March 2-4, 2018
Billed as America’s greatest hot rod show, Autorama has been drawing thousands of car fanatics and gearheads since 1961.
The first-ever Detroit Autorama was held at the University of Detroit Memorial Building on Six Mile Rd and Livernois, on January 31 and February 1, 1953. It featured only 40 cars, and was hosted by members of the Michigan Hot Rod Association (MHRA), which was created only a year before to “organize small local clubs into one unified body that could raise the money needed to pull drag racing off the streets and into a safe environment”. Eventually, the MHRA grew to also include clubs from the custom-car and hot-rodding scene, such as the Bearing Burners and Spark Plugs, who combined efforts to pull-off the first event, along with other Detroit Car Clubs such as The Road Kings, Shifters, and Milwinders.
For the second show, activities were moved from Six Mile to the Michigan State Fairgrounds Colosseum, where it was held from 1954 to 1960.
The 9th Annual Detroit Autorama was the first to be held at the new Cobo Center, off of Washington Blvd in downtown.
The 66th Annual Detroit Autorama will be held at the Cobo Center, March 2-4, 2018.
For more information, click here.
Detroit Autorama wikipedia entry
Henry Payne, “Autorama hubba hubba”, Detroit News, March 6, 2015.
2017 Autorama Picture Gallery courtesy of the Detroit News.
Brian Brennan, “2017 Detroit Autorama 65 Years of Show Car History“, Hot Rod Network, February 24, 2017.
David Hakim, “Freaks, Oddities, Misfits and Rats of the Detroit Autorama“, Hot Rod Network, February 24, 2017.
A Batmobile at the 65th Detroit Autorama
