DETROIT, MI – With Detroit still known as the automotive capital of the world, it should be no surprise that car shows held in The Motor City are expected to meet or beat the expectations of some of America’s most demanding enthusiasts. That’s likely why the annual Detroit Autorama brings out the best that today’s hot rod and custom car culture has to offer. The Autorama show series tour starts in late November and runs into late March of the following year, hitting multiple large cities in between. Detroit is midway through the tour with enthusiasts flocking to Downtown Detroit from all over the Midwest.

Here, custom car/truck owners and builders compete for awards such as “Best in Category, “Outstanding in Category,” and top “Club Display” – but there’s one that is truly the most-coveted in the industry. All eyes turn to the highly modified and truly custom cars making their public debut and being selected as the “Great 8” finalists. From those, only one is declared winner of the “The Ridler Award” to take home The Legend Cup. Any builder who achieves an award of this caliber surely has one most impressive builds in the world.

Yes, we’ve already provided coverage here on FordPerformance.com of both the 2025 Detroit Autorama as well as the Autorama Extreme show held downstairs at the convention center at the same time. But there were so any cool Fords here that there’s a good chance you may have missed some of our favorites that we found on both levels of the show. Whether your taste is hot rods or rat rods, restomods or street machines, trucks, lowriders, cruisers, race cars or just flat-out customs – Autorama had over 800 vehicles packed throughout Detroit’s Huntington Place Convention Center this winter. 

Some of the classic Mustangs on display had some serious restomod twists like the 65 Mustang that was unveiled at the Tremec booth. Partnering with Ford Performance Parts, the build was a collaborative effort that included custom fabricated body pieces, trick paint and of course that 7.3L V-8 Megazilla Ford Performance engine paired to Tremec’s TKX 5-speed transmission. Right around the corner were two other great examples of custom Mustangs. The Duncan Brothers from DBC debuted their newest creation, coined “FrankenSnake.” You may remember their illustrious “FrankenBoss” – well this time the Brothers and their team stepped it up to the next level re-engineering a 2013 Mustang GT back to a ’67 GT500 that screams “Move over Eleanor there’s a new ’67 GT500 restomod on the block!” We’ll keep following DBC for some very interesting builds that they have coming up very soon.

Also on hand was Anthony Colard, a design manager at Ford Performance who had a hand in helping design a 70 Fastback Mustang for Tucci Hot Rods. This car was on display at Autorama but also in the Toyo Tires booth at SEMA in Las Vegas. The fastback has its own personality but pays a great deal of respect to the newest and baddest Mustang on the planet – the awe-inspiring Mustang GTD. Fox Body Mustangs seemed to be a fan favorite again this year. Whether built for road racing, drag racing or even just cruising, there was a Fox Body Mustang here for every occasion.

While it’s true that all generations of Mustangs were present, the SN-95s and S-197s were not as plentiful, nor were the new S550 and S650 Mustangs. One of the most interesting that we found was a build by local owner Bryan Reid, who took a 1994 Mustang GT and combined it with an S550 parts car to make a street machine that bridged both eras, complete with its full S550 interior and a supercharged Coyote under the hood.

If you missed attending the Detroit Autorama this year or haven’t yet checked out our earlier coverage, you owe it to yourself to take a look at some of our favorite Fords that we found at the show in our photo gallery below:

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY JOE DELADVITCH