The 2025 Shiny Rust Hot Rod show took place over the weekend at the Oakland Expo Center in Waterford, Michigan. It focused on classic cars, and shiny or rusty, big or small, they had them all on display.
The cars, shown Nov. 8 and 9, appeared in classes such as classics, customs, dragsters, race cars, rat rods, street rods, trucks, uniques and even hearses. If you are a fan of old cars with a lot of custom paint jobs and modifications, then this show is for you.
Since we are in the middle of fall and winter will soon be here, having an outdoor car show is less than ideal.
The Shiny Rust Hot Rod Show was indoors in a 100,000 square foot complex filled with hundreds of cars. Vehicles were either driven into the complex, pushed from behind or towed with a golf cart. Each vehicle had an info card stating the make, model and year of the vehicle along with the owner's name. Many cars had posters giving more detailed information about the vehicle. Alongside the cars being showcased were the many vendors with booths selling automotive art, clothing and cleaning products.
High-speed replica
While most of the cars at this show were American classics, there was a silver Porsche that stood out.
It was a 356 Outlaw replica, based on the modified Outlaw variant of the 356 that is derived from the 356 Speedster. The owner of this car, Jell Lind from Commerce Township, Michigan, spoke about how fun the vehicle is to drive and the amount of work he put into it.
“They feel like you’re driving an old sports car. They’re not particularly quiet, smooth or easy to get in and out of. But once you’re sitting in it and you start going around corners real fast, they’re a lot of fun,” Lind said. “I’ve spent 700 hours in the garage working on it because I had the whole car apart over the winter and I finished it in the springtime.”
He also mentioned how this modified classic is considered "blasphemous" by Porsche purists.
A pickup truck for farming
Then there was the 1962 International Harvester Scout 80.
Joe Shand from Hartford, Michigan, spoke about how his truck came from a company that specializes in farm equipment and how it resembles the original Ford Bronco. “If you look at the front end and the grill of the scout versus earlier Broncos, there are a lot similarities. I’m not saying that they were copying the scout but there is an obvious resemblance,” Shand said.
Check out the gallery below for lots more pics from the show
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2025 Shiny Rust Hot Rod Show was full of old school cars
