Detroit Autorama — one of the largest car shows in North America — is held in Cobo Hall in the city of Detroit each March starting from 1953. An even more significant car show for the manufacturers of custom automobiles is California’s Grand National Roadster Show held in Pomona, California but it imposes strict requirements on traditional classic hot-rod style. Detroit Autorama has a more open-door approach becoming the best motor show of custom vehicles. Award in any Detroit Autorama category — whether it’s an award for coating, body design or design of the interior, which goes to one of eight nominees — adds an honourable entry to the resume of any inventor or engineer. It's like the Oscars for the industry of custom cars.
Initially the award was given to the best car which had been unveiled for the first time at the show. But after the death of Don Ridler, a talented promotions agent who managed to raise the prominence and popularity of the Detroit Autorama, the concept was changed and starting from 1964 it was named in honour of its founder — Ridler Award.
Any early public demonstration of the car, its body, engine, or frame means denial of participation in the show. Certainly, the organisers do understand that participants need to draw funding somehow. And it’s impossible to do that without showing where the sponsor’s money would go. That is why it is allowed to publish photos or videos of separate components — chassis, engine, constructed but not yet mounted body elements. Regardless of the fact whether the car is painted or not, whether the engine has already been mounted or the interior trimming has been finished or not, any dissemination of photo and video materials of the assembled car on the Internet, in magazines, or on TV leads to disqualifying of the contestant. Moreover, the entire construction process cannot be revealed in mass media. Only photos with short descriptions are allowed.
Eight contestants are chosen from a big number of accepted participants — they form the Pirelli Tire Great 8. The entire contest procedure takes four days. On Thursday the organisers choose eight best cars of the show. On Friday the Ridler Ball is held when the nominees are presented to the public. On Sunday a team of judges choose the winner. Eight contestants selected for the Pirelli Tire Great 8 cannot claim any other Detroit Autorama awards but all of them are presented with $1,000 certificates.
62nd Detroit Autorama was held on March 6–9 this year. A remarkable fact is that only Fords and Chevrolets have been competing for the Ridler Award throughout all recent years. In 2014 they were seven out of eight nominees. But the eighth contestant, who was announced the final winner, was the 1964 Buick Riviera named “Rivision” by its constructor. This name combines two words — Riviera and Revision. More than $300,000 and 20,000 hours of labour were spent to build the car honoured with the Ridler Award. Sounds impressive! Noteworthy is the fact that the winner also got a $10,000 certificate so, as you can see, it’s not about the money.
J.F. Launier, the 38-year old from Osoyoos, British Colombia, Canada, who built the dazzling gold Buick Riviera, has always loved cars. Launier bought his first car, a 1951 Ford pickup, at the age of 13 and he still drives it to this day!
On customers’ request, Launier had already built two cars in his JF Kustoms studio which were selected for the Pirelli Tire Great 8 at different times. So he knew perfectly well how to impress the judges. Rivision is based on an original 1964 Buick Riviera 2 Door Hardtop which had been bought for $400 as a wreck found in a junkyard. Apparently, not much was left from the initial body and the first thing which catches your eye when looking at the car is the Boattail borrowed from a 1971 Buick Riviera.
In order to breed Rivieras of the first and third generations, Launier used a smoothly sloping roof and rear window from the 1971 Riviera and built the rear wings and bonnet by hand. The body sits on a custom-made frame which allowed achieving a low-slung profile. All four wheels are unique to the utmost valve stem.
The car has a fully hand crafted leather custom interior. One of the most prominent features of the interior is a copper-colour intake tube which goes from the car’s rear part to the engine compartment. It was done to ensure normal work of two turbochargers fitted with bypass valves right under the rear window to provide heat elimination exiting through air inlets located between the tail lights. The front wings and bonnet are also equipped with ventilation elements.
By the way, this twin-turbocharger mounted instead of rear passenger seats misled a lot of visitors — many of them decided it was a car with mid-engined configuration. But in fact, the engine — a 6.2-litre LS GM V8 — is mounted in the usual for a Nailhead place under the front bonnet.
An interesting fact is that unlike many other cars presented at the Autorama and intended for showrooms only, this hot rod was created as a real race car. It can easily reach the speed of 200 mph which is no surprise taking into account its 850-horsepower drivetrain. Apart from that, Launier has introduced an interesting solution — he smoothed out the twin exhaust pipes, crankcase oil pan, and transmission for better aerodynamic efficiency of the underbody. Launier plans to take Rivision autocrossing in the near future.
Curiously enough, five days before heading to Detroit exhausted Launier smashed the vehicle into a garage door. The damage was so bad that the team made a decision to leave for Detroit and drive 42 hours straight in order to have time for a stop in Chicago to fix the car up.
Almost 60 people took part in the Rivision project providing technical, financial, and moral support. A group of 17 people — Launier’s family and closest friends — accompanied him to Detroit.
“I love stepping over the boundaries. We have created a unique, perfect, and powerful vehicle. When you look at it, you would never recognise a factory Buick Riviera”, says Launier. “This car is so far out of the box, you can’t see the box anymore”.
It must be said that this time the judges were of mixed opinions and it took them a long time to make the final decision whether they should give a prize to a car which had been subject to so many modifications. But eventually, Launier became the first Canadian to get the Ridler Award since 1987. In addition to that, the organisers of major auto shows in Sweden and Australia invited the 1964 Buick Riviera J.F. Kustoms to their showrooms. It means that soon people from other continents will have a chance to get acquainted with the car created by “a smalltown boy from Osoyoos” (as Launier called himself).
2014 Pirelli Tire Great 8 photo gallery.
— Original four-seat layout reconfigured to a two-seat design
— Twin-turbocharged, 850-horsepower GM 6.2L LS V8 with truck-mounted turbocharger, wastegates and associated plumbing
— Custom copper-color turbo tubing
— Ford GT40-style ducted radiator with hot air exit in the hood
— Six-speed manual gearbox
— Custom-designed rectangular steel perimeter frame which allows the driver and powertrain to sit low within the chassis and the roofline to be dramatically lowered
— Smoothed undercarriage with custom siamesed-exhaust pipes
— Boattail-style rear glass
— CNC grille and headlight frames
— Custom Mike Curtis-designed wheels
Sources: autorama.com, www.osoyoostimes.com, www.onallcylinders.com, autos.yahoo.com, www.thenewsherald.com, www.thetruthaboutcars.com
