Now here's an interesting development. Jalopy Journal, the online bastion of respectable hot rodding, has thrown down the gauntlet, challenged the establishment, thumbing it's nose at this years "America's Most Beautiful Roadster". Incensed by the selection of yet another high dollar, flaw free, beige roadster, they are planning a revolt of sorts. We of the common first two syllables tend to agree with their argument. The mantle of the most beautiful is getting stale; the cars being chosen fall too much into a cookie cutter, huge dollar, trailer queen bucket and that is the antithesis of how hot rodding started.
Jalopy Journal is proposing a new contest, with no checklists, no requirements, no politics - basically no BS - just a panel of guys, arguing the merits of cars to recognize their own most beautiful roadster. We like this idea. Conventional rodding has gotten fat and bloated, so self congratulatory over the advancement of smoothed frame rails and hidden nuts and bolt as to completely miss the spirit of the art. Hot rods aren't about who can create the most perfect rod, it's about being an individual, being creative with what you have, or following a crystalline and perfect idea to a logical end. And let's be honest here, this whole idea of the most beautiful roadster is bullocks to begin with. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that idea demands the standards of beauty be as varied as the styles of the art. By the current standard, a masterpiece like the Hemirod would never even be considered. Having said that, we salute this enterprise and hope to see it sprout revolutionary change in the hot rod scene.