Old Cars Weekly – 29 August 2019

I

f you’re a regular reader of this

column,youknowoneofmyfa-

voriteeventseachyearistheleg-

endary Grand National Roadster

Show(GNRS,aka“Oakland”)heldeach

January.Firstheldin1949,theshowran

foryearsattheoldOakland(CA)Coli-

seum,thenit briefly movedtothedreary,

old“CowPalace”insouthernSanFran-

cisco.It evendida briefhitchin SanBru-

nobeforerelocatingtoitscurrentvenue,

thesprawlingPomona(CA)Fairplexad-

jacenttotheNHRAMuseum.

TheGNRSis NorthAmerica’soldest

continuously heldindoorhot rodshow,

and 2019 wasits70thyear.I’vebeenat-

tendingthisevent foryears.I firstwent

to“Oakland”in1994,whenJoeMcPher-

son’s“InfinityF

a check for $10

trophy thathono

achievement,“Am

Roadster.”Later,

withmyjust-com

at theevent’s 50thanniversary in 1999

and won theBruce MeyerPreservation

Award.I haveevenbeena judge for the

covetedAmerica’sMostBeautiful Road-

ster(AMBR,or“Amber”)trophy.

Fortherecord,there aretwo serious

andhighlycovetedtopprizes in the hot

rodshow world.OneistheDon Ridler

MemorialAward,givenat theannual De-

troitAutorama, a show thatdates back

to 1953.Any style of well-constructed,

beautifullybuilthotrodorcustom rod is

eligible fortheRidler,andit can’t have

appeared first anywhere else. But only

a roadste definedasanAmericanbuilt

rollupsidewindows.Ofcourse,someof

thesehand-builthigh-dollarcarsarenew-

er than 1937 — they just look as though

they are a 1930s-era car, and that’s within

the rules.

The GNRS’ roadsters-only require-

ment gives these two enormous and in-

tensely competing rod shows a slightly

different focus, because Detroit Autom-

rama Ridler winners have been coupes

and even station wagons, while Pomona’s

GNRS AMBR winner must be a roadster.

Both events have a “rattish rod” com-

ponent;the Detroit Autoramahas “The

Basement”andatPomona theoldstyle

Someofthebestcarsareinthe

parkin theGNRS.Checkout

The 2019 Grand National

Roadster Show

GOSS

lyer”wont z :

, 000 and the 9-

orstheshow’s crowning

merica’sMostBeautiful

I wasa showparticipant

mpleted’32Fordroadster

0th anniversary in 1999

dows)can win. y 1937?

It’sthelastyearthat ffereda true

roadsterequippedwithsidecurtainsnot

roll-up side windows. Of course, some of

aroadste definedasanAmerican-built

pre-1938 open vehicle (roadster or a

phaeton,bothofwhichlackroll-upwi

Basement andatPomona,theold-style,

oftenunrestoredand/orprimer-finishcars

arerelegatedtoFairplexBuilding10,a

p

thesetwostylishdeuceroadsters.

There’sashoww n ashow

everywhereyoulookontheFairplex

grounds.It takesthreedaysto

eventrytoseeeverything.

24 ❘ August 29, 2019 http://www.oldcarsweekly.com