Don Ridler was the driving force behind keeping the Detroit Autorama relevant for so many years. The Ridler Award was created in his honor to recognize the best of the best hot rods making their worldwide debut at Autorama, the second longest-running indoor car show in America.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have cars that I built win the Ridler Award no fewer than four times.
A lot of people ask me what it takes to design a car that’s going to take home top hardware at the prestigious Detroit Autorama. I can tell you that taking aim at the Ridler award—and it is indeed something you have to carefully plan for and execute—requires the utmost commitment from myself as a designer, from the customer who has commissioned the car, and from the team putting everything together.