Hot dogs came to us from Germany. Apple pie was invented in England. Even baseball had its origins in the English game of rounders. 

But only America could invent the hot rod. 

From their roots in Los Angeles automobile culture, heavily modified lightweight street racers have been prowling under streetlights and racing between stoplights all over the U.S. for nearly 100 years. 

An iconic local celebration of the high-performance customized car world is back when the revitalized Fort Wayne Rod & Custom Show fills every nook and cranny of Memorial Coliseum from Friday-Sunday, March 28-30.

Veterans’ role

Even if you’re tuned in to the local car culture, you could be forgiven if you’re not immediately familiar with the Fort Wayne Rod & Custom Show. 

Following a lengthy and successful run from 1958-1993, the show went on a hiatus that seemed permanent. Revived in 2024 by promoter Mark Mendenhall, the show drew strong interest, showcasing 200 cars and posting a healthy attendance of more than 10,000 visitors.

Technically inclined owners have been modifying vehicles since the first cars showed up in the first garages. But it was WWII veterans with military mechanic’s training that caused an explosion of modified car culture in the ’40s and ’50s. These pioneers established some of the standard configurations that continue to be used decades later, including the pre-war Ford chassis and the flathead V8.

Following a big return last year, this year’s Rod & Custom Show will take it up a level. 

More than 350 cars will be on display, covering all the exhibition area at the Coliseum. This will be a more eclectic show, featuring cars, trucks, motorcycles, exotics, rat rods, and more. The casket car from the original Munsters TV show will be on display, as well as a classic cutaway Corvette, showing the car’s inner structure like no picture or website could.

Hot giveaway

Hot rod culture became indelibly connected to the 1950s from appearances in movies like Rebel Without a Cause, American Graffiti, and Two-Lane Blacktop. 

But hot rods are still made by tinkerers in garages all over America. 

Ford made a finite number of donor cars in the 1930s, and only a small percentage of those survived more than a decade or so. But a 90-year-old Ford chassis still has value because it can always be made into a hot rod.

In that spirit, the Rod & Custom Show is offering an opportunity for a less technically inclined driver to own an authentic hot rod without any tinkering. 

On Sunday afternoon, a drawing will be held for a 1927 Ford Roadster hot rod. This is a sweet little car with an exhilarating open body, a killer paint job, and the flame logos that any good hot rod should have.

This is a family-friendly event, with a reasonable $15 entry charge and kids under 10 free. There’s an expanded vendor area featuring apparel, a very sophisticated racing simulator, metal art, car art, and a tattoo artist doing a special piece for charity.

People used to say about modern cars, “They don’t make them like they used to.” That’s obviously true for any generation. 

But hot rods are a celebration of cars out of time. The frame might be from 1927 and the engine might be from 1972, but heavily modified lightweight cars remain an American tradition under the streetlights and in between the stoplights in 2025.