Roof leaks dampen Autorama

The Detroit Autorama was marred last weekend by a leaky roof that spilled salty, rusty water onto several custom cars.

The leaks were caused by a combination of heavy precipitation--Detroit has had one of the snowiest winters in recent memory that gave way to an early March rainstorm--which pummeled an aging roof. Water fell to the show floor in six spots, temporarily damaging seven or eight cars. The city's convention facility, Cobo Center, is nearly 50 years old.

But fast thinking by Meguiar's, the show sponsor, meant the exhibitors received some detail spray to clean their cars.

It wasn't simple wipe-off job.

"It was this nasty crap that came from the roof," show manager Bob Larivee Jr. said.

The problem occurred Saturday and was fixed by Sunday morning with tarps that were hung from the rafters.

The rusty rain shower irked car enthusiasts. Autorama attracts one of the best fields of hot rods in the nation, annually drawing more than 1,000 cars. Competition for the Ridler Award, the top honor, often draws celebrities and cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One owner, John Oberg, had to get his impeccable 1959 Ford Galaxie 500 moved Saturday night to get it out of harm's way. It was among the cars hit with the leaks, but it didn

By Greg Migliore