The roads were clear as we left Riverton Wyoming to go to the AutoRama in Utah.  Our first meal was at Billy Blancos in Park City Utah, where we decorated some of the booths and car lifts with new decals.  We showed up on Wednesday afternoon, gave the trailer a quick bath, and headed towards the Mountain Expo Center in Sandy Utah.  Even though we were not scheduled to set up until Thursday, after a quick phone call we were able to drop off our trailer inside the events center.  We got a sneak peek at the Ridler Award winning car built by Kindig-it Design and took a quick lap around the building to catch up with old friends.

Billy Blanco’s, Park City, UT

Billy Blanco’s, Park City, UT

“TwelveAir” Ridler Winer

“TwelveAir” Ridler Winner

“TwelveAir” Ridler Winner

“TwelveAir” Ridler Winner

“TwelveAir” Ridler Winner

“TwelveAir” Ridler Winner

We got to see Ekins Garage setting up their display with a 1959 Apache truck.  Our space was right between Kindig-it Design and the celebrity stage.  Our evening finished with Swedish meatball dinners at IKEA and a super long walk around the massive store.

Ekins Garage 59 Apache

Ekins Garage 59 Apache

Ekins Garage 59 Apache

Ekins Garage 59 Apache

Thursday started with setup of our booth, the realization that we left our toolbox back in Riverton, and a planning list of necessary items to get through the show.  We took a quick break after setting up the major display items and went to Dollies for soup and salad, then to Harbor Freight and Office Depot to replace the tools we forgot.  We returned to the Mountain Expo Center in the afternoon to finish setting up, then closed up our booth for the day. 

On Friday morning AutoRama hosts area automotive tech students, where they get a little class time and then they can tour the show.  Unfortunately this year AutoRama fell on Spring Break so the number of students were lower than normal.  The students who did come were very excited about the illustrations and loved the Dickies shop shirts.  Shannon and Ken ran out to Chick-fil-A for lunch, and the show officially opened at 3 p.m.  We had a new MoPower design on a neon clock, 2 blankets, and a metal sign.  (It was supposed to be multiple Metal signs but only 1 showed up and we sold it before the show started).  The 2 blankets sold immediately, so we were down to a neon MoPower clock to show off for the rest of the show.  Our other new design was the Touch It Get Burned don’t touch cards.  We also had new products including Mafia girl on blankets, and the Mustang and Bomber on blankets and counter mats.

Shannon Watts Art & Design Blankets

Shannon Watts Art & Design Blankets

Shannon working on a 55 F-100

Shannon working on a 55 F-100

Shannon started an illustration of a 1955 Ford F100 truck.  With the document camera, the folks standing in line for the celebrity stage could watch Shannon’s progress.  On Friday the celebrity was Stephen Pearcy, the founder and lead singer of the rock band Ratt.  Shannon took a break to go meet Stephen, a fellow car enthusiast and a really nice guy.  Shannon even got autographed pictures for his cousins.  We watched the BMX stunt show from our booth.  The show closed at 9 p.m. but we stayed a little late hanging out with the Kindigs at their booth and then we had dinner at Legends Grill.

Stephen Pearcy RATT

Stephen Pearcy of RATT and Shannon

Kindig - It - Design

Saturday the show started at 10 a.m.  We caught up with a lot of our regular customers and some dear friends.  Ken bought ham & Swiss croissants for lunch from a vendor at the show.  The show was really full with cars we hadn’t seen before, including the first Corvette #001, an Autism Appreciation Cookie Monster and puzzle piece themed car, the first RV registered in Canada, and Weaver Customs Nauti-D Chevy truck.

Weaver Customs Nauti-D
1st Production Corvette

#001 First Production Corvette

Kindig - It - Design Kevin Hardt

Kindig-it-Design Kevin Hart’s MOPAR

The team at Kindig brought out a ton of cars and a large display, including Kevin Hart’s MOPAR, Charity’s dad’s Corvette, a red CF1 Corvette with a tan leather interior, a gray gull wing Mercedes’ that debuted at SEMA 3 years ago, a Camaro that was unveiled at SEMA 2 years ago with a black exterior and a green interior (which sounds strange but really works in person).

We got to meet Keith Eccles the legendary pinstriper (motto: have brush will travel), catch up with Tim of NorCal Car Culture, our friends from AutoRama World of Wheels, Gene Chambers (Geno) from Studio 66, and  FOB shop.

On Saturday the celebrity was Hector from Fast and Furious movies (Noel Gugliemi). Shannon talked to Noel a couple of times through out the day.  Noel’s display had some items signed by the late Paul Walker, and some of the Fast and Furious car sets (including a Nissan Lego set. Noel had signed the box, and offered to sign the windshield if you brought it back to him).  Noel was one of the most humble and approachable celebrities we have had the pleasure to meet.

There was a great Evel Knievel display with a wheel stand dragster and the rocket that he attempted to jump the Snake River with.

We closed our booth at 9 p.m. and went to About Time Pub and Grille,  where we ran into our AutoRama friends again.

 

"Hector" Noel G and Shannon

“Hector” Noel G and Shannon

Evil Knievel Display

Evil Knievel Tribute Display

Don't Touch Cards

Don’t Touch Cards

Don't Touch Cards

Don’t Touch Cards

Sunday morning came too quickly.  We packed up our stuff from the hotel, and grabbed 2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts to hand out to our friends.  As we passed out donuts we noticed how many cars had Shannon Watts Art don’t touch cards on them.

Sunday visitors to our booth included Trixie Roth (wife of Ed Roth), Thomas Estrada, Lorin Hernandez, Blaine of Rockin Hotrod Productions, and hundreds of others.

Low Rider
Tesla Truck

Tesla Truck

Canada’s First RV

The awards started at 5 p.m., the show ended at 6 p.m. and we cleaned up and were on the road before 8 p.m.

The 2024 Salt Lake AutoRama was a great show- more cars than we have seen there, everything from the Ridler winner to rat rods, motorcycles to race cars, celebrities, stunt shows and more.  We highly recommend this show!

Lambo
Evil Knievel
Lincoln
Lincoln
Cab Over

Shannon Watts Art & Design Blanket in the Utah Camaro Club’s display

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