Gallery: Hot rods and customs from Bonneville Speed Week 2022
Each year for Bonneville Speed Week, racing fans flock to Wendover, Nevada, which serves as a basecamp for all of the racing that’s scheduled to take place starting on Saturday morning. For many race fans, the history of the Bonneville Salt Flats makes it a must-see venue, and fans of all types make the pilgrimage each year. While you can find fantastic hot rods on the salt in the form of race cars, the road-going classics can be found in the parking lot of the Nugget hotel and casino. Here are some of our favorite rides we spotted on Friday and Saturday, in between the rain storms that put an end to Speed Week racing. As we think you’ll agree, many hot rods look even better with a liberal application of salt.
The radically chopped Omaha Coupe made its return to Bonneville sixty-five years after it last competed. The Oldsmobile-powered ’33 Ford wears a ’34 ford hood and sectioned grille. The rectangular polycarbonate windshield looks a bit strange, but that’s how it competed in the ’50s.
Dave Hargraves and Lee Grant drove their Fords from British Columbia. Hargraves’ midnight blue coupe featured a fantastic set of wheels and brakes that drew a ton of attention. Likewise, Grant’s Model A roadster had Americans scratching their heads at the hubcaps and steering wheel. They’re from a Monarch, a brand marketed by Ford in Canada starting after WWII.
The Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop has a knack for building racy Ford coupes. Their vehicles always have a strong presence at Bonneville, as their customers form a caravan across the country to the salty motorsports Mecca.
We met Holly Orel last year at Speed Week. This year she was back with her own car, a wonderfully proportioned Model A with just the right amount of chop. Unfortunately, as rain put an end to racing for Speed Week 2022, it also cut out time short meeting a lot of these car owners. We do have some more land speed racing cars to show off as the salt racing season continues, and we’ll bring you a more in-depth look at one of our favorite cars from Speed Week 2022 in the coming weeks. For now, enjoy some of the most beautiful and creative cars from the Nugget car show.