#I think we’d split a marg by that point

[call-me-maggie13]

That episode (S1:E39) of Bluey where Muffin misses her nap reminds me of the time my girlfriend and I got trashed and spent most the night trying to control each other’s worst impulses

[simpsonsnight]

Episode #508

set yourself free and read a thing where I say what this blog is

Lisa Goes Gaga Season 23 - Episode 22 | May 20, 2012 Lady Gaga tries to cheer up Lisa in what is largely considered to be the worst episode of the entire series. Is this episode truly the worst? Well, it’s very bad conceptually and yes, the jokes are pretty lame. Never before has an episode been so focused on the guest-star in the way this one is with Lady Gaga. It’s basically pro-Gaga propaganda. She’s ludicrously focused on Lisa’s problems. They try to make a few jokes here and there about how ridiculous it all is, but it really does just seem like the Simpsons desperately grabbing for relevancy. Compare this to the Michael Jackson episode from season 3: The twist was that Michael Jackson voiced a mental patient who THOUGHT he was Michael Jackson. Here is 23 minutes of Lady Gaga being glorified. As of this writing the show is rated 4.3 on IMDB, the lowest of any episode. There’s no question in my mind that this is a bad one, so maybe this hair isn’t worth splitting, but I get the sense that try-hard current-day Simpsons fans who think they’re too cool to be seduced by glossy pop music are over-reacting a bit. Remember being 13 (who I imagine is largely still watching the show at this point) and just railing against shit that was extremely popular despite it not really mattering that much? I really don’t know how my take on this episode is much better because I truly don’t like it and can’t even pretend to come up with a devil’s advocate argument in support of it. Sorry, fans of advocation. Oh YEAH! Before I forget, I happened to see this one live and there’s a moment when Lady Gaga and Marge kiss like lesbos and when that happened on TV a little hashtag appeared in the corner, something like #GagaKissesMarge. I remember seeing that hashtag pop up and a chill went down my spine. If this is the future of television, I don’t want it. Keep your second-screen experience off my television. The Hashtag mercifully does not appear on the streaming version of the episode, or else we’d all be tweeting about #GagaKissesMarge to this day THE B-SODE:

Family Guy: "Life of Brian" Season 12 - Episode 6 | November 24, 2013 What’s this episode got to do with “Lisa Goes Gaga”? I’ll tell you: It’s hated just as much. At the time of this writing, not only is it the lowest-rated Family Guy episode but it too has netted a 4.3 rating on IMDB. Honestly I found this episode to be fairly funny. It’s fair enough to say that the “serious” Brian death scenes bog it down a bit. But the humor is comparable to your typical Family Guy episode. The rating on IMDB et. al is clearly inflated by spiteful people incensed by a creative decision they disagree with. But this episode isn’t actually bad by Family Guy standards. Oh, they made a joke about their weird DVD releases not being by season, and you know I’m on board with that.

[nileqt87]

Big Finish: Ten x Rose

http://gallifreybase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=245111&page=7

If we were getting more than 3 audios per year, I'd be far more willing to give up the every-other-year Catherine/Billie dynamic for new companions or solo adventures here and there. It pains me already that if Freema comes in that it wouldn't be until 2020 that we'd see Ten/Rose again (2019 is bad enough!). I realize it's next to impossible to get David + Catherine or Billie's high-demand schedules worked out for anything more than what we're getting, but this already feels like the limit of how long to wait between the next batch of either companion. It's different with these audios, given we get so few, than it is for, say, the Classic Doctors or ranges that get far more audios per year. And for some like Tom and Paul, it's way more. Obviously, Tom's age makes him a priority (ditto William Russell in The Companion Chronicles range before he retired) and they're trying to build him up to where Peter, Colin and Sylvester are. If David was doing 8+ audios per year like Tom, weird little forays into other dynamics or a wider variety of companions would be fine. But with it being every other year already for 2 companions at a mere 3 audios each, the fewer companions to split between, the better. Best to make it the ones the audience most wants more of until the actors are willing to spend more time in the audio booth. Sadly, that might take a decade or more. I also note that Billie was on the show before the utterly massive deluge of media started getting produced for DW. It actually picked up dramatically during series 3. More Rose isn't actually giving her wildly more than Martha or Donna, given there are far fewer Ten/Rose books and NSA audio exclusives (didn't exist) than many later Doctor/companion dynamics got. There's also the fact that when Rose is placed with a Doctor for some kind of multi-Doctor comic, comic range or anniversary book collection, she gets given to Nine for lack of other choices for him, which means that Ten hardly ever gets to be with Rose for comics or books beyond the ones that were published during series 2. Despite the enormous fan following of these two (to this day!), it's a surprisingly under-served era in media. If we want to do a different dynamic, I'd suggest Metacrisis!Ten II and Rose (I'd suggest that Big Finish allow more mature character work), given they're an entirely blank slate and the story could ultimately be taken anywhere with no inevitable conclusion. I note that Camille's Short Trips are the first foray into exploring them. And that's another thing, it's obvious that Camille wants to do a lot of Big Finish and she really needs David and/or Billie. You can only have so many adventures of Jack and Jackie while the Doctor and Rose are away! LOL. Speaking of character work, as great as these adventures were, we need more character building. One thing that RTD did even in the most inane episodes was to put some big character moment. Even in the seemingly naff filler Fear Her, we have Rose reacting to Ten saying he's been a father before. These moments and the will they/won't they tragedy of it all are what make the era beloved by the people who actually love the era. Play to the audience that loves them in the first place. It would be a mistake to placate the haters of even the faintest whiff of romance or mutual attraction (most of these fans don't even care to buy Tennant-era anything). Obviously, it never got to the point of mutual declarations of love (despite 3 broken sentences about to say it and a Dalek declaring it), but it would be a mistake for Big Finish to eliminate the more soapy dramatic aspect of the Tennant era that was absolutely present and should carry over into audio form. Big Finish has this huge opportunity to play with this audience to build up to Army of Ghosts (not to mention the Metacrisis open-ended story) with a dynamic that coyly played with the audience to the point where how far the relationship had gotten is left a complete mystery up to a point. There's a lot of wiggle room. RTD pointedly gave the audience WTF moments like Rose mentioning the baby on Bad Wolf Bay that ended up being Jackie's pregnancy, but it was still played up for shock value with both the audience and the Doctor's own reaction. The relationship was at least serious enough that the Doctor had Rose's shirt with him in the console room and arguably was more blatant about his feelings for Rose after she was gone (using it to shove distance between himself and Martha and then making a big deal out of being only mates with Donna) than when she was there. Big Finish has options up to a point on how far they want to play with that. Of these audios, Zaross and Chevalier clearly give the most in terms of character depth and personal moments. More of that, at the very least. The 'shippiest thing here was probably Ten and Rose dressing up as a Harlequin and a devil (there's a flirtatious moment there with "you little devil") for the 1791 masquerade ball and Ten trying his hardest and failing to impress Rose with his swordsman skills (fangirl fantasies fulfilled). So far, the book that catered to the fangirls the most was The Stone Rose (Ten kisses Rose at the end in his exuberance at not being a stone statue), which is why you'll find it so popular in the community. That's an example of tie-in material knowing its audience and trying to do what RTD did rather than just [insert Doctor] and [insert companion] generic adventures. Zaross also had great stuff for Rose and Jackie, especially regarding Marge's classism and comparing her daughter at Cambridge to both 'runaway' Rose and 'cashier' Jess. The message that everyone has worth and you don't need fame or the greatest education/success/wealth felt very RTD. My suggestion to Big Finish is to do less generic, cookie-cutter adventures with Ten/Rose. Do things that are more personalized to their very unusual dynamic in the Whoniverse and follow RTD's character-centric approach. Even RTD's fillers had character moments, but the best episodes were ones that challenged the characters on a personal level. Remember that David excels at being a dramatic Shakespearean actor (Billie and Catherine are also strong at it). If anything was missing in these audios, it was perhaps that we didn't see enough serious, dramatic material. Perhaps if these were 2-hour adventures, we'd get scenes in between the madcap adventures that are quiet conversations with opportunities for something a bit more meaningful. Every RTD episode had some moment that was dead serious. Big Finish needs to remember that in the future. There was more to series 2 Ten and Rose than just happy-happy. Ten blowing a gasket over the Wire stealing Rose's face or his "you wither and you die" immortality speech are examples where even the Doctor at his most happy and love-struck is still the PTSD-suffering Oncoming Storm and Lonely God who is afraid of losing everyone he [loves]. Big Finish needs to remember this element of Ten in the future. The closest we got to it in this batch of audios was Zaross when Ten realizes that the villain has not only killed the few humans permanently, but has also killed others on many planets in their quest for fame. More of this, but remember that Ten also had such serious moments with his companions, too, not just villains.

My favorite scene, F.Y.I., was actually the callback to The Mind Robber and the Land of Fiction. You just know what name-dropping Ten would be like in such a meta world of fictional characters (think Babes in Toyland and Once Upon a Time on psychedelic LSD). I'd be pleased as punch if we got to see Ten and Rose journey through the Land of Fiction. Hey, maybe she can meet fictional!Jamie from Six's City of Spires tetralogy, given that Jamie was name-checked in Tooth & Claw, and I could have my two favorite companions together! Also, Scottish accents on parade.

[jonathanbelloblog]

America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Crowned At 2018 Grand National Roadster Show

POMONA, California — When Al Slonaker organized an Oakland-based car show in 1949, he just wanted to showcase all the new car models for returning WWII soldiers. Local car clubs took up some of the extra space, but then he saw all those young folks walk right past the new machines and straight to the hopped-up and chopped down hot rods and customs. The following year, Slonaker ditched the dealers and the Grand National Roadster Show was born.

Like all babies, it’s grown and moved away to a new home, but it continues to host one of the most coveted awards in custom car building—America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR). Fans of American car culture come from all over the world to show and to see the show.

John Buck brought the Roadster Show to the Pomona Fairplex in 2003. Under his care it has expanded from three buildings to nine, plus outside displays. “The show is kid and family friendly. We get pinstripers, cackle cars, bands, bikes, trucks, lowriders; all the representatives of American car culture are here.”

In the “Suede Palace,” you can pick up rockabilly accessories while admiring high-nosed “Gasser” race cars and paintjobs so ornate they’d make Michelangelo wish he’d had metalflake and a spraygun for the Sistine ceiling. In a building across the way, rare musclecars represent the highlights of the horsepower wars, with multiple carburetors hiding under flashy hood graphics, ready for a run down Woodward Ave. Other buildings house dry-lakes racers, etched and pinstriped cruisers, and a charming collection of micro-cars, three of which could fit in a lowrider Impala’s trunk.

The stars of the show are in Building 4, where the 15 hopeful AMBR winners hover around their roadsters, polishing and dusting until a brain surgeon would say, “Dude, it’s clean enough.” This is a big deal. People spend years and hundreds of thousands of dollars—sometimes millions—to bring a car up to the level of AMBR competition. Judging takes days and can be controversial.

“This isn’t a question of restoration or historical accuracy,” former HOT ROD staffer—and former AMBR judge, Thom Taylor told us. “This is the Most Beautiful. It’s very subjective. Just being technically impressive isn’t enough.”

A stroll through the entrants is both technically and aesthetically impressive. Most of the cars are ’32 Fords—the quintessential roadster—but any pre-1937 American car with a removable roof, no sideglass, and a removable windshield is eligible. This year a lone 1936 Cadillac stands out amongst the Fords. It’s the color of the last gasp of light before nightfall, a gloaming blue with fenders like a distant mountain range. You expect to see the moon rise above them. “It’s easiest to win with a ’32,” Taylor told us. “It’s established. Judges know what to look for.”

Rick Dore has taken a risk bringing the Cad, but it isn’t unheard of for an unusual model to take top prize. In 2017, a Troy Ladd-built Packard packed up the trophy.

The engine bays are as much of a show as the car exteriors, with rare performance modifications like the Ardun OHV hemi-head conversion.

Near the stage, owner/builder Brian Cruz out of Texas dusts off the small block Chevy in an Easter-pastel blue ’32 Ford. Next to him is Scott Helliesen’s lipstick-red ’32, one side panel lifted like a bird’s wing offering a glimpse at the Ford flathead inside. Engines in the roadsters run the gamut from early flathead Fords to a modern 4.6-liter Northstar.

There are no rules governing the powerplants aside from one: the car must drive past the judges on the way into the show. Proof of functionality can be spotted in the heat discoloration on chromed headers, a light gold at the bends that won’t polish away. It’s a point of pride.

While nobody will spill the winner before the awards, everyone has a favorite. Before we even see it, we’ve already heard about Dana and Marge Elrod’s 1936 Ford.

How you display is as important as what you display at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California.

“It looks so mean,” said Steve Strope, owner of Pure Vision Design, an LA-based custom shop. “It’s hard to make a car look intimidating when it’s up in the air on a plinth, but they did it.”

“We really wanted this car to scream ‘hot rod’,” Dana Elrod told us when we approached him. We’d say it doesn’t scream so much as growl with Clint Eastwood-worthy menace. Strope was right—the Elrod car, built by Nebraska customizer Dale Boesch, is downright mobster. The rear has been shortened, the front reworked, it’s lowered and leaned out and black as an eclipse. If you could see all the seams in the metalwork it would look like Frankenstein’s monster, but you can’t see them. Nary a ripple mars its glossy clearcoat. A 392 Hemi with intake stacks and cloth wires offers a pop of chrome and color. Boesch and the Elrods worked on the car for 11 years.

Rare muscle cars filled an entire hall, including the 1963 split-window Corvette originally built by Mickey Thompson and Smokey Yunick and restored by collector Tom McIntyre.

“I started with a decklid and two doors,” said Elrod. “Somewhere along the way we started thinking about this show.”

Displays around the cars are as varied as the engine choices. A billet-and-black ’32 Ford built by Alan Johnson sits on a simple grey carpet with a reflective Lexan sign pronouncing its key specs. Next to it, surrounded by stanchions made of exotic overhead cam heads is the dark blue ’34 Ford of Pete Aardema.

“If the piston matches the head you can use the head,” Aardema told us as if just anyone should have thought of topping a stroked Donovan big block Chevrolet with a Porsche 928 DOHC head. Aardema has made a living out of customized engine combos and his roadster didn’t have any problem meeting the run requirement. “It’s got 10,000 miles on it. Won four different slalom events. Easily.”

The Martin Special, a 1931 Ford built by Scott Kanoski at Hot Rods and Hobbies for David Martin took home the 2018 AMBR award. The car features a lot of contemporary touches, like an emphasis on handling and a minimum of chrome.

Competition for Aardema’s mileage can be found across the way, in the Martin Special display. Another dark blue Ford, David Martin’s 1931 highboy has bragging rights too. Built to drive, the roadster was entered by Martin in the Nevada Silver State Classic Challenge, running for an average of more than 100 mph over the course. That’s a lot of bugs in the teeth. Like the Elrod car, the Martin Special was a buzz in the crowd long before the judging.

One of the reasons that the AMBR contestants can have such active backstories is that unlike the Detroit-based Ridler award, which requires that the entrants be never before seen brand-new builds, AMBR rules only specify that the car has not been in a judged competition. This means that entrants can be old builds, restored builds, and rescued historically important cars.

LA car collector Bruce Meyer brought out the nickel-trimmed and appropriately named “Nickel Roadster,” which was originally built in 1993 but never formally judged. Dan Hostetter built his copper 1927 Ford based off drawings from 1955. The fiberglass and paint show the handwork more than the highly worked steel cars around it, but its creativity and joy-of-machine might sum up the original spirit of car customizing better than any of its less-wavy brethren.

Custom builder Steve Strope told us that he comes to the Grand National show to catch up with his friends and fellow customizers. “It’s not about promoting the shop, it’s about camaraderie, about getting right under a car with someone like Troy (Trepanier) just to admire what he did with the rear suspension.”

If the AMBR trophy was given for pure spirit, though, no car would be more deserving than James Bobowski’s 1929 track-nosed “Eddie Dye Roadster.” Built nearly 70 years ago, the roadster was sold, disassembled, and nearly forgotten. Through hard work and persistence, the original rounded front clip was found and reunited, and all the missing details were replaced or recreated. It’s a great example of design and community.

We didn’t envy the judges the task of choosing a winner. Every one of the 15 contestants offered an interesting engine choice, a great nod to history, or an astounding example of metalwork and design, and man, those paintjobs. Cosmetics companies should come here to scout nail polish ideas.

“This is the highest quality across the board that you’ll see at any show,” said Illinois-based builder Troy Trepanier. He should know, his shop, Rad Rides By Troy, worked on the AMBR-winning car in 2014. “It’s California. It’s in the culture here to understand this stuff. They get it.” He smiles and leans back against the car he brought, not to enter, just to show. “We come to show ‘em we can build cars in the Midwest too.”

In the end, the Martin Special was named America’s Best Roadster for 2018. There may have been a few disappointed builders, but it was a solid choice, one that represents an ongoing change in contemporary hot rodding away from “trailer queens” built just for show and towards cars that really hit the road, just like the early hot-rodders would have wanted.

Displays in the Roadster show weren’t all big American machines. A corral of microcars featured such cuties as this Goggomobil Dart from Australia.

Along with the vehicles, the most famous names in hot-rodding strolled the halls. We barely entered the first building before we were face-to-face with Gene Winfield, an LA-car customizer so influential there is a paint technique named the “Winfield Fade.”

The coveted America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy stands more than 9-feet tall. In the early days of the show, winners would drive away with it sticking out of their roadsters and return it the next year. Today winners get a smaller version to keep.

The post America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Crowned At 2018 Grand National Roadster Show appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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[jesusvasser]

America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Crowned At 2018 Grand National Roadster Show

POMONA, California — When Al Slonaker organized an Oakland-based car show in 1949, he just wanted to showcase all the new car models for returning WWII soldiers. Local car clubs took up some of the extra space, but then he saw all those young folks walk right past the new machines and straight to the hopped-up and chopped down hot rods and customs. The following year, Slonaker ditched the dealers and the Grand National Roadster Show was born.

Like all babies, it’s grown and moved away to a new home, but it continues to host one of the most coveted awards in custom car building—America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR). Fans of American car culture come from all over the world to show and to see the show.

John Buck brought the Roadster Show to the Pomona Fairplex in 2003. Under his care it has expanded from three buildings to nine, plus outside displays. “The show is kid and family friendly. We get pinstripers, cackle cars, bands, bikes, trucks, lowriders; all the representatives of American car culture are here.”

In the “Suede Palace,” you can pick up rockabilly accessories while admiring high-nosed “Gasser” race cars and paintjobs so ornate they’d make Michelangelo wish he’d had metalflake and a spraygun for the Sistine ceiling. In a building across the way, rare musclecars represent the highlights of the horsepower wars, with multiple carburetors hiding under flashy hood graphics, ready for a run down Woodward Ave. Other buildings house dry-lakes racers, etched and pinstriped cruisers, and a charming collection of micro-cars, three of which could fit in a lowrider Impala’s trunk.

The stars of the show are in Building 4, where the 15 hopeful AMBR winners hover around their roadsters, polishing and dusting until a brain surgeon would say, “Dude, it’s clean enough.” This is a big deal. People spend years and hundreds of thousands of dollars—sometimes millions—to bring a car up to the level of AMBR competition. Judging takes days and can be controversial.

“This isn’t a question of restoration or historical accuracy,” former HOT ROD staffer—and former AMBR judge, Thom Taylor told us. “This is the Most Beautiful. It’s very subjective. Just being technically impressive isn’t enough.”

A stroll through the entrants is both technically and aesthetically impressive. Most of the cars are ’32 Fords—the quintessential roadster—but any pre-1937 American car with a removable roof, no sideglass, and a removable windshield is eligible. This year a lone 1936 Cadillac stands out amongst the Fords. It’s the color of the last gasp of light before nightfall, a gloaming blue with fenders like a distant mountain range. You expect to see the moon rise above them. “It’s easiest to win with a ’32,” Taylor told us. “It’s established. Judges know what to look for.”

Rick Dore has taken a risk bringing the Cad, but it isn’t unheard of for an unusual model to take top prize. In 2017, a Troy Ladd-built Packard packed up the trophy.

The engine bays are as much of a show as the car exteriors, with rare performance modifications like the Ardun OHV hemi-head conversion.

Near the stage, owner/builder Brian Cruz out of Texas dusts off the small block Chevy in an Easter-pastel blue ’32 Ford. Next to him is Scott Helliesen’s lipstick-red ’32, one side panel lifted like a bird’s wing offering a glimpse at the Ford flathead inside. Engines in the roadsters run the gamut from early flathead Fords to a modern 4.6-liter Northstar.

There are no rules governing the powerplants aside from one: the car must drive past the judges on the way into the show. Proof of functionality can be spotted in the heat discoloration on chromed headers, a light gold at the bends that won’t polish away. It’s a point of pride.

While nobody will spill the winner before the awards, everyone has a favorite. Before we even see it, we’ve already heard about Dana and Marge Elrod’s 1936 Ford.

How you display is as important as what you display at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California.

“It looks so mean,” said Steve Strope, owner of Pure Vision Design, an LA-based custom shop. “It’s hard to make a car look intimidating when it’s up in the air on a plinth, but they did it.”

“We really wanted this car to scream ‘hot rod’,” Dana Elrod told us when we approached him. We’d say it doesn’t scream so much as growl with Clint Eastwood-worthy menace. Strope was right—the Elrod car, built by Nebraska customizer Dale Boesch, is downright mobster. The rear has been shortened, the front reworked, it’s lowered and leaned out and black as an eclipse. If you could see all the seams in the metalwork it would look like Frankenstein’s monster, but you can’t see them. Nary a ripple mars its glossy clearcoat. A 392 Hemi with intake stacks and cloth wires offers a pop of chrome and color. Boesch and the Elrods worked on the car for 11 years.

Rare muscle cars filled an entire hall, including the 1963 split-window Corvette originally built by Mickey Thompson and Smokey Yunick and restored by collector Tom McIntyre.

“I started with a decklid and two doors,” said Elrod. “Somewhere along the way we started thinking about this show.”

Displays around the cars are as varied as the engine choices. A billet-and-black ’32 Ford built by Alan Johnson sits on a simple grey carpet with a reflective Lexan sign pronouncing its key specs. Next to it, surrounded by stanchions made of exotic overhead cam heads is the dark blue ’34 Ford of Pete Aardema.

“If the piston matches the head you can use the head,” Aardema told us as if just anyone should have thought of topping a stroked Donovan big block Chevrolet with a Porsche 928 DOHC head. Aardema has made a living out of customized engine combos and his roadster didn’t have any problem meeting the run requirement. “It’s got 10,000 miles on it. Won four different slalom events. Easily.”

The Martin Special, a 1931 Ford built by Scott Kanoski at Hot Rods and Hobbies for David Martin took home the 2018 AMBR award. The car features a lot of contemporary touches, like an emphasis on handling and a minimum of chrome.

Competition for Aardema’s mileage can be found across the way, in the Martin Special display. Another dark blue Ford, David Martin’s 1931 highboy has bragging rights too. Built to drive, the roadster was entered by Martin in the Nevada Silver State Classic Challenge, running for an average of more than 100 mph over the course. That’s a lot of bugs in the teeth. Like the Elrod car, the Martin Special was a buzz in the crowd long before the judging.

One of the reasons that the AMBR contestants can have such active backstories is that unlike the Detroit-based Ridler award, which requires that the entrants be never before seen brand-new builds, AMBR rules only specify that the car has not been in a judged competition. This means that entrants can be old builds, restored builds, and rescued historically important cars.

LA car collector Bruce Meyer brought out the nickel-trimmed and appropriately named “Nickel Roadster,” which was originally built in 1993 but never formally judged. Dan Hostetter built his copper 1927 Ford based off drawings from 1955. The fiberglass and paint show the handwork more than the highly worked steel cars around it, but its creativity and joy-of-machine might sum up the original spirit of car customizing better than any of its less-wavy brethren.

Custom builder Steve Strope told us that he comes to the Grand National show to catch up with his friends and fellow customizers. “It’s not about promoting the shop, it’s about camaraderie, about getting right under a car with someone like Troy (Trepanier) just to admire what he did with the rear suspension.”

If the AMBR trophy was given for pure spirit, though, no car would be more deserving than James Bobowski’s 1929 track-nosed “Eddie Dye Roadster.” Built nearly 70 years ago, the roadster was sold, disassembled, and nearly forgotten. Through hard work and persistence, the original rounded front clip was found and reunited, and all the missing details were replaced or recreated. It’s a great example of design and community.

We didn’t envy the judges the task of choosing a winner. Every one of the 15 contestants offered an interesting engine choice, a great nod to history, or an astounding example of metalwork and design, and man, those paintjobs. Cosmetics companies should come here to scout nail polish ideas.

“This is the highest quality across the board that you’ll see at any show,” said Illinois-based builder Troy Trepanier. He should know, his shop, Rad Rides By Troy, worked on the AMBR-winning car in 2014. “It’s California. It’s in the culture here to understand this stuff. They get it.” He smiles and leans back against the car he brought, not to enter, just to show. “We come to show ‘em we can build cars in the Midwest too.”

In the end, the Martin Special was named America’s Best Roadster for 2018. There may have been a few disappointed builders, but it was a solid choice, one that represents an ongoing change in contemporary hot rodding away from “trailer queens” built just for show and towards cars that really hit the road, just like the early hot-rodders would have wanted.

Displays in the Roadster show weren’t all big American machines. A corral of microcars featured such cuties as this Goggomobil Dart from Australia.

Along with the vehicles, the most famous names in hot-rodding strolled the halls. We barely entered the first building before we were face-to-face with Gene Winfield, an LA-car customizer so influential there is a paint technique named the “Winfield Fade.”

The coveted America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy stands more than 9-feet tall. In the early days of the show, winners would drive away with it sticking out of their roadsters and return it the next year. Today winners get a smaller version to keep.

The post America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Crowned At 2018 Grand National Roadster Show appeared first on Automobile Magazine.

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