Detroit Autorama

Official poster for the 42nd Annual Detroit Autorama in 1994

The Detroit Autorama, also known as America's Greatest Hot Rod Show, is a showcase of custom cars and hot rods held each year at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan, in either late February or early March.

It is promoted by Championship Auto Shows Incorporated (CASI) and hosted by Michigan Hot Rod Association (MHRA). It is part of the International Show Car Association (ISCA) schedule for the Summit Racing Equipment Show Car Series, which includes other prestigious show car events such as the Chicago World of Wheels and Houston Autorama.[1] The show features a selected group of 800 custom and restored vehicles[2] from across the world[3] and more than 140,000 spectators annually.[4]

Detroit's Autorama is best known as home to the Don Ridler Memorial Award,[5] considered the "Nobel Prize of Hot Rodding". It's presented to the "best in show" at each year's event, and has been won by many well-known car designers and builders, such as Chip Foose, Jerry Pennington, Troy Trepanier, Jerry Pennington, and Dave Kindig.

Together, the Detroit Autorama and Ridler Award are considered among the two "Crown Jewel" competitions and awards for professional show car builders in North America, alongside the Grand National Roadster Show and its America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) Award.[6]

  1. ^ "The Detroit Autorama-Autorama.com". Autorama.com. Championship Auto Shows (CASI). March 26, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
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  5. ^ "The Detroit Autorama Ridler Award-Autorama.com". Autorama.com. Championship Auto Show Incorporated (CASI). March 26, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  6. ^ "Detroit: The City of Hot Rods and Muscle Cars". Directed by Keith Famie, Visionalist Media, 2023.