Every year the Goodguys Rod and Custom Association presents 12 special awards throughout their season recognizing the top Street Rods and Customs, along with the best autocross racer of the year. Each of these top 12 awards are selected at their traditional events held during the year.

For the Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year, a selection committee of industry experts and members of the Goodguys’ staff make their selections based on each selection members picks, in order of preference, then the points are totaled to determine the winner of each award.

The award is open to all street rods up to 1948. Designed for modern classic masterpieces, this award puts a focus on quality of craftsmanship, body and paint, overall engineering in addition to the standard fit, form, and functionality. Other criteria judged by the selection committee considered included the vehicle’s stance and overall creativity in design and concept.

This Year’s Competition

There were 18 different cars in competition for the street rod of the year, including one that is not your usual hot rod car choice, a 1948 Austin. Steve Jenkins’ Fleury Hot Rod’s built Austin managed to get a lot of interested looks and raised eyebrows with the unique selection of a base car to build from.

The Finalists:

• 1931 Collings Custom Craft built Model A Ford of Ralph Reed
• 1932 Ford Big Oak Garage built Ford Tudor Sedan “Gold Rush”
• 1932 Ford Roadster of Tommy Ulah
• 1932 Ford Victoria of Larry and Karen Henderson
• 1932 Ford Roadster of Jack Lester Troup
• 1933 Ford of Keith Kappel
• 1934 Ford of Dale Boesch
• 1937 Ford of Dan Wather
• 1938 Chevy Coupe of Carl Moyer
• 1939 Chevy Pickup of Doug Eldred
• 1939 Plymouth Rodking Mike Weber
• 1939 Customs and Hot Rods of Andice built Oldsmobile of Bill and Debbie Thomas 2016 Ridler winner
• 1940 Ford Coupe of Gary “Boogie Man” Zaboroski
• 1940 Ford of Bill and Diane Cheek
• 1940 Rob Ida Concepts built Merc of Jack and Carolyn Kiely
• 1940 Gear Head Hot Rodz built 1940 Ford of Dave Stitizer
• 1941 Willys of Bill Roberts
• 1948 Fleury Hot Rods built Austin of Steve Jenkins

Our Top Five

In addition to the ultimate winner, we chose for of the finalists that we liked, and could have easily taken home the top prize. Granted, our criteria for selecting the top street rod of the year was wildly different than those of  the Goodguys’ selection committee, but we still stand by our picks.

David Floyd’s 1932 Ford “Gold Rush”

Big Oak Garage built the 1932 Ford Tudor Sedan hot rod, which was competing in its second show and heading to the NHRA Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky next. The crew is proud that this rod was built in the traditional hot rod style, without any creature comforts like air conditioning. Keeping the powerplant a Ford was a big deal for the Big Oak Garage crew, albeit not the traditional flathead blue oval. The crew settled for a traditional hot rod Ford Y-block with magnet, bored out to 302 cubic-inches that hit 300 horsepower on the dyno.

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The top was chopped and inch and a half, but still maintains factory lines and proportionally correct for the body and rear window. Using early Chevrolet truck tail lights and custom built brackets to mount the lights helped to define the rear of the car. The front open hood sides keep in tradition with early hot rod builds and help show off the lakester headers. The entire interior is hand-fabricated aluminum panels from Big Oak Garage except for the headliner.

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Dan Wathor’s 1937 Ford Deluxe Coupe

Warhor’s ’37 Ford has ten years in the build process to finally emerge from its chrysalis as a full custom build. The time spent under construction paid off as the coupe was chosen as a Pirelli Great Eight contender for the Ridler award this year. Kenny’s Rod Shop worked on this coupe that they simply called the ’37 Deluxe. Ford never produced a Deluxe Coupe in 1937 as the upscale trim line didn’t appear until the next year for the release of the 1938 models. For those keeping score, this would be the only 1937 Ford Deluxe Coupe in existence, unless Kenny’s Rod Shop creates another.

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Carl Moyer’s 1938 Chevy Coupe

Unfortunately we didn’t get many details on Moyer’s beautiful ’38 Chevy Coupe. He listed a 383 cubic-inch small-block Chevy under the hood, which is a traditional engine choice for Chevy Coupes and many Ford rods. A 4l65E transmission hung behind the stroker, all mounted in an Art Morrison chassis. The highlight of this build was the Inglese fuel injection topping the SBC. There is just something about polished velocity stacks that make a build stand out.

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Doug Eldred’s 1939 Chevy Truck

Most builders do not have time to work on their own projects but Doug Eldred of Doug Eldred’s Hotrod Shop built the time into his schedule to take a 600 dollar beat-up Chevy truck and turn it into a phenomenal 1939 custom Chevy truck named The Brass Monkey. He originally started the project as a rat rod and changed his mind midstream when the project became a rolling chassis. Feeling that the truck deserved a completed look, Eldred decided to make it a full show vehicle.

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With a four and a half-inch chop and shaved cowl vents, Eldred customized the bed and hand-fabricated brass door handles and door trim. A 1935 Chevy grille shell was sectioned and ’34 Ford headlights added to the front. The tail lights are from a 1937 Chevy that are modified and fitted with custom brass bezels with Zephyr lenses. The entire truck is covered in Brass Monkey Bronze base and clear coat.

The Winner

Billy Thomas’ “Olds Cool” won the 2016 Ridler award, and has received a fair share of press on the build. According to the builder, about 90 percent of the body had been reshaped or modified in some way. Using foam carvings, the crew refined their mental picture into station bucks where eventually 18-gauge steel panels were created.

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Starting with an Art Morrison chassis, the crew worked with the frame until much of the original was replaced with custom fabricated sections to make it all work. Using coilovers all around, the independent front suspension and banjo-style rear axle support the frame and body. All totaled, the build took four years to accomplish, starting with just an illustration. You can check out over coverage of the Ridler award winner here: 2016 Ridler Award Winner Bill Thomas’ 1939 Olds Convertible.

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• 1939 Oldsmobile Model 60 convertible
• The Builder: Harold Chapman, Customs and Hot Rods of Andice (CHRA)
• Owner: Billy Thomas of Corpus Christi, Texas
• Engine: Mondello Performance Products’ Oldsmobile 455 (498 cubic-inches). 600 hp. (The last engine Joe Mondello Sr. built and dyno’d before passing away).
• Wilson fuel injection with twin throttle bodies.
• 4L60E Automatic transmission
• Customized Art Morrison Chassis
• Custom fabricated body
• Paint: Charlie Hutton, from Charlie Hutton Color Studio in Boise, Idaho