American Graffiti Festival & Car Show
The 24th annual American Graffiti Festival & Car Show, sponsored by the North Modesto Kiwanis Club. Friday evening parade, followed by festival & car show on Saturday & Sunday.
California
40th Annual Wavecrest Woodie Show
The surf was the best its been in years here this morning along the Pacific coast in Southern California. This Sunday morning, September 22, 2019, many of the woodie wagons from the Wavecrest Woodie Show gathered for a ceremonial cruise up Historic Hwy 101, from Encinitas to the beach at Oceanside. Every year at 8 AM the cruise to Oceanside begins at the Encinitas City Hall. You have to witness this to get a feel for the excitement of seeing dozens of old wood-bodied cars cruising along Hwy 101. Locals wait for it all year. The cruise skirts Pacific beaches all along the way. The 25-mile cruise is a great opportunity to see these cars in action.
Here is how it looked this morning on the 2019 Cruise To Oceanside:
Be sure to bookmark this page where we will update you on all the action from the Wavecrest Woodie Show 2019. Or watch for our videos on Facebook and Twitter.
Saturday at the Wavecrest Woodie Show
As usual, the early morning overcast skies gave way as the sun shown brightly on the beautiful wood bodied classics on display here at the 2019 Wavecrest Woodie Show. More cars were arriving as we climbed the hill overlooking Moonlight Bay in Encinitas, California where a concourse of woodies was arrayed. First sight of that many woodies all in one place simply takes your breath away. The official record will show that there were 188 wood-bodied cars registered to display on Moonlight Beach this year.
The annual Wavecrest Woodie Show is the world’s largest All-Woodie Party on the Beach. It is one really laid back event on Saturday, September 21, 2019, from 8 am to 5 pm. The event is sponsored by the San Diego Woodie Club, one of the largest all-woodie car clubs in the country. It is a sanctioned event of the National Woodie Club.
Here is how it looked as the Woodies swarmed the beach for the Wavecrest Woodie Show on Moonlight Beach today.
Woodies at Moonlight Beach for the Wavecrest Woodie Show 2019
After the woodies had filled in most of the open spots on the paved concourse area on Saturday morning, the San Diego Woodie Club honored our veterans with a Marine honor guard and flag ceremony. It was nicely done. Pride in America and pride in our heritage. They were all on our minds today.
Here is how it looked here on Moonlight Beach in Encinitas this morning.
It is just simply jaw dropping to see so many wood-bodied vehicles on display in one place. Woodie passenger wagons were produced from the 1910’s through the early 1950’s. They are a part of Califonia’s culture because they were the preferred transportation for surfers over the years. Not only were they relatively inexpensive to buy as used vehicles in the 1950’s and 1960’s, but they could easily carry a longboard on the roof. The San Diego Woodie Club observes the lifestyle and the woodie car culture every year at the Wavecrest Woodie Show. Meet and greet starts on Thursday and woodie owners will have events all day on Friday. Then on Saturday morning the main event is the big concourse at Moonlight Beach, historically one of the top surfing venues in California.
Once again this year, Cars On Line.com is on hand to bring you photos and videos of the Wavecrest Woodie Show for 2019. Woodies will be here from all over the U.S. Make sure to bookmark this page to catch all the action all weekend.
Short History of the Woodie Wagon
“It’s An Oldie, But it’s a Woodie” read one of the bumper stickers here in Encinitas as the downtown is filling up with classic Woodie Wagons for the 40th Annual Wavecrest Woodie Show. It was an obvious reference to a Jan and Dean song called “Surf City.” To understand the impact that wood-bodied wagons had on the car culture, you first have to know what place they took in automotive history.
As the 20th century rolled in, most every form of transportation was framed out of wood … boats, horse-drawn carriages and even planes. It didn’t seem unusual at all back then that wood might be used to frame out the rear of a multi-passenger motorized depot hack. And so the “station wagon” was born. “Hey, Joe, go down to the station and pick up our guests,” the hotel manager would say.
Somewhere along the way, wealthy rural land owners began to think it was trendy to own an out-dorsey looking wood bodied wagon as a utility vehicle around the estate. Ford came out with the first factory made wood-bodied transport around 1929. By the time Chevrolet joined in in 1939 these vehicles were alreay known as station wagons. These wood-bodied station wagons were never profitable for the auto manufacturers. They had to be hand assembled, and the wood was hard to maintain. Yet they stayed in the American rubric until the 1950’s.
It was simply a random happening that the wood-bodied wagons became a cultural icon during the 1960’s. Surfers in California, totally unbeknownst to themselves, brought the wood-bodied wagons back to life. They found that these old wood-bodied utility wagons were very cheap to buy, and they could carry a longboard on top rather easily. Perfect. Along came the Beach Boys, a California rock group that wrote songs about the surfing culture. At that point, the name “woodie” was coined to describe the wood-bodied wagons. Unintended as it were, they became “cool.” The surfers didn’t restore them though. They just tried to keep them running.
