The Grand National Roadster Show in Five Sentences

The security guard waves you through the gate, but you hardly notice because you’re too fixated on the snow on top of those mountains in the distance, mountains like the ones you’ve seen in movies and picture books and postcards tucked into wire racks at 24-hour travel plazas that pop up here and there along Highway 5—this is California (of course) and even though there’s a great deal to see and think about, all the this-n-that takes a back seat because you’re there for the biggest indoor car show the West Coast has to offer—The Grand National Roadster Show, colloquially referred to as “The Granddaddy of Them All”—Yes! It is the Granddaddy, yes sir—that’s the best way to address such a show, because the whopping three-day event has taken on a personality of its own—this year marked its sixty-eighth birthday, and it’s still growing…

“It’s like he’s going to Disneyland,” a woman said as she watched her husband break into a semi-controlled speed-walk towards the main gate under blue skies—this type of reaction was commonplace, or so it seemed as tens of thousands of people followed suit, walking and shuffling and skipping and rolling through the entryways (maybe noticing the mountains, maybe not) only to spill onto the Fairgrounds and slide into a series of WPA-era buildings—most of which are long and loaded with hundreds of hot rods and custom cars, each constructed by dedicated men and women across the globe who are just as passionate about creating them as the spectators are about viewing them: each automobile made of metals and other materials cut, shaped and massaged into whatever forms the builders can dream up—some looking like distant relatives of production cars while others are anchored in both past and future—The whole thing’s wild!—and even though the calendar says 2017, the Granddaddy isn’t tied to one year or idea or anything like that, although for decades the main draw has been the crowning of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award (or AMBR when you’re trying to save your breath).

This year there were thirteen entries battling for the historic nine-point-something-foot tall trophy that basks in the middle of Building Four—and, just like in years past, this baker’s dozen was the talk of the show: “That’s what you call ‘real steel,’” a man said, pointing to a roadster that looked like it was built back in the nineteen-forties and named after a card game—the film crew from the other half of the world was up next with tripods, cameras, scripts and a wardrobe that could be described as “Business Casual”—we were surrounded by cars on carpet/on pedestals and/or one on a turntable—voices filled the room and the show was in full swing, moving, gyrating and swirling at rapid pace that lasted throughout the weekend; crowds came and crowds went, but it was clear that there could only be one winner, and that was a coachbuilt 1936 Packard designed by Eric Black and dubbed the “Mulholland Speedster;” a car that was never intended to be a custom—instead, builder Troy Ladd said he simply wanted to create an “Elegant, sexy roadster.” By the looks of things, he did exactly that.

—Joey Ukrop

Once again, I made the trip to Pomona on assignment with The Rodder’s Journal—I spent so much time catching up with old friends and finally putting names to faces that I wasn’t able to shoot a whole lot of photos…in a similar style to Jay’s post yesterday, here are some things that caught my eye at GNRS 2017.