It is verboten to fire your engine before the official end of the show is announced, but when the okay is given, all hell breaks loose. There is nothing quite like the sound of thousands of horsepower erupting inside a cavernous building of concrete and steel. Show officials open up the back door of the building and onlookers line the path to watch as a parade of spectacular steel streams by. If you want to make time for next year's Detroit Autorama, shoot for the last day, it's worth the wait.

And thus we conclude this year's coverage of the 2009 Detroit Autorama. It's a great show and brings out some of the most skilled and nicest folks in the business. If you ever get a chance, make the trip. Below we've put all of our coverage into a convenient list so you can pass it around to all your grease-monkey friends.

Roadchamp Coupe Does Justice To Knockoffs	1924 Dodge Modified, Skinny-Tired Dirt-Racing Awesome	1933 Ford Cabriolet, A Noble Great Eight Contender	Lord Humongous Rides Again! Six-Wheeled Death Machine Recreated
You Want Crazy? Pro Comp 1930 Ford Coupe	A Tale Of Two KITTs	Troy Trepanier's "Notorious" Will Steal Your Girlfriend	E.J. Potter's Bloody Mary To Dodge Tomahawk: Eat It!
Voodoo Curse: 40-Year-Old Inline-Six Gets A T3 Turbo	2009 Detroit Autorama: Deucenberg Wins Ridler Award!	2009 Detroit Autorama: Dan Webb's Golden Submarine Debuts!	1929 Ford Zephster Sports Breathtaking Lincoln V12, Tricks Up Sleeve
Cadillac VSR Hot Rod Concept	The Deucenberg A Ridler Contender For Sure	2009 Detroit Autorama: Vannin' Is Back!

So let's get this out of the way: 572 cubic inch Procharged crate motor, 4L80E transmission, a 3.50 rear gear with a Detroit Locker, MSD ignition, 3" Flowmaster exhaust, Baer 14" brakes, and a RacePac Data Logger dash. This car will chew you up and not even bother spitting you out. It will do drag pulls so hard you children will feel it. Opec rejoices when this car visits a drag strip. All other Nova's feel inferior in the presence of Notorious. It's black, it's badass, and it makes us weak in the knees. Screw environmental stewardship, we'd rather be Notorious.

Sometimes, on this great journey through life, you witness something so truly breathtaking, so utterly, impossibly perfect, pure and good, it shifts the paradigm of your perception. It is deceptively easy to go right by the "First Love" exhibit in front of Detroit's Cobo hall. A passing glance will reveal nothing out of the ordinary, as slick show cars go. Look closer and you'll bear witness to high-dollar rodding nirvana. Simply put, this is, by a wide margin, the finest example of no-holds-barred custom fabrication work this Jalop has ever seen. Ever.

The details on this '36 Ford are so fine and numerous, the quality of the build so high, the execution so flawless that I cannot imagine a better example of the art. While his contemporaries are going with full chrome inboard Jag E-type suspensions, Troy and his team are giving us inboard drums and hidden discs. While the competition throws out candied colors, he goes for subtle, almost factory finishes that catch the eye like the Mona Lisa. They go with big chrome wheels, he's sporting custom-machined and painted wide fives, with a tasteful throwback hubcap. Even the hubs to match the wheels are works of art. The underbody of this car is better than most of its contemporaries' coachwork; nary a bolt, rivet, or pin is visible. The mesh below the hood has cutouts that match the car's heart shaped logo. Nothing has been overlooked, nothing is flawed. I, and many others, stood mouths agape at the craftsmanship of this car. Bravo sir, bravo. – Ben Wojdyla

Related:
Salt Flats Monster: '69 Barracuda LSR Car [internal]

Okay, so Troy Trepanier has been known to be cocky and egotistical at times. He's been known to build cars that were too self-involved for their own good. His company is called "Rad Rides by Troy" — which may be one of the worst names of any company, ever (despite our affection for the word "rad"). He's been known to appear in cycling shorts on the cover of national enthusiast magazines. That said, when his spandex-and-billet equipped mind gets around to it, the man can produce. To wit, the gorgeous gray-green Deuce roadster he popped out a few year back, and now this, a '69 'Cuda built for hot-rod maven George Poteet, powered by a 180ci Mopar sprint-car four with a goal of 300mph on the salt this week. Which really, is one of the best Bonneville propositions we've heard in a few years.

'69 Barracuda Set to Go [MoparMax]

Related:
The Lonely Barracuda of Pedro [Internal]