Billetproof Michigan 2010: Hot Rods And Sunshine

This year's Billetproof Michigan moved to Ypsilanti's lovely Riverside Park, and the new setting brought out some gorgeous rides from all over. It's an onslaught of awesome, billet-free hot rods below.

Oh hey, look at that, someone brought along a fully restored Model B, how quaint, a little out of place, but quaint. What a minute. Ford didn't offer an Offenhauser-infused flat-head V8 from the factory. This is how you do a sleeper.

The Packard 300 never came as a coupe, it was originally a sedan, that didn't stop Dennis Martin from enlisting the help of Damaged Goods Customs from Bay City to chop this baby into two-door the same week he bought it. It's still a bit rough, but we see great potential here, especially since he's running with the Speed Freaks car club and still packing the original 327 cubic-inch inline-8.

Sometimes you see a custom that stops you dead in your tracks, that's Bill Johnson's 1957 Buick Special. The top's chopped 2.5 inches, wind screen's been laid back, the car's been lowered and it is beautiful. You'd swear Harley Earl had clawed his way back from the grave and done the work himself.

This sucker's built for speed, not class, but it's cool and we like it. However with a name like White Super Power we thought it would maybe be able to sniff out a Starbucks four blocks away.

It's not every day you see a Studebaker Commander looking this good, it's also not every day you see one sporting Cadillac V8 power. Although, now that we think about it, we'd be a bit more adventurous and put something from a Mustang Cobra in there. Why? COBRA COMMANDER!

If your favorite dirty old uncle was a car, he'd be this Buick.

The name of this '54 Chevy is the 936 Special, we didn't get a chance to talk to its creator, "Louver John," but we suspect that's the number of louvers lovingly cut into this nasty looking rod. Bonus points for the brilliant use of license plates for a floor.

This car belongs to Dave Jenkins, he bought it new off the showroom floor in 1956 and it's been a custom ever since. There's enough history in this car to fill a book and in its freshly detailed glory it's a testament to the art, and for that Mr. Jenkins took this years Billetproof Michigan Best of Show award.

At the end of the day, sometimes the best thing about going to car shows are the little details. Sometimes the car itself isn't that special, but one little thing will set it off and make it memorable. It was a great showing at Billetproof this year and we're already counting the days until next year.