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Ross Myers’ Fenderless ’36 Ford Is America’s Most Beautiful Roadster
The 75th annual Grand National Roadster Show capped off a star-studded event with the crowning of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. The title, a massive trophy, and a check from ARP for $12,500 were bestowed upon the 1936 Ford owned by Ross Myers and built by Rad Rides by Troy. This marks back-to-back wins for the Myers family, as Beth Myers took the trophy home last year. It’s also the second time that Rad Rides by Troy has teamed up with the Myers for a major show win, as they took home the 2007 Ridler Award with a 1936 Ford coupe.

In contrast to that Ridler-winning 1936 Ford build with Rad Rides, this roadster is fenderless and wears a more subtle shade of green based on Porsche’s Aventurine Green Metallic from BASF/Glasurit. While Myers supplied at least part of a 1936 Ford roadster to kick off the build, it was used only as a reference, as the body was developed from scratch by Rad Rides fabricator Adam Banks. It would take a true Ford aficionado to note all of the changes made from the factory lines, but anyone even a bit familiar with a ’36 Ford knows that something interesting is going on, as the proportions look so right despite losing the flowing fenders.

The lower rear quarters of the car have some 1933–34 Ford influence, as they curve more gently than a ’36 would without its fenders. Up front, the grille is much shorter and the firewall is pushed back, leading to a longer hood. For inclement weather, there’s a hand-built aluminum top.


Like the rest of the car, the chassis, suspension, and axles were smoothed and coated to perfection. Without fenders, there is no place to hide bulky suspension components. A torsion-bar suspension allows for tight packaging, without extraneous bits poking out and interrupting the car’s clean lines.

The sleek and sculpted roadster is powered by a 312-cubic-inch Ford Y-Block V-8 fed six pounds of boost from a vintage McCulloch supercharger. Well, partly vintage. The McCulloch case was fitted with new internals for improved performance. The entire engine was smoothed and painted for a flawless look on the exterior. It’s much deeper than that, however. Troy Trepanier’s land-speed-racing experience made its way into the engine, as all of the mating surfaces were machined for o-rings rather than gaskets, keeping the potent mill well sealed and leak-free. The power comes on smoothly, with the fuel injection’s throttle bodies sealed inside the supercharger plenum to keep the car idling at a burbling 500 rpm. The original tune had it idling at 600 rpm, but the car demanded a slower, more mellow cadence. The Rad Rides team had to machine a smaller pulley to keep the alternator energized at such a low speed, but the car sounds like the distinguished, coachbuilt creation that it is.

Myers did his best to hide his excitement on stage during the award announcement. However, there was no stopping him from beaming when he met his wife, Beth, at the car for a celebration with the trophy. Troy and the Rad Rides crew did an amazing job bringing Ross’ vision to life, and everyone involved in the car’s creation deserves praise. The craftsmanship is apparent in every facet of the build, and the elegant, luxurious car earned its title as America’s Most Beautiful Roadster.






What a beaut’! Does anyone know about those wheels? Are they one-off, or something you can buy? I like em.
Custom made wheels, and the caps are not painted, but colored glass.
The amount of work done on this vehicle is insane…
https://www.hotrod.com/events/americas-most-beautiful-roadster-ambr-2025-winner-ross-myers-1936-ford-fenderless-roadster/
Love the car and really love the wheels.
Not likely something you can buy as these cars have wheels made for for them generally.
Similar in look to Halibrand Wheels
It’s one of the nicer of that style of coupe I have seen. Really nice color and wheels. Lots of nice details on it.
The build and execution are obviously to an extreme level. This looks like a 32 roadster with a 36 nose blended on. But I am firmly in the camp that a 36 Ford was flowing majesty with the fenders on, and that if you are going to customize one it’s hard to stray from what Calori did and not be “just making changes to be different, not better”.
Great car! Great winning couple! What more could you ask for?
Absolutely love that a Ford Y block was built up for this. Have one in my 55-F-100 and get comments all the time on the “la-la-la-la-la” exhaust sound from the uncommon firing order 1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2 same as the older flathead.
What a classy build.
Yes indeed-a classy build which will never be run on the street
I would suggest that your statement is premature. History has proven that cars like this which are extremely costly hand built creations used to be built only for show and were impractical. Often they had empty engine blocks or things like chrome brake rotors and drums. In recent decades the moniker of ‘trailer queen’ became somewhat of a critique at best and an insult at worst. It was a challenge issued and usually it has been answered. While these big time award winners usually spend months trailered to shows when they are new to let everyone who attend the shows to see them like new, the owners often put them on the road after the applause dies down and drive them to the big outdoor shows to prove that they had cars built to run well as well as look good. It takes a lot of wealth to create a car like this but that usually means the owners can afford to drive them as well.
I just visited Ross Myers’ car collection today at 3 Dog Garage and was told the car went back to Troy to be made more streetable, sounds like Ross plans on driving it on the street
Yes indeed-a classy build-one that will never be run on the street.
Unfortunately, exposed tires are illegal in California. California law prohibits driving with tires that are unsafe or have exposed plies or cords.
Not so fast. A quick search shows that many states and provinces in North America now accommodate open fender street rods. My own province of British Columbia Canada in recent years has added an exemption
for collector cars to legally run without fenders. I believe it is a fair weather law. California appears to allow vehicles under 1800# to run fender-less. Being that Cali is the home state of the hot rod and that there are thousands of open wheeled rods in California alone, as one poster on a hot rod site stated “My guess is that CHP just ‘assumes’ all roadsters weigh less than 1800# so don’t hassle them.”
You are correct, Brent. In my home province of Saskatchewan we have a “fair weather, dry pavement” exemption for open wheel cars. Back in the late 1970s and early ’80s some of us fought very hard to get the exemption for “modified vintage vehicles” (hot rods LOL) and it is still in place. If you are driving out of province, however, you have to check ahead to see what the law is in other jurisdictions. They will hang you in some places for no fenders!
Really nice but really sad when cost is no object. I would be more impressed if someone had built this in the back of a barn on a $40,000 budget. Maybe some of the engineering wouldn’t be there but remember hot rodding originated with guys scavenging junk yards for parts.