It goes without saying: There’s a lot of prestige attached to the Ridler Award.
But there’s also a bit of a stigma attached. For all the great engineering, customization, and immaculate detail that goes into a Ridler winner, these vehicles are often thought of as “trailer queens.” And quite often, they are.
This year’s winner, JF Launier’s 1964 Buick Riviera, has all the things we mentioned above–engineering, customization, and detail–and then some. The Riviera, named Rivision, is one of the most customized Ridler Award winners in recent memory, yet Launier insisted that the vehicle could be driven from show to show.
No trailer queens here.
In fact, after winning the Ridler Award at this year’s Detroit Autorama, Launier shared his plans to take the radical Riviera autocrossing. He made good on that promise at the Goodguys PPG Nationals over the summer. Chances are you’ve never seen a reigning Ridler Award winner on the autocross, so we’ve included the following video which was brought to our attention by our friends at BangShift.
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