For the fifth consecutive year, Terry Dworin and his granddaughter Tatum Wright, will take one of their classic hot rods to the Meguiar’s Detroit Autorama, at the TCF Center (formerly known as Cobo Hall) from Friday, Feb. 28-Sunday, Mar. 1.
As they have each of the last three years, the pair will display Dworin’s 1953 two-door Morris Minor, a car fittingly produced in Oxford, England from 1948-71. The Minor took home first-place in the “Pro Street Custom 1949-64” category at the Autorama a year ago, after posting second-and-third-place finishes the two years prior.
This unique grandfather-granddaughter tradition will undergo a slight tweak in 2020, however. Instead of simply participating at her grandfather’s booth, 13-year-old Tatum entered her 1941 Willy Go-Kart on her own, as well.
“Last year, we had her go-kart in with our display because I didn’t know you could enter it,” Dworin explained. “So, this year, I sent it in her name, and she got her own pamphlet, her own passes, her own spot. She’s ‘Tatum Wright,’ all by herself.”
A seventh-grader at Oxford Middle School, Wright has hung around her retired grandfather’s shop since she was two-years-old and helping since she’s been old enough to be able to.
“We’ve been hanging out since she was two-years-old,” Dworin said. “Started taking her to motorcycle swap meets with me.”
“Those were my favorite,” Tatum chimed in.
“We belong to the North Oakland Bowties, too. Everywhere we go, everyone knows Tatum,” Dworin continued.
After being burgundy for its last two trips to Autorama, the Minor was repainted Harley Davidson orange for this year – and yes, Tatum’s go-kart, which she has had since 2017, was updated to match.
“She did all the body work and painted it when we first got it,” Dworin said of his granddaughter’s work on her go-kart.
“All the puttying, blocking, sanding, priming, everything. But I painted the car orange this year, so she did the go-kart, too.”
For the duo’s first trip to the event together in 2016, Dworin displayed his black satin 1927 Ford Model T, earning another first-place honor for this classic. Widely regarded as the first automobile to make vehicle travel accessible for Americans, the Ford Motor Company manufactured the Model T from 1908-27.
More than 15 million Model Ts were produced; Dworin obtained his in 2015 from a fellow collector in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Further information regarding the Autorama is available at Autorama.com. In addition to Meguiar’s, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Summit Racing Equipment and TREMEC are also title sponsors of the event.