Detroit Autorama 2009

Another Year of Rods, Customs and Creativity
By Steve Purdy
Photos by Margaret Hehr and Gary Purdy
TheAutoChannel.com
Detroit Bureau

“Autorama is all about imagination,” said my pal Bob as we spent the day wandering among the hundreds of hot rods, custom cars, and other amazing things vehicular at the 57th Detroit Autorama filling Cobo Center downtown. Bob and I and our two photographers, Margaret Hehr and brother Gary, have visited this eclectic show again and again because of its unique aesthetic appeal to us car guys. (Margaret is a car guy, too – we’re using that term in its non gender-specific meaning.) Being one of the premium shows of its kind in the country, the Detroit Autorama draws some of the most beautiful, creative and odd cars in existence.

Autorama is also about nostalgia, of course. Not only are many of the rods and customs made out of cars we remember from the days of our misspent youths, but many of the rods and customs that were produced back in those days have been saved and displayed here as well.

For example, not only did we have the thrill of seeing some of the cars designed in the early 60s by custom car icon George Barris, like the weird white pickup called “Ala Kart,” but the aging and still vibrant, Mr. Barris himself was there signing autographs.

More nostalgia – Kookie Burn’s colorful T-Bucket from the TV show 77 Sunset Strip was on display as well. How many of you remember that classic show? Every year, it seems, more of these historic rods and customs are found rotting away in a barn or desert junk yard somewhere and brought back to life.

One of those old-timers we found in the second row among the premier cars is a beautiful black and chrome car called The Bentas Raven, with a continental kit and smooth, rounded lines exuding a 1950s ambiance. The initial visual encounter offers not a clue to its ancestry. It sat dramatically displayed next to a single large trophy. The trophy read “1959 National Champion, Custom Car Show Detroit, Michigan, National Hot Rod Association.” And that’s exactly what it was - the winner of this very show 50 years ago. It was made out of “modified parts from Dodge, Kaiser, LaSalle, etc” by a fellow named Bentas. The car won dozens of trophies in 1959 and 1960 including here in Detroit. Then it was covered and put on blocks in storage.

The Raven’s current owner, Joe Germann of Chelmsford, MA, a lifelong friend of Mr. Bentas, brought The Raven out of its 46-year storage in 2007 and restored to be just as it was – a big job, indeed. Mr. Bentas was scheduled to fly in from Massachusetts on Friday evening to see his car displayed in Detroit again. The contrast is striking between that old winner and the contenders for this year’s trophy. The level of sophistication has advanced a hundred-fold.

In the front few rows of the expansive exhibition hall we find mostly the best and most spectacular cars of the show. Many are contenders for the prestigious Ridler Award - named after the show’s first promoter from the early 1950s, Don Ridler - given to the best car that is being shown for the first time. While the prize of $10,000 plus a new GM Performance Parts engine, trophy and a jacket would hardly put a dent in the hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into some of these innovative automotive art pieces, there is no shortage of competitors.

An acquaintance of ours, whose insight we respect, pointed out one special contender he thinks has a chance at the Ridler. It turns out that the back story on this car is fascinating as well.

The car is a striking, full-custom, ’56 Chevy 210, sporting an eye-catching orange and purple paint scheme, designed and built by Acton Love of Elkhart, Indiana, as a memorial to his late father. The senior Mr. Love suffered a debilitating stroke at age 57 and the younger Mr. Love, who never married and worked as an independent, commercial donut delivery guy, spent every day taking care of his dad until the latter died at age 88. That was in 1999. While we can see the distinct personality of a ’56 Chevy, little of the original car remains – from the artfully redesigned interior to the hand-built, all-aluminum, Brodex V8 engine under the hood. It took 15 years to build. Both father and son were immersed in the project.

Not in contention for the Ridler award, but a car that caught Gary’s eye, and mine as well, was just a few rows back and stood out because of its size and amazing paint job – a ’38 Dodge “humpback” panel truck. Ron Crist, a contractor and homebuilder from Blissfield, Michigan bought the ragged old truck on a dare from some hot rod buddies from his Toledo, Ohio street rod club. These guys knew Ron liked these old trucks but thought this one too far gone to resurrect – so they issued the dare. He took the dare, of course, and showed them it was not only possible but that it would make a beautiful and practical project with lots of towing capacity when he needs it, entertainment options inside for the grandkids, flames and his business name ghosted into the paint job. The truck is eminently drivable as well with Mustang II front suspension and 318-cubic-inch Chrysler engine with 360 heads, mated to an overdrive transmission.

About a hundred youngsters from Roseville (suburban Detroit) High School, built and presented four custom cars for Autorama. We spoke with Kimberly Wilson, John Lyon and Angeline Kurtti who, along with about a hundred other kids, spent many hours, both during school and on weekends getting their sweet, white, ‘51 Ford, and the three other cars, ready for the show.

It took about 9 months altogether to bring the Ford (which actually belongs to community member Mark O’Brian) to show-ready condition. The kids get school credit, but it looked to us like the credit was secondary to the gratification of contributing to these beautiful customs. And, it is obvious that the teacher knows what he’s doing as well.

Downstairs at Cobo Center we find the tuner cars that appeal to performance-oriented youngsters and the “rat rods” that appeal to us older guys with a sense of humor. I guess I’m too old to fully appreciate the turner cars, but I sure have fun with the rat rods.

A great deal of irreverent creativity shows up among the rat rods – just not usually as sophisticated a form of creativity as we see upstairs. The rat rods seem to have their own distinctive aroma as well – that wonderful smell of a musty old barn or shed. Rat rods are a relatively new trend that grew out of a resistance to the increasing sophistication and cost of traditional hot rods and custom cars. Instead of the “can do” attitude, it’s characterized as more of a “make do” attitude. See, for example the rod with a newspaper box for an air intake, a beer can for a radiator overflow and hand-welded square steel tubing for headers. I love it.

More than a hundred vendors hawk their goods and services at Autorama. Tens of thousands of square feet are dedicated to a toy show and sale where you can buy die casts, kits and everything else to satisfy your toy car lust. Then, scattered throughout the hall body builders (car bodies, that is) paint shops, fabricators, parts purveyors, clubs, museum displays . . . you name it . . . are all ready to sell you something or lure you to another event.

As we were limping toward the exit on sore feet, getting our last photos, we ran into an old friend, Tom Hale, world-renowned automotive fine artist, president of the Automotive Fine Art Society and member of the prestigious American Watercolor Society, who was there soaking up some of that creativity, and . . . yes . . . automotive art.