70th Detroit Autorama - Feb 24-26, 2023

[Frosty]

The 70th Detroit Autorama will be held Feb. 24-26, 2023 at the Huntington Place (formerly called Cobo Hall). Administion is $25 at the door. Discount tickets are available at O'Reilly's Auto Parts stores.

Special guest appearances are: Dave Kindig, Flav-O-Flav, and Henry Winkler (the Fonz himself).

There will be Rocl-A-Billy bands, a Pin Up Girl contest, and oh yeah lots of custom cars, trucks, and rat rods.

https://autorama.com/attend/detroit/#celebrities

Also featured this year will be:

AND

is 

I will be there to take photos on Sunday this year. So I will find out who won this year's Ridler Award too.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Frosty

[Frosty]

As promised here are photos from this year's Detroit Autorama. Let's start with the Great 8 (the Ridler Finalists).

Meet El Camei - A Dave Kindig design (although I'm not sure if his team built it since I didn't see anyone wearing Kindig shirts).

 

Chrome Blues

 

King Coyote

 

Rome

 

GT 427

'53 Chevy 3100 Pickup

 

The Ridler goes to - Maximus - '50 Mercury

[Wrongway]

Awesome job Frosty, thank you for those amazing pics. "Chrome Blues" is justa sick! Looks like the gas tank color match the convertible tops color. Justa way cool attention to detail.

[JUSTA6]

Thankz, as always great shots.  I know ya have a few more.

[64 kiwi boni]

love the individual throttle bodys on the mustang !!

[Frosty]

13 hours ago, JUSTA6 said:

Thankz, as always great shots.  I know ya have a few more.

You know I do...I have lots more. I'm in Lansing today, so I probably won't post anything until tomorrow.

[64 kiwi boni]

Hay !! You know we love pictures around here ! 

How’s a man supposed to sleep without his Pontiac porn !!! 

[Frosty]

On 3/1/2023 at 2:54 AM, 64 kiwi boni said:

Hay !! You know we love pictures around here ! 

How’s a man supposed to sleep without his Pontiac porn !!! 

Can someone please get Kiwi a box of tissues or a moist towelette? I think he's gonna need it.

A car Pontiac never built in production but they made several Engineering studies of their own El Camino (ute). This isn't one of them. This guy actually cut up a station wagon to build this Pontiac "El Catalino".

John Kryta's 442 - he is co-owner of Inline Tube in nearby Shelby Twp.

This car is almost a spitting image of my friend's car, the late Eric White.

Lead sleds? Yes please! What's not to love about a chopped '50 Mercury?

[Fitzy]

Well done, Frosty - excellent pics as usual. Those Mercurys are just lovely. I loved the old heavily patinated delivery van. I'm not sure what it is, an old Post Office truck? And that Pontiac ute! If I had any spare testicles, I'd swap a couple for one of those.

[Frosty]

How ya' doin' Kiwi!? Here's some more he-man car porn for ya'? Got a tissue ready?

Bad ass twin engined car!

A rare '74 GTO

A cool customized Buick Roadmaster wagon

Low riders! Yee haw!

 

 

A Cadillac Pickup? Merge a SIlverado with an Escalade.

A local rock radio station was promoting these "Street SIgns"

The Pontiac Transportation Museum was there with this rally Fiero. They announced their initial soft opening will be this June.

A hydrogen-fuel naturally aspirated '53 Chevy 3100 pickup 

This chopped drag Chevy Astro van was cool. Especially when you look at the "sponsors". This is definitely not your mother's soccer van!

 

The Blue Brothers were there.....

Edited March 5, 2023 by Frosty

[Frosty]

Hi FItzy - the van you like is an old style Chevy P-10 step van from the early 70s. These were popular utility / delivery vehicles for many decades. 

Now for the really, really cool shit!

Henry Winkler, a.k.a the Fonz, from Happy Days was there signing autographs!

A car built by a late friend of mine - "Uncle Bill" Hines - a.k.a the Leadslinger. He was one of the original car customizers from the 50s. Sadly we lost Bill a few years ago.

Darryl Starbird, the King of Bubbletops, and what he can do to a VW 

"Big Daddy" Ed Roth cars! His stepkids are running the Rat Fink T-shirt booth right behind the display.

Orbitron was lost for decades and then found in Mexico behind a porn shop.

https://www.motortrend.com/features/hrdp-0803-t-bucket-orbitron-roadster/

George Barris cars!

The a full size George Jetson car.....I kept wanting someone to push the button and watch it fold up into a briefcase. LOL!