According to an article written by Charlie Crowell, the National Woodie Club was organized by Will O’Neil of Hawthorn, California in 1973. Already at that time, woodie owners were organizing to combine their knowledge to preserve these wood-bodied treasures. They could not have known what woodie wagons would mean to car collecting in the 21st Century. Today, fully restored wood-bodied cars, utility vehicles and wagons can command mind boggling prices. Here at the wavecrest woodie show we’ve seen a woodie Rolls-Royce, a wood-bodied Packard Boattail and dozens of woodie buses. Follow this link to read one of our past articles on rare Woodie’s at the Wavecrest Woodie Show.
70th Annual Grand National Roadster Show
They just announced the winner of the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Trophy here at the Grand National Roadster Show. And the winner is: George Poteet’s 1936 Ford Roadster, the car they call “Three Penny.” It was built for Poteet by Pinkee’s Rod Shop. The custom fabrication and paint are perfect. It was one of the front runners here at the Pomona Fairplex and was chosen from a group of fourteen top show cars contending for the award.
Here is an interview we did with George Poteet talking about his America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winner, the 1936 Ford Roadster called “Three Penny.” (Click the arrow to hear Poteet talk about his AMBR winner.)
It’s the final day of the 70th Annual Grand National Roadster Show here in Pomona, California. With seven auditoriums full of classic and custom cars at the Pomona Fairplex, there are themed displays in every building and over 800 cars on display on the fairgrounds outside. But here at the awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon everyone was wondering who would win the coveted America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Trophy.
George Poteet and the crew from Pinkee’s Rod Shop pose for a photo with their 1936 Ford Roadster which took years to build. They are seen here with the 9-and-a-half foot America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy and a ceremonial check for $10,000. (Photo by Bob Boberg of eClassicAutos.com.)
For more on the 1936 Ford Roadster “Three Penny” follow this link to the AMBR page.
We found the fourteen cars competing for the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Trophy. Every year the AMBR, one of the most important awards in the custom car hobby, is presented to the owner of the best roadster here at the Grand National Roadster Show. The best builders in the country are represented here, and to be shown at the GNRS can establish your name brand in the industry.
Here are the top roadsters which were in contention for the AMBR this weekend. (Click the link at the bottom of each car to view more photos on the AMBR info page.
Cars-On-Line.com was here exploring the incredible number of custom car displays in the seven auditoriums on the Pomona Fairplex grounds as we bring our readers up close and personal with the cars here at the 70th Annual Grand National Roadster Show, the longest running car show in America. Follow our Twitter posts to get the most recent updates.
In addition to the AMBR competition, there were top awards presented to some of the most important custom builds of our time. Here are some of the top cars we saw here at the Grand National Roadster Show.
Johnny Martin's 1957 Chevy Custom "Imagine" at Grand National Roadster Show
Also on Sunday, automotive designer and TV celebrity Chip Foose received the “Builder of the Decade” award from the Grand National Roadster Show. He was honored for his contributions to the custom car hobby. We captured photos of some of his signature builds in a special display here at the show.
Chip Foose (left) receives Builder of the Decade Award at the Grand National Roadster Show
They will also celebrate 90 years of the Ford Model A with 100 examples (both classic and custom) expected in the display. The GNRS promises cars to be displayed by custom legends such as Troy Trepanier, Bobby Alloway and Roy Brizio.
About 600 custom show cars will be on display here in seven exhibition buildings at the Pomona Fairplex. In addition, on Saturday and Sunday, a car show was held outside on the grounds with another 800 local cars on display.
2015 Grand National Roadster Show
1933 Ford Roadster built by Bobby Alloway
is 2015 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster …
Larry Olson of Sioux Falls, South Dakota asked Bobby Alloway to build his 1933 Ford Roadster, and the rest is now hot rod history. This stunning flamed ’33 roadster has won the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy for 2015. The announcement was just made at the 2015 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California. The awards ceremony at the GNRS just concluded and Olson’s 1933 Ford Roadster announcement was the finale of a great weekend event held at the Pomona Fairplex.
Long and low and crouched across its show display like a flaming black panther, the 1933 Ford Roadster looked like the car to beat today. Alloway has set many trends in street rod building and his roadsters are famous. This one was stretched an extra two inches for a look and stance that is perfect. The secret to the car is in the details. The lines are simple and smooth, enhanced by perfectly formed steel body panels and gaps. It has Alloway wheels which complement the stance.
The engine is a 241 ci Dodge Red Ram Hemi fed by six Stromberg 97s set up in an original old school style. What you can’t see is the fuel injectors hidden in the cylinder heads. The car has a Tremec T-5 transmission, Winters Performance V8 Quick Change rearend, Posie suspension parts and Billet Specialties. An old school custom black interior was done by Steve Holcomb Pro Upholstry.
Olson brought the flamed black roadster to the 66th Annual Grand National Roadster Show to win the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy. And that is what he did.
