LL..AA.. RROOAADDSSTTEERR SSHHOOWW AANNDD SSWWAAPP MMEEEETTWilwood Engineering attends a hot rod happening with a great brake parts display

Here’s a small portion of the roadsters that wereattending the show. This year there were 859roadsters in the show not counting the L.A.Roadster member’s cars. Adding them in wouldpush the total over 900 so it is safe to say thatthis is the largest roadster display in the world.

Wilwood Engineering attendsevents all summer long andthis year, for the first time, theL.A. Roadster Show was onthe list and the booth wasfilled with enthusiasts lookingat the new disc brake prod-ucts, and the brake relatedparts we offer. The enthusi-asts were asking questionsabout improving their streetrods with some of the largerbrake systems that we are of-fering and many had ques-tions about master cylinders and proportioning valves. This booth was wellstaffed with Miguel Jimenez, Jeff Baluyot andChris Tibbet in attendance answering questionsand talking about the benefits of Wilwood discbrakes and components.

Most hot rod and street rod enthusiasts are famil-iar with the L.A. Roadster show but maybe theydon’t know the club history. The club was formedin 1957 when Dick Scritchfield saw a need for aclub to promote street roadsters in a positive way.It was his idea to only allow finished roadsters inthe club and that meant that they had to bepainted and have interior upholstery. Today road-sters ’36 and older can be admitted in the club.The club also allows roadster pickups, phaetonsand cabriolets as club cars. Over the first year theclub grew in attendance as new members werefound and they met the strict qualifications. In1960 one of the club members suggested that theL.A. Roadsters should hold a roadster car showusing the same standards for attendance and theother members agreed that it would be a greatidea. Following the roadster club entrance guide-lines all roadsters, roadster pickups, phaetons andcabriolets ’36 and older that were painted and up-holstered could attend. The first show was held inthe Hollywood Bowl parking lot and by 1960 stan-dards it was a great show with 50 cars in atten-dance. The roadster members noticed that manyof the car show participants brought along a fewparts to sell, so that’s where the idea got started

for a car show and swap meet.Over the years this showcatered to roadsters, but it wasopened up to other street rodsand specialty cars. The showwas moved to the Great West-ern Exhibition Center right offthe Interstate 5 Freeway for afew years but that center wassold to a developer so the clubhad to move. The club movedthe show to the Pomona Fair-plex and that is where it istoday. Over the years this eventhas become more than a car

show, it is a hot rod happening and it features ahuge roadster display, a manufacturers area, a verylarge swap meet and a specialty car parking area.This year there were close to 900 roadsters in thedisplay if you add in the Roadster club cars thatwere in attendance. There were 2,500 of the coolestand rarest closed street rods, muscle cars, streetmachines, customs and pro touring cars in the pre-ferred parking area. The swap meet area was alsofilled to capacity with old parts sales and our favoritepart of the swap meet, the project cars. If you pre-fer new parts to old parts the manufacturers areafeatured 200 vendors displaying their latest prod-ucts for rods and street machines. Along with thevendors, there were also a variety of street rodshops in attendance, as well as many well-knownupholsterers. If you wanted to build a car you couldbuy a body, a frame and Wilwood brakes at theshow, and then talk to one of the car builders andupholsterers to finish it off. The specialty car parkingarea has also evolved over the years as a perfectplace to sell a car and this year there were some re-ally nice cars for sale, some priced right and othersthat were out of sight.

The L.A. Roadster Show is more than just a localevent because people and cars from many parts ofthe world attend. Some of the people and cars at-tending the show came from Florida, Massachu-setts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio,Illinois, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, Arizona,Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and probably some

of the other states as well. International guests at-tended from Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Aus-tralia, England, Sweden and Germany. If you havenever attended the L.A. Roadster show make

plans to attend next year.The L.A. Roadster Showis held on Father’s Day weekend at the PomonaFairplex. In the pictures that follow we will give youa hint at what you would see if you were there.

Wilwood had a complete brake display at the L.A. Road-ster show and the sales and technical representativeswere busy talking to enthusiasts on Saturday and Sunday.Miguel Jimenez, Jeff Baluyot and Chris Tibbet were talkingto the enthusiasts about the brakes and they were alsoproviding technical advice.

This traditional highboy roadster was running real magne-sium kidney bean wheels, jet-black paint and a blownChrysler Hemi engine. Stab the throttle in this car and wildthings could start happening.

This show was featuring ’35 and ’36 Fords so there weremany of them in attendance. One of the nicest ’36 Cabrio-lets in the show belonged to Fred and Diana White. Theybelong to the San Luis Roadsters.

This ’29 Roadster was a standout when it was built and itages well because it is still a beautiful car. Dennis Varni hashad plenty of magazine coverage in Hot Rod and Rod &Custom over the years, so you might recognize the car andhis name. Dennis is a member of the Bay Area Roadsters.

Yes ’32 Fords did come with fenders and they look reallynice when they are in place. This beautiful roadster retainsall of the genuine parts and it looks good with the customkidney bean wheels and the bright red paint. The nice Fordbelongs to Tom Schanppner, a member of the CaliforniaRoadsters.

The Jokers car club came to the roadster show in full forceand one of the nice cars attending was this nostalgic roadsterpickup powered by an early Oldsmobile engine. The coolroadster pickup belongs to Al Engel.

Al and Kate Van Der Woth’s ’32 Ford is a standout withthe nasty Chrysler hemi engine and the addition of a ’35Ford front grille.

When Dean Lowe was a kid he had a ’29 Roadsterpickup he drove on the street and he also drag raced thecar successfully in NHRA competition. We wonder if hisbright yellow, blown small-block powered ’29 roadsterpickup is faster than the original red one?

Edsel Ford was always looking for interesting bodystyles to add to the Model A Ford line so he introduced aconvertible sedan in 1931. This body style was expen-sive so only a few were purchased so this Model A bodystyle is very rare.

Denis DeVol came up with a unique color for his high-boy roadster. The car is done in a very traditional styleand it rolls on Kidney Bean wheels.

This traditional black highboy roadster pickup belongs toFast Feldie and he should be fast since a Boss 429Ford semi-hemi engine powers his roadster pickup.

Ted Lewis’ ’32 Ford Highboy roadster was looking goodwith the black paint and nice low stance. The Ford fea-tures independent front suspension and the roadster ispowered by a healthy early Chrysler Hemi engine.

Kookie, Kookie lend me your comb. Ron Fiore built aKookie car tribute that looks very similar to the originalNorm Grabowski roadster. Back in the old days, Normand his car were L.A. Roadster club members.

In 1960 the L.A. Roadsters held the first Roadster Showand this car was in attendance and it still looks like it did50 years ago. The poster in the front of the car chroni-cles the cars history.

The phaeton is the most rare body style built in 1936and this one is a real beauty. The clean ’36 sits just rightand rolls on chrome wheels with whitewall tires. RichChristopher is the lucky owner.

Roy Brizio always has a display of beautiful cars at theRoadster Show and he has recently finished and thiscandy gold ’32 pickup that was done in a very traditionalearly ‘60s style.

K.S. Pittman and John Mazmanian would love this ’40Willys with its nose high stance and supercharged en-gine. This car was done in an early gasser style as atribute to the gas class drag racers of the ‘60s.

Here is an original B400 convertible sedan, which isthe most rare ’32 Ford built. They were too expensivefor buyers during the Great Depression.

Ford came out with the Ranchero in 1957 so in 1959Chevy countered it with the El Camino. This road trav-eler looks great with the bright yellow paint and nice low-ered stance.

Chevy’s hard charger for the early ‘60s was the 409ciengine and this Impala is powered by the dual-quadversion that features 409 horsepower. This show is filledwith cars that were scarce when new.

We showed you the rarest ’32 that Ford built so here isthe runner up. There were only a few ’32 Sedan deliv-eries manufactured and here is a nice semi-restoredversion that was driven to the show.

Here is a ‘60s surfers dream car, a ’47 Ford woody thathas been restored to perfection. Back in the ‘60s thesurfers liked them because they were cheap to buy andthey could hold plenty of surfboards. The ’40 Fordsedan delivery in the background is another rare anddesirable car.

This Model A coupe was outstanding with the super lowstance, the mild top chop and the bright red paint. Wirewheels aren’t used much now but they sure look goodon this Model A.

This ’40 Ford sedan was an eye catcher with the brightred paint and the red wheels wrapped with white walltires. Here’s a hot rod that can hold the entire family incomfort.

This ’55 Chevy two-door sedan looks right at home atthe Pomona Fairplex, the home of the NHRA Winter Na-tionals and the World Finals. This ’55 could be, or atleast was built to look like a ’60 style gas class racecar.

This ’40 Ford coupe was looking good with the nice lowstance, maroon paint and red wheels wrapped withwhitewall tires. The nice thing about ’40 Fords is theyride and drive as well as they look.

This Comet looks like it’s race ready with the nose highstance and wheel well headers. Again, this may be anold racecar or it was built to look like one. If it was built tolook like one, the owner did a really good job.

Little GTO you’re really looking fine. This ’64 GTO wasrestored to perfection and this is the one that started themuscle car wars of the ‘60s. Thanks Jim Wangers andJohn De Lorean for bucking the GM system.

This ’67 GTO hardtop is Bob’s Big Boy drive-in ready withthe car tray filled with a hamburger and Cokes. The Cra-gar wheels are perfect for the era.

The swap meet is always filled with good stuff like thisassortment of aluminum manifolds and valve covers.This fellow had a couple of rare Chevy cross ram intakemanifolds if you were thinking about building an earlygasser style ’55 Chevy.

We really like the project cars that are for sale andhere’s a ’29 Model A sedan we would have loved tobring home. This sedan was very straight, relatively rustfree and it was actually selling for a reasonable price intoday’s market.

Many of the cars that were for sale were too expensivebut this ’40 convertible was priced right. The body wasstraight and it had all of the parts needed to build a re-ally nice restored car or street rod.

This nice Model T needed work but it was sitting on aJaguar equipped chassis. The body and fenders werestraight and all of the required parts were there. Thiscar was also selling for an affordable price.

This fellow was selling a very straight ’32 Ford pickuptruck and all of the parts were there including the origi-nal headlights and front bumper. This truck could be re-stored or turned into a very nice street rod with a littlework.

This fellow had a good assortment of manifolds and car-buretors, some rare wheels and a set of original Race-master slicks from the early ‘60s.

After the drawing for a free roadster and the pewter mugswere handed out, the roadsters were packed up and theroadster owners were on their way home. Here is a stringof roadsters heading out of the fairground.

The end.

Wilwood Engineering4700 Calle BoleroCamarillo, CA 93063(805) 388-1188www.wilwood.com

Copyright © 2010 Wilwood Engineering, Inc. - AllRights Reserved