As we discussed in our podcast we've always been a very broad church, from cal look VWs, to old school JDM, to super saloons and even occasionally standard cars, we love it all. We do maintain a very firm place in our hearts for the world of rods and customs (and Kustoms) and each year I very much look forward to seeing what is up for the Ridler award at the Detroit Autorama. In some ways i prefer the Ridler award to the (possibly) slight more prestigious Americas Most Beautiful Roadster award as it has a more diverse range of cars to pull from and definitely a more diverse history of winners.
Over time you can see how hot rods and customs have changed and it is a fascinating insight in to the changing trends. Even more exciting for someone like me is the inspiration that can be taken from some of the older builds, with a more modern eye.
Let's start at the beginning in 1964, Detroit Autorama started in 1956 but the Don Ridler Memorial trophy didn't start until '64
Al Bergler's "Aggrevation" an Austin Bantam Comp Coupe
Mike and Larry Alexander very firmly left their mark on hot rodding with a series of legendary cars, they are worthy of a thread of their own. Having already built the winning car in '65 they returned in 1967 with one of the most iconic custom cars of all time, the Dodge Deora
Here is something that screams 70's customs, the winner in 1972 Jack Pennington's "Scorpion", a Corvette with the engine in the rear.
A year later he took consecutive prizes with "Devilfish"
It is interesting to note here that a lot of these cars that won up until the mid 70's were relatively contemporary cars. Some of them were effectively brand new and others just a few years old, there was also a sprinkling of prewar rods and home built pre war style body work on many of them. Towards the late 70's it starts to look more like what we'd consider rods and customs to be for the most part now days, locked in an era of base vehicles, if not styles.
This is the 1977 winner, a 26' Model T by Frank Camden
Let's fast forward a little to the mid-80's
Things were really starting to establish the identifiable 80's smoothed rodding style with Bob Reed's 34 that won in '84 and then Bob Alloway's 33 winner from '85
But it wasn't all 30's Fords dominating the prize through the 80's (okay it was for the most part), 1986 saw Dale Hunt scoop the award with this '86 Pontiac Grand Am
For the most part though from 1974 until 1995 it was a pre-war Ford winning it every year, except for that 1986 win.
In 1994 we were at the heart of the early 90's rod look with Fred Warren's 37 "Aero Coupe" showing everything you'd expect from the style
Then after this long run of Ford based hot rods we get Bob Rizzoli's Mercedes drag car walked off with the coveted award in 1995
The 90's really belonged to Don Pilkenton, who was the first builder to build three award winning cars, 1993, 1996 and the last of the millennium in 1999 with this '32 3 Window
2002 sees a name we'd all become familiar with, a chap called Chip Foose wins the show with "Grandmaster" a fairly prophetic name for a man that has built (so far) four Ridler winners
You can see the evolution of styles already, but for me 2007 is probably my favourite winner, built for Ross and Beth Meyers by the wonder that is Troy Trepanier, just the perfect '36 for me
The following year something totally different walked off with the price, this Ferrari powered Rambler, known as the Ferrambo
Getting closer to now we have another Chip Foose winner with this Impala, epitomising what I think is the very modern style of custom and the sort of car that seems to occupy a lot of space at SEMA
Last year's winner, is this incredibly rare, and heavily customised Cadillac Brougham, reputedly costing over $2 million over an 8 year build
Finally we reach 2020 with this 2 Door Station Wagon "Impressive" which you can read all about here : www.hotrod.com/articles/1963-chevy-2-door-wagon-wins-ridler-award-2020-detroit-autorama/
So there we have it, a potted history of the changing styles of the Ridler Award, you can see all the winners here : autorama.com/awards/ridler-award/ I'm sure there are some personal favourites and other notable cars in there, what are yours?*
*also I'm sure I got some stuff wrong so feel free to correct me...
Over time you can see how hot rods and customs have changed and it is a fascinating insight in to the changing trends. Even more exciting for someone like me is the inspiration that can be taken from some of the older builds, with a more modern eye.
Let's start at the beginning in 1964, Detroit Autorama started in 1956 but the Don Ridler Memorial trophy didn't start until '64
Al Bergler's "Aggrevation" an Austin Bantam Comp Coupe
Mike and Larry Alexander very firmly left their mark on hot rodding with a series of legendary cars, they are worthy of a thread of their own. Having already built the winning car in '65 they returned in 1967 with one of the most iconic custom cars of all time, the Dodge Deora
Here is something that screams 70's customs, the winner in 1972 Jack Pennington's "Scorpion", a Corvette with the engine in the rear.
A year later he took consecutive prizes with "Devilfish"
It is interesting to note here that a lot of these cars that won up until the mid 70's were relatively contemporary cars. Some of them were effectively brand new and others just a few years old, there was also a sprinkling of prewar rods and home built pre war style body work on many of them. Towards the late 70's it starts to look more like what we'd consider rods and customs to be for the most part now days, locked in an era of base vehicles, if not styles.
This is the 1977 winner, a 26' Model T by Frank Camden
Let's fast forward a little to the mid-80's
Things were really starting to establish the identifiable 80's smoothed rodding style with Bob Reed's 34 that won in '84 and then Bob Alloway's 33 winner from '85
But it wasn't all 30's Fords dominating the prize through the 80's (okay it was for the most part), 1986 saw Dale Hunt scoop the award with this '86 Pontiac Grand Am
For the most part though from 1974 until 1995 it was a pre-war Ford winning it every year, except for that 1986 win.
In 1994 we were at the heart of the early 90's rod look with Fred Warren's 37 "Aero Coupe" showing everything you'd expect from the style
Then after this long run of Ford based hot rods we get Bob Rizzoli's Mercedes drag car walked off with the coveted award in 1995
The 90's really belonged to Don Pilkenton, who was the first builder to build three award winning cars, 1993, 1996 and the last of the millennium in 1999 with this '32 3 Window
2002 sees a name we'd all become familiar with, a chap called Chip Foose wins the show with "Grandmaster" a fairly prophetic name for a man that has built (so far) four Ridler winners
You can see the evolution of styles already, but for me 2007 is probably my favourite winner, built for Ross and Beth Meyers by the wonder that is Troy Trepanier, just the perfect '36 for me
The following year something totally different walked off with the price, this Ferrari powered Rambler, known as the Ferrambo
Getting closer to now we have another Chip Foose winner with this Impala, epitomising what I think is the very modern style of custom and the sort of car that seems to occupy a lot of space at SEMA
Last year's winner, is this incredibly rare, and heavily customised Cadillac Brougham, reputedly costing over $2 million over an 8 year build
Finally we reach 2020 with this 2 Door Station Wagon "Impressive" which you can read all about here : www.hotrod.com/articles/1963-chevy-2-door-wagon-wins-ridler-award-2020-detroit-autorama/
So there we have it, a potted history of the changing styles of the Ridler Award, you can see all the winners here : autorama.com/awards/ridler-award/ I'm sure there are some personal favourites and other notable cars in there, what are yours?*
*also I'm sure I got some stuff wrong so feel free to correct me...
