The weather at the F-100 Supernationals in Chilhowee Park in Knoxville, Tennessee, was California dreamin' during the May event. Mild temperatures in the 60s and 70s mitigated the climate's typically warm Southern charm. Not that this show needs to be more laid back. In fact, this was probably the friendliest event we have attended all year. The music was just as classic as the trucks, and the young and old, alike, wandered between rows of round-fendered models from the '50s and their more sharply angled descendants. Vendors sold parts, food, and keepsakes. And this was one show where you were guaranteed to find parts for that F-100 project you might be working on. While the event obviously focuses on F-100s, guest classes are invited in each year. Ford-produced tractors are a perennial attraction, and this year, the Ford Bronco made an appearance. Think you can identify a classic, stock Bronco as a Bronco if it hasn't been cut up and lifted over big tires for off-roading? Guess again
Each year, judges inspect all of the awesome pickups at the event in search of the four best. Those picks are then displayed near the entrance to the large hall in which vendors ply their wares and the awards are given on the last day. These trucks compete as finalists for the show's Truck of the Year award. This year, they added a few more, which made it the final seven that were semi-finalists, in a sense, in order to raise the suspense level a bit, before cutting the field down to the traditional four finalists. On the last day of this Thursday through Sunday event, awards were given to the nicest trucks in all classes and the truck of the year, as well as for other non-vehicle-related categories. In all, 250 awards were given out with a lot of handshakes, grins, and applause. We don't have enough room to list them all, so we'll just mention the owners of the final four and the Truck of the Year.
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Jeff Schwierman (left) won the 2007 F-100 Supernationals Truck of the Year award for the '53 pickup. This collaboration between Jeff, who is an experienced automobile restorer and the truck's owner, and Joe Riley, a veteran hot-rod builder, was Joe's first custom truck. Rick originally intended to let Jeff use his shop while helping out occasionally; however, he became a full-time collaborator on this project that took almost every night-except for Friday nights-for three years. |
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