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Goodguys Southwest Nationals - Showin' in Scottsdale 2003 - Truckin' Show Show

2003 Goodguys Southwest Nationals

By Don Emmons
photographer: Don Emmons

This was a group of very sharp local Ford F-100s. Mike Spezia owns the maroon '55. The red '56 Big Window is owned by Terry Spezia, Mike's dad. Both of the Spezia trucks run late 5.0L Ford crate motors. Dean Shave owns the yellow'56 Big Window. It is fitted with a ZL1 Corvette motor and a 700-R4 transmission. The green one at the far end is David Kimmerle's '56.
This was a group of very sharp local Ford F-100s. Mike Spezia owns the maroon '55. The red '56 Big Window is owned by Terry Spezia, Mike's dad. Both of the Spezia trucks run late 5.0L Ford crate motors. Dean Shave owns the yellow'56 Big Window. It is fitted with a ZL1 Corvette motor and a 700-R4 transmission. The green one at the far end is David Kimmerle's '56.

This was the sixth year Goodguys held its final show of the year in Scottsdale, Arizona. The show was held at West World, a large horse show facility on the outskirts of the trendy desert community. The weather was ideal, in the mid-'70s, and West World is a nice facility with plenty of room. The grass-covered show area was similar to a football arena, but bigger. In the first few years, the show started with vehicles taking up little more than half the field, but has grown so much that the show vehicles now consume the entire field, and spacing between the vehicles is much smaller.

Gary Meadors and his wife, Marilyn, have been driving street rods to various events for more than 30 years. Some of those early shows were really good, and some shows made the two wonder why they even bothered. When the couple decided to stage their own Goodguys shows, they knew what they wanted, and what their rodding friends liked, and were able to put on an event that everyone could enjoy.

Most of the vehicles at the Scottsdale show are Arizona-based, but we did see some out-of-state license plates. Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Alabama, and California were represented, and even vehicles as far away as Canada. There was a wide range of trucks on display, from early model Fords, to '70s Chevys, and a little bit of everything in-between. A great-looking '50 Studebaker, a Willys, '48-'56 F-100s, and tri-year Chevrolets made an impressive lineup at this year's Goodguys show.


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