Autorama Part II - Motown Muscle

Otto Puzzell · March 17, 2007, 05:45:14 AM

The mid 1950's until the early 1970's saw an explosion of chrome, horsepower, and hot rodding. In no particular order, here are some that I liked from that era, and one modern car that looks back with fondness on that era.

1959 Olds Fiesta - The Fiesta nameplate first appeared on Oldsmobile's top of the line convertible in 1953, then went into hiatus, until it was revived for use on station wagons from 1957 to 1964. This was one a surprisingly large crop of wagons at this year's show.

Hemi Cuda -Legendary Motorcars of Ontario, CA, had a nice crop of restored pony cars, including this nice Barracuda with the 'Shaker' hood option (the scoop is on the floor to the left of the car, the better to see that big motor. Legendary Motorcars restores a lot of the cars featured on 'Dream Car Garage", but neither that guy with the funny accent nor his plump sidekick were anywhere to be seen, which was OK with me.

1970 Monte Carlo - Monte Carlos were also well-represented this year. This 1970 Monte Carlo was built by Bruce Kimmer's Heads Up Racing LCC in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Also present was a mid-80's Monte transformed into a Dodge-Magnum-like sport wagon. I'll get that picture up in a later post.

1970 Buick GSX - Skoal (of chewin' tobacco reknown) was running a contest to win the nice Buick GNX convertible pictured here, but to win, y'all had to come inside their tent and sample a chaw. No thanks!

1955 Chevy Sedan - Lot's of Tri-5 Chevys, of course. This was a very clean 1955 4-door in the popular (at the time) Pink and Black two-tone scheme.

1968 American Motors AMX - Almost no AMC's at this show, which was disappointing. With their popularity starting to rise with collectors and hotrodders, I though I'd see more. This Big Bad Orange 1968 was pretty straight, but the wheels were a bit overdone for my taste.

2005 Holden Efijy - Holden's Efijy concept from 2005 was a nice tribute to the lead sleds of yesterday, much as Ford's '49 show car. This one packs a breathed-on Corvette engine good for 645bhp (and smokey burnouts). Sweet!

Ultra · March 17, 2007, 08:28:51 AM

Great pics!!!

Why a seperate thread? $:-\$

F(minus)1 · March 19, 2007, 01:14:52 AM

Does the theme for the Autorama change yearly?

Boxer2500 · March 19, 2007, 01:56:32 AM

That Monte is dead sexy, and the AMX is oh so close behind it. They just need to ditch the wheels for something more period correct. Ordinarily, AMC is my personal favorite company from that era.

Otto Puzzell · March 19, 2007, 03:27:29 AM

Quote from: F(minus)1 on March 19, 2007, 01:14:52 AM
Does the theme for the Autorama change yearly?

Not exactly. It is a collection of about 900 miscellaneous cars, heavily skewed towards hot rods and customs, but with some originals and restorations. The show was the brain child of the Michigan Hot Rod Association, who saw it as a money-raising vehicle for their drag racing exploits. It was quite successful at that, and they ended up forming a national exhibition company, and taking it across the country.

One part of the show that stays in Detroit is the Riddler award, equal in prestige to the Oakland Roadster Show's 'Most Beautiful Roadster' trophy. I have some pics of this year's winner, 'First Love', that I'll be posting soon.

F(minus)1 · March 19, 2007, 11:25:42 PM

I'm not a hot rod fan, but those pictures come close to making me change my mind. It's as if they polished each car just prior to you taking the picture. Very cool indeed.

Jagman · March 20, 2007, 11:57:54 AM

When I was at the Goodguys show this past summer, I noticed a lot of 50's and 60's era cars with those giant 22" wheels and rubber band tires, they looked completely wrong on those cars.........nice pics, BTW

GRAYWOLF · March 21, 2007, 03:43:46 PM

Quote from: Jagman on March 20, 2007, 11:57:54 AM
When I was at the Goodguys show this past summer, I noticed a lot of 50's and 60's era cars with those giant 22" wheels and rubber band tires, they looked completely wrong on those cars.........nice pics, BTW

They look completely wrong on everything I have seen them on!

porridgehead · March 21, 2007, 06:47:21 PM

The Efijy is pure art. Absolutely remarkable.

The rest is none too shabby too. The AMX is one of the cars that formed my interest in all things automotive. My next door neighbor had one. I can still remember that rumblin' sound.

Otto Puzzell · February 14, 2011, 05:15:41 AM

Autorama's coming around again...

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grobmotorix · March 26, 2011, 02:25:20 AM

I love the Efijy. I even have a small one standing in the shelve next to my working place:

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Autorama Part II - Motown Muscle