Farm Grown Hot Rods at Motorama 2010

The Best of PA Car shows at the Motorama 2010

1930 Ford Truck hot rods, custom cars
Mike Smyth’s highly detailed 1930 Ford Streetrod Truck at Motorama 2010

We knew this wasn’t going to be your normal indoor car show when a cloud of exhaust greeted us as we strolled down the main hall at last weekend’s Motorama event. Actually, Motorama isn’t just a car show. It is more like a celebration of all things on wheels.

While the wife and I were at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the cars, there was plenty of indoor racing and other activities to keep the large crowds entertained. Racing was everywhere; there was go-kart, quarter midget, and arenacross racing with quads and dirt bikes. While the R/C racers and the Robot Conflict participants may have been driving smaller vehicles, they were just as competitive. Bands and DJs were scheduled throughout the day on various stages to entertain your ears and of course the Miss Motorama contestants made their rounds to entertain your eyes. (Sorry, out of respect for my assistant and wife I refrained from snapping any photos of the ladies. Besides, they were way too young for me!)

A nice collection of vendors were ready to help separate you from your money and to feed you a standard county fair style meal if you were hungry. The Farm Show Complex is so large that you actually need a map to find your way around and Motorama packed every corner with something.

Located over in the large North Hall was the combined Rod and Custom and TunerWars Showcase where we spent most of our time.

1933 Willys hot rods, custom cars
Al Nosse’s 1933 Willys with a blown Hemi has won may national awards for good reason.

1955 Nash Metropolitan hot rods, custom cars
Probably one of the wildest customs at the show was Richard Sexton’s 1955 Nash Metropolitan. It even had wheelie bars!

Motorama 2010 hot rods, custom cars
When does it become more about the stuff around your car rather than the car itself? Too much? What do you think?

1995 Ford Probe hot rods, custom cars
Delynn Rowe’s 1995 Ford Probe sparkled in pink catching the eye of many of the girls in the TunerWars area.

Over on the opposite side of the Farm Show Complex was the Speed Show. The Speed Show had several hundred more vehicles including a large collection of off-road vehicles and race cars.

Motorama 2010 RockCrawlers off road, custom jeep
The classic pose for a Rockcrawler is flexed on a ramp or parked on another vehicles tire.

We had a great time at Motorama and we have already penciled in the date (Feb 19-20, 2011) for next year’s show. What makes it even better is that  my wife, Peg, now is helping me with gear and passing out MyRideisMe cards. Does your significant other like cars as much as you do? We’ve been married for over 21 years and we still enjoy going to shows together. Check out more photos in the Picture Gallery and if you are ever at a show and you see a very large man (6’5” and 340) crawling around on the ground with a camera, say “Hi,” it’s probably me.