Mopar® Takes Home Honors at Detroit Autorama

Each March, Cobo Center in Detroit, Mich. welcomes a stunning array of show cars under its roof as the Murray’s/O’Reilly Auto Parts Autorama rolls into town. Keen show observers well know that under the hoods of many of these vehicular gems sits a veritable warehouse of Mopar® parts. Such was the case during the 57th annual Autorama Motown visit, held March 6–8.

Exhibit A was, well, quite literally an exhibit! The Mopar display may have moved from its usual location at the Autorama, but the floor traffic and electric buzz reached the usual fevered pitch when Mopar is involved: About 11 on a scale of 10. The Autorama chairman bestowed one of only three Outstanding Commercial Display awards on the Mopar exhibit, quite the accolade considering the amazing lineup of cars cramming the Cobo floor.

Front and center in Mopar’s Autorama digs was the Mopar Challenger Drag Pak driven by “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, tantalizingly twirling on a rotating turntable and spotlighted by neon lighting on the Mopar Image Center stage. Four additional show cars were on view for attendees, including a 2009 Mopar Dodge Ram 1500 Sport, a 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T, a 1971 Dodge Challenger convertible and a 1970 Dodge Super Bee from the Walter P. Chrysler Museum. Mopar gear heads also converged on the rolling Mopar Speedshop for the chance to bring home some Authentic Mopar apparel.

Mopar also announced the first winner of the 2009 Mopar “Top Eliminator” program, which recognizes the most skilled Mopar enthusiasts and their restyled or customized Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge and Jeep® vehicles. The program, now in its third year, will spotlight a total of seven Mopar “Top Eliminator” winners that will be selected throughout the year.

Keith Wiederhold of Ortonville, Mich., earned Mopar “Top Eliminator” honors at the Autorama. Wiederhold displayed his 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. The car, finished in a brilliant original Vitamin C Orange, is a rolling showcase of Mopar performance products such as the M1 Intake and electronic race distributor.

Just a short walk from the Mopar exhibit, the Michigan Mopar Muscle Club featured its usual standout display area. The “Mopar-Ville” hippie-era theme lived up to the group’s self-proclaimed moniker as “The Groovy Car Club.” The Mopar-crazed crew let its creative freak flag fly, displaying unique banners, including one that read “It Ain’t Heavy, It’s My B-Body.”

While the club’s banners and signage were top-notch, what stirs car enthusiasts to make the annual trek to the Autorama in the “D” is cold, hard steel. And the Michigan Mopar Muscle Club had the Mopar-powered variety in spades.

Club president and founder LeeRoy Simpson drew appreciative stares as well as a few hearty chuckles with his 1972 AMC Gremlin X. The car carried a stowaway passenger on the roof—a lifelike statue of a character from, appropriately enough, the 1984 film Gremlins.

“I always wanted a Gremlin X,” explained Simpson, who has owned about 40 Mopar cars. “I tracked one down in Virginia about four months ago. It’s got a lot of attention. I try to drive the things you don’t see a lot of. The odder the better.”

Simpson calls the club “a big family,” but what he doesn’t mention is his “family’s” diversity. It’s quite the contrast to go from Simpson’s Gremlin to the speed machine nearby, club member Bill Traynor’s 1972 Dodge Demon. The beast features an all-aluminum, blown Keith Black HEMI® engine Traynor located in a warehouse. The motor was formerly a 6,000 hp (yes, you read that right) nitro motor and was detuned to its current 1,200 hp.

Like many at the show, the project was a labor of love for Traynor. He began work over a year prior to the 2009 Autorama and completed the finishing touches just before the car was shipped off to Cobo. Due to time constraints, Traynor didn’t have a chance to drive his car prior to the show. Sadly, he was forced to merely fire up the car for a brief moment and drink in the rumble and bellow of the Demon in all its glory before packing it on his trailer.

You can bet that after that tease, Traynor paid a visit to his local drag strip soon after the Autorama ended. According to Traynor, the car should run in the low seven-second or high six-second range and reach speeds of 190–200 mph in the quarter-mile. His chosen fuel? Mopar parts.

“I don’t like aftermarket, generic parts,” Traynor said. “I like my parts to say Mopar on them. When people look under the hood, I want them to see Mopar.”

Funny—that seemed to be the motto of many of the exhibitors at the Detroit Autorama!