Event Coverage +++ FIRST PICS .. 2009 PIRELLI GREAT 8 from DETROIT +++++

The Foose built Grand Master gets driven a fair amount and I believe the Stallion car does as well so there are at least two. I think that the guys that have these cars built are for the most part car guys and are not necesarilly having a piece of art built but a true car. They may not be what this board is about but does a guy that builds a super expensive traditional car with super rare high end parts that doesn't drive it much because it is so valuable any better? How far does something have to be driven before it becomes a car?

 

The grandmaster was driven on the power tour. That is quite some distance I suppose.

 

Sam Magarino .. a GREAT8 FINALIST from a fews years ago drove his Ford all over even seen him park it in the dirt at shows

 

The Chrysler frame was shown painted in public last yr .... And the Owner Rodger Ritzow was previous Ridler Winner with his 32 Roadster a few years ago.

 

Probably not eligible because build picts of the car are on Troy's website. The Chrysler was definitely one of the top cars there.

 

I got the impression that they built the entire vehicle recently.

And how does winning the Ridler previously factor in?

 

Deucenberg won it

 

It does not ..just bring up a point that we won before .. The car was built for the wife to drive often

 

im not trying to be an ass here but... ritzow didnt win it before, rad rides just built him that 32, it was never for the ridler... the only ridler they have won or went for was with Myers 36 ford... a car IMO is still on top and no one has ever came close to the craftsmanship or ingenious that the car has. I kinda figured Duecenberg would have won it this year, if you look at that car and the past few winners of the ridler they all are following the same sort of theme... kinda like how factory would ahve done it, if ford would have ever built a super nice 32 b it would have looked like this, same with last years ferambo, mix ferrari and rambler together and thats what it would have been, nothing to crazy or all billet and chromed out. just classy, high dollar and very well designed cars.

 

The parts on this '35 seem greater than it's whole . However I say this having never been to the show and having never seen the car in person- so I'm sticking my neck where it may not belong. Anyhow here's my 2c.
Beautiful cars usually have an 'animal' stance- the car here shares with the majority of U.S high- end fendered show rods ( after Lil' Buttera) a trait of appearing to sit too heavily in the space it occupies. Usual features evident here which have become tiresome include over- large & over polished wheels and a distortion of body form through pie cuts and exaggerated angles- usually accompanied by grossly glossy surface presentation. This latter feature is particularly out of step with the body/ wheel mods.
Picking a '35 Ford for the Ridler is fraught with hazards- these early Ford V8's have a proportion that is too short from grille to firewall to perform these body mods on. Look at the car in white- for a car where the majority of body surgery involves REMOVING metal why is it that it looks so heavy ? Am I weird in preferring hot- rods that look LIGHT ? ( Bugatti is my favourite car. I also love the look of any Lotus).

These obviously very accomplished people have laid thier talents on a difficult subject in the '35 3W.
I'm an older cove so the high point in show '35's for me will probably be the Pring/ Musset tourer show wars of the mid- 70's here in Oz. These were stunning street/ show tru- spoke, jag rear, 400 hp road cars with un- distorted body profiles. And they were driven- weak cars didn't last long on 70's aussie roads.

 

I don't know what the requirements are for Ridler eligibility, but I do know that the Ritzow Chrysler was meant to debut about a month ago at a different show and didn't get done. Looking at the website, I'm amazed they even got it done for Ridler.

Could it be that the car just wasn't registered as a contender (even though it sure looks good enough to me)?

So did any HAMBers get any pics of the Chrysler? Haven't found any yet, although I haven't gone right through this thread.

 

Yes some photos are allowed, i worked on the winner last year, know all about it, we were ready to kill anyone that came into the shop with a camera when it got close though

Btw the rambler was as drivable as a regular ferrari, because it was ferrari, but just too polished and mabey a little too low for speed bumps, and for anyone to take it out. I wish someone would abuse it!

 

On the 56 Chrysler, the plan was originally to unveil it at Milwaukee, Roger's home town. It did not make it so Detroit was the next plan. The judges there said that it was not allowedin because the frame was already shown (at the Rad Rides trailer at the columbus Good Guys).
Do previous contenders get driven? Roger's Deuce built by Troy was driven 1100 miles in '08.
Here are project pictures: http://www.radrides.com/proj.htm

 

I thought the deal was no public photos of the car in paint. hence the bare metal b400. The rambler had pretty extensive build photos on the website before the car, but none showing final paint iirc.

 

With the exception of the Grandmaster (which everytime I ever saw it cruise any fairgrounds the hood was up and had a support team working on it) where's all of the other Ridler cars that have been driven? I'm not talking about Great 8 Finalists or "contenders" from years prior to the crowning of Great 8. I'm talking the real deal, the Ridler winner. The car that wins all the beans.

These rolling pieces of art are neat to admire and look at. Look at the handmade suspensions and you have to admit, it makes you wonder how som of the suspensions would hold up on midwest roads at highway speed.

The engineering and style on most is fantastic. In fact, just think if the Big 3 would or could harness the ingenuity and talent that works in the top 2 dozen shops in the country and turn them loose in the engineering departments of the big 3. Let them design and execute the production Detriot might sell some cool cars...

 

Actually I would be more surprised if most didn't ride and drive beautifully. I highly doubt guys like Foose and Troy Trepanier are not building cars that are as functional as they are beautiful. It is just they way they seem to work. So that would be 4 of the last 10 right there and shaggy says last years would drive just like a regular Ferrari so that would be 5. Just because they are not driven doesn't mean they can't. And as for the comment about every time you saw the Grandmaster a support team was working on it if being worked on eliminated every hot rod from being classified as a real car there would be a lot of very cool cars not on your list.

 

As a counterpoint... we all love good styling, good craft and a good "look" eh? Well, how about for a moment considering what the Riddler-ish builders (not the owners) could do if they weren't restricted by the automotive forms we have vested interest in?

Imagine what Troy or Skip could do if they could do the whole car - like the fine auto design houses? And so they wouldn't be stuck with the same old forms, the Model A, deuce or 49 Merc shapes. Bet they could do better than the college designers hired by Fisher Body - after all, they can draw and then MAKE their concept cars, too, not just turn their drawings over to the CAD department and an off-site car shop to build for them. Gary

 

Hemisfear........

http://www.chipfoose.com/gallery.aspx#

CC

 

Too much like a 34 Ford... doesn't count. He should try again! Gary

 

I got the chance to interview Troy while he was down here in Australia. We were talking about Power Tour etc, and he had done a bunch of 'em. He said it really took their cars to the next level, in terms of driveability, as there's nothing worse than looking at the temperature gauge the whole time you're driving.

I then asked if the Ridler winner he built, 'First Love', would be able to make it across the country. He said it could, but "...it would be junk at the end of it." Not meaning that the car would fall apart or break down, but that the car was built with such fine tolerances, one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch, that it wouldn't look too good at the end.

That Chrysler though... wow... twin-turbo MoPar NASCAR motor. Very cool. The ONE requirement was that the car have 1000hp, the rest was up to the Rad Rides team.

Gotta love a customer like that.