- Well, I think my first memory of Hot Wheels
was that Santa Claus would bring presents
and we would get up early and see
what was under the tree and lo and behold
there was Hot Wheels.
So we dug the stuff out and set it up,
played with it for a little bit
and put it back in and went back to bed.
And nobody caught us (laughs).
(upbeat jazzy music)
- Thanks to everyone.
A phenomenal selection of cars.
We see all the passion that went into 'em,
all the elbow grease, all the love
and the years of work.
(upbeat jazzy music)
- There's wonderful examples
of all the different types of vehicles out here.
Hot rods for sure.
- [Man] You mentioned American muscle
- [Man] Mm-hmm.
- But the one that really stuck out
that I thought was really unique was a Studebaker truck.
I guess there was only one of a hundred and some built.
- Lot of great choices and it's a little bit unique,
not being a muscle car, but I really do like that Crosley.
I mean there's a lot of history,
it's all local and it's unique.
I mean you scale that down to 1/64th scale,
it's got a very unique shape to it.
(upbeat jazzy music)
- Okay, so the time has come.
The Crosley, Jeff Peterson.
(crowd clapping)
Alright Jeff, well done.
- I was shocked to see the amount of competition
there was here.
I was, didn't think we would have a chance
but I'm glad we placed today.
(upbeat jazzy music)
My name is Jeff Peterson and we're
here in Detroit, Michigan.
So this is a 1947 Crosley Sedan.
They were built in Cincinnati, Ohio by Powel Crosley Jr.
He started out building Crosley radios, refrigerators.
He's the guy that put the shelves
in your door on your refrigerator, the "Shelvador."
In 1959, that's the year I was born,
my dad and his school buddies learned
that the NHRA was coming to Detroit
for the nationals and they wanted to
get into the pit so they thought they needed a car.
This particular one was found in a junk yard
and my dad used to climb over the fence
on the roof and they went and rescued it
and chopped it and turned it into a trade car.
They built the car at my grandfather's house
in Ann Arbor and Gordy's mom seen what they were building
to go to the nationals and she looked at it
and at the time there was this busline,
it was called the Blue Goose,
it ran out of Ann Arbor,
and Mrs. McNutt saw the car and she said,
"That thing's as ugly as the Blue Goose line."
(laughs) And the name stuck.
So my dad, Elwood Peterson, was done with drag racing
in the '70s and was moved on to street rodding.
We knew whereabouts where the car had gotten sold,
so we went and purchased it when the NDRA was
doing the nostalgia circuit,
and decided to restore the car
and put it back on the tracks.
We restored it in '88, my dad said that
he spent all his money in the '60s so it was
up to us if we were gonna run it.
So I picked up the pieces and carried on
and you know, like any car, it evolves.
I've always said we've been making history
a quarter mile at a time.
But we were on nine ninety, like at 150 mile an hour
with the car and so, it's a handful.
As far as torque and horsepower, I know it will
pick the front wheels up and carry 'em,
as long as you keep your foot in it.
I'm sure it's pushing close to 500 horse.
As far as garage spirit, it's great to have
family or friends help you do things
so this car wouldn't be around if it wasn't for that.
So in the end, garage spirit is about comradery.
It's good to have your hot rod buddies
hang with you, throw back a couple cold ones
and have the same thing in common you have in.
My youngest daughter's 21, and she got me
motivated to do this, to pull the car
out of mothballs and we just thought we'd
drag it out and see.
So we didn't think that we had a chance
and so we didn't really put a battery in it,
and bring all the starter equipment
to make the car run and here we are.
Once we rolled in the parking lot
and I saw all the wild configurations of
different sculpture art some of the cars are
that were there from rat rods to full-on street rods.
I didn't think we, we could have a chance.
I was nervous when they called my name.
You know, the moments coming up to that,
and then when they called it, I was kind of shocked.
(laughs) I was in disbelief.
If this became a Hot Wheel car, I think my dad
would be pretty ecstatic.
He's 83 now, and he enjoys seeing the car go down the strip,
so, being a Hot Wheel car would be a great tribute to him.
(piano note plays)