The Portland Roadster Show is a place where car enthusiasts can go to check out both classic and modern cars that have been highly modified, and restored. It’s a chance for enthusiasts to show off their cars and for local businesses to sell their products at the expo center in North Portland.
The roadster show this year consisted of three large rooms, each one full of cars from various different years, generations, and manufacturers; or in other words, a car enthusiast’s heaven. It’s a good way for car enthusiasts to show off their cars to people who will appreciate them for all the work that has been put in. It’s also a good way for car clubs to promote their clubs and potentially gain new members.
If you’re into classic cars, it’s a great event to attend since most of the cars are classic American V8 muscle cars like the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. Although it’s mostly American muscle cars there are some JDM (Japan domestic market) cars in the showroom.
For example the purple Nissan 240SX on the left and the green Nissan R34 Skyline GT-R on the right, both considered legendary and a desired car in the JDM community for their easily modifiable platforms and overall performance.
Along with JDM cars and the American classics, a few rare cars made their way into the show. One of these cars being the AC Shelby Cobra, a rare and sought after model in the car community since only around 1000 of these cars were built. It’s an incredibly rare sight and one that gives you chills.
Along with the AC Shelby Cobra, another rare car featured at the Portland Roadster Show was the official pace car of the 1995 Indianapolis 500, the Chevy C4 Corvette. This Corvette was shown off at the Portland Roadster Show in tribute to a World War 2 veteran, LJ Johnson.
Although there were multiple Corvettes made with the Indianapolis 500 livery, very few were made, 427 to be exact, making it an interesting car at the Portland Roadster Show. Along with the Indy 500 pace car Corvette, there were also many other Corvettes on display like these from the Bridge City Corvette Club.
The Corvettes they had on display included every generation of Corvette starting from C1 on the left all the way to the newest generation, the C8 on the right. Definitely a very cool display for people to look at and especially for Corvette enthusiasts.
Although most of the show was typical sports cars that had been tuned and modified, there were some cars that were totally different from the rest of the cars shown. A good example of this is this 1941 Buick Super that was being shown.
With its extra chrome trim, the golden spinner tuner rims, and also being lowered almost to the ground, it’s hard not to say that this car was definitely an outlier at the show, all while being super unique and interesting. It’s cars like these that really make car shows unique. An enthusiast doing what most people wouldn’t do to a family car from the 1940’s, let alone a Buick.
Overall the Portland Roadster show was a unique experience and definitely something that most people, even if you aren’t a car enthusiast, could find interesting and worth the time.
