‘Mulholland Speedster’ brings home numerous awards in 2017
Employees at custom-car shop Hollywood Hot Rods in Burbank were going for a clean sweep at all of the car show competitions where the vehicle they built was entered in 2017.
Those hopes were dashed when the custom-built vehicle — a 1936 Packard nicknamed the Mulholland Speedster — was awarded third place at the SEMA Battle of the Builders competition in early November in Las Vegas.
The competition will be featured in a one-hour special on the Velocity Network at 10 p.m. on Tuesday.
“Maybe my builder friends thought that I had won enough this year,” said Troy Ladd, founder and owner of Hollywood Hot Rods. “The key to this build, though, is that the customer is happy, and he’s just thrilled about what we’ve done this year.”
The car, which is owned by Bruce Wanta, a Bellevue, Wash., resident, was mainly built to compete for the Grand National Roadster Show’s America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award, a prestigious honor in the West Coast car scene that has been around since 1950.
The Mulholland Speedster accomplished that feat in January in Pomona, but Ladd said that he and Wanta wanted to see how many more awards their one-of-a-kind car can reel in.
Shortly after winning the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award, the Packard competed in the Sacramento Autorama and walked away with three victories — the Custom D’Elegance, World’s Most Beautiful Custom and Sam Barris Memorial awards — which had never been done before, Ladd said.
It did not stop there. The custom vehicle was entered in the Chicago World of Wheels to go head to head against a 1933 Ford Roadster that was the winner of the Detroit Autorama’s Ridler Award, which is the East Coast equivalent to the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award.
The Mulholland Speedster ended up winning the Legend Cup in Chicago, beating out the Ford, which was another unprecedented accomplishment, Ladd said.
He added that because car builders cannot enter a vehicle to compete for both America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and Ridler awards, capturing top honors over the Ridler Award was just as a good as winning the East Coast award.
Ladd said the Packard bested the Ford again at the Del Mar Nationals, taking home the Street Rod d’Elegance award.
Before competing at SEMA, the Mulholland Speedster won Best of Show at the Hot August Nights Cup in Reno, Nev.
The accolades and awards would not have come if not for the six years of labor that Wanta, Ladd and the team at Hollywood Hot Rods put into this one-off build.
The details that were poured into the car — such as the electronically controlled custom suspension, retractable hard-top roof, nickel-plated suspension hardware and steel ornaments and accent pieces that were made by hand — were done not only to stand out from the crowd, but also to make those who built the car and the car owner happy, Ladd said.
On Thursday, the Mulholland Speedster was parked in Ladd’s car shop with its hood taken off. After being driven and trailered to numerous car shows this year, Ladd said it was time to tune up the Packard for semi-regular road use by its owner.
“This car is for driving, and he wants to drive it,” Ladd said. “He’s about driving, and cars are for driving.”
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
