It’s the Great 8 – Ridler Award Contenders 2012
2012 Detroit Autorama Ridler Award Contenders
More fun than the republican primary! Vote for your favorite below.
Can’t get enough of the Autorama? Check out these other stories:
— Here’s the winner! Skip ahead and see the Ridler Winner
— Damn Great, but Not Great 8 – Detroit Autorama’s Best
— Going Down – Basement Best at 2012 Detroit Autorama
It’s about time. I’ve been grabbing photos from friends for long enough. It’s time for a personal account of the hot rods and custom cars that make up the Detroit Autorama, especially the best of the best, the Ridler cars. For the 60th Anniversary of the Detroit Autorama, the competition is extra tough… Fact is, I couldn’t figure out what cars were the “Great 8”!
Rules for the Ridler are pretty simple: The cars should show: Creativity, Engineering and Workmanship. (What they don’t mention is that the winner typically shows all three of these in a way, most likely, never seen before or done in a way that’ll cause mouths to hit the floor) Just a few other rules, the Ridler contenders must be showing for the very first time and must run, drive and stop in a basic way.
What’s not in the Rilder Rules? Body style, year or anything specifying what kind of car it is… Love that! So let’s mix it up here and see if we vote the same as the judges for the 2012 Ridler Award:
Enjoy the pictures and for any shot, click to see the full-size photo.
Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #1 ~ 1967 Shelby GT500
If you’ve ever seen me at a show, I’m runnin! Media gets in at 9AM so I’m shooting everything I can before the crowds pour in. My plan? Shoot the Ridler contenders first. No problem except the “openess” of the Ridler rules allow a bunch of cars to enter. With so many cars to review, the official Great 8 cars aren’t announced until noon. Still, I had my eye on a few and shot’m up right…
First up is the 1967 Shelby GT500 of Carol and Gordon Phillips rolling in from Quesnel, BC, Canada. I’m going on record now: This is my pick for the Ridler Award.
Built by JF Kustoms, this Mustang has every detail imaginable nailed. After JF Launier nailed it, he chromed it and polished it! The list of one-off details on this car starts with the wheels and the steering wheel, but dig that grille! “Kardiac 500” is custom machined in by Mike Curtis, designer and fabricator of the billet goodies. Why Kardiac? Part of it is how Gord’s gen-u-ine Shelby gives purists heart palpitations, but the rest? You’ll have to read my feature article coming soon…
Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #2 ~ 1955 Ford Thunderbird
Like the Shelby above, I was drawn to this 55 Thunderbird. Why not? The lines on 55-57 ‘bird are pure sex. I shot a few pics and nearly kept going until I saw the engine. Twin Turbos anyone? Listed only as a 1150 HP Gale Banks Engineering 6.0 liter, I gotta know what this thing sounds like… I’d also recommend some titanium “oh shit” handles since this car can’t weigh much more than it’s stock 3200 lbs. This is one of the few super-cars in Detroit I saw connected to an automatic trans.
Owned by Dwayne Peace and built and designed by Johnathan Peace, it sounds like a family affair. Greening Auto Company kicked in on the build too and handled the paint work and some machining duties. Execution on this car is fantastic. Check the bottom right shot for the way everything fits together. This 55 T’bird’s another winner.
Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #3 ~ 1933 Ford Roadster
The owners of this American Speed bodied 1933 Hot Rod Roadster are no strangers to the Detroit Autorama or the Ridler Award. The “A Bros” as listed on the license plate refers to Larry and Mike Alexander. In this Custom Rodder Article, they’re called “Custom Car Legends” and with good reason. They’ve won two previous Ridler Awards, one for the original 69’er and another for the Deora that we all know from Hot Wheels fame. (Where they allegedly got no credit.) They also built the “Silver Saphire” better known as the Beach Boys’ Little Deuce Coupe. This hot rod’s got a pedigree!
Looking at “Vision 33” the custom touches are everywhere and overall the Chip Foose penned concept flows one to the next. The rear end treatment shown and the custom, LED lit wheels centers are two of the best example of how this hot rod shows the Alexander Bros haven’t lost their custom touch.
Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #4 ~ 1932 Ford Coupe
Wicked stance. That and tons of “XS Cash” are what it takes to build a 1932 Ford Coupe to Ridler standards. This sinister stanced 1932 highboy is owned and built by Dave and Joyce Emery of Rochester Hills, MI. I flipped through the build book and found more custom details than imaginable. Try over 300 custom fasteners and covers to make even the spark plugs shine and dazzle! Then, four unique hundred dollar bills were used on the custom gauge faces by Classic Instrument. This deuce is definitely a contender!
Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #5 ~ 1932 Ford Coupe
This is Pete and Martha Datino’s “Retrospect Coupe” out of Valhalla, NY. Looks like hat’s off for this hot rod goes to Craig Naff of Woodstock VA for: Design, Chassis, fabrication and some of the machine work. I think he put gas in it for the first time too? From there we’d better mention Advanced Plating who seemed to have a piece of quite a few cars at the Autorama. Finally, the trick black in some light, changing to a deep, hearty blue in bright light paint was applied by Classic & Sport Auto Finishing in Edinburg, VA.
Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #6 ~ 1955 Chevy
As the third red Great 8 car, I know how my dad would vote. He’s never liked red… but on this “ZL-55” Chevy it’s working for me. Plus, pops has never tried to get a great indoor photo of a black car. It ain’t fun.
Owners Johnny and Frances Edmunson brought their 55 from Athens, TN along with, as the name suggests, an all aluminum ZL-1 427. The show card says it was raced by Gene Felton at some point, but Hinkle Machine Shop put the shine to it for the show circuit. Greening Auto Company kicked in on their second Rilder car for machining duties and I’m guessing Tracy over at Recovery Room fit the custom interior, including the fitted luggage. Since someone asked in a comment below, I’d better mention that the builders were Craig’s Hot Rod Shop in Knoxville, TN and Rongey’s Restoration in Ocoee, TN.
Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #7 ~ 1963 Chevy Nova SS Convertible
Superior Autoworks rolled in the “Atomic Bomb” 63 Nova SS Convertible, but luckily nobody panicked. Instead, like me folks stood back and took in the craftsmanship that put this Nova in the running for the Ridler. My favorite part was either the smoothed, custom taillights shown, or the grin on the face I saw pasting the “Great 8” sticker on the window. Most can only imagine the effort needed to bring a car like this from a drawing board to Cobo Center.
Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #8 ~ 1953 Chevy Pickup
Making their way from the great northwest in Prineville, OR, owners Robert and Nancy put some GO in their show truck: How about 1100 horsepower thumping out of a blown 540 cu. in Dart Motor? Hooked to a 4L80E, I can pretty much describe the rest of this slick green Chevy as, “Custom”. RK Restorations handled the build and paint comes from Charley Hutton. You remember his name from the Boyd show, but he’s been on his own forever now painting with PPG.
As the only pickup in the Great 8 pack, that’s a win right there!
Now’s the time… No more campaign promises or fiery debates (though you’re welcome to leave a comment) vote your favorite.
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the 55 Chevy, Who built the car.. I mean who did all the metal work. Someone need recognition.
All the cars are amazing but how many time are we going to redo 67 Shelby into a Eleanor lookalike
First Class !!! A real winner
The 63 Nova is amazing. The mustang is just a stock mustang. Looks great but no innovation. The 63 Nova has everything.
The 63 Nova has my vote. I love the colors. Sharp Car.
A lot of beautiful vehicles here but XSCASH is over the top.
Likeing that XS CASH very much. no wires, no bolts, no clutter.
Stealing a quote from G.M. 1957… “Sweet, smooth and sassy!”
Thanks fore all the comments. After another look at the Ridler Award contenders, I still think the 67 Shelby has it. But… XS Cash, the 55 Thunderbird and the Alexander Bros 33 could all win it too. They’re all unreal builds.
The ’63 Nova convertible is nice on top, but the painted undercoating/Line-X looking stuff will drop it in the standings.
JF’s Shelby: nice car, but not very “custom” compared to the other 7 contenders
The grenn truck: it’s nice, not sure if it has what it takes to win
The Naff built 32: very clean and a top 4 car
Alexander Bros ’33: reminds me of Foose’s Hemifear. Being a guy that builds grilles, I don’t care for the machined “grille” in the car. Looks like it belongs on a storm drain.
XS Cash: hmm. A red ’32, like I haven’t seen that before. Well executed,but I don’t know if there’s enough “different” to set it apart.
Peace/Greening TBird: cool car, no doubt. Top 4 easily. The only drawback I see to the car is the box stock Borla stamped mufflers being visible.
Edmundson 55 Chevy: I may be a bit partial to it because I built the grille on the car, but this car is a serious contender. The fit/finish is unreal. A real ZL-1 power plant, detailed chassis. This car is a sleeper that might just walk away with the Ridler!
Xscash is clean and smooth it sets the high for others to go for, a 32 is red just like Italian sport cars are because That’s the only color they can be and this owner got the one dead on . Imagine it on the street pulling up next to you at the lights c’mon you know you would just die
Thanks so much for providing the killer pics as timely as you do. I look forward to Detroit autorama more than a normal person should. Really hard to pick a favorite or a winner for that matter. I am still having a hard time believing that that second gen silver Camaro didn’t get chosen, I’m shocked really. I would have to say that would have been the car to beat IMO. That being said I had a really hard time picking my favorite, I usually have one I just love and it makes the decision easy, not the case with this group of cars. After reading All previous comments above I have to say I agree w most of them. I voted for the 55 t-bird, different, unique, elegant, beauitful, exceptional fit and finish and Twin Turbos, I looove the engine bay on this car. Also really not sure why the “caliber” car didn’t make the 8, that looked to be a strong contender as well. Looks like all the voters like the JF built mustang, also an amazing car by an amazing builder (who should have win the Ridler a few years ago with that insane Chyrsler wagon) but I just don’t know if it’s “groundbreaking” enough to take the title. I’d also like to see the green Chevy pickup take it, be cool to see a truck bring home a Ridler title, although being stupid nice it didn’t quite grab me by the boo boo like a lot of the previous Ridler winners have done in the past, i.e JF’s wagon, last years 50 something ford etc. can’t wait to see who takes the title. If anyone agrees or disagrees I’d be interested to hear. Cheers! R~
I’m right on with the ’32 Ford!! XSCash is my pick, looks like Dave has done it again. What a great lookin; ride.
How can you get any more beautiful than the “67 Shelby GT500? So many congratulations on the best-by-far car.
Hey Grillguy, I saw the 63 Nova, no lineX on that car! That car is as smooth and sshiney on the underside as on top and engine bay. A lot o engineering and time spent on that car. It deserves the win. Out of the ordinary!!
All 8 cars selected are amazing. My Vote for the Mustang is because I can related well with the 66 to 67 era. For example a 67 SS Chevy ll 327, 67 Corvette 427 Tri-power , 67 Chev SS -396 Malibu and the 67 Mustang GT 500 are all in a Category of its own.
well every one hope the boys do ok with that mustang worked on it but not to the end had to move because of job so if youknow shelb’s they don,t fit and finish as good as this one espeasily when it was ressurected from a junk yard looks great 8 material lots of luck to the boys at jf kustom
WOW !!! Shelby ,great car. Check out the attention to detail, this is what makes a real show stopper. The Shelby is a real winner!
The Shelby is the obvious winner. What a beautiful machine!
The Revolver Red XS CASH 32 Ford Coupe has set the bar higher this year!
An absolutely beautiful car, great styling, color, perfect execution, fit & finish. The one of a kind interior is stunning! Pictures can’t quite capture the depth of the beautiful paint as seen in person!
There is a lot of body work in that Nova. The Nova has my vote.
This is one of the very best 67 shelby’s ever built. It takes more than a walk around it to really see it One has to crawl under it to see the detail done to everything under it as well as inside it. A real show stopper and from the comments here, people’s choice.
My good friend Sheldyn Sproat designed and fabricated this Green 53 chevy truck and Im very amazed to finally see this truck complete. What a beauty. Great job
Hey Ron, you’re right, it’s a great looking truck. By being selected for Great 8 and being the only truck, that’s saying it was the best truck in the show. No arguing that. Thanks for the comment and welcome to MyRideisMe!
Just wanted to start by saying congratulations to Bob & Nancy Komlofske on their truck and to say thank you to them for allowing me to design and fabricate it for them. Also would like to thank Charley Hutton for taking it and putting the final finishes on it, in a way only he can! Furthermore, would like to congratulate the other Great 8 participants . This is a dream come true! PS my vote is the 55 T bird. It was a well deserved winner.
The 63 Chevy Nova is out of this world. The other eight are certainly something to look at but don’t come close to the craftsman ship and beauty of the Nova. Someone really put a lot of blood sweat and tears into making it the masterpiece that it is. The Nova deserves to win, hands down.
Regarding the Nova:
I went thru the photo album of the Nova. There is definitely Line-X in the wheel wells.
Also WRONG with the car is the door window glass chrome trim that only goes up the back and across the top of the glass… Where is the piece that goes down the front of the glass against the A pillar? Also WRONG is the nice big round hole on the underside of the hood for an air filter…that’s not on top of the engine…
But that’s just me…
The Nova is nice, don’t get me wrong, but there are way more body mods on the silver Camaro built by Lakeside. You know, the one that got picked by the CASI management as “Best of Show”!
craigs hotrod shop done all the fabrication and built the ZL1 55!
the piece of chrome that goes down the front of the door glass on the nova was left in the scrap pile ……we called it the vent window assembly
I’m getting tired of the Eleanor Type cars and this 67 is just another version of a car that has already been built JF’s wagon was cool but I think he’s run out of fresh ideas.. Nice work on all these cars but the Mustang has run it’s course as has the 55 and the 32 coupe. All these cars have had so much press and coverage through the movies in one form or another that we are getting tired of them. We truly need something fresh, we need someone to think outside the box for a change. We need someone to start a whole new style of HotRod/ custom car. It’s time for a change