Cars On Line Facebook followers also picked Larry Olson’s 1933 Ford Roadster as their favorite to be America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. COL readers were placing their “unofficial votes” for the AMBR winner on our Facebook page. The ’33 Roadster got 441 likes on Saturday, most of any of the AMBR contenders. Our readers agreed with the AMBR judges here in Pomona.
There were 18 entrants in the AMBR competition this year. We’ll show you the whole field here below.:
Other Car Show Categories …
The America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award is just one of the many judged categories at the 2015 Grand National Roadster Show. There were more than 500 cars competing in categories such as Custom Hardtop, Radical Custom Hardtop, Radical Custom Convertible and more. Be sure to read our coverage of some of the Top Cars at the 2015 Grand National Roadster Show at this link.
This was one of our favorites:
While we were here at the Pomona Fairplex we couldn’t resist the opportunity to explore the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. You can’t imagine the feeling of looking at the cars that were the heritage of the California hot rodding hobby. Standing there in the museum was like retracing the beginnings of our American car culture.
Our Cars On Line newsletter readers are very aware of the 1935 Chevy Phaeton owned by Wes Rydell which won the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award in 2014. It was built by noted street rod and custom designer Troy Trepanier at his Rad Rides by Troy facility in Manteno, Illinois. Rad Rides by Troy is now considered one of the premier hot rod shops in America. This car was in contention for the Barrett-Jackson Cup at Hot August Nights in 2014 (follow this link to read more about the incredible competition at Hot August Nights last year.)
Show promoters have really done a great job in bringing thousands of cars to this years event. It is the biggest street rod show in the country. The America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award is one of the most coveted trophies in the street rod hobby.
We were here at the 2015 Grand National Roadster Show this weekend to find out which of the 18 contestants would win the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award this year. The venue is the Pomona Fairplex which is also the home of the NHRA Museum so we get a chance to see both when we cover this show. It is the 66th Annual Grand National Roadster Show which was held January 23-25, 2015. It is in its 11th year here at the Fairplex. Previously it had for decades been known as the Oakland Roadster Show.
They say over 500 show vehicles were here to compete for awards inside all of the Fairplex buildings. Show promoters were surprised to find that thousands more vehicles have joined the event Saturday & Sunday for the 9th Annual Grand Daddy Drive-In.
Rare Woodie Wagons at Wavecrest Woodie Show
While most of the woodie wagons that gathered here in Encinitas, California for the Wavecrest Woodie Homecoming were Fords and Chrysler makes, there was a sprinkling of many rare woodie wagons made by other auto manufacturers of the 1930’s through 1950’s. Here are some you may have never seen before.
CHEVROLET WOODIES
Chevrolet production woodies were few and far between here at the Wavecrest Woodie Show. These production wood bodied Chevy’s are very rare.
CHRYSLER, DODGE AND PLYMOUTH WOODIES
Mopar models supplied a rich history of wood bodied vehicles. After World War II woodies became very popular again among suburban car buyers. They were used as depot hacks, school buses and people movers by resorts and hotels throughout the country.
CLASSIC MERCURY WOODIE WAGONS
There were more Mercury woodies at the show than I expected to see. Some of them I’d never seen before.
Wavecrest Woodie Show Early Arrivals
We like to think of it as a “homecoming for wood-bodied classic cars.” With a distinctively California flavor, it is called the Wavecrest Woodie Show, the biggest all-woodie collector car show in the country. It’s all about the restoration of wood-bodied classic cars, and, of course, surfing. That’s why the event is held on a Pacific Ocean beach where the historic Hwy 101 meets the ocean community of Encinitas. It is part of California’s cultural history, and there is probably no other event in the world quite like it.
This weekend Cars On Line will be covering a little known event that has been held for decades on the third weekend in September. According to one of the founders, the show started out as a surf contest on the beach in back of the Wavecrest Hotel in Encinitas. A few woodie wagons began showing up and it turned into a surfing and woodie show, sort of a California cultural phenomenon. A few years later the Wavecrest Hotel burned down and for a short time the woodie show was held at Oceanside just north of Encinitas. Now the Wavecrest Woodie Show is back in Encinitas where it has become the largest event in the world for wood-bodied classics, in essence a woodie reunion. We call it the Woodie Homecoming because wood bodied cars and surfing at Moonlight Beach have become synonymous. The event is sponsored by the San Diego Woodie Club.
On Thursday evening the early arrivals were in downtown Encinitas to join local woodie owners to begin the Wavecrest experience in an old fashioned cruise night atmosphere, complete with a live band and lots of hospitality from downtown merchants.
On Saturday, beginning at 8 AM, the big show begins with hundreds of woodies expected to come home to Moonlight Beach. This is the largest gathering of woodies in the world. It is one car show that should be on every collector’s bucket list.
On Sunday there is a cruise to Oceanside, California with a photo shoot at the pier. The 25-mile cruise is a great opportunity to see these cars in action.
With Cars On Line covering this event for the first time, we’ll be bringing our readers a first hand look at a very unique and historic event. Watch for our updates on Facebook and Twitter.
Here are some of the early arrivals:
