The Grand National Roadster Show is celebrating 71 years as the longest-running indoor car show in the world! This family-friendly experience allows attendees to reflect on the past, appreciate the present and consider what the future of hot rodding holds! The Grand National Roadster show began in Oakland, California in 1949 and was formerly known as the Oakland Roadster Show. This exclusive event is now in its 17th consecutive year, and was held at the Fairplex Fairgrounds in Pomona, CA this past weekend. The vehicles on display ranged from hot rods, rat rods, racecars, low-riders, roadsters, classics, custom trucks, muscle cars, motorcycles and more! Spectators visited from around the world to gander at these nostalgic vehicles.
Awards Worth Noting
Judges were separated into small groups. The groups focused on quality, originality, condition, safety, and attention to detail to preserve unifying concepts within each point system per vehicle class. Points are rendered based upon the degree of difficulty in modification and quality. The highly sought after grand prize winner is adorned “America’s Most Beautiful Roadster” with a prize of $12,500, a 9 1/2 foot trophy and bragging rights in the hot rod community! Other notable awards include Outstanding Overall, Outstanding Detail, Outstanding Color Design, Outstanding Engine, and Outstanding Interior.
America’s Most Beautiful Roadster
Monty Belsham, the proud owner of the LS1-Powered 1932 Ford Highboy Roadster, won the coveted America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award 2020! Nick Barron originally owned the Muroc body and chassis, and he had it built at Angie’s Auto Center. Mike’s Street Rods rendered the original bodywork and red paint. Doug Jerger of Squeeg’s Kustoms in Chandler, Arizona helped Belsham customize the vehicle after he acquired it.
The steel body features a Kugel chassis with independent front and rear suspensions and coilover shocks with Corvette brakes at the corners. The custom paint job utilizes PPG black with orange and red flames and exhibits a metal handmade top crafted by Matt Tomb out of Phoenix. The LS1 is topped off with a Hilborn stacked EFI injection and links to a 4L60-E overdrive transmission and it’s clear why this was chosen the winner!
Grand Daddy Drive-In Weekend
Over 500 show vehicles competed for awards inside the Fairplex buildings starting last Friday. Another 400-800 vehicles joined the event Saturday & Sunday for the 16th Annual Grand Daddy Drive-In. Guests of the show enjoyed displaying their best pinup looks and classic rockabilly style with nods to the past. Exhibitors displayed nostalgic clothing, pin stripers, custom artwork vendors and anything related to throwbacks to the classic era.
VIAIR Equipped Features
VIAIR equipped vehicles previously seen at The SEMA Show such as SEMA Battle of the Builders Lukasz Granicy’s 1963 Thunderbird “The Tiki Bird” of Needfulthingz Hotrod SHOP impressed onlookers with 1200 Horsepower.
This 1938 Chevrolet Master Deluxe 4 Door dazzled spectators with dual VIAIR compressors installed in the trunk.
Another notable VIAIR equipped feature at the Grand National Roadster Show was this 1962 Chevrolet Impala with an impressive trunk setup running dual VIAIR 444C.
Truck enthusiasts fancied this 1953 Chevrolet 3100 5 Window classic with vibrant red paint and custom wheels.
Year after year, the Grand National Roadster show displays the crème de la crème of the hot rod and roadster world. Attendees come from around the world to visit this show and we look forward to what 2021 brings! Learn more about the Grand National Roadster show here.
If you have any further questions, you can always contact us:
- Call us at 949-585-0011 from 8AM-5PM PST, Monday-Friday
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- Email us at Customer Service to reach us after-hours, and we will reply to you the following business day.
