The Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) is a huge car show in Pomona, Calif. and for many of us, it’s the kickoff of the kustom and hot rodding car show season. Since its move from Oakland to LA, GNRS has always had a largely curated feel, with showcases within the various buildings, the car quality this year from building to building was truly astounding. But it was also the quality of cars outside of the buildings that made the show one of the best. The Chip Foose showcase, the Model A showcase, past America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) winners, the stunning Brizio collection, and the Rod and Kulture room were enough to fill your phone and your dreams with pictures of drool-worthy high-caliber builds. 

To give you a small window into how many amazing cars were there, I had to lean over the iconic Jade Idol by Gene Winfield to get a picture of the East Bay Speed and Custom Shop 36 Ford 3 Window Rusk Coupe. The list of historic cars put on display is too long to cover—but it was a treat to see past AMBR winners, a Barris Chopped 49 Merc, Winfield’s Jade Idol, Barris’ 29 Ford Ala Kart restored by Brizio, and the Cushenberry Ford Kustom—all in their full glory. The kustoms and hot rods outside didn’t disappoint either. Lots of car clubs from SoCal showed up in a big way this year.

The AMBR Award went to the well-deserved Pinkee’s Rod Shop 36 Ford Cabriolet named the “3 Penny Roadster.” It received its name because of the unique milky color that reminded hot rodding legend and car owner, George Poteet, of chocolate milk, his beloved childhood treat, that used to cost just 3 pennies. Overall, the AMBR competition was high this year, but the Pinkee’s build stood above them all. It was cool to see more diversity in the AMBR contenders this year. An aggressive chop-top Foose Designed Brookville Phaeton was very impressive and the all-original steel super classy 29 was stunning! Friend of the club, Cliff Mattis with Lucky 7 Customs, brought a Coddington 32 back to life while keeping true to Boyd’s vision. Cory Talbert’s traditional 32 in all black was bad-to-the-bone with a perfect stance and a H&H Flathead under the hood. “Cool Hand Luke,” by owner and builder Chad Adams, was also another amazing traditional-styled 32 with full-fenders, a 312 Y Block, and Lakester headers.

“It was a huge honor to win the AMBR award among 13 other amazing 2019 builds and the legacy of the previous AMBR winners,” said Eric Peratt owner of Pinkees Rod Shop. “Thanks to everyone who helped us bring this build together, but special thanks to the legend and friend George Poteet who had the vision and trust in the Pinkees’ Team to create this amazing build.”

Chip Foose was awarded the Builder of the Decade Award at this year’s GNRS closing ceremony. He accepted the award on Sam Foose’s behalf and honored his father with a beautiful story about how he just wanted to make his hero proud. He also thanked his business partners and his customers for allowing him to build his dreams, but most of all, to again make his hero proud. Sam was a car-building legend who passed away in late November of 2018 and to honor his father, Chip announced the new Sam Foose Award for next year’s GNRS. (More details to come.) If you do not know the Sam Foose legacy, you can learn a little by reading an article on Hemmings click here

Roy Brizio and his team absolutely killed it by bringing seven new flawless builds to the show–all of them absolutely stunning pieces of rolling art. The three-punch combo of Brizio, Darryl Hollenbeck, and Sid Chavers is an undefeated equation for ultimate perfection. Sid had his hand in five of the 14 AMBR contenders. Speaking of Rolling Art – Steve Stanford and Mark Oja were at the show and if you don’t know who Steve is by name you will know him by influence — as he has influenced all the big names in the industry including Foose, Kindig, Strope, and many, many more. Check out their video series “Art You Can Drive” on YouTube. Both great guys and it goes without saying, super talented

A few standouts IMHO was (in addition to the legendary builds mentioned above and in no particular order) the Cremesicle by Lucky7Customs for John D’ Agostino, The Illusion by Rick Dore, the “Lil’ Grape” a chopped 34 with a Winfield fade, and the Rusk Coupe 36 Ford 3 Window by Eastbay Speed and Custom. Our friend, Alex Gambino, brought his own build, a 63 thunderbird with a Beatnik CC/Winfield inspired kustom fade paint scheme that was a fast pass to koolsville. The Illusion by Dore that was worth the combined parking and admission fees just to see it from all angles. The paint scheme was amazing and flawless but the lines of the 100% hand-built coach by Luc Deley of Marcels was mind-blowing. The Rusk Coupe had everything you could ever want in Kustom—Zypher like lines, simple but stately interior and a taildragger stance that was nothing short of bad ass. (Glad Bryan Rusk is a photographer, because that forever deep black paint is hard to digitally capture–can’t wait to see what he produces with his own car.)

All in all, it was an amazing show. Lots of awards were handed out but the big winner, and deservedly so, was Pinkees Rod Shop and George Poteet. Stay tuned as the Riddler Award is up next in March at Detroit Autorama. Enjoy the massive picture gallery below.