Down to the wire…. what some others are saying.

1967 Shelby GT500, Detroit Autorama, custom car building, osoyoos, JF Kustoms

This is from MyRideisMe.com:
It’s the Great 8 – Ridler Award Contenders 2012

2012 Detroit Autorama Ridler Award Contenders
More fun than the republican primary! Vote for your favorite below.

It’s about time. I’ve been grabbing photos from friends for long enough. It’s time for a personal account of the hot rods and custom cars that make up the Detroit Autorama, especially the best of the best, the Ridler cars. For the 60th Anniversary of the Detroit Autorama, the competition is extra tough… Fact is, I couldn’t figure out what cars were the “Great 8″!

Rules for the Ridler are pretty simple: The cars should show: Creativity, Engineering and Workmanship. (What they don’t mention is that the winner typically shows all three of these in a way, most likely, never seen before or done in a way that’ll cause mouths to hit the floor) Just a few other rules, the Ridler contenders must be showing for the very first time and must run, drive and stop in a basic way.

What’s not in the Ridler Rules? Body style, year or anything specifying what kind of car it is… Love that! So let’s mix it up here and see if we vote the same as the judges for the 2012 Ridler Award:

Enjoy the pictures and for any shot, click to see the full-size photo.

Great 8 Ridler Award Contender #1 ~ 1967 Shelby GT500

If you’ve ever seen me at a show, I’m runnin! Media gets in at 9AM so I’m shooting everything I can before the crowds pour in. My plan? Shoot the Ridler contenders first. No problem except the “openess” of the Ridler rules allow a bunch of cars to enter. With so many cars to review, the official Great 8 cars aren’t announced until noon. Still, I had my eye on a few and shot’m up right…

First up is the 1967 Shelby GT500 of Carol and Gordon Phillips rolling in from Quesnel, BC, Canada. I’m going on record now: This is my pick for the Ridler Award.

Built by JF Kustoms, this Mustang has every detail imaginable nailed. After JF Launier nailed it, he chromed it and polished it! The list of one-off details on this car starts with the wheels and the steering wheel, but dig that grille! “Kardiac 500″ is custom machined in by Mike Curtis, designer and fabricator of the billet goodies. Why Kardiac? Part of it is how Gord’s gen-u-ine Shelby gives purists heart palpitations, but the rest? You’ll have to read my feature article coming soon…

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