By MR Staff
It’s tough to comprehend that Goodguys Rod & Custom Association just wrapped up the 39th running of their Goodguys West Coast Nationals. It hurts to think that some of us were around for those first couple of decades of this NorCal cruise fest. The good news is that even at 39, the West Coast Nationals still delivers the good times by pulling in the best custom cars, hot rods, classic trucks, and muscle cars from the region.
Hot rodders had the opportunity to partake in a few cruises around the area earlier in the week on the Gary Meadors Memorial Hot Rod Week along with a fun Poker run on Thursday. Come Friday, the gates to the fairgrounds swung open and the good times fired up on all eight cylinders (except for a handful of vintage inline-sixes).
Goodguys welcomes any specialty vehicles built before 2000, so you can imagine the variety of cars and trucks that roll into the show over three days! There’s literally something for everyone, and our titles were tasked with picking just one. It’s a tough job, but our crew is up to the task and selected a few favs, including Ramon Coria’s sweet 1957 Chevy, which earned the nod for our Modern Rodding pick; Montie Hurd’s 1969 RS Z/28 Camaro, which received the All Chevy Performance pick; and Classic Truck Performance’s choice, Johnny Cagle’s 1978 K5 Blazer.
The Goodguys crew had their work cut out for them, but they made several additions to their regional Top 12 Of The Year Finalists with the following selections: Steve Aguilar’s 1970 Buick GS Stage 1 as the Snap-on Muscle Car of the Year finalist, Nick Relampagos’ second-gen Camaro as the Griot’s Garage Muscle Machine of the Year finalist, Homer Diaz’s 1954 Chevy as the Scott’s Hotrods ’N Customs Custom, Bryan William’s 1955 Chevy Nomad as the Vintage Air Custom Rod, Steve Castello’s 1956 Ford panel truck as the LMC Truck Early, Scott Hackbarth’s 1973 GMC as the Dakota Digital Truck Late, and Greg Heinrich’s 1987 Chevy Crew Cab as the Roaster Shop 4×4 Of The Year Finalist.
The NorCal weather was exceptional all three days, and there were plenty of good times and great memories. If this was what 39 looked like, we’re really looking forward to the big Four-Oh next year!
