Grand National Roadster Show & NHRA Museum Part 1

26 Jan (Thursday)
Hello! This is Pan from MOON SPACE AGENCY(MSA).
MOONEYES Staff from Japan travelled to USA for the Grand National Roadster Show and the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California from January 26 (Thursday) through January 30 (Monday).
It was a very special occation as Friday was the official kickoff party for the new exhibit celebrating sixty years of MOONEYES and a tribute to Dean MOON. Here are our photos from the trip.

On Thursday Jan. 26, we started our morning by arriving at LAX and heading straight to MOONEYES USA in Santa Fe Springs. After we arrived, the MOONEYES USA staff was busy loading up the vans as it was setup day at the show. Once everything was packed, we headed straight to Pomona in groups. The GNRS is held at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona. It’s a large fairgrounds which is also home to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. That’s where I was headed.

The Museum first opened in 1998. It’s a hands-down must see! They have an impressive lineup of vintage and historic racing vehicles, photographs and memorabilia. They are constantly changing too with new exhibits all the time. The Museum is open from Wednesday though Sunday from 10AM to 5PM but sometimes they have special hours during events. They are closed on holidays so be sure to check their website (http://museum.nhra.com) for more details. It costs $8 for general admission which helps support the museum. They also have a gift shop with really cool stuff.

Before we got to the Museum, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. The rest of the MOONEYES team had already headed inside the show area to setup the MOONEYES booth. When we arrived at the Museum the first I saw was a familiar vehicle parked outside. That’s right! The Museum is having a special exhibit dedicated to Dean Moon & MOONEYES, celebrating six decades of MOON. We’ll have more on that at the end of our report.

Inside the Museum is awesome. It’s breathtaking to see the vehicles in person that you only see in photos. Wall to wall, they have vehicles on display plus a few famous dragster actually suspended on the walls! The showcases are full of historic photos and artifacts, it’s truly a museum worth seeing in person. Personally, I think I could stay there for a couple of days and still want to see it again. To see them up close in person is beyond my imagination. It was an unreal experience. There were several vehicles on display that I’ve seen in old photographs taking by Dean Moon himself like the 1929 Ford Bonneville Modified Roadster. Another vehicle on display was the SO-CAL Belly Tank land speed racer! A couple highlights for me included a showcase full of scale models and another featuring vintage tether cars. That alone was superb! After spending several hours inside, I was dragged out of the Museum as our day was just getting started. It was time to meet up with the rest of the team at the MOONEYES booth.

They were inside the show area. “The Grand Daddy of the All,” the 63rd Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) is more than just a car show. It’s a vital link that ties all genre of custom cars together. Vintage hot rods, race cars, customs, lead sleds, show quality builds to bare metal works-in-progress and everything in between. The best part is they all fit in. There is even places for motorcycles, scale models and pedal cars too. Eight buildings totally packed, it’s the largest indoor show in the world and the longest running car show in history. To top it all off, they also host a Grand Daddy Drive-in which floods the outside perimeter of the buildings with even more cool cars.

JAN 27 (Fri)

We headed for the Grand National Roadster Show in the morning from MOONEYES Shop in Santa Fe Springs. Goshu & Steve road in the Shop Truck and I took photos of it as it drove on the freeway towards Pomona.

I was excited to take pictures of this historic truck in motion. When we jumped on the freeway headed for Pomona, without thinking twice I popped my head out the window to catch some great shots of the truck.

I got the shots I wanted. But unfortunately, my glasses flew off on the freeway. The wind was blowing and at first I didn’t ever realize what happend until I sat back down in car.

Then it hit me, MY GLASSES! I looked back at Shige and told him what happened. Something like this always happens to me… Shige just laughed and later when we got to the MOONEYES booth, he brought out a pair of glasses!

He said the lens power probably won’t do much but it was better than nothing and I agreed. He pulled out his Aviator shades. I would have to get by for the rest of the trip using these Aviator type sunglasses. But it did help! Although I don’t think I matched and I’m sure people were looking at me strange the entire time. It’s OK, because I don’t think I could see clearly anyways so it really didn’t matter. I’d have to rely on instinct and auto-focus for the rest of the trip…
Luckily, I’d be walking around with Steve so working together as a team would be best. He couldn’t stop laughing at first but after that, I forgot I was wearing Aviator sunglasses.

Building 4. This is the main building where they compete for America’s Most Beautiful Roadser.
There are many vendors in this building too. It’s also where the MOONEYES booth is located. On one end of the building was the Pinstripers Gathering too.
To see this in person is incredible. So many high quality builds in one place. It’s like a dream.

1933 Ford Cabriolet
The over all balance of this car did it for me.

1961 Oldsmobile Custom
The essense of this car blew my mind. The body lines and all.

1932 Ford Fordor Vicky
Something Henry Ford should have done, it really works.

Building 10 Suede Palace
These are photo highlights from the Suede Palace. A very popular area and crowded outside as well as inside.

1959 Chevy El Camino
Excellent chop and the fact they combined a coupe rear really set this apart from the rest.

Lincoln Flathead V12 Engine
1,2,3,4,5,6… WTF! This was my first time noticing a Flathead V12. I’d like to hear it…

1929 Ford Roadster
Bean Bandits Tom Branch found this period hot rod in Simi Valley. Simply awesome!

Building 6 Motorcycles, Lowriders, Trucks, Woodies and more.
There was a Denver’s Choppers display featuring a dozen authentic Denver’s Choppers.

1951 Harley Davidson Panhead
Narrow front, non-rigid Pan chopper, I like the balance of this build and the molded tank and frame, it has the 70s look.

Harley Davidson Vintage Golf Cart
Wait, what? Goshu didn’t pick a lowrider? Well, I also picked a HD but this is a vintage golf cart. So clean and show quality!

1974 Ford Torino
How could I not pick the main star of Starsky & Hutch? I had no idea what kind of car it was when I was a kid but it was so cool!

Hello! This is Goshu from MOON GARAGE

This trip report features our travels to USA for the Grand National Roadster Show & kick off party at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum for their new exhibit that pays tribute and celebrates 60 years of MOONEYES!

On Friday night from 7PM at the NHRA Museum, legendary folks show up in the hundreds to join us for the official kick off party. Dean Moon’s humble beginnings are showcased at the museum with tons of photos and memorabilia, information and more! Of course, NHRA Museum comes through with a selection of MOON related race vehicles.

We’ll have a complete feature on the MQQN Exhibit in our next update so stay tuned!
For now, enjoy the photos from the party! Can you name all the legendary people there?