Autorama - Looks Are Everything?

Once again I went to this year’s Autorama with two of my oldest and dearest friends, Mike Thomas and Clint Bond. Mike is a world-class mechanic, engine-builder, racecar builder/driver, and all-around automotive aficionado. Clint is a world-class educator and automotive raconteur. I am…whatever…I am.

As we check out the Ridler contenders, Mike and I are impressed with the craftsmanship, the amazing attention to detail, and the overall presentation of each of the vehicles. Clint, far-and-away the more cerebral of the three of us, sees these vehicles as really costly “pieces of furniture”.

Oh, he sees what Mike and I see, but from a more pragmatic perspective, mainly the functionality quotient of these insanely expensive works of art. Clint’s theory is a simple one: What good is it if you can’t drive it? Yep, the old “Let’s-fire-it-up-and-take-it-out-on-the-street” routine, as the saying goes. 

I worked, in some capacity or another, for ISCA from 1979 through 1988, during which time I was given a real education in the show car “hobby”, which is, in reality, more of an industry. Back then, if memory serves me, I believe all the cars had to start and be able to be driven. If they didn’t start, they were disqualified. I don’t know if that’s the case today because, in the past decade or so, almost all the Ridler contenders were not to be driven and have been purpose-built vehicles, meaning that they were conceived and built solely to garner what is, arguably, the most prestigious and most sought-after award in the show car game, named after late super promoter, Don Ridler.

I may get an argument here from the “left coasters” who may say that winning the Oakland Roadster Show’s AMBR  (America’s Most Beautiful Roadster) trophy is the pinnacle of these endeavors, and to win both of them is the stuff that dreams are made of.

However you look at it, these cars are now some of the most expensive, most finely crafted vehicles in the world. Many (like most anything built by Chip Foose) are hand-crafted from sheet metal with thousands of hours in fabrication alone, hammer-shaped or English wheeled to perfection by the latest generation of journeyman coachbuilders. Craftsmen whose talents are greatly coveted by the “I’ve-gotta-have-me-a-Ridler-winner-no-matter-what-it-costs-to-make-that-happen!” crowd, who are ready and willing to shell out a cool $Million (or more…much more!) just to be able to say they won the award!

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