- A 1936 Ford has won America’s Most Beautiful Roadster, one of the top awards for custom cars
- It was presented at the 75th anniversary of the Grand National Roadster Show in California
- As with many top award winners, it’s not an actual old car, but completely hand-fabricated
A 1936 Ford has taken the coveted title of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California. This year’s edition marked the 75th anniversary of the show, held over the first weekend in February 2025. The winning car is owned by Ross and Beth Myers, and was built by Rad Rides by Troy. That’s Troy as in Troy Trepanier, who started building custom cars in the 1980s and founded his Illinois-based custom shop with his father in 1995. He’s since been recognized as one of the top builders in the industry.
Along with bragging rights, the win comes with a prize of US$12,500, plus the winners’ names added to a nine-foot-plus trophy. The Myers also won AMBR at the 2024 show, with a 1932 Ford built by Roy Brizio Street Rods. But they’d been on board with Trepanier before — in 2007, the 1936 Ford three-window he built for them took the Ridler Award, also one of the custom car hobby’s highest achievements, at the Detroit Autorama show.
This year’s AMBR winner took two years to build, along with an undisclosed but obviously very serious chunk of change. As is now common with many of the top prizewinning cars, this one isn’t an actual 1936 Ford with modifications, but a brand-new version built entirely from scratch. The shop did use the back half of a real ’36, but only for reference to create the new sheet-metal. Trepanier said his shop made everything but the engine block and the tires.
That includes the handmade chassis, shorter and wider than an original frame, and built to fit the body’s proportions, rather than the other way around. Compared to an actual 1936 Ford, which can often look awkward without its fenders if it isn’t done right, the AMBR winner’s design includes better-flowing hood sides, a longer hood, rear-hinged suicide doors moved farther back, flared quarter panels, and tighter rear corners to wrap around the wheels.
The engine is a 312-cubic-inch (5.1L) Y-block from a 1957 Ford with vintage McCullough supercharger, but with all-new guts inside; and surprisingly, it’s very quiet when it runs. Details include a 1950 Buick instrument panel, handmade steering column, and badges made of copper with melted glass on top.
The show also included the Slonaker Award, which goes to the best vehicle at the show that isn’t a roadster. It’s named for Al and Mary Slonaker, who founded the show in 1950; and this year it went to a 1933 Pontiac owned by Bill Barbato and built by CAL Auto Creations. For the show’s 75th edition, there were more than 50 previous winners of the AMBR and Slonaker awards on display.
Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on Instagram ,Facebook and X to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.