The Cavalcade of Customs 2026 returned to downtown Cincinnati March 13-15 for three days of hot rods, customs, trucks, muscle cars, imports, motorcycles and just about everything else that makes an indoor car show worth spending a weekend inside. This year marked the 65th running of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Cavalcade of Customs, but for Gauge Magazine, there was another reason this year’s Cincinnati show was a little different.
We weren’t just there covering it.
Gauge Magazine had a booth at Cavalcade promoting Slamology 2026, giving us an opportunity to spend a weekend talking with enthusiasts throughout the Cincinnati area ahead of Slamology’s move to Edgewater Sports Park in Cleves, Ohio.
Meanwhile, Gauge photographer Jason Carroll was working the show floor, capturing everything from traditional hot rods and vintage pickups to mini-trucks, imports, motorcycles, race cars and some seriously detailed show builds.
Cavalcade of Customs has been part of Cincinnati’s automotive scene for generations. The 2026 event marked its 65th anniversary, and this year’s show also brought people back into Cincinnati’s newly renovated downtown convention center.
The building longtime showgoers knew as the Duke Energy Convention Center reopened in early 2026 and is now the First Financial Center. The renovation gave Cavalcade a fresh home without changing what has kept people