Featured Event Coverage 2025 AMBR WINNER

A lot of trick parts and eye candy.
Unless my eyes are deceiving me, it looks like the front suspension and frame is at, or below the scrub line. body work below the grille is definitely below. Hope owner never gets a blow out at speed.

 

Well here goes, I'm reading this post and truly I am enjoying it. So much so it created the need to put out words into the universe for all to witness good, bad, or indifferent.

IF this post offends you please don't be, these words and two bucks won't even get a good cup of coffee anymore.

Every Component on that thing is a study in excellence. I look at it like that. Excellence costs money and significant time. Always has, always will. The Excellence factor is waaaay up there. It's their money. If they want to light 2 million on fire and dance naked in the moonlight so be it. Also they set out a goal and accomplished it. For a Trophy and some may say a mine's bigger fest win.

This gets into Ryan's Art Post earlier.

All of our opinions are well, our opinions. The Craftsman who built this car are true Artists in their given line. But for me this car is about the individual parts not the whole package. Nobody really asked but that's my opinion.

Having said all the positive about the process and individual pieces - '36 Roadsters are one of the most beautiful efforts ever to come out of Edsel's bunch. This one well, it falls short for my picky outlook.

For me they tried to make a '36 look like a '32 with Bugatti Veyron Wheels. The color well it left me wanting more. The Upholstery was a highlight though so there's that. I imagined it with fenders, the threads it has, and a deep deep Pitch Black shine job, rolling around on an original take to the Halibrand line. Once I imagined that coupled with the workmanship I'd realized what I'd build with 2 mil. That was a fun exercise, knowing full well I haven't achieved that level of success yet. Sacrilegious opinions I know. But like I said "nobody really asked for it".

In closing after my non essential opinion - Congratulations to the whole team! The Marketing, Press, Hob Nobbing, and Owner Commitment. I honestly mean that. The AMBR contest is so much more than building an automobile. I love to watch someone "get it right". For me this is half as much fun as the build part. Proves it can be done, whatever the "IT" is. Whether or not I like the car is of no consequence at this point. It won and that's what it is.

You had a goal, executed the vision, accomplished it, and won the Trophy.


Some guys will sit there and polish their nuts to the highest shine possible while never actually getting them on a car, some guys view grease as a badge of honor. Most of us fall in the middle somewhere.........

- Tim

 

Is it just me or does the air intake look like an old B-17 oxygen canaster?

 

It’s a damn fine car, deserved to win as far as cubic dollars spent are concerned, but those front tires are still too big for my tastes. When I look at pictures of the car, that’s the first thing that draws my eye. There’s so much more on the car that should.

 

Everywhere you look on that car you see perfection, you see custom made one-off parts created specifically just for this one car. The attention to detail is beyond reproach, and the craftsmanship and engineering is superb. But at the end of the day the lines are off, it's not an especially beautiful car beyond the appreciation for the workmanship and details. Congrats to the winners, but it wasn't my choice for "Most Beautiful Roadster".

 

Haha... it does seem that Hot Rod needs a proofreader. Obvious typos like that have been turning up fairly often lately. But an interesting article and good photos no matter what. Thanks for posting!

 

Pictures don't do it justice. Amazing build. Perfect in every way. Glad I got to see it.

 

The engineered fit and finish of the mechanicals are high end aircraft quality

 

For those that are not aware, Ross and Beth Myers won it last year as well, with their Brizio built 2-door phaeton.

 

Thought you guys might like this:

 

I love it and understand the 1936 reference, and why......
However, I think I would like it even more with a shortened
1935 Ford grille..

But it is just too super for words, fantastic , every detail !!!!!

 

Wow,rolling art.But way outa the reach of the average hot rodder.

 

I’d drive it

 

Even the DISPLAY is well thought out, well executed, and beautiful! Congrats to the Myers, Troy, and the crew at Rad Rides.

 

That looks entirely too expensive to enjoy. So how do they vote on these cars? Is it a popularity contest?

 

Info gets leaked from time to time. They have to run and drive, they get judged on the the sound coming from it. How well the design was thought out and if design elements flow through the car well or just look tacked on. They also judge on ergonomics and how well the occupants fit in the vehicle. Displays are also judged. Fit and finish, paint and interior quality and so on. They used to use a point system but I think it's gone now. With that in mind, it is no wonder why the car that won did, it looks head and shoulders above the others in its cohesiveness and overall packaging even if it's not something I would have done, my vision would have included fenders.

 

I’m sure the workmanship is flawless, just not my thing.

 

https://hotrodshows.com/grand-national/americas-most-beautiful-roadster/
It doesn't have a judging sheet, but gives a basic outline.

 

It's a beautiful piece of art and masterfully done. But the wheels don't work for me.

 

In the interview I posted above Troy talks about the lack of a rubber rake, according to him it's a feature, not a bug, to use computer geek language. He admits it was a personal choice of his, he like taller front wheels; and he claims a handling/ride quality benefit from the larger tires. I don't know if I buy that, but maybe I'm just prejudiced because I like the good ol' big n littles tires, and IMO this is the most glaring thing that screws up the lines in that fine roadster. Give it a good rubber rake and most of the problems with the aesthetics go away.

 

We know Anthony, we know.

 

Car has rake and tyre rake just not the cartoon tyre rake people have become accustomed to.
Troy's builds get driven, whether the Myers drive it, we'll see.


photo from Modern Rodding
https://inthegaragemedia.com/2025-grand-national-roadster-show-with-ambr-and-slonaker-winners/

 

For a bunch more photos of this car: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...adster-show-2025.1330290/page-5#post-15498474

 

Best summed up by Skratch, he said, "Dude, thats a million dollar build. It was well done. Of course it deserves to win." I'm with him... after seeing it in person and all others, it wasnt my favorite, it was however the OBVIOUS winner....not a single other contender was holding a match...

 

Rad Rides by Troy + 6,000 Custom Cars & Trucks [GoodGuys Columbus, OH 2023]

 

In my post above I wondered what the exhaust manifolds were. In a video shop tour he mentioned they were 3D printed in Inconel at an aerospace firm in Colorado. The technology he used in building this car boggles my mind.

 

True, but at some point it's just AM$R