The latter part of January brings the first in the series of big rod-and-custom shows to the West Coast, ones that car enthusiasts from all over the world make pilgrimages to.

That includes Corvette lovers, whether or not they drive their two-seated treasures there.

One show ride that you’ll see at the Grand National Roadster Show at the L.A. County Fairplex in Pomona, coming up January 23-25, is Jeff Hess’ ’66 Sting Ray “Coupester.” It scored class honors in the “Semi Custom Sports 1963-‘67” class last year, and will be tough to beat for the same class win this year. (You’ll see more of the Coupester in a feature coming up in our May issue.)

That class terminology may be a bit confusing, but it has a purpose. Custom cars at that show are classified by the number of Modifications—meaning all sorts of custom bodywork--they have, from Conservative Custom (up to four modifications), Mild Custom (five to seven modifications) Semi Custom (eight to eleven mods), Full Custom (12 or more modifications) and Radical Custom (where the car is chopped, sectioned, channeled, or a recipient of other major shape-changing surgery).

By the way, wheels, bumpers and other bolt-ons are considered “Changes,” where five of these equals one Modification, under show rules.

The Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) is one that pre-dates the Corvette—with the first one held in 1950, well over a year before the first “Opel” two-seat prototype that became the C1 got the go-ahead. (In fact, when the EX-122 prototype was drawing huge crowds at the 1953 GM Motorama, the National Roadster Show—which added “Grand” to its name a short while later—was in its fourth year!)

Other big Western shows that follow the GNRS are the Sacramento Autorama, February 6-8 (another show that pre-dates the Corvette), then the Portland Rod & Custom Show (February 15-17) the San Francisco Rod, Custom and Motorcycle Show  (February 20-22), Seattle Roadster Show (February 28-March 2) and the Portland Roadster Show and Boise Roadster Show  (both March 6-8). Two weeks after the Seattle and Portland Roadster Shows is the invitation-only Fresno Autorama (March 14-16), where “big trophy” winners picked by legendary rodder/show promoter Blackie Gejeian fill the show floor in an “all star” show like no other. 

For those of you who haven’t seen these events in person, why not make this year the one to do it? (Especially since the GNRS’ venue at Pomona is within a reasonably-short--by L.A.standards--drive from the Ontario, California airport?)