It's easy to see why Larry Douglas' '50 Merc won the Gene Winfield Blendmaster Paint Award. It's like a sunset on wheels.

According to the window tag, Brad Masterson cruised all the way from Huntington Beach, CA, to Salina in his way-cool chopped '51 Chevy fastback. That's kustom dedication!

You might remember Dave Barnes' '59 Pontiac from our November 2005 issue. Built by Gary Gerberding using a '60 Merc grille, modified front bumper, and rolled rear pan, the Inferno Red beauty looked good in the Kansas sun.

Merlin Berg performed more than 100 body mods on Robert Wolf's slick '48 Buick Sedanette, yet the Eric Aurand-penned design is so clean and refined that we always want to describe it as subtle. It looks more like a concept car than a custom.

With its chopped top, suicide doors, see-through hood, and countless other custom touches, it's no surprise Buzz Huston's '49 Olds coupe won George Barris' American Custom Legend Pick.

Johnny Hammann's mild '58 Impala looked as good last summer as it did at the first Leadsled Spectacular back in '81. Mild mods include a shaved hood, tube grille, modified side trim, and '59 Cadillac taillight lenses.

Classy and classic are the only words to describe Rick McGregor's beautiful '51 Merc. A flawless black finish covers a cornucopia of cool mods, including a chopped top with a '50 back window, frenched headlights, a molded grille opening framing a single floating grille bar, and deeply frenched '54 Merc taillight lenses.

You've probably already read that Gary "Chopit" Fioto's radical bubbletop custom fetched more than $300,000 at auction in August. Before doing so, Gary brought it to Salina to nab one more trophy-the KKOA 777 Custom Crown.