If you had a million bucks burning a hole in your pocket,, this weekend’s custom car show in Toronto would be the right place to look for the car of your dreams.
In the ‘Backroom’ of the International Centre is ‘Motorama Mayhem’ an old-school, hot-rod show from back in the day. It’s part of the big MOTORAMA show, but it’s definitely old-school. To some gearheads, this is the way car shows are supposed to be; gritty and smelling of gasoline. Motorama Mayhem celebrates the lifestyle of a throwback era at the beginning of the hot-rod era.
Hot-rod shows are like a connection to the past, before sport compacts became so popular. Back in the day, gearheads would modify a Model A, Mercury ‘lead sled’ of other classic American machinery. This often involved significant body modifications like chopping the top (cutting the roof off, and welding it back in place several inches lower) and always involved dropping in a bigger, more powerful V8 engine.
Today’s tuner culture (think VW Golf, Mini Cooper and WRX STi) is the modern incarnation of hot rod culture. On the surface tuner cars look very different than ‘traditional customs’ but it’s all the same. Air ride instead of add-a-leaf springs. The cars are cheap, readily available, and have tons of aftermarket parts around. It’s all about modifying the car you already have sitting in your driveway to make is special.
Motorama Mayhem embraces 50’s and 60’s Rockabilly music, Tiki culture and pomade. Te event is so old-school, they even have the ‘Miss Motorama’ Pinup Girl Pageant which is not an itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie bikini contest. It’s all about the ladies who live and breathe pinup culture in their everyday lives.
If you’re at the MOTORAMA Custom Car & Motorsport Expo this weekend, head to the Backroom to check out ‘Motorama Mayhem’. It’s like stepping back in time to an era when cars had muscle hair had grease.
Check out MOTORAMA at the International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (just outside the Toronto city limits).