Detroit AutoRama 2018 Pictures

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This year at AutoRama I tended to pay a lot of attention to bumper and trim fitment. Mainly because at the time I was working on tucking and smoothing the bumpers of my '76 Cosmo. Perhaps the most impressive example was the 1957 Chevy 150, "Imagine", built by Johnny’s Auto Trim & Rod. The pictures are about halfway down the page and looking at the laser straight sub millimeter fitment of that bumper it's clear that multiple hundreds of hours were spent just on that detail alone. It's then no surprise that the car won the Riddler.

The rotary 1200 was back, last seen in 2016. Unfortunately it didn't seem much changed in the last two years so something must have stalled the project. I was hoping to see a complete car the next time it popped up but believe me, I know how projects can be delayed or stalled, so I'm certainly not faulting the owner. Perhaps things will pick up and it will be good to go next year.

TV cars are always interesting to see in person. Ford was showing the Pantera built on Fast and Loud by Gas Monkey for Kurt Busch. Keeping in mind that it was built on a deadline for a specific event, it was still a bit disappointing to see so many overlooked details. For example, welds that were not smoothed before painting. Gaps in body work, uneven trimming of the windows, and weld bleed through on the front air ducts. Also as they spent so much time on the show getting the paint "Gas Monkey perfect" it was surprising to see quite a number of paint flaws. I'm not knocking the car. It's awesome. But just like the cars built on the Power Block, what you see on the screen is a bit different than what exists in reality. I'd still take that Pantera any day, install a more daily driver friendly interior, and have a blast with it.

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