Archive for the ‘Car Show Reviews’ Category

Classics on the Plaza, Oct 07

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

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Thursday, October 25, 2007

Imagine pulling your camper with a gorgeous hot rod

By Larry Edsall / Special to The Detroit News

 GLENDALE, Ariz. — Imagine using your gorgeous 1931 Ford roadster hot rod as tow vehicle and pulling a custom-built, 1940’s-style teardrop trailer on a 5,000-mile, nearly month-long trip up and down the Pacific Coast, sometimes camping right on the beach with the surf breaking only a few yards from your site.

Glenn and Karen Kramer of Glendale, Ariz., don’t have to imagine such an experience. They recently lived it.

Glenn operates Hot Rod Interiors, a business that does what he calls “sew nice” upholstery for hot rod and custom car owners. Glenn graduated from upholstery school in Portland, Ore., in 1980 and has done interiors for more than 400 cars and boats, as well as convertible tops and motorcycle seats.

The Kramer’s ‘31 Ford roadster and shining trailer were among the centerpieces of the inaugural Classics on the Plaza, a car show at the Westgate City Center, a new shopping small and entertainment venue adjacent to Jobing.com Arena, home of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League, and thus on the same newly developed area as the University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals and site early next year of the National Football League’s Super Bowl.

Classics on the Plaza was organized by DesertCruisers.com, a Glendale-based website that provides an extensive on-line listing of Southwestern car clubs as well as an events calendar for a six-state area spanning California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.In addition to putting an eclectic array of cars on display, the show raised support for Packages from Home, a Phoenix-based charity that began in the spring of 2004 when a local mom, Kathleen Lewis, sent packages to her son, Christian, stationed in Iraq. Christian shared the goodies with his fellow soldiers. Kathleen sent more packages and after local news media picked up the story, organized Packages from Home, a non-profit organization that sends as many as 1500 boxes of personal supplies each month to U.S. armed forces personnel overseas (see www.packagesfromhome.org ).

Larry Edsall / Special to The Detroit News

Glenn Kramer displayed his 1931 Ford roadster hot rod with the custom-built teardrop trailer he recently pulled on a nearly 5000-mile trip with his wife, Karen, and their Boston terrier.

Larry Edsall is a Phoenix-based freelance writer. You can reach him at ledsall@cox.net.

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