Payne: Autorama hubba hubba
- The King Kong of rod shows
- Home of the Ridler
- Opens Friday with "Pure Hell" burnout
You'll know it's here by the ear-splitting roar. The ground's tremor. The wall of flame. Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" didn't have special effects this good.
After the smoke clears from the asphalt-melting, car alarm-tripping "Pure Hell" dragster's "flame burnout" at the corner of Jefferson and Washington Boulevards Friday morning, Cobo Center's doors will open to the biggest, baddest hot rod show on earth.
Welcome to Detroit Autorama.
If January's North American International Auto Show shows off the latest cars, then Autorama shows how to make 'em cooler. Blown Mustangs. Chopped '32 Ford paddy wagons. 3,300-horsepower funny cars. Channeled. Dumped. Decked. Souped. They're all under Cobo's big tent Friday-Sunday for the 63rd annual Meguiar's Detroit Autorama as motor heads from 27 states and three Canadian provinces show off 800 works of mod art.
"It's Disneyland for car enthusiasts," says Peter Toundas, president of Detroit-based Championship Auto Shows, which organizes the car-studded spectacle in tandem with the Michigan Hot Rod Association.
Over 175,000 fans will pour through the turnstiles to ogle a dizzying array of attractions.
Drag racers Tom Aretakis, Sr., 57, and his son Tom, 27, are displaying their fire-breathing Plymouths. Junior's is a candy red, single cam, 1969 Plymouth Barracuda with 493 cubic-inches and 750 horsepower. Dad's ride? A 1964 Plymouth Belvedere with 509 cubes of muscle and an earth-pawing 825 ponies. Seniority has its privileges.
Nearby, Lisa Cruz and her husband Pablo bring the funk with a bright yellow, Saturn Ion festooned with stereo headlights, Lamborghinis-style scissor doors, Ferrari air scoops, and 10 – count 'em, 10 – video screens showing animated classics like "Little Nemo" and "Shark Tale." We're not making this up.
And then there are the celebrities.
Behold five of the "Fast and Furious" films' sexiest street racers. Heartthrobs include the 1970 Dodge Challenger that Vin Diesel thrashed in the original movie – and the Mitsubishi Eclipse the late Paul Walker piloted in "2 Fast 2 Furious."
The Furious metal's celebrity is a logistical issue for organizer Toundas. They're tucked away on the show's right wall for fear the mobs would disrupt traffic to other displays.
Their popularity is a nice problem to have.
Hot rod shows are usually the domain of oldsters. Grey beards. Woodward Dream Cruisers in chop tops with no hair on top. The Furious stars are youth magnets, expanding the show's demographic and spreading the hot rod gospel to a new generation. And spread it has. In its 44th year at Cobo, Detroit Autorama is the place to be seen if you are anybody on the rod scene. TV rod stars. Custom chop shops. They're all here.
"This is a great way to advertise our work," says Tim Palazzolo who came all the way from Houston, Texas to display an outrageous Boss Mustang. "This show is the big one."
Autorama will celebrate winners in 161 categories. But like the Detroit Auto Show and its coveted North American Car and Tuck of the Year, one prize matters most: The Ridler. Named after Autorama's original promoter, Don Ridler, the most coveted trophy in hot rod-dom.
The cars are the stars, but the supporting human actors impress too. Drag-racing legend John Force & his daughters. "Gas Monkey Garage";s Richard Rawlings. Chip Foose of Velocity Channel's "Overhaulin'." They will all be on hand to sign autographs and talk shop.
Foose is one of a new generation that has grown the custom culture's popularity via cable TV. He'll be competing to win his fourth Ridler with a two-tone, '65 Impala muscle car.
"Cable has brought a distinction to it," he says. "We've done shows on the Road to the Ridler."
Seventy-year old Robert Smith of Livonia has seen it all. He attended the first Autorama in 1952 at the age of seven. This year, he's showing off a '52 Chevy Tin Woody Deluxe wagon with a shift stalk sculpture that should be in the DIA.
"They're different ends of the car development cycle," says Smith of the difference between the NAIAS and Autorama. He rarely misses either one.
A decade ago, the NAIAS was the king of Detroit auto theater. Jeeps crashed through Cobo windows. Texas steer stampedes introduced the latest Ram trucks. Now the torch has been passed to Detroit Autorama. Literally. It all begins with a flaming burnout from "Pure Hell."
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
If you go
The 63rd annual Autorama in Detroit will feature competitions like a sock hop contest and Miss Autorama pinup contest, celebrity appearances and entertainment in addition to hot rod and custom automobile exhibits. The Toy-A-Rama expo features collectibles dealers.
When: Friday-Sunday
Where: Cobo Center, Detroit
Tickets: $19 for adults, $6 for children, kids under 5 are free. Discounts available at O'Reilly Auto Parts.
To learn more: Go to https://autorama.com/attend/detroit/