Trio of Famous ’90s-Style Hot Rods Shows

 

  In the '70s, street rods experienced a revival in popularity after being knocked out of the spotlight during the muscle car era. That revival came with a change. The prominent rod builders of the late 20th century were not building early roadsters and coupes in the traditional styles of earlier years but rather in a modern style characterized by high-tech chassis with independent front and rear suspensions, extensive use of hand built components (with an abundance of billet aluminum), reshaped bodies, and the elimination of emblems and trim. The result was a super-clean, streamlined style that almost instantly became known as "smooth."

Of all the designers and builders associated with the "smooth" style, some of the most famous are Boyd Coddington, Lil' John Buttera, Chip Foose, and Larry Erickson. Of all the owners, probably the most successful was Fred Warren, owner of the AeroCoupe, Smoothster, and Shockwave, among others. No other car owner in the history of this hobby has earned a Ridler Award from the Detroit Autorama, plus two America's Most Beautiful Roadster awards from the Grand National Roadster Show—an accomplishment Warren achieved with three of the most famous cars from the smooth era.

Fred Warren's 1937 Ford coupe, known as the AeroCoupe, won the Don Ridler Memorial Award at the Detroit Autorama in 1994. It was Warren's second attempt at that prestigious award. He had entered a 1933 Ford coupe in Detroit a couple of years prior. He didn't win. "That didn't sit right with me," he told us. So he went home and started working on the '37 that had been sitting in a corner of his shop.