Congratulations to Todd Samson with his 1932 Ford Roadster built by Gray’s Garage!

Fort Worth, TX –  Goodguys Rod & Custom Association presented their second “Top 12 of the Year presented by BASF” award during the 1st BASF Legends of Hot Rodding event this past weekend, with Todd Samson and his 1932 Ford Roadster being named the Goodguys 2026 TANKS Inc. Hot Rod of the Year!

Samson credits his father for taking him to car shows at an early age, where he became obsessed with a 1932 Ford roadster powered by a Flathead engine equipped with rare Ardun cylinder heads. He promised that he would have a ’32 roadster someday and even bought a similar engine long before having a car to put it in. Eventually he found a car to build and decided to turn over the project to Dave Gray and his small crew at Gray’s Garage in Sanford, Michigan.

The foundation for the roadster is a custom chassis by Brooks Craft complemented with classic hot rod components such as a drilled and dropped front axle and a Winters quick-change rear axle supported by a Model A rear spring. The engine, a vintage Ford Flathead built by Don Ferguson, is just like the one Sampson coveted as child. A SCoT blower packs air and fuel into the rare Ardun heads with sparks coming from a Ronco magneto.

Gray’s Garage massaged the all-steel Brookville body, tightened the gaps, added some requisite hot rod louvers, and worked in taillights from a vintage VW Beetle before applying the PPG Muddy Green and Black hue. The interior features custom seats upholstered with leather by Colten Leigeb highlighted with vintage gauges, an MG steering wheel and ’36 Ford steering column.

To compete for the coveted title of Goodguys 2026 TANKS Inc. Hot Rod of the Year, vehicles must be older than 1949, have a minimum of 500 miles on the odometer, and finish a 100-plus mile reliability run through the scenic back roads of Tennessee, including passes down the Music City Raceway drag strip! Samson’s Deuce roadster performed flawlessly throughout the journey, a testament to the build quality of Gray’s Garage.

Goodguys will be crowning 10 more vehicles to complete their Top 12 of the Year Awards presented by BASF throughout the 2026 season which includes the Snap-on Muscle Car, Vintage Air Custom Rod, Dakota Digital Truck of the Year Late, and other top categories for classic vehicles.

Congratulations to Todd Samson and the team at Gray’s Garage for being named the Goodguys 2026 TANKS Inc. Hot Rod of the Year

Goodguys Rod & Custom Association

The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association hosts legendary classic car shows around the United States each year bringing together Hot Rodder’s of all kinds, families and vintage auto appreciators for weekends of good times

Website

good-guys.com/

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Congratulations to Jeremiah Belk and the team at Driven Speed Shop for taking home the Goodguys 2025 Griot’s Garage Muscle Machine of the Year Award!

Fort Worth, TX – Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, the world’s largest hot rodding association, is thrilled to announce Jeremiah Belk and his 1966 Nova as the winner of the prestigious 2025 Griot’s Garage Muscle Machine of the Year award. The Muscle Machine of the Year title, one of Goodguys’ coveted “Top 12 of the Year” awards presented by BASF, was crowned during the Goodguys 32nd Summit Racing Lone Star Nationals at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on September 27th.

The Nova, built by Driven Speed Shop of Mesa, Arizona, defines the target of what makes a muscle machine; classic muscle car style with abundant horsepower, contemporary flare, and amazing build quality. Plus, the car needs to prove its performance merit by finishing a 100 mile reliability run, make laps on the autocross track, and tear down the drag strip!

Jeremiah’s Nova is well beyond what Chevrolet built in 1966. The original uni-body constructed car now sits on a full chassis from Roadster Shop for strength and improved handling. Power is five times the original output thanks to a Wegner Racing 427c.i. engine topped with a Whipple supercharger and capable of producing 1,000 horsepower. Giant disc brakes provide instant stopping power and the car rolls on Forgeline wheels wrapped in Micheline Pilot Sport tires.

The team at Driven Speed Shop treated the body to substantial sheet metal refinements that include a smoothed and raised cowl, tucked bumpers, deleted trim, shaved drip rails, and flush mounted glass. Kandy Shop Kreations was called in for final bodywork and to apply the PPG Audi Daytona Pearl paint.

The interior is equally as custom and modernize with a leather-wrapped custom dash fitted with Holley digital instruments. The bulk of the interior work was handled by Sew Cal Rods, including stitching new seats in red and black leather. There’s also air conditioning, a thumping stereo, and a rollcage for added safety.

To round out their 2025 “Top 12 of the Year” program, Goodguys will be announcing the final five winning vehicles on Friday, October 3rd. These final award winners will include the 2025 Snap-On Muscle Car of the Year, Vintage Air Custom Rod of the Year, LMC Truck of the Year (Early), Dakota Digital Truck of the Year (Late), and Scott’s Hotrods N’ Customs Custom of the Year.

Congratulations to Jeremiah Belk and Driven Speed Shop for being named the Goodguys 2025 Griot’s Garage Muscle Machine of the Year!

About Goodguys: Founded in 1983, Goodguys Rod & Custom Association was launched with the goal of celebrating the passion for American hot rodding and car culture by bringing Cool Cars and Cool People together for Good Times! With over 65,000 active members worldwide, Goodguys is the world’s largest hot-rodding association sharing their passion through nation-wide events, the Goodguys magazine and digital media outlets. 

Goodguys Rod & Custom Association

The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association hosts legendary classic car shows around the United States each year bringing together Hot Rodder’s of all kinds, families and vintage auto appreciators for weekends of good times

Website

good-guys.com/

The post Goodguys Rod & Custom Association Awards the 2025 Griot’s Garage Muscle Machine of the Year appeared first on The Customized Ride.

Congratulations to Angelo Vespi and his highly modified 1987 Buick Grand National for being named Goodguys Rod & Custom Association’s 2025 PPG Street Machine of the Year

Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, the world’s largest hot rodding association, presented their 2025 PPG Street Machine of the Year Award to Angelo Vespi and his wickedly amazing 1987 Buick Grand National. The car was selected from a field of over a dozen other highly modified street machines during a special ceremony July 12th at the Goodguys 27th Summit Racing Nationals presented by PPG in Columbus, Ohio,

Built by Dutchboys Hotrods in Vicksburg, Michigan, over the course of four years and nearly 10,000 hours, the highly modified Grand National raises the bar for modern street machines. Originally, Vespi came to Dutchboys with the goal to build the ultimate Grand National, and being named the Street Machine of the Year, solidifies their achievement.

One of the biggest challenges when working on a vehicle built in the mid ‘80s is the form and fitment of the steel body panels combined with many plastic pieces that warp, crack and fit poorly even when new. The Dutchboys team replaced all the plastic panels with their own hand fabricated and machined metal panels throughout the body, tightened every gap, formed the fender flares and even the made the bumper strips from aluminum. The final touch was a menacing black finish, to carry on the Grand National heritage.

The factory chassis was pushed aside as the Dutchboys designed a custom frame and channeled the body over it to achieve an intimidating, low stance and fitment for the custom machined 20-inch wheels. A front subframe and rear suspension setup from Detroit Speed were incorporated to the new frame providing performance handling with huge Baer brakes pulling the GN to a stop.

Originally, Grand Nationals were powered by a high performance, turbocharged 3.8L V-6 Buick, but Vespi wanted to double the fun by adding twin turbos feeding into a Mast Motorsports 7.0L LS engine. The fuel delivery, boost and ignition are all managed by a Holley EFI system with the engine easily producing over 1,000 horsepower!

The interior pays homage to the original Buick design, but there is not an original piece to be found. Avant Garde Design 3D scanned the entire interior and set about 3D printing and machining all new panels, seats, trim, pedals, and handles. Once complete, everything was wrapped and stitched in leather and suede materials with a flat screen display from Holley monitoring the drivetrain and controls.

It took a little longer than anticipated, but the Dutchboys and their partners created the ultimate Grand National, which they call the GNXS, after the uber-rare GNX offered in 1987 only. Congratulations to Angelo Vespi and the team at Dutchboys Hotrods for being named the Goodguys 2025 PPG Street Machine of the Year!

Goodguys will be crowning seven more vehicles to complete for their “Top 12 of the Year” awards program presented by BASF over the remainder of the 2025 season including Muscle Car of the Year presented by Snap-On, Muscle Machine of the Year presented by Griot’s Garage, Custom Rod of the Year presented by Vintage Air, Truck of the Year (Early) presented by LMC Truck, Truck of the Year (Late) presented by Dakota Digital, Custom of the Year presented by Fuel Curve and Goodguys’ Most Bitchin’ presented by BASF.

Build Details: Feature Story

Goodguys Rod & Custom Association

The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association hosts legendary classic car shows around the United States each year bringing together Hot Rodder’s of all kinds, families and vintage auto appreciators for weekends of good times

Website

good-guys.com/

The post Goodguys Announces the 2025 PPG Street Machine of the Year appeared first on The Customized Ride.