L.A. Roadster Show - Tops Among The Topless

Truly a custom, vintage bike builder Mike Kane's bike hauler is built from a '48 Diamond T cab with an early '60s Peterbilt sleeper, rolling on an '88 Chevy 1-ton dually Crew Cab frame. The chopped and narrowed custom bed carries Mike's cargo: a '36 Indian Chief and a '39 Indian four-cylinder.

Norman Fletcher says his flamed '39 Ford is a hot rod and custom at the same time. Since he bought the SBC-powered truck in 1983, he's modified the suspension with a Mustang II frontend and airbags, and customized the exterior by pulling off the emblems and adding scoops along the hood sides.

It's hard to believe this turquoise '41 Ford was junk when owner Bill Pupo started the build in 1994, but that's what he said. It was a four-year project. The flathead is topped with three two-barrels, with a Columbia rearend in back. The all-original, all-steel body was painted in the garage.

Robert Beauchamp started with a 27-year-neglected, all-original '48 Ford and turned it into a beautiful custom job. He dropped in a 502 big-block tied to a 700-R4 automatic, with a 12-bolt rearend, tubbed the rear wheelwells 4 inches to fit the rear rubber, bolted in a pair of grey high-back bucket seats, and finished it in attention-getting red.

This was originally a longbed before Don Babbit got busy cutting and Z'ing the frame and adding a '55 Stepside bed to his '60 Ford. There's a Camaro clip in front and a 302 under the hood. He's had it 10 years, but hasn't put much mileage on the mint-green hauler-only 6,000 miles so far.

The paint and the stance on Jaime Morales' '66 Chevy really set this pickup apart. The paint is Autumn Wood, a '98 Cadillac color, complemented with ghost flames on the top and rear quarters. The on-the-ground ride height is provided by airbags from Ponch at The Bag Man.

The owner of this '54 Chevy five-window used some multi-colored fabric to cover the bench seat, giving the interior the flavor of a '50s-era Mexican blanket job. Nice choice of paint color as well-carried over onto the steelies.

When Don Long came across this red '56 Ford F-100 12 years ago, the exterior didn't look a lot different than it does today. It still has the stock six-cylinder, but Don fancied up the interior with leather-wrapped Lexus seats.

Want to bet this F-100 looks better now than the day it left the showroom? The all-original 292-powered '56 had the same owner for more than 40 years before Pat Ganahl bought it and cleaned it up. The "For Sale" sign worked; the Ford is now getting driven-we hope-over in Sweden.