Hundreds of classic cars ready to gather for Detroit Autorama

BERKLEY/CLAWSON — The Motor City will hear the sound of revving engines as Detroit Autorama quickly approaches at the end of the month.

The 72nd annual Meguiar’s Detroit Autorama will take place Feb. 28 to March 2 at Huntington Place, 1 Washington Blvd. It will feature more than 800 hot rods and custom cars packed into the Detroit convention center.

Highlights of the big show will be the debut of the Barbie Cadillac and the Megamorph transforming car.

“There will be so much going on for the whole family at this year’s Detroit Autorama, that we can hardly wait to unveil it to the public,” Peter Toundas, president and owner of Championship Auto Shows Inc., stated in a news release. Championship Auto Shows produces Autorama. “All of the attractions at this year’s Autorama will astound showgoers but of course, at the heart of Autorama is the completely amazing 800 dazzling hot rods and customs with many competing for top awards including The Ridler.”

Thousands of people are expected to attend Autorama, including many local car owners who will be bringing their classic vehicles to the show.

Phil Hatzos will be participating in his first Autorama and will bring his 1978 Chevrolet Chevette, a car he’s owned for 14 years.

Hatzos, a Berkley resident, drove a 1976 Chevette back in high school, and when he came across this one on Craigslist, he jumped at the chance to buy it.

“It’s a street and strip car,” he said. “I drive her everywhere. I drive it back to Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio … she runs really big, really strong and I drive her everywhere. She’s dependable.”

“It was my first car that I owned on my own, and I always wanted to build it,” Hatzos continued. “It’s unique in the way that they made almost 3 million of them, and then you don’t see them anymore.”

Hatzos said his Chevette typically gets a lot of looks when he takes it out, and he hears all kinds of stories from people about the vehicle.

“I get people coming up now, ‘Yeah, my mom and dad had one of these and I sat in the back seat in the car seat.’ I hear all kinds of stories from people and … they never built a V-6 Chevette or V-8 Chevette. They only had the four cylinders. So that’s the first thing people see, is the engine sticking out through the hood.”

Thomas Dorr, of Clawson, will be bringing his 1935 Chevrolet pickup truck. It will be his second time bringing his pickup to Autorama and third time overall at the event.

“You cannot hardly see it in one day,” he said. “There’s so many cars.”

Dorr has owned the pickup for around five years after he found it advertised at a nearby marketplace. He described it as a city service gas station pickup truck.

He noted that the truck does get a fair amount of attention.

“Whether I go to Costco, I go into Berkley to the pool store over there, anywhere I go, and it was embarrassing at first. I’ve got a ’37 Chevy street rod, which I drive too, and I’ve had that for about 10 years, and it was really embarrassing. But I’m getting used to it. It’s kind of fun. … I just like driving them

The hours for Autorama are noon to 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28; 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 1; and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 2. General admission tickets cost $28 and admission for children ages 6-12 costs $10. Children younger than 5 will be admitted for free.

For more information on Autorama weekend, visit autorama.com/attend/detroit.