Among the highest honours a hot rod owner can achieve is an invitation to be among the 11 contenders in the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) competition. That’s what brought Vancouver’s Ken Green to the 75th Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California earlier this month.
Recommended Videos
This annual curated show of North America’s best custom cars, hot rods and of roadsters has been going since 1950. Many of the show winners from the past were back in the show to celebrate 75 years of custom car excellence.
Billed as the longest running car show in the world, the Grand National Roadster Show is attended by tens of thousands of car enthusiasts from as far away as England and Australia. All the famous names in hot rodding were present like Chip Foose, Roy Brizio and 97-year-old Gene Winfield who has been customizing cars for as long as the roadster show has been in existence.
For the past eight-and-a-half years, retired design draftsman Ken Green has been working on a 1931 Ford roadster. His goal was to turn it into a work of art. As the build neared completion in his home garage, he received the nod that his car would be featured with the 10 other AMBR contenders. Green’s car didn’t win the AMBR award. That went to Ross Myers’ 1936 Ford roadster, professionally built by Illinois-based Rad Rides by Troy for a cost exceeding US$3 million. But Green was a runner up with his roadster being recognized with the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster ‘most outstanding detail’ and AMBR achievement awards.
“Many people consider the detail classification to basically be the runner up to the top winner,” Green says. “The judges were unanimous that I had more interesting details throughout the build than the other contenders. I am feeling really honoured to be invited to the show and picking up a couple of awards is the icing on the cake.”
He designed and built most of the special components on the car, making patterns, having the parts cast and then machining them to perfection. Among the many unique elements are the steering wheel, gear shift, emergency brake lever, air cleaners, hub caps, mirror backs and the Wally’s Burger license plate frame.
The inspiration to get into hot rodding came when 12-year-old Ken Green would spend hours sitting on a bus bench outside Wally’s Burgers where the hot rod and custom car crowd gathered on Vancouver’s Kingsway in the Fifties. The owner of a 1948 Morris 8 hot rod and long-time member of the British Columbia Hot Rod Association and the Can-Am Curmudgeons, Green was further influenced while touring with the group through California.
“We were going through the redwood forest and Bill Story was driving his 1932 Ford roadster. I saw him looking up at the trees and taking photos. In that magic moment, this vision to build a 1930’s roadster started,” he says.
Green began the build with a 1931 Ford Roadster Brookville body which is an exact reproduction of the car that Henry Ford built. Blackboard Hot Rods of Bakersfield, California built the custom 1932 Ford frame.
“I gave the specs and what I wanted. I was number 27 in line, and it was over a year wait,” he says about getting the bones for the build.
The vertical windshield was chopped 5½ inches and laid back16½ degrees to give the roadster a sleek look. Power comes from a 350 cubic inch Chevrolet crate engine driving through a Tremec five-speed transmission and a Winters quick change rear end. The roadster’s colour is called black/blue complimented by a golden-brown interior stitched to perfection with amazing detail.
Green says many people supported his entry into the AMBR competition, including Scott Booth of SoCal Speed Shop who loaned him his professionally-built display. B.C. Hot Rod Association president Keith Biddlecombe provided the trailer to transport the car from Vancouver to southern California. He named his car Kenny G and calls his friends ‘Team Kenny G’.
“The roadster is part of my bucket list, and I wanted to compete,” Green says. “I built it as a low budget car and thought it represents the thousands of home builders who are slugging away and supporting the parts business. I was the only home builder in this competition – up against professionally built cars that cost millions of dollars”.
The America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winner will probably never be driven. But Ken Green’s roadster is built for the road with a heater and heated seats. “I’m going to drive the wheels off it,” he says.
One of the most gratifying things for Ken Green is that his close car friends feel part of this win. “They understand they won’t experience the AMBR in their lifetime, but they are excited and proud of this success. It means a lot to all of them,” he says.
Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in a Vancouver-based public relations company. [email protected]
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.