A collection of

America’s Most Beautiful Roadsters

at the Petersen

Now on display through April 15 2018 in the Customization Gallery at the Petersen Automotive Museum are a number of the past winners of the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) trophy annually awarded at the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS). Since 1950, hot rod builders have vied to win the 9-foot tall AMBR trophy created by show promoter Al Slonaker , and through the years, some fairly radical cars won the AMBR trophy, a few of which the author photographed.   

 

 

The AMBR story begins with the very first winner, the 1929 Ford roadster built by Bill Niekamp of Long Beach California over a course of thirteen months and a cost of close to $2,000.  Niekamp who worked as a body man and painter in the Long Beach Plymouth assembly plant used parts from many different cars to create his simple masterpiece. The frame is from a 1927 Essex, the car is powered by a highly modified 1942 Mercury “flathead” V-8 engine which feeds a 1939 Ford rear axle, and tail of the car uses 1949 Plymouth tail lamps. 

The Niekamp roadster’s belly pan, hood panels and the “track nose” were hand-fabricated from aluminum by metalsmith Dwight “Whitey” Clayton and the car is finished in 1950 Chrysler Blue.  Niekamp did not use his roadster just as show car; he participated in the 1950 and 1951 Pasadena Reliability Runs and achieved a top speed of 142.40 miles per hour (MPH) at El Mirage dry lake in July 1952. The car is shown as it would have appeared at the dry lakes in 1952, sans headlights and windshield.  

 

 

The “Alien” the 1969 AMBR winner is registered as a 1937 Ford, as that the identity of the chassis, but the dune buggy-like body is built of plywood and fiberglass and painted by brothers Art and Mickey Hmisl of Concord California. The car is powered by a 289-cubic inch Ford engine fitted with Shelby-American cylinder heads and the flip-top body is so severely raked that the roof has a smoked transparent panel to allow the driver who is practically prone to see out of the car.  The brothers actually sold their creation during the 1969 Grand National Roadster Show.

 

 

 

This 1923 Ford Model T roadster pickup now known as the “Candy Root Beer” was built by Lonnie Gilbertson of Portland and won the 1971 AMBR trophy. The car then painted bright red or orange was equipped with an independent rear suspension from a Jaguar XKE, and powered by a 350-cubic inch Chevrolet V-8 engine fed by a four Weber carburetors with chrome side pipes. 

 

The 1971 AMBR winner and trophy

Photo courtesy of the Petersen archives

 

After the car was repainted yellow with wild murals and the engine fitted with custom cylinder heads and a supercharger it won the 1975 AMBR trophy. It is displayed at the Petersen as it appeared after 1975 when it won twenty-nine additional trophies at car shows across the country.

 

 

 

The “Golden Star” is based on a 1925 Ford Model T roadster, and Phoenix racer and builder Ermie Immerso who had won the 1988 AMBR award with his “Orange Twist” used two Model T bodies to come up with this creation powered by a Ford 255-cubic inch double overhead camshaft (DOHC) racing engine as used in nineteen sixties Indianapolis cars.

 

 

 

Ernie was a “racing guy,” as he raced on the Salt Flats, worked on Clint Brawner’s crew at the 1954 Indianapolis 500-mile race and later worked for Carroll Shelby and Holman Moody. From his stockpile of Ford DOHC V-8 engine parts, Ernie built the highly-detailed engine in the configuration it would have for a dirt championship car, with the intakes on the upper side of the engine.  

 

When it debuted at the 1989 GNRS and won the AMBR award, the ‘Golden Star” was painted red with darker red flames. Two years later, with the interior reupholstered the addition of the odd canard-style fairings in front of the rear wheels and painted orange with wild flame accents as shown today, it captured the 1991 AMBR trophy. The “Golden Star” is currently owned by the Petersen Museum.

The engine is always a focal point of any hot rod, so it is fitting that we close out report on the display which one of its features - two engines built by Ed Pink racing engines- a 1959 Buick ‘nailhead” V-8 (top) and a Ford “flathead” V-8.    

 

 

All photos by the author except as noted