51 Years of Chrome - 2010 Houston Autorama

text Michael A. Marrs, images Michael A. Marrs and Harold Arceneaux

                The Holiday Season provides an opportunity for spending time with the family in a month long celebration that includes plenty of food, family fun, and a little football to make it through the down time.  If you are lucky enough to be in or near Houston, there is also the long standing tradition of the largest and longest running indoor automotive show in the U.S., having started 50 years ago and grown along with the City.  The event has gone thru growth spurts that took it from the old Houston Coliseum, where the outer corridors were filled with custom cars.  The early days were also the beginning of a long standing partnership with the local Hot Rod Clubs that supported and contributed to building such a successful event over the years.  As the event continued to grow, the late ‘60s found the AutoRama moving into the old Albert Thomas Convention Center.  There were even a few years at the Houston Astrohall along the way, which was part of the 8^th Wonder of the World complex built around the Houston Astrodome.  The current home for the annual event is the refurbished George R. Brown Convention Center located in the downtown area, which is also conveniently located near Minute Maid Park, which happens to be the home of the Houston Astros Baseball Team.  

                For the 51^st year, the annual Houston O’Reilly Auto Parts AutoRama event helped the City celebrate the Holiday Season with the decorated downtown area providing the backdrop.  The George R. Brown Center event featured custom cars, custom trucks, hot rod displays, custom motorcycles, and plenty of automotive exhibits.  Also on display at the event was the Goodguys Hot Rod of the Year, a beautiful 1928 Ford, as well as the radically purple concept car named the “Scythe” from the Galpin Auto Sports team that could be found setup right inside the front door.  The ‘AutoRama OL SKOOL RODZ ‘ display was presented by the Outcasts Car Club, which had over 100 cars on display to show the ‘ol skool styles form the ‘50s and ‘60s.  The 51^st event also featured a ‘Snake Pit’, where some of the best vintage Shelby Cobras and Mustangs were on display.  Entries like the 1965 Shelby GT350 that is car number 24 of 25 built, or the 1966 Shelby Factory Drag race car that is one of four built, and one of three survivors gave spectators a view into the history behind these special cars. 

Along with the great variety of vendors on hand that presented the latest in tires, wheels, power building technology, there were several suspension builders that even had full size displays to show their design and fabrication skills.  On one end of the building, there was the annual swap meet that was full of  parts, where some of those hard to find items might be found.

It was a full weekend at the Houston AutoRama, with activities planned to keep the entire family entertained at this Holiday event.  The AutoRama Action Arena provided plenty of high-energy action throughout the weekend.  On Friday and Saturday there were burn-off competitions that created enough smoke that a passerby on the 59 South elevated called the fire department…twice in the same day!  The action area also provided an area for the Streetbike Freestlye Shows that have some pretty impressive two wheeled mayhem during the four days.  For the vintage race car fan, the popular “Cacklefest” featured several nitro-burning dragsters all fired up, including past record holders with local history that made the event even more special.

This year, the auto auction was replaced with a ‘Car Corral’ area where potential sellers and buyers could take their time and look at a wide variety of vehicles being offered for sale.  There was a gorgeous red 1957 Nomad being offered up, as well as several GTO vehicles, Corvettes, Mustangs, and plenty of custom trucks. 

There were also numerous celebrity appearances during the weekend, such as Alex Debogorski from ‘Ice Road Truckers’, who had a big rig on display.  Over on the celebrity stage, Jenni “JWOWW” Farley from the TV series Jersey Shore was in the house on Saturday, as well Debby Ryan who plays “Bailey” from the Suite Life of Zack & Cody to help keep the younger fans entertained. Other notables that could be found at the event include pin-up girl Heidi Van Horne and the Houston Roller Derby Girls. 

As this is the largest show of this kind, it is fitting that this is also the end of the AutoRama competition season, where all of the regional qualifiers are entered into the championship judging for all categories, which means the best of the best are on hand.  From here, the New Year brings in a new competition season, with expectations that the 52nd Houston AutoRama will be even bigger and better.  For more information on this event or any of the AutoRama events, visit www.autorama.com.