The 75th Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) opened on Friday January 31, 2025 at the Fairplex in Pomona and ran through Sunday night February 2, 2025.
AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER
The winner of the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster 2025 is this 1936 Ford Roadster owned by Ross Myers.
THE AL SLONAKER MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER
This 1933 Pontiac sedan is the winner of the Al Slonaker Memorial Award and is owned by Bill Barbato.
This was the 75th Anniversary of the Grand National Roadster Show.
In addition to the 11 AMBR contenders and 11 Slonaker contenders there were about 650 cars in 9 buildings and over the three days of the Drive-In there were a total of 1,000 cars parked outside around the buildings. Below are some of the great cars parked outside at the show.
This young car lover is Kent. He found a very nice 1956 Chevrolet to admire.
Since this was the 75th anniversary of the Grand National Roadster Show, one building was devoted to former America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winners and former winners of the Al Slonaker Memorial winners.
FORMER AMBR WINNERS:
Bill Neikamp’s 1929 Ford Roadster was the first AMBR winner named at the show held January 19-20, 1950 in the Oakland Exposition Building. The current owner is the Petersen Automotive Museum.
The pair of 1927 Roadsters shown below have a story. The yellow roadster “Shishkabob” and the black roadster “Inky Black” tied for the AMBR title in 1955. Shishkabob was owned by Ray Anderegg and Inky Black was owned by Blackie Gejeian. This was the only tie in the AMBR history. Inky Black is still owned by the Gejeian family. Over the years Shishkabob had been modified until it was unrecognizable. Luis Anderegg, Ray’s nephew, set out to reproduce Shiskhabob and was advised by his uncle. Unfornaturely, Ray passed away before the build was complete and Ray finished it on his own. Shishkabob proudly sits in the show honorably taking the place of the original winner.
“Ala Kart” a 1929 Ford Roadster Pickup, shown below, is an iconic show car. It was built by George Barris for Richard Peters and won the AMBR trophy in 1958 and 1959. It has won more than 200 trophies, has had numerous appearances in movies and been featured in dozens of magazine articles. It was reproduced as a 1/25 scale model kit by AMT in 1961 and became one of the best selling kits in history. It was also released as a Hot Wheels car. Ala Kart is now part of the Petersen Automotive Museum’s collection.
FORMER AL SLONAKER MEMORIAL AWARD WINNERS:
This 1961 Corvette Roadster was the Slonaker Award winner in 2003. The original and current owner is Rich Stadelhofer.
Building 9 also had a collection of George Barris built cars. One of his more notable was the Dragula Coffin dragster.
The ever popular Suede Palace had many great cars on display.
This year the pinestripers auction gathered nearly 50 pinstripers together to create some anazing works which were auctioned off during the show with the proceeds going to benefit the GRS Foundation for childhood blindness.
The Grand National Roadster Show of 2025 was another great event. We are looking forward to next year.
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This year there are 11 contenders for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR)- all of them Fords and all of them worthy of being the winner.
1932 Ford Roadster – owner John Mumford
1936 Ford Pheaton – owner Mike Curtis
1932 Ford Roadster – owner Scott Lorenzini
1932 Ford Roadster – owner Tony Jurardo
1936 Ford Roadster – Owner Ross Myers
1923 Ford T Roadster – Owner Chuck Stanfill
1931 Ford Roadster – Owner Ken Green
1931 Ford Roadster – Owner Peter Grant
1932 Ford Roadster Pickup – Owner Mike DeVriendt
1936 Ford Pheaton – Owner Glen See
1932 Ford Roadster – Owner Mark Bentley
There are 11 contenders for the Al Slonaker Memorial Award.
1932 Ford Coupe – Owner Beth Myers
1971 Volkswagen Thing – Owner Roger Weihel
1963 Ford Fairlane – Owner Dean Nesbit
1935 International Pickup – Owner Bruce Charles
1932 Ford Coupe – Owner Amadeo Angelo
1933 Pontiac Sedan – Owner Bill Barbato
1955 Ford F100 Pickup – Owner Patrick Kelly
1938 Chevrolet Canopy Express – Owner Oscar Munoz
1932 Ford Coupe – Owner Cody Walls
1973 DeTomaso Pantera – Ower Greg Paboojian
1935 Chevrolet Coupe – Owner Greg Heinrich
The GNRS continues tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. In addition to the 650 cars in the buildings there will be 1,000+ cars outside between the buildings and around the show gathering for the 19th Annual Grand Daddy Drive In.
This is the 75th Anniversary of the GNRS and Building 9 holds 50 past AMBR winners and several past Slonaker winners along with historical memorabilia and displays honoring the GNRS Hall of Fame members.
We’ll continue to post and will have the AMBR and Slonaker winners posted Sunday night as well as a complete article with photos posted on Monday night.
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The 75th Grand National Roadster Show will be held in the Fairplex in Pomona on January 31-February 2, 2025.
Above is America’s Most Beautiful Roadster 2024.
The iconic show will also host the debut of dozens of incredible custom cars competing for the 75th America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and Al Slonaker Memorial Award, two of the industry’s most coveted and competitive awards.
Above is the 2024 Slonaker Memorial Award.
More than 50 AMBR and Al Slonaker Memorial Award winners will come together in the Feature Building, presented by the Petersen Automotive Museum, marking the largest collection of past winners ever assembled under one roof. The curated display will also feature tributes to GNRS Hall of Fame inductees and historical memorabilia.
The 19th Annual Grand Daddy Drive-In: This outdoor portion of the show is a three-day Cruise-In and is open to hot rods, muscle cars, customs, classics and trucks.
As in past year’s there will be a pinstriper charity auction where talented pinstripers from around the world will showcase their skills as they create automotive art that will be auctioned off each day, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting the Gavin R. Stevens Foundation. From cell phones and laptops to skateboards and bowling pins, event attendees are encouraged to bring items they would like pinstriped for a small donation to the charity.
The GNRS will open on Friday January 31, 2025 and run through Sunday, February 2, 2025. American’s Most Beautiful Roadster will be selected Sunday night at the awards ceremony. The show opens everyday at 10:00 a.m. and closes at 6:00 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit rodshows.com/gnrs or call 877-763-7469.
Timingtower.com will be at the 2025 GNRS and will post throughout the week-end with a complete article and photos posted Monday evening.