 

 

 

From the Munsters - The Munster Mobile and Dragula. I think we need a towellete for JUSTA on Dragula since is the actual one from the show. This is the one Grandpa drove!

 

This is not the actual Lincoln Future turned into the Batmobile Batmobile. This is a million dollar accurate recreation.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Frosty

[Ringo64]

Love all those TV/movie cars! 

[Frosty]

Oh there's more RIngo.

A replica of Ed Roth's Outlaw.

 

Gene WInfield's Reactor - it was used an episode of Star Trek (the original series)

Speaking of Gene - the man, the myth, the legend himself was there again this year signing autographs. In years past, he would be chopping the top off a car during the entire weekend.

I was told by my buddy Chuck, who is friends with Gene, that Gene had to go to the hospital earlier in the weekend. Seems Gene has started dialysis in the last several years. The man is 95 as of this photo and he had not been to dialysis in almost 2 weeks  (suppose to go 3 times a week), which explains why he looked really weak and tired.

 

How about the Batboat? This is an accurate tribute.

It was pulled into the show by the A-Team van tribute. According to the owner, the main difference between this and the original is the paint finish is so much better than the TV car.

Corky's '67 Barracuda (driven by Robert Blake). It was used in a lot of TV shows. This is the original car too. Complete with checked and cracking paint.

Ricky Bobby's Chevelle from Talladega Nights

My absolute favorite custom car of all time! The original Monkeemobile GTO. This is the original #1 car from the TV show too. After the show ended, car creator Dean Jefferies didn't want them back. George Barris took this one and showed it for decades. Barris did some interior updates too. This car was sold at Barrett-Jackson for around $320k. It's been a staple of Woodward Dream Cruise for years now.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Frosty

[Frosty]

Finally - two legendary cars from Woodward Avenue and the days of illegal street racing.

FIrst up - the Black Ghost.

It is going up for sale at a future Mecum auto auction. It is suppose to be $1M car. This was owned by a Detroit area cop, who drag raced on the side in this car. After each race, he would just drive away and disappear. Hence became the legend of the Black Ghost.

https://www.topspeed.com/the-legendary-1970-dodge-hemi-challenger-rt-se-black-ghost-is-a-street-racing-icon/#:~:text=The Challenger was owned by,mysterious lore around its existence.

 

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2020/10/28/black-ghost-a-street-racing-cops-hemi-challenger-r-t-added-to-national-register-of-historic-vehicles

 

The people in front of the car is the family that has owned the car all these decades. It will go to a new owner soon. It is a Hemi-powered with a stick,

 

Here is the absolute KING OF WOODWARD.....the immortal Silver Bullet - Plymouth GTX.

It is essentially a factory race car that was unleashed on the streets of Detroit. It is reported that it never lost a race on Woodward.

All hail the King. Long live the King.

That's it for this year's Autorama. It was a kickass show this year with all the legendary cars here this year.

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Frosty

[JUSTA6]

Nice show, thankz for sharing the pic's n story's.  Allot of open space and the crowd was lacking this year.  Oh well better shots!

[64 kiwi boni]

Oh oh !!! That’s got to be the best show yet frosty !!!! 
well done my friend 

loved the pictures 

[Frosty]

8 hours ago, JUSTA6 said:

Nice show, thankz for sharing the pic's n story's.  Allot of open space and the crowd was lacking this year.  Oh well better shots!

Thanks.It was Sunday morning when I got there, so I beat the church crowd for most of it. 

5 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Oh oh !!! That’s got to be the best show yet frosty !!!! 
well done my friend 

loved the pictures 

Thanks mate! It really is a kick ass show, especially with all the high end cars there.

[Wrongway]

As always you did a fantastic job Frosty. Pictures and commentary were awesome, thank you sir.

[Frosty]

You are most welcome Wrongway. Happy to do it.

I'm still trying to figure out what my side trip after Power Tour is going to be. Do I try to do Tail of the Dragon on US 129 in Deals Gap near the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. Or do I drive 90 minutes north and drive the Back of the Dragon in Tazewell, VA? Regardless, there will be pictures from Power Tour and any of the side adventures.

[64 kiwi boni]

Frosty !!! love the black story of the Black Ghost !!!!

 

[JUSTA6]

Wow Ringo must have fixed the prob.  Thank you

[Wrongway]

If you take the tail of the dragon Frosty, you'll need to get a pic of the "tree of shame" for our overseas friends. Thats a pretty famous road for motorcycles.

[Fabio Parede]

Amazing!