Former General Motors top car designer talks about car design
Dick Luzin, former chief designer of Chevrolet and Cadillac at General Motors, shares his thoughts on automotive design.
The 2025 Shiny Rust Hot Rod Show was held over the weekend at the Oakland Expo Center in Waterford, Michigan. The focus was on classic cars, with shiny and rusty cars, big and small, all on display.
Cars on display Nov. 8 and 9 appeared in classes such as classic, custom, dragster, race car, rat rod, street rod, truck, unique and even hearse. If you’re a fan of old cars with lots of custom paint and modifications, this show is for you.
Since we’re in the middle of fall and winter is just around the corner, holding an outdoor car show isn’t ideal.
The Shiny Last Hot Rod Show was held indoors in a 100,000 square foot complex filled with hundreds of cars. Vehicles were driven into the property, pushed from behind, or towed by a golf cart. Each vehicle had an information card that listed the vehicle’s make, model, year, and owner’s name. Many cars had posters with detailed information about the vehicle. In addition to the cars on display, there were many vendors who set up booths selling automotive art, clothing, cleaning supplies, and more.
fast replica
Most of the cars at this show were American classics, but there was one silver Porsche that really stood out.
This was a 356 Outlaw replica based on the improved 356 Outlaw, which was derived from the 356 Speedster. The car’s owner, Jell Lind of Commerce Township, Michigan, spoke about how much fun it was to drive and the amount of work that went into it.
“It feels like driving an old sports car. It’s not particularly quiet, smooth or easy to get in and out of, but once you sit down and start hurtling around the corners, it’s a lot of fun,” Lind said. “We had the whole car disassembled over the winter, so we spent 700 hours in the garage working on it and finished it in the spring.”
He also mentioned how this modified classic is considered “sacrilegious” by Porsche purists.
agricultural pickup truck
Then there was the 1962 International Harvester Scout 80.
Joe Shand of Hartford, Michigan, talked about how his truck came from a company that specializes in farm equipment and how it resembles the original Ford Bronco.
“If you look at the front end and grille of the Scout and the early Broncos, there are a lot of similarities. I’m not saying they copied the Scout, but there are obvious similarities,” Shand said.
