Madison Heights

Madison Heights residents revved up for Autorama

By Andy Kozlowski
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Deb Jacques Brian Sobczyk of Madison Heights is bringing his 1972 Buick Gransport to this year’s Autorama. Photo by Deb Jacques Brian Sobczyk of Madison Heights is bringing his 1972 Buick Gransport to this year’s Autorama.

MADISON HEIGHTS — Cobo Center will play host to the 60th annual Meguiar’s Detroit Autorama on Feb. 24-26, and a number of Madison Heights residents are among the car lovers gearing up for the show.

They are joined by collectors from across the country, drawn to “America’s Greatest Hot Rod Show” by the reputation of the world-renowned Ridler Award, which recognizes the best car at the event. There will be more than 1,000 exhibits of current and vintage hot rods, custom cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles.

“I’ve always liked cars,” said John Irla of Madison Heights. “I remember I had a paper route as a kid, and I remember one of my customers, their son had a ’66 or ’67 GTO in the driveway. I remember looking at it, I was probably 11 or 12 years old, and I was thinking, ‘That’s a nice car — I want one of those.’”

About 13 years ago, he set his mind to doing just that, acquiring a 1965 Pontiac GTO from a car show in Hershey, Penn.

The convertible has an opalescent gray exterior and a bright red vinyl interior, powered by a 389-cubic-inch engine. It has around 335 horsepower and has been equipped with a dual-quad carburetor, an Edelbrock intake manifold and Edelbrock cylinder heads. It’s been repainted, with chrome added to the radiator shroud, the fan guard, the hood hinges and more.

The vehicle represents his deep love for cars, but he doesn’t fuss much over upkeep.

“I just keep it clean,” Irla said. “It’s a driver — I have it to drive and to have fun. I’m not going to keep it in the garage or worry if it gets wet in the rain. There are some people that trailer them everywhere instead of driving them. That’s not what I got it for.

“It’s just nice having the top down, going for a ride in it. It’s not like driving today’s cars,” he said. “We like taking it out to Woodward to cruise out there a little bit, park and go get ice cream, something like that. My daughter, she’s 23, she’ll ask, ‘Let’s go out in the car’ — she’ll want to go just for a ride.”

Irla has been to Autorama before as a spectator, but this will be the first time his ride appears in the show.

“You just see a wide range of everything,” he said of Autorama. “You see the work they put into the cars, and it’s nice.”

Irla’s ride will be parked at the show near the 1972 Buick Gransport of Brian Sobczyk. Brian and his brother Edward own TJS Automotive in Madison Heights, on Dequindre near I-696. He’s had the car since around 1998-99, when he spotted it in Trading Times and bought it for $1,500 from a seller in Sterling Heights. It has a “Bahamas blue” exterior and “parchment” (white and black) vinyl interior.

The vehicle was in rough shape when he acquired it, with the motor dissembled and the back smashed in from an apparent crash.

“When I bought it, it was wrecked, so we’ve redone the whole car,” Sobczyk said. “It was quite a bit of work: the body, the paint, the interior, the motor. We race the car, too — it’s a streetcar I drive, but I race it as well, so the motor’s built out.”

The 455-cubic-inch engine packs 703 horsepower, running on the newer E85 fuel commonly used in flex-fuel vehicles.

“It’s a beast,” Sobczyk said with a laugh. “If there’s one way to describe it, when you nail the gas, it’s a beast.”

He’s looking forward to being in this year’s Autorama. They’ve had cars in the show, either their own or the cars of their customers, for the past five years in a row.

‘“I love muscle cars, I love custom cars, so to see all of those is definitely a treat, going with the whole family,” Sobczyk said. “My whole family is into cars. We make a weekend of it.”

The 60th Annual Meguiar’s Detroit Autorama will take place at Cobo Center, 1 Washington Blvd. in Detroit, Feb. 24-26. Admission at the gate is $18 for adults, $5 for children 6-12 and free for children 5 and under. For more information, call (248) 373-1700 or visit www.autorama.com.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Andy Kozlowski at akozlowski@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1104.