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Brent Schieder came a long way to be part of the Starbird festivities. Everyone who saw it was glad he brought his ultra-nice 1937 Ford cabriolet from Pleasanton, Calif., though. The two-tone paint scheme and soft top were exactly the right touch to set of the excellent design and execution of the car.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Jeff Rowray of Norman, Okla., wasn't content to build just one of the cleanest 1951 Studebaker street machines ever -- he used another bullet-nosed Stude to construct a cool motorcycle hauler. Look for a feature on Jeff and his vehicles on an upcoming TV episode of "My Classic Car."

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Randy and Sharon Howard's "Bee Quiet" '56 Chevy hardtop sported an appropriate yellow-and-black paint scheme, inspired by a friend's high school car of many years ago. The car sees serious drag-race duty, besides being great to look at.

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Vernon Bishop's 1931 Model A Coupe exhibits the perfect stance for a fenderless hot rod and the deep orange paint makes it a guaranteed head-turner. Bishop and the coupe call Valley Center home.

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Not every hot rod has to have fresh, shiny paint and spotlessly detailed wheels and tires. Nathan Myers' Emporia-based baby blue chopped '31 Ford coupe proves the point that fun isn't always a matter of spending mega-bucks on a car, but building it to suit you.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Hot rods are traditionally either red or black, and Bruce Conwell's immaculate 1935 Ford 3-window coupe couldn't be much redder. The tasteful low-key checker board display was the perfect counterpoint to a beautifully built Wichita street rod.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Myra Devlin's immaculate 1949 Plymouth woodie is one of only 26 wood-paneled wagons known to still exist. Restored by Devlin Rod and Customs, the Special Deluxe Station Wagon could not possibly have looked this good on the dealer's showroom floor.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

It's not often that a competition vehicle looks right at home among the best custom cars, but Tom Hanna's stunning front-engined Top Fuel dragster qualifies as top-of-the line custom styling anywhere it appears. The gorgeous metalflake red body was carefully placed to one side to reveal the inner workings of this vintage straight-line racer.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

This was the car that stopped everyone in their tracks: Richard and Paige Udell's mind-boggling all-steel 1932 Ford full-fendered roadster from Swan Lake, Mont. From the all-chrome engine to the swoopy pair of seats and the oversized wheels and tires, the mint green roadster was a feast for the eyes.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Even the man who was staging his 54th annual custom car show in Wichita had to do a bit of polishing and shining during set up. Darryl Starbird was spiffing up "Spaced Out," a former show car that was given a fresh bubble top treatment for the 2011 show in Century II.

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Butch Dillon of Hutchinson collaborated with master builder Mike Yoder of Kansas Kustoms, also in Hutchinson, to craft this European-inspired 1935 Ford coupe. The grille, hood and cowl were moved back 5 inches to emphasize the pontoon-style front fenders; power comes from a full-tilt Rousch Ford V-8; the interior must be seen to be believed.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Winning best club display honors were the Marauders, who came up with the idea of showing cars as if they had been built from model kits. Jack Marinelli's classic chopped '30 Ford coupe appears to have been put together with plastic cement and been painted out of a rattle can.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

This is how the McPherson Auto Restoration Program's display looked, at least part of the time: a Model T disassembled into its major components.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

John and Christine Jaskot of Collinsville, Ill., got a lot of attention with their amazing deep blue '62 Nova convertible.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

A few minutes later, after a whirlwind of activity by McPherson College auto restoration students, this was the scene at their display: a fully functional, ready for the road Model T.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Dan Nixon of Hays had the luxury sports car class covered with his screaming yellow, 560-horsepower Lamborghini Gallardo. The car boasts a top speed of 202 mph.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

You don't see many home delivery milk trucks around these days and odds are pretty good you have never seen one quite like Doug Weigel's 1916 C-cab Model T dairy. He brought the refrigerator-white dairy hauler all the way from Albuquerque to show it as a display-only vehicle. Check out the tall chromed "milk bottle" stacks atop the supercharger.

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Andy Macnair of Goddard put his flamed 1999 Chevy mini truck right down on the floor in the central pavilion of the Starbird show.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Another C-cab custom truck, this one a 1925 Model T, belonged to Jerry Klich of Pontoon Beach, Ill. It features "leather" graphics and a molded engine cover that swoops back from the steeply canted grille shell.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Judy and Scotty Addison's '51 Merc depicted as a model car kit in the Marauder's display theme.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Robert Higgins of Jacksonville, Fla., had Jerry Livingston of Wichita build him a custom flathead V-8 for his 1932 Ford Tudor. The engine is fitted with a rare set of Wilson and Woods aluminum heads and a Weiand supercharger.

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Dressed out in formal black suede paint and wearing full moon discs and extra wide whitewall tires, Judy and Scotty Addison's '51 Mercury custom recalled the days when such cars not only looked good, but provided daily transportation.

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Ron Dick displayed his sharp red 1962 Chevy Impala two-door hardtop as a member of the Fundamentals club. His car has the formal roof line, as opposed to the "bubble top."

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Wearing a subtle shade of mint green, Jimmy Ballard's 1949 Chevy pickup demonstrated all the right touches for smooth ride down Newton's streets.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

George Hetzel of Kinsley calls his mostly stock 1937 Ford the "Geezer Coupe." He had a '37 Ford many years ago, but let it get away. He's mighty proud of this one, which features a slightly souped-up flathead V-8 and says he won't ever turn loose of it.

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John and Chris Sinfellow added another supercharged Chevy to their collection just in time for the show. Their '57 "post car" was fresh out of the paint shop and looking mean with a big 8:71 supercharger poking out of the engine bay.

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The bright red paint on Joe Whaley's 2010 Chevy HHR panel are nicely highlighted by bright silver scallops, a custom grille and old school wheels and tire treatments. His car was part of the Fundamentals car club display, which used a tropical beach theme.

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Al Knapp's 1955 International Harvester from Bonner Springs featured a forward-tilting hood assembly. It was one of several "Binder" pickups spotted at the show -- do we see a trend developing here?

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Not every show vehicle was a highway cruiser, as Rose and Marlin Decker's stylized 2003 golf cart proved. It was entered in a specialty class and was surrounded by a nifty stainless steel enclosure.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Brian and Debbie Sigman bought their Big Dog chopper new in 2006 and have logged more than 10,000 road miles on heavily flamed bike since then, proclaiming, "It's no trailer queen!"

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

We couldn't resist giving you a closer look at the beautiful workmanship displayed on Tom Hanna's vintage fuel dragster. The one-of-a-kind injector scoop and helmet are works of art.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

John Provenzano's slick 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible was the centerpiece of a well-executed display that included a full-scale gas pump and mirrors to show off the underside of the super-clean Wichita car.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

In case anyone's interested, Wheels page editor Mike Berry's 1963-1/2 Falcon did make it to the Starbird show. My thanks to all who made that possible and for all the nice comments about the car. By the way, that's Hub Harness (left) and Jack Marinelli, two of Wichita's legendary car builders, talking about something else.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

This beautiful teal-colored 1936 closed-cab pickup resulted when Carson and Deb McKeen of Wichita sliced a '36 sedan in two and grafted on the back section of a '40 Ford pickup, adding a homemade bed for good measure. This fine-looking "phantom" truck functions as a daily driver, too.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Sherry and Bill Delaney's 1955 Chevy 210 sedan was so slick a bug couldn't have landed on its high-gloss copper/orange surface. Their car was part of the Marauders club display.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle