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2023 Grand National Roadster Show Mega Photo Gallery | Hot rod heaven

POMONA, Calif. — From an outsider's perspective, it would be easy to assume that the Grand National Roadster Show has always been a Southern California institution. After all, it celebrates the diverse postwar car culture of the region — hot rods, lead sleds, lowriders, and more. However, the show had its roots in NorCal in 1950 when Al Slonaker and his hot rod club showed their custom cars at the Oakland Expo. The GNRS moved to Pomona, California, in 2004. By then it had grown exponentially and seen about a dozen more car customization trends come and go. However, the show and its centerpiece award, the America's Most Beautiful Roadster prize, celebrate what is perhaps the first of those trends: the American hot rod in its purest form. Today, in its 73rd year, the GNRS is the oldest indoor car show in America. Annually it welcomes 500-800 cars, gathered into special themes like Tri-Five Chevys or Volkswagen Bugs. At this year's show, which was last weekend, a special hall was dedicated to pickup trucks built between 1948-98, including mini-trucks, groovy camper bed conversions, and resto-mods.  However, of all the vehicles presented, only nine are eligible for the America's Most Beautiful Roadster award. Winners get their names engraved on a 9-foot-tall perpetual trophy that was, according to The Ultimate Hot Rod Dictionary, the largest in the world when it debuted in 1950. Slonaker chose the word "roadster" initially because "hot rod" bore slightly negative outlaw connotations in 1950. Only American cars built before 1937 of certain body styles — roadsters, roadster pickups, phaetons, touring cars — are eligible, and they cannot have roll-down side windows.  Cars in the running for the cup cannot have been shown anywhere else before their debut at the GNRS.  Contestants for this accolade essentially build their cars to the a platonic ideal of a hot rod. This year the honors went to Jack Chisenhall of San Antonio, Texas, for his "Champ Deuce," a 1932 Ford Roadster. It's exactly what you picture when you think of a hot rod, but distilled to its absolute essence.  Other standouts included "Green Eyes," a two-tone green 1959 Chevy El Camino  with a heavily metal-flaked bed, "Blue Monday," a 1964 Buick Riviera lowrider, and a personal favorite, "Purple Reign," a purple and black 1951 Mercury. Cars may have started out as tools, but there aren't shows like this filled with custom refrigerators.

Bob Bondurant driving school closes a month after entering Chapter 11

On Oct. 2, the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In its filing, the 50-year-old racing school said it owed between 50 and 99 creditors an amount between $1 million and $10 million, and had $1 million to $10 million. The school released a statement at the time saying, "Our plan is to emerge from this process as a stronger company and continue to drive this company into the next 50 years." Instead, on Monday, Nov. 12, the Chandler, Arizona-based facility closed its doors with no official explanation. On top of its classes for aspiring racers, law enforcement authorities, and general population students, Bondurant has been the official driving school for Dodge SRT vehicles since 2015. Over the past two years, Dodge has included a one-day training course for any SRT buyers and lessees, redeemable within a year after finalizing the deal for the vehicle. To read the tale of one Hellcat owner at the Hellcat.org forum, even the school's instructors didn't see the closure coming. Forum member Av62nv arrived at Bondurant Monday to start his four-day experience. After a lengthy pause in the middle of the day, Av62nv wrote that the instructor walked in and told the class, "Sorry guys, don't know how to say this, but as some may know the school is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and it looks like 7 now. We are closed." Another poster in the forum, CubeMan, wrote that "Technicians and staff loaded their toolboxes, and paychecks have apparently bounced." Apparently family scion Jason Bondurant arrived and tried to explain; the short of it was that the good thing had come to an abrupt end, but there was "a chance it could come back." Other posters in the forum noted how they have reservations as far out as June 2019, or haven't been able to get to their classes yet because of delivery delays with their SRT cars, and have no idea what's happening. The website is still up, but a Bondurant spokesman confirmed the closure to Classic Cars, and a note on the school door reads, "School is closed. Direct all inquiries to Pat Bondurant." Pat is Bob Bondurant's wife, who married the former race driver in 2010 at the Monaco Grand Prix. A month ago, Bondurant's Chapter 11 bankruptcy statement said, "We will continue operating and serving our students and corporate groups as usual while we develop new business relationships to ensure the vitality of the company in the future." Obviously, that won't happen.

1970 Hemi Challenger is a family heirloom with serious muscle

Petrolicious turns up the emotion in its latest video about a family's connection to their 1970 Dodge Challenger. The orange muscle car that gets the spotlight here is a remarkably beautiful vehicle, but the story of a father and his sons at the core of this clip might leave you feeling a little misty eyed. Juan Escalante is the current owner of this Challenger, but it belonged to his dad first. Juan's father spotted the iconic muscle car during the 1969 Detroit Auto Show and had to have one. He soon placed an order for the orange '70 Challenger R/T with the rare combination for that year of a 426 Hemi V8 and a four-speed manual gearbox. The family even brought the coupe with them when they moved to Venezuela in 1972, and local fans dubbed it El Hemi. However, parts were scarce for the muscle car in that country, and it returned to the US in 1996 for a restoration. Now, the rumbling Challenger with its Coke-bottle profile and black hood is the world's most awesome family heirloom for the Escalantes. In this poignant video, Petrolicious shows how the coupe connects Juan to his father. Related Video: