World of Wheels 2020

Story and Photo by Matt Cline

What does a city that refers to itself as ‘The Racing Capital of the World’ do when it’s cold and snowy outside? Well, for the last 61 years Indianapolis has played host to the World of Wheels, a ‘little sister’ of the Detroit Autorama mega-show.

Over the years, the World of Wheels has grown into almost two separate car shows connected by only a makeshift hallway. The ‘Motorama 1962’ is a traditional rod and kustom show that is becoming the real reason people are pouring into the Indiana State Fairgrounds every second weekend of February.

But 2020 was the year for traditional rods in both buildings. I was hesitant to enter my freshly built 1929 Ford Roadster into the ‘shiny’ side – but hey, it’s only going to be shiny once. To my surprise, the roadster did great, and brought home the only two true ‘club/people’s pick’ awards of the shows – The Indy Hi-Winders Pick, and the Evan Mason Memorial Award. We also brought home second place ‘Traditional Rod’, trailing behind Don Garvin’s beautiful blue Model A coupe.

While the ‘Motorama 1962’ side had plenty to look at – I spent most of my time drooling over the ‘Larry Minges Coupe’. This little Model A was built by Cornfield Customs and debuted at this show two years ago. Since then, it’s done its share to try and ‘break the internet’ including making a trip out to Bonneville to cover that green flake in some white salt.