AMBM – Timing Tower

The GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW, January 29-31, 2016 Pomona, CA

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 07:13:54 +0000

The 67th Grand National Roadster Show is over and AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER AND AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL MOTORCYCLE HAVE BEEN NAMED. AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER Darryl and Terri Hollenbeck from Concord, California are the owners of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster – a 1932 Ford roadster. The car was built by Dan Webb, Cory Taulbert, and Darryl Hollenbeck; it has a Brookville body and the body work was done by Vintage Color Studio; engine is by Edelbrock. The interior and top were done by Sid Chavers and the color was custom mixed PPG Envirobase by Darryl Hollenbeck; Sherm’s Plating and Advance Plating did the chrome. Final assemby was by Bill Ganhal, South City Rod & Custom and Jack Stratton. AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL MOTORCYCLE Andrew Ursich from Long Beach, CA is the winner with his 2015 Urisch Knucklehead, Stardust. This year there were 13 roadsters competing to become America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. The contenders were: There were three motorcycles competing for the AMBM trophy. There was a lot more going on at the 67th Grand National Roadster Show than just the AMBR and AMBM contenders. The buildings surrounding the hub of the Fairplex were full. Building 4 with the AMBR cars and vendors, the Suede Palace with rat rods and customs, Building 7 with hot rods and muscle cars, Building 9 with SCTA’s Quest for Speed exhibit, Building 6 with customs, and more. The show ran for three days and it took all three to see it all. The Grand Daddy drive-in on Saturday saw more than 500 cars fill every available space between and around all the buildings. The original Batmobile built by George Barris was on display. The SCTA filled Building 9 with the old and the new lakes cars. These cars all had one purpose – to go fast. Purchasing one of Dave Fetherston’s books at this exhibit offered the opportunity to join the Save the Salt campaign. There has been racing at Bonneville for more than 100 years, but recently both mining and weather have led to the deterioration of the salt to such an extent that now the future of Bonneville racing is in question. As in past years, dozens of pinstripers from across the nation joined in the Pinstripers Reunion where they donated their time and their talent to create art which was auctioned off on both Saturday and Sunday. The proceeds of this charity auction will be donated to Pomona-based “Everyone Free” which works to prevent human trafficking. And, of course, about 350 cars filled the buildings, including retro builds – wild customs – monochromatic muscle car – Rare and restored – a beach cruiser?? – trucks – at the drive-in – another drive-in hot rods – motorcycles – vintage gassers – pedal cars – and a lot more – Keeping all these cars looking their best for three days is no easy job. This Merc’ came from Tokyo, Japan and exemplifies the saying “nothing beats black when its done right” – but it still needs to be shined regularly. The 2016 inductees into the Hall of Fame were Luc De Ley, Mickey Minsl, Oz Welch and Steve Stanford. The 2016 Builder of the Year was Squeeg’s Kustoms of Chandler, Arizona. The 67th Grand National Roadster Show came to an end after the awards ceremony on Sunday. We’re looking forward to No. 68 – the 14th to be held at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, CA. There are more photos of the show posted on our SmugMug site.

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65th ANNUAL GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW

admin — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 07:33:19 +0000

The 65th Grand National Roadster Show kicked off on Friday January 24, 2014 at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA and ended on January 26, 2014. SUNDAY – AND THE WINNERS ARE ….. AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER 2014 OWNED BY WES RYDELL AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL MOTORCYCLE 2014 OWNED BY FABIAN BECASSE Being in competition for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) means climbing to the top ranks of car building. This year the students of the Roseville High School Auto Shop, Roseville, Michigan built a 1931 Ford roadster pickup that sat proudly on the floor with the other AMBR contenders at the Grand National Roadster Show. This AMBR contender was built entirely by the students in Paul Tregembo’s auto shop class at Roseville High School. These kids didn’t take home the AMBR award but they did collect the Rising Star award. Photos of all of the AMBR contenders can be seen below in our FRIDAY reporting section. The theme of this year’s GNRS was Century of Speed and one entire building was devoted to Bonneville cars. On display was the Blitzen Benz which set a land speed record of 142.8 mph in 1914. Many other notable cars were also on display such as: the Kugel & LeFevers 1992 Pontiac Trans Am which in 1999 was the first passenger car to exceed 300 mph with a speed of 307.468 and a round trip speed of 300.788; Al Lamb’s 2012 Honda Motorcycle at 262.4 was the fastest sit on motorcycle; and, the fastest motorcycle on earth ridden by Chris Carr at 367.382 mph. There were also some long-time Bonneville cars such as: Vesco Racing’s Little Giant 444 built by John Vesco in 1957 which is the holder of four current land speed records; the Paramount Forge, built by the Fergurson family, set 16 Bonneville records and 7 LaMirage records, 10 drivers joined the 200 mph club in this car and 2 went into the 300 mph Club at Bonneville with 6 drivers joining the 200 mph Club at El Mirage; the Daytona Charger, owned and driven by Lee Sicillio, has raced at Speed Week continuously since 1999 and has broken 11 land speed records. There were also some iconic cars such as: Golden Rod built in 1952 by Tommy Thompson; and the Pierson Bros. 2D coupe now owned by Bruce Meyer. The book “Bonneville a Century of Speed” was being sold as a fundraiser for Save the Salt and raised $40,000. Also this year was a separate Gasser exhibit which occupied its own building. Stan Johnson’s slingshot dragster Silver Bullet, took home the Best Slingshot award. Representative of the modern Gasser movement is Stan Chersky’s ’55 Chevy Quicksilver, Joe Hickenbottom’s ’41 Willys pickup Blue Thunder, and Glen Krapff’s ’40 Ford Coupe, Flip Front Forty. Also on hand was the Copperhead a 364” Nailhead Buick dragster owned by Bob DeBurn. In the past couple of years, the Famoso Speed Shop dragster, a 1965 competition coupe owned by Randy Winkle, Roy Pool’s 1965 D/Gas Mercury Comet, and Don Lindfors’ Blair Speed Shop ’48 Anglia have raced on the drag strip at Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield. One feature of the GNRS is the pinstriper’s charity auction. Every day several pinstripers pick up their brushes to stripe everything from panels to chairs to helmets which are then auctioned off. The proceeds of this year’s auction will go to the Ronald McDonald House. A whopping $38,198 was raised. Like Saturday, Sunday included a drive-in during which cars of all kinds drove in for the day and parked in the alleys and streets around the buildings. The awards ceremony was held at the end of the day on Sunday. Participants and class winners were awarded trophies and several special awards were given out by notables such as Penny Pichette, Roy Brizio, Blackie Gejeian and George Barris. The Von Dutch Pinstriping award was given out by Herb “The line Dr.” Martinez. Von Dutch was a famous and infamous pinstripper in the 1950’s. This award was originated by St. John Morton in 1994. The trophy is a copy of Von Dutch’s paint box. This year the winner was Willis Dormer. The Al Slonaker Memorial, the ABMB and the AMBR awards were given out last to close the show. Next year the 66th Annual Grand National Roadster Show will be held January 23-25 2015. You can see more photos from the event on our SmugMug site at timingtower.smugmug.com Saturday Not only will the AMBR (America’s Most Beautiful Roadster) award given away this week-end but the AMBM (America’s Most Beautiful Motorcycle) award as well. Below is a look at the contenders. Lee Smith from Roswell, GA put a big smile on a lot of faces when he put every kid around on his AMBM contender. Today the drive-in started and a lot of nice cars were lining the alleyways between the buildings. The Suede Palace held a lot of nice cars and it was easy to spend a lot of time in this building.. Tomorrow is the last day of the GNRS. We will have a more coverage including the winners of the AMBR and the AMBM. Friday Below are photos of the 11 cars competing to be America’s Most Beautiful Roadster for 2014. Which one will become America’s Most Beautiful Roadster? The Show will continue through Sunday. This year the theme is Quest for Speed and the Century of Speed exhibit features many streamliners and other salt flat racers. Saturday and Sunday will include an outside drive-in where hot rods, customs, classics, etc. will be on display in the areas between the buildings. Keep checking timingtower.com. We’ll continue to post with a final article and photos posted by Monday evening.

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THE GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW 2013

admin — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:33:11 +0000

2013 AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER John Mumford’s “The Kelly Brown Track T” 1927 Ford Roadster – builder Roy Brizio Street Rods. 2013 AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL MOTORCYCLE Sam Baldi’s 2012 Custom. The 64th Annual Grand National Roadster Show ran from January 25th through the 27th, 2013 at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA. After seeing this year’s contenders for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and America’s Most Beautiful Motorcycle along with all the other fine cars at this event, it is easy to see why this show remains “The Grand Daddy of Them All”. Here’s a look at America’s Most Beautiful Roadster contenders; and America’s Most Beautiful Motorcycle contenders. In addition to the America’s Most Beautiful contenders, about 600 very fine cars could be found in eight different buildings. This year the show theme was “Aloha” and the building containing Woodies and Wagons offered an outstanding presentation of the theme. About 100 woodies and wagons were on display. Interesting and creative vehicles could be found all over the Fairplex. Not only could cars be found inside but a lot of cars were parked around the grounds outside. Next year the 65th Grand National Roadster Show will be held January 24-26, 2014 when once again the best of the best will gather at the Fairplex in Pomona. Below is a shot of some of the fine cars on display this year. Since 1998 the Roadster Show has hosted a charity auction to benefit the Lili Claire Foundation which assists children and families affected by neurogenetic conditions. The public was invited to donate any item which could be pinstriped. The best stripers in the industry then got to work striping the donated items. This year $30,000 was raised. Every year special awards are given by some very special people. One such award is the Kustom D’Elegance Award given by George Barris another is the Blackie Geijian Award. This year the Blackie Geijian Award was selected by Blackie and Bones Noteboom of Bones Concept Cars.

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