Sweet Sixteen: What's Happening At The 2019 Grand National Roadster Show
For those of you who’ve been around the block a time or two, you may be wondering why the teen reference for “the world’s longest running indoor car show”—well, 2019 marks the 16th consecutive year the Grand National Roadster Show has been held in Southern California at the Pomona Fairplex following its formative years in Oakland and San Francisco (there are some who still refer to it as the Oakland Roadster Show…most of whom are still attending though!). And so far, the Sweet 16 slash 70th annual GNRS has been quite the celebration.
Along with the highly anticipated America’s Most Beautiful Roadster contention—which alone is worth the price of admission if you’re into beautiful American roadsters—the highlight of this year’s show is the amazing 90th anniversary of the Ford Model A exhibit presented by CW Moss. If you’re thinking a huge building filled with restored four-banger-powered antiques, think again: it’s a huge building filled with everything from past AMBR winners to legendary NHRA/Bonneville record-holding race cars such as the Ala Kart and Niekamp roadsters, Tony Nancy’s 22JR and the Holmes, Kugel &c McGinnis roadsters, and iconic Model As like my all-time favorite, Jake’s one-of-a-kind tub, Jacopage.
More room was allotted for the annual Grand Daddy Drive-In outdoor feature, now in its 14th year—and as you can surmise, that resulted in a lot more cars in attendance on Saturday. The Directly across from the Model A exhibit, things seemed to be getting a bit more polished in the Suede Palace, as a majority of the vehicles on display are now resplendent in gloss finishes rather than satin—but the building’s still packed wall-to-wall from the time the spectator gates open each day.
There’s still plenty more to come from the 70th Annual Grand National Roadster Show, and we’ll be keeping you up to date on all the happenings—including the announcement of the 2019 AMBR winner tomorrow evening—so stay tuned!
SOURCE: STREET RODDER