Crowning America’s Most Beautiful Roadster

At the Grand National Roadster Show, a black t-shirt is always a safe fashion choice. Better is a black t-shirt with the logo of a Southern California speed shop or similar business. Best is if you actually own that business. A gray ponytail is a nice complementary element for those into accessorizing.

The Grand National (GNRS for the cognoscenti) has been annually since 1950 excepting things like pandemics. It’s three years older the Detroit Autorama. That’s 73 years. And that makes it the longest running major show car exhibition in the United States. Within it is the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) competition and it’s one of the most extraordinary events in the automotive universe.

AMBR may seem blue collar and downscale, but it’s really a high-stakes artistic contest. The cars that compete are all putatively 1937-or-earlier roadsters based on American production models, but in fact they’re scratch-built sculptures commissioned by connoisseurs with the wherewithal to handle the high-six or seven-figure design and construction costs. Think of it as the world’s most expensive creative art contest where it costs a million bucks to enter.

Chip Foose designed and/or built cars have taken the honor at least eight times. The winners list includes other legends like Boyd Coddington, Chuck Lombardo, Richard “Magoo” Megugorac and Ermie Immerso. Not household names, but big damn deals in the hot rod universe.

Not all of the cars are roadsters and there are even VWs and at least one Porsche among the throngs. But core here is obviously American metal from pre-war up until the early-1970s. Yes, this attracts a lot of old guys. Still there were many youngsters in attendance and the ethnic diversity of the crowd expands every year. If you’re a custom car misfit, who never knows how to behave amongst polite society, this is your tribe.

If that it isn’t enough to hold a roaming viewer’s interest, there are dozens vendors exhibiting their wares (lots of black t-shirts), food vendors offering fare that threatens cardiac flutter, and people dressed in ironic ‘50s wear and full-sleeve tats. Another popular event is the mobility scooter vs. pedestrian dodge-and-demo derby which goes on the full three days of the show.

The AMBR winner gets a check for $12,500 from ARP Bolts which should be enough to cover a third of the cost of transporting the car to the show. Also, there’s a really tall trophy.

If overwhelming elegance is a thing, this is that thing. Jack Chisenhall’s ’32 Ford is the essential hot rod; unadorned, straightforward, and perfectly executed. It’s all the underlying beauty of the ’32 Hiboy expressed under black paint and hood louvers.

A Texan, Chisenhall is the owner of Vintage Air which makes compact air conditioning systems adaptable to classic vehicles. He’s a long-time player in the high-end hot rod world and his cars are often black. And often found running atop the salt at Bonneville.

Named the “Champ Deuce” Chisenhall’s car has features taken from old Indy cars. The torsion bar suspension is minimalist, the wheels are genuine old Indy roadster stock taken from Chisenhall’s collection, and the louvers are executed with Savile Row precision. A cross-country collaboration, much of the work was performed in the famed shop of Roy Brizio in South San Francisco, California.

What’s astonishing about this Deuce isn’t the injected Chrysler Hemi that powers it, but how little has been done to the basic proportions of the ’32 body. Nothing has been stretched or warped here; just emphasized. It’s not flashy, it’s just perfect.

1932 Ford Roadster

George Poteet is the patron saint of all custom car builders. He’s also the owner of Speed Demon, the streamliner aiming for 500 mph at Bonneville, powered by Kenny Duttweiler’s incredible 3800-horsepower twin turbocharged V8. R&T featured Duttweiler’s creation in this story.

The 1957 Ford truck is easily dismissed as the disappointingly blunt follow up to the gorgeous 1956 edition. Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop in Gadsden, Alabama found beauty in this square-jawed mule by applying a consistent theme: a truck as if Holman-Moody had built it back in 1960s when the team was dominating NASCAR.

Builder Alan Johnson put the F100 body he atop a Roadster Shop chassis, made the body as not-ugly as it could be by filling it many of the spaces built in by Ford, shifting the wheel openings a bit, and drenching it all in Ford “Dresden Blue” paint which was offered in the 1957 Ford car line. Maybe the tastiest element are the Minilite style wheels with Holman-Moody hubcaps. The Minilites are Trans Am evocative, but whatever.

Power comes from a GM LS3 crate V8 wearing Holman-Moody valve covers. Because… apostasy.

With a stretched nose and laid back Duvall split windshield, Sandy Chadd’s “Muroc” ’32 was a strong contender for the AMBR award. Built by Rad Rides by Troy in Manteno, Illinois, the long nose allows the engine to be set back behind the front axle line. Maybe it’s all a bit too much?

An AMBR winner back in 2017 with his Packard roadster, Troy Ladd of Hollywood Hot Rods displayed this gorgeously detailed 1964½ Mustang powered by a late model Coyote DOHC engine. As the generations pass, pre-war body styles are less, well, relatable, This is nth degree street rod style detail applied to a relatively new Mustang… only 58½ years old.

For sheer spit-in-the-eye audacity, nothing matched this ’34 built at the South City Rod & Custom shop run by Bill Ganahl. Ganahl, the son of beloved hot rodding journalist Pat Ganahl who died last year in a racing accident, threw all good taste and restraint away with this tribute to insanity. So many colors. So much gold leaf. So what if there aren’t any headlights and the search party hasn’t returned with any sighting of a radiator. Look at the velocity stacks atop that big Hemi!

Because they’re sweet and nice and small and no one was around to talk about them.

How does Kevin Hart spend all the money he makes with those Chase credit card and Draft Kings online sports betting commercials? How about a carbon fiber 1970 Charger called Hellraiser?

Built by Speedkore and first shown in 2021, it’s startling in person. The 7.0-liter, supercharged “Hellephant” Mopar V8 supposedly makes 1000-horsepower. Which is a lot.

Variety is the spice of life and Jerry Logan’s Cosworth Vega certainly added variety to the show. There’s something admirable about following your own muse and not just showing up with another Camaro.

You Can Tell This Vega Engine Isn’t Running Because It Isn’t Burning Oil.

Restored muscle cars have fallen aside as the boomer generation ages. But this 1966 Hemi Satellite, owned by a single family since being purchased new in Ukiah, California, brought back why such obsessively detailed restorations can be so compelling. It was a stately standout in a crowd of modified madness.