owns this 1935 Ford roadster. John Mumford of Portola Valley, California owns this 1933 Ford roadster. This 1928 Model A Ford roadster is owned by Ryan Root of Wyandotte, Michigan. A 1932 Ford roadster from Wellington, Texas owned by Robert Owens, Jr. Kevin Williams from Long Beach, California owns this 1932 Ford roadster. This 1934 Edsel 40 Speedster roadster is owned by Bruce Wanta of Bellevue, Washington. This 1934 Chevrolet roadster came from Wichita, Kansas with Jeff Breault. The announcement of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) occurs Sunday night. The AMBR award is open for all United States built roadsters, roadster pick-ups and touring vehicles 1937 and older. The winner’s name is added to the perpetual 9 foot trophy. The above ’32 Ford roadster was the 2020 AMBR winner and is owned by Monte Belsham of Houston, BC. Above is the newly restored 1953 AMBR winner originally owned by Dick Willams. The Al Slonaker Memorial Award is given each year in addition to the AMBR award. This year, twelve hot rods, trucks, customs, street machines and VW’s are competing for the Slonaker Award. This award is given in memory of Al Slonaker the founder of the Grand National Roadster Show. Below are the Slonaker Award contenders. This 1936 Ford Cabriolet is owned by Tim Frey of Lodi, California. This 1932 Ford Coupe came from Nipomo, California with Jim Forteiny. A 1961 Chevrolet Impala from Marietta, Georgia and is owned by Dan Duffy. This 1969 Chevrolet Camaro is owned by Jesse Lindberg of Anderson, California. This 1956 Chevrolet truck is owned by Ken Fontes from Arroyo Grande, California. This 1932 Ford 3 Window Coupe came from Lafayette, Louisiana and is owned by Sonny Freeman. This 1955 Volkswagen convertible is owned by Art Shapiro of Claremont, California. This 1958 Chevrolet Corvette is owned by John Bollier of Molalla, Oregon. A 1940 Chevrolet Suburban owned by Amadeo Angelo of Gold Creek, Montana. This 1952 Volkswagen sedan is owned by Gary Stell, Jr. of Corona, Calfiornia. A 1932 […]

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70TH GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW, POMONA, CA – JAN. 25-27, 2019

admin — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 06:16:32 +0000

THIS 1936 FORD IS AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER 2019 – CONGRATULATIONS TO OWNER GEORGE POTEET AND BUILDER PINKEES ROD SHOP. This year 14 cars entered the contest seeking to take home the title of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR). This 1929 Ford Roadster took home the AMBR trophy at the first ever Grand National Roadster Show in 1950. Since 1950 there have been 68 additional AMBR winners. Seven of those 68 former winners were on display this week-end. This year the show featured the Ford Model A to celebrate its 90th anniversary. There were 109 Model A’s showing off in the feature building. Below are just a few, including Jack Chrisman’s 1929 Model A Sedan with it’s beautifully restored Von Dutch-striped radiator shell insert. This car was a competitive drag racer in the mid-fifties and is currently owned by Jack’s daughter, Lana Chrisman. There were some really innovative buses at the show this year. The bus in the photo just below is reminiscent of the dome car on passenger railway cars. This Volkswagen bus was manufactured in 1957 and sectioned in 1959. The Suede Palace always offers some unique cars. This year the charity of choice was Drive Toward a Cure which supports and raises awareness for Parkinson’s Disease. The proceeds from the pinstriper’s auction were donated to this charity. There were many pinstripers on hand creating some unique art to be auctioned off including one self-portrait. The original Mustang driven by Steve McQueen in the movie Bullitt was on display. A BRM Chronograpahes timepiece was hand painted by Nicolas Hunziker and a paint fragment from the Bullitt Mustang was included in the watch. Raffle tickets for this watch were sold and the winning ticket was drawn Sunday. The proceeds from the raffle will go to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation which supports finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Although there were not as many motorcycles this year as in the past, the ones that were on display were nice. Below are some of the great cars in various buildings throughout the show: There were also cars outside: The 1932 coupe below was made into a hot rod many decades ago and was found in a bricked-up garage in Southern California in it’s original state. The license plate is from 1956. This car is featured in the January 2019 issue of Hot Rod Magazine. As always the Grand National Roadster Show is one of the best.

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65th ANNUAL GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW

admin — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 07:33:19 +0000

The 65th Grand National Roadster Show kicked off on Friday January 24, 2014 at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA and ended on January 26, 2014. SUNDAY – AND THE WINNERS ARE ….. AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER 2014 OWNED BY WES RYDELL AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL MOTORCYCLE 2014 OWNED BY FABIAN BECASSE Being in competition for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) means climbing to the top ranks of car building. This year the students of the Roseville High School Auto Shop, Roseville, Michigan built a 1931 Ford roadster pickup that sat proudly on the floor with the other AMBR contenders at the Grand National Roadster Show. This AMBR contender was built entirely by the students in Paul Tregembo’s auto shop class at Roseville High School. These kids didn’t take home the AMBR award but they did collect the Rising Star award. Photos of all of the AMBR contenders can be seen below in our FRIDAY reporting section. The theme of this year’s GNRS was Century of Speed and one entire building was devoted to Bonneville cars. On display was the Blitzen Benz which set a land speed record of 142.8 mph in 1914. Many other notable cars were also on display such as: the Kugel & LeFevers 1992 Pontiac Trans Am which in 1999 was the first passenger car to exceed 300 mph with a speed of 307.468 and a round trip speed of 300.788; Al Lamb’s 2012 Honda Motorcycle at 262.4 was the fastest sit on motorcycle; and, the fastest motorcycle on earth ridden by Chris Carr at 367.382 mph. There were also some long-time Bonneville cars such as: Vesco Racing’s Little Giant 444 built by John Vesco in 1957 which is the holder of four current land speed records; the Paramount Forge, built by the Fergurson family, set 16 Bonneville records and 7 LaMirage records, 10 drivers joined the 200 mph club in this car and 2 went into the 300 mph Club at Bonneville with 6 drivers joining the 200 mph Club at El Mirage; the Daytona Charger, owned and driven by Lee Sicillio, has raced at Speed Week continuously since 1999 and has broken 11 land speed records. There were also some iconic cars such as: Golden Rod built in 1952 by Tommy Thompson; and the Pierson Bros. 2D coupe now owned by Bruce Meyer. The book “Bonneville a Century of Speed” was being sold as a fundraiser for Save the Salt and raised $40,000. Also this year was a separate Gasser exhibit which occupied its own building. Stan Johnson’s slingshot dragster Silver Bullet, took home the Best Slingshot award. Representative of the modern Gasser movement is Stan Chersky’s ’55 Chevy Quicksilver, Joe Hickenbottom’s ’41 Willys pickup Blue Thunder, and Glen Krapff’s ’40 Ford Coupe, Flip Front Forty. Also on hand was the Copperhead a 364” Nailhead Buick dragster owned by Bob DeBurn. In the past couple of years, the Famoso Speed Shop dragster, a 1965 competition coupe owned by Randy Winkle, Roy Pool’s 1965 D/Gas Mercury Comet, and Don Lindfors’ Blair Speed Shop ’48 Anglia have raced on the drag strip at Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield. One feature of the GNRS is the pinstriper’s charity auction. Every day several pinstripers pick up their brushes to stripe everything from panels to chairs to helmets which are then auctioned off. The proceeds of this year’s auction will go to the Ronald McDonald House. A whopping $38,198 was raised. Like Saturday, Sunday included a drive-in during which cars of all kinds drove in for the day and parked in the alleys and streets around the buildings. The awards ceremony was held at the end of the day on Sunday. Participants and class winners were awarded trophies and several special awards were given out by notables such as Penny Pichette, Roy Brizio, Blackie Gejeian and George Barris. The Von Dutch Pinstriping award was given out by Herb “The line Dr.” Martinez. Von Dutch was a famous and infamous pinstripper in the 1950’s. This award was originated by St. John Morton in 1994. The trophy is a copy of Von Dutch’s paint box. This year the winner was Willis Dormer. The Al Slonaker Memorial, the ABMB and the AMBR awards were given out last to close the show. Next year the 66th Annual Grand National Roadster Show will be held January 23-25 2015. You can see more photos from the event on our SmugMug site at timingtower.smugmug.com Saturday Not only will the AMBR (America’s Most Beautiful Roadster) award given away this week-end but the AMBM (America’s Most Beautiful Motorcycle) award as well. Below is a look at the contenders. Lee Smith from Roswell, GA put a big smile on a lot of faces when he put every kid around on his AMBM contender. Today the drive-in started and a lot of nice cars were lining the alleyways between the buildings. The Suede Palace held a lot of nice cars and it was easy to spend a lot of time in this building.. Tomorrow is the last day of the GNRS. We will have a more coverage including the winners of the AMBR and the AMBM. Friday Below are photos of the 11 cars competing to be America’s Most Beautiful Roadster for 2014. Which one will become America’s Most Beautiful Roadster? The Show will continue through Sunday. This year the theme is Quest for Speed and the Century of Speed exhibit features many streamliners and other salt flat racers. Saturday and Sunday will include an outside drive-in where hot rods, customs, classics, etc. will be on display in the areas between the buildings. Keep checking timingtower.com. We’ll continue to post with a final article and photos posted by Monday evening.

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