Autorama’s 71st year brings 5 generations of Batmobiles to Detroit

PLEASANT RIDGE/DETROIT — The 71st edition of Meguiar’s Detroit Autorama will make its way back to the Motor City in early March.

Autorama will have more than 800 various kinds of classic and custom vehicles on display March 1-3 at Huntington Place, 1 Washington Blvd.

This year’s Autorama is highlighted by five generations of Batmobiles starting with the 1966 vehicle driven by Adam West, the Batmobiles from “Batman Returns” with Michael Keaton, “Batman Forever” with Val Kilmer, “Justice League” with Ben Affleck and the Tumbler from “Batman Begins” with Christian Bale.

“Getting to see the five generations of Batmobiles is something that no one will ever see again, under one roof,” President and owner of Championship Auto Shows Peter Toundas stated. Championship Auto Shows produces Autorama.

Toundas said that, when it comes to these kinds of exhibits in Detroit, you’ll see the best of the best from around the world.

“Seventy-one years ago, the show relied on traditional hot rods,” he said. “And today, the event has transformed into a younger demographic that has tuner cars, that has 4x4 pickup trucks … to your average hot rod to even modern muscle. You’ll see Challengers, Camaros, Corvettes.”

“I would say that Autorama has become a generational event where people that attend today could have come 15, 20 years prior with an uncle, brother, dad. So there’s a strong legacy with Detroit and Autorama,” he continued.

There also will be a showcase of three vehicles used by Evel Knievel: the X-2 Skycycle, the Snake River Rocket Concept Trike and the Formula 1 Dragster.

Outside of vehicle showcases, hot rods will be competing for the Ridler Award, Autorama Extreme will showcase traditional rods and customs, and the presentation of the Preservation Award will be made to Tom Tignanelli, of Clinton Township.

While he’s been to Autorama dozens of times, Phil Korovesis, of Pleasant Ridge, will be participating in the show for the first time with his 1971 Chevrolet C10 pickup truck.

Korovesis has owned the truck since 2014 and purchased the vehicle because of his love of its design and style. He also had a friend in high school who had a similar truck that he always loved, which helped contribute to him pursuing the pickup.

“I thought it’d be great to have a vehicle to finally display here, and this one finally was the first one I thought was really worth it and probably would fit well there and decided to finally pull the trigger on doing it,” he said.

“I love checking out all the cars (at Autorama) and what people have done to different cars and trucks and motorcycles and everything else,” Korovesis continued. “I grew up working in a machine shop and racing cars when I was a youngster, and this is just a natural attraction to enjoy the automotive industry like this.”

The hours for Autorama are noon to 10 p.m. Friday, March 1; 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 2; and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 3. For more information on the event and to buy tickets, visit autorama.com/attend/detroit.