Category: 2017

America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and Al Slonaker Memorial Award Winners at the 2022 Grand National Roadster Show – Mike Austin @Hemmings

America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and Al Slonaker Memorial Award Winners at the 2022 Grand National Roadster Show – Mike Austin @Hemmings

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Back in full force after the cancellation of the 2021 event, the Grand National Roadster Show returned to the Pomona Fairplex with more than 1,000 cars on display this weekend. Only one of those cars would take home the show’s biggest prize, and one of the most coveted awards in the custom world, America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. This year’s winner is a 1934 Chevrolet Roadster owned by Jeff Breault and built by Devlin Rod & Customs. A two-year build, the car features an LS engine under the hood–dressed up in vintage style to hide its modern machinery–and an interior by Downey’s Auto Upohlstery.

The Al Slonaker Memorial Award went to this 1932 Ford Coupe built by Hollywood Hot Rods for Paul Gauntt. Photo courtesy of Grand National Roadster Show.

Equally important in terms of prestige (and the same $12,500 in prize money from ARP Bolts), is the Al Slonaker Memorial Award, named after the show’s founder. That prize went to a 1932 Ford Coupe owned by Paul Gauntt and built by Hollywood Hot Rods. Under the hood of the Ford is not a flathead, nor a small-block, but a custom 331 Cadillac engine.

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What It Was Like Driving The Last Full-Size Pickup Truck With A Manual Transmission – David Tracy @Jalopnik

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The Last Full-Size Pickup Truck With A Manual Transmission

The Ram 2500 represents the end of an era in which farmers, construction workers, and even suburbanites could shift their own gears in a brand-new full-size pickup. That’s right, the Cummins diesel-powered heavy-duty Ram was the U.S.’s final full-size truck with a manual transmission, and after having driven it, I can say: My god are we now deprived.

When I set out to buy a classic pickup years ago, I wanted three things: a practical bench seat, a smooth and torquey inline-six motor, and a fun manual transmission. These desirable attributes, once common among American trucks, have been disappearing at an alarming rate. But my friend Michael Douglas, an engineer at Fiat Chrysler, owns a modern truck with all three.

The Last Full-Size Pickup Truck With A Manual Transmission

In some ways, it truly is the holy grail. This is a 2017 Ram 2500 Laramie Sport Mega Cab outfitted with the optional 6.7-liter Cummins inline-six rated at 350 horsepower and 660 lb-ft of torque at a low 1,400 RPM (that’s 20 horsepower and 140 lb-ft fewer than the automatic model, in case you’re curious).

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Related –  Arguably the world’s toughest & most beautiful truck ever created

2019 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Judging

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The annual America’s Best Roadster Competition is always a great place to see the greatest in the world of Roadsters. There is always and eclectic mix of cars and this year is no exception.

Great video from Hot Rod Network/Street Rodder showing behind the scenes of the judging.

Unluckiest Dealer in the World? – Tornado smacks Illinois collector car dealership rebuilt after 2017 fire – Larry Edsall @ClassicCars Journal.com

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Country Classics in Staunton Illinois is a classic car dealer  that I visited a few years ago and found it to be very friendly dealer that sells affordable classics.

My visit here

However over the last few years they have not the best of luck suffering a major fire and recently becoming the victim of a tornado strike.

Hopefully their luck will deservedly change in 2019 and beyond.

Read the article on the tornado strike here

You can read articles on the 2017 fire here and here

California fires: When disaster strikes, forget the car – Mike Musto @Hagerty

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Almost 37,000 acres—that was the trail of destruction left by the Northern California wildfires in October 2017. And while the counties of Napa, Lake. and Sonoma were all hit hard, it was the city of Santa Rosa that saw the most devastation with more than 2800 homes completely destroyed. The fires claimed lives, property, and businesses and in their path uprooted families who now bare physical and emotional scars that no one should have to face.

It’s now November 2018, 13 months after those deadly fires. And while many in those regions are still rebuilding, a new set of wildfires have emerged that are currently cutting a path through both Northern and Southern California. As of now the death toll and damage continue to rise. It’s terrifying to watch.

Read the rest of Mike Musto’s sobering article at Hagerty

 

David Martin’s 2018 AMBR-winning 1931 Roadster is more than just good looks – Elana Scherr @HotRodNetwork

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You don’t find that AMBR winning roadsters are as capable as David Martin’s creation winner of the title earlier this year.

Read Elana Scherr’s article here at Hotrod Network

More details on the AMBR win can be found here at Autoweek

 

Massive Fire Damages Country Classic Cars in Staunton Illinois

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Whilst I was doing some research on the California wildfire and the damage to car collections I came across this story about a devastating fire at  Country Classic Cars in Staunton Illinois from back in August 2017.

This was particularly upsetting having visited the site on a previous visit to the U.S.

More detail and video footage of the fire can be found here

Almost bougtht a Chevy Truck on my previous visit to Staunton read the article  here 

Here are some pre-fire pictures taken during my visit

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See ya, ’17! A quick look back at some of the biggest old-car stories of the last year – Hemmings Daniel Strohl

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A look back at some stories from the classic car hobby in 2017 by Daniel Strohl at Hemmings

1. Route 66 resuscitation in the works.

2. Significant cars see the sun again.

3. Dune-buggy owners take on Texas ban.

4. Auto racing in Europe faces big challenges.

5. U.K. gives classic cars an official cutoff age

The details of these stories and plenty more can be found here

 

Five Car Hobby Predictions for 2018 – Kurt Ernst, Hemmings Daily

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2018 Car Hobby Predictions From Hemmings

 

2018 car hobby predictions from Kurt Ernst at Hemmings, the article begins with a recap of the 2017 predictions, scarily accurate!

Here’s the 2018 headlines:

1/Electric cars—including classic cars with electrified drivetrains—will become more commonplace.

2/Expect to see more museums close and more collections head to auction.

3/Long-ignored cars will gain in appeal among a new generation of collectors.

4/After five-plus decades of speculation, the mid-engine Corvette will become a reality in 2018, but we’re betting this will be a separate model and not a replacement for the C7

5/Motorcycles will continue to climb in value at auctions, even as ridership decreases.

Read on here to see the detail of Kurt’s predictions