Following a link in a comment the other day led us to what is, possibly, the greatest Flickr photo set we’ve seen in recent memory (aside from, of course, the photosets contributed to the Hemmings Nation Flick pool). Fred Childers was a frequent visitor to the Grand National Roadster Show when it was held in Oakland, so from the 1970s through to the late 1990s, he documented a period of time when billet had yet to be abused, when Volkswagens were considered acceptable kustom fodder, and when ZZ Top’s Eliminator provided aesthetic direction to many a painter. Along the way, we see Jim Molino’s Candy Man 1923 T bucket, which took home the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award in 1977; the Greer-Black-Prudhomme dragster; Tommy Ivo’s quad-engine Showboat; and plenty of works from Barris, D’Agostino, and Winfield. And it’s a good bet that not a single one of the vehicles in these photos cost seven figures to build, just for the bragging rights of having taken home a trophy too tall to fit in your front door. We’ve culled a selection of photos below, but hit Fred’s Flickr pool for plenty more.
