(Photos by Dom Damato/DRD-Photos) – Chip Foose took home is 4th Ridler award in 13 years at the 2015 Detroit Autorama, earning the honors for constructing a 1965 Impala called “The Imposter” which combined the classic large GM barge with a 2008 Corvette. The car is a display of design and metalworking that had even seasoned Autorama veterans spending lots of time inspecting the lines, proportions, and modifications that Foose and his crew made to the big coupe that they started with. We have tons of 2015 Detroit Autorama photo coverage coming this week from multiple contributors and the first is Dom Damato of DRD Photos. Dom made a last minute blast to the show and was happy that he did.
We have had pretty much unprecedented national coverage of the indoor car show scene this year so it is only fitting that we take you to one of the most significant ones in the genre (lots of people would argue THE most significant one in the genre!) to see what showed up. The greatness of this event is the fact that it really does cater to all parts of the hot rodding spectrum. There are ratty and traditional cars in the basement, lots of historic racers in the show for the historians that wander the aisles, modern machines for the late model fans, and the insanity of the Ridler field. The Vega in the lead photo was vying for the honor (and would have gotten our vote!)
Anyway, here’s a first blast from DRD-Photos….we’ll be back with an avalanche more from Dom and other contributors tomorrow!
Killer photos of killer cars.
To be honest … I was depressed enough over the lack of originality and quality of the AMBR cars … and especially the winner .
Until that is I saw the final grouping for the Riddler .. and then worse .. the actual winner . Nothing against Chip Foose mind you … but this so far has been the Year of the Pastiche and the Been There Done That awards .
So whats the deal ? Is the world of Hot Rodding and Customs loosing its mojo ? The builders loosing their nerve ? Or is it just that the judges have become too complacent to give a damn whether or not the next level has been reached for ?
FYI ; Had it been up to me .. with the rather lame selection on offer … I would of chosen the Nash Wagon over the Foosemobile … in a heartbeat
I wouldn’t want to be the judge at any show, someone always has to be left holding the bag and that’s a job I’d prefer not to hand out.
i’ve been waiting over 5 years to see what it looks like finished and i LOVE everything about Foose’s ‘Imposter’ except the wheels. if you’re gonna go to all the work to make a Vette look like a ’65 Impala, he should have used 20” wheels that resemble the 3 bar wheelcovers on the ctock version, including a whitewall look as part
of the wheel. Leno had it done for 2 of his customs, his ’55? Buick and his ’66 RWD Toronado, and it works great…i think Trepanier did it also, on his Buick “Nailed”. i have nothing against 18″-20″ wheels on ’50s-’60s-’70s cars and trucks as long as they compliment the look of the vehicle, but that’s something these wheels don’t do, IMVHO
OOPS, hit post 2 quickly