By: Brian Wells | Sterling Heights Sentry | Published February 19, 2025
STERLING HEIGHTS — For Sterling Heights resident Erick Rudaitis, having his car featured at this year’s Autorama is a 50-year dream come true.
“I first went to Autorama in 1975 with some friends and I said, ‘Boy, I’d love to have a car in Autorama,’” he said.
His plan was to enter his 1974 Chevy Nova in Autorama a few years later, but the summer before he planned to show it, he was involved in a crash and the car was totaled.
Over the years, Rudaitis owned several other cars, but in Spring 2022, he came across a 1964 Buick Riviera. He bought it, did some work to it and at the encouragement of his friends and family decided to enter it with his car club, Twisted Axle, this year.
“I’m excited,” he said. “Am I expecting to win any real awards? No, because it’s a driver. But just being there, I won enough. I won because I’m finally there.”
He calls the black and sand two-toned car “Second Chance” because it fulfills his 50-year dream of having a car to enter into Autorama, he said.
Raymond Emmonds, another Sterling Heights resident, will have two vehicles on display at this year’s show — a 2001 Chevy S10 and a 1979 Chevy Camaro — both built to be used on the dragstrip.
While this isn’t Emmonds’ first time showing a vehicle at Autorama, he said he’s still excited to be there this year.
“I’ve been going since I was a little kid. I’m 57 now, and it’s just been, always Autorama,” he said. “Growing up in the late ’70s and ’80s, muscle cars were the thing and that was the show to go to.”
Emmonds first applied to show at Autorama in 2020, but the show was canceled due to COVID-19. He’s shown every year the show has been held since.
While his vehicles are built for drag racing, Emmonds said he’s excited for the change of pace of being able to meet the spectators at Autorama.
“It feels kind of great because I get to meet the people as they come by and answer their questions,” he said. “At the track you don’t get a lot of people that come by … there’s 10,000 to 15,000 people in the grandstands, you can see them, but you don’t really get to interact with them.”
The 72nd Detroit Autorama will be held Feb. 28 to March 2 at Huntington Place, 1 Washington Blvd., in Detroit. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit autorama.com/attend/detroit.