Detroit Autorama Winning Alloway Speedstar LS1

Bobby Alloway may have designed the SpeedStar's body and given it its overall shape, but it takes a special kind of craftsman to take a car to the level of this trick silver and red roadster. That's what I like most about hot rodding, no two cars are alike, even those that literally pop out of the same mold. Take a look at the other SpeedStar in our inventory and see for yourself. They're so alike yet so different at the same time. How cool is that?

This particular SpeedStar roadster was built by ProRides, and has won awards like 'Best Radical Roadster' at the Detroit Autorama and the Hershey 'Fab 5' award. It has also been featured in 'Street Rod Builder' magazine and has enough trophies behind it to require a trailer to haul them all. Highly detailed and beautifully finished, this car is the very definition of hot rodding state-of-the-art in the 21st century.

As I said, the body is an Alloway Rats Glass piece, and it is anchored to a matching frame from the same guys. This is smart, because you know they're engineered to work together. With the myriad of suppliers, designs, and fabricators out there, a lot of rods end up as cobbled together collections of mismatched parts that never live up to their potential. That's definitely not the case here, where everything was fully engineered and built to work as a unit, and the result is a car that drives as great as it looks.

As with any show-winning ride, the paint is absolutely spectacular. But it takes more than good prep and beautiful finish work to win shows, so I invite you to look closer at this one. Between the Harley Davidson Gray and Corvette Victory Red, you'll find some of the coolest graphics I've seen: a simulated TIG weld that was designed and applied by Thad Cunningham from ICON Graphics. Yes, it really does look like a very skilled welder joined the top and bottom halves of this body with the most beautiful welds I've ever seen (yes, I'm a weld snob, having done more than my fair share of time behind a mask). Of course I know they're fake, but you need to get awfully close to be certain. Too, too cool. Volker Auto Body did the prep and applied the paint, and their workmanship was outstanding in every way. The Alloway bodies are pretty darned good right out of the box, but nothing is perfect until you spend hours and hours sanding, fitting, and adjusting all the pieces. Then you apply the paint and carefully go through the process a second time until you have a car that can win awards. It's hard to do, takes a lot of time, and as a result, it's expensive, which is why most rods don't win big awards like this one has.

I love the big headlight look, and it's accomplished here thanks to a pair of headlights from a '34 Ford truck. Everyone does King Bees, but I like this even better. The grille is a custom billet piece inside the Alloway-designed shell that's been raked, pinched, and chopped. Out back, Headwinds Concours rocket taillights are the finishing touch it's a good thing they're pretty, because they're going to be the only thing a lot of guys see if they try to chase down this little red roadster.

Having spent a lot of time in this business, I know that guys don't buy high-dollar rods without knowing exactly what went into them. Fortunately, this car is very well documented and I'll give you a full run-down on the mechanicals. Power comes from an aluminum LS1, which I think most folks will agree is one hell of a motor. No old tech 350 with a carburetor, this is a fuel injected powerhouse that features a polished aluminum intake (not plastic) and custom fabricated sheet metal valve covers. Ignition is handled by a set of 8 separate MSD coil packs, and if you look closely, you'll note that the air cleaner is a trick unit that also houses the mass-air meter. There are braided hoses everywhere you look, but they're black with black fittings for a subtle look that I'm starting to prefer over the shiny stainless stuff. And rounding out the eye candy is a set of aluminum fuel rails that feed the injectors a steady diet of high octane, pieces that the LS1 never carried from the factory. Nice! Of course, there's a pair of long tube headers handling the exhaust duties, and the block has been bathed in more of that Victory Red paint. In all, a simple, clean, well-designed engine bay that lets the hardware do all the talking.

The chassis is equally well crafted using more well-regarded components. The transmission is a 4L60E automatic that is cooled by a B&M transmission cooler for aggressive driving. Up front, the suspension is from Heidt's with a custom crossmember and adjustable coil-over shocks. In back, it's a fully independent Winters axle with trick inboard disc brakes that keeps this little roadster planted in the twisties try that with your buggy-sprung, live axle wearing retro-rod. This car handles better than a new Corvette! Brakes are from Wilwood, with big ventilated discs all around. The exhaust was custom fabricated and features Flowmaster mufflers for that sound that everyone will instantly recognize. Everything that can be polished has been, and if it isn't polished, it has been painted to match the body. Lines and hoses are custom pieces that fit beautifully and must have taken hours to fabricate. Wheels are Bonspeed Custom units measuring 18x8 up front and a gigantic 22x10.5 out back, all rolling on a set of BFGoodrich KD radials.

But I'm guessing it's the interior of this car that really stopped show goers in their tracks. There's not a single piece in there that wasn't hand-fabricated and stitched together, from the gorgeous door panels to the trick center console with integrated (and weatherproof) stereo controls. Every square inch was wrapped in gorgeous red leather and detailed just as thoroughly as the graphics on the outside of the car. I've never seen

gauges like these before, but they're from Bonspeed and are called Viva Las Gauges. Their big, bold graphics are ideally suited to this bright red missile. As I mentioned, the center console was custom molded to hold not only the Lokar shifter for the 4L60E, but also a cool round pod for the hidden entertainment system's control interface. The tilt steering column wears a tachometer as it should, and the Billet Specialties steering wheel has been wrapped in matching red leather. The trunk has had an equal amount of time, money, and attention thrown at it, and presents beautifully with a vintage-looking V8 logo embossed in the back panel, which hides things like the entertainment system and battery. This car isn't done winning awards, and I can almost guarantee this interior will take home its fair share of trophies in the future.

Pro built rods aren't cheap. To win awards at the highest levels, not only does the design need to be jaw-dropping, the execution has to border on art. Every single component has to be finished to perfection and assembled with more care than a surgeon performing a double bypass. This is such a car. Guys who pay for someone to build rods like this understand that they'll never get their investment back, it takes cubic dollars to build a car like this. The upside is that it makes award-winning show pieces affordable for average enthusiasts who want a mind-blowing car but can't afford the build. This is an awful lot of car that cost twice the asking price to build. It is a proven show winner and a spectacular driver on the road. If you like the looks (and who wouldn't?), then I urge you to give us a call right away. You couldn't duplicate this car for the money. Call now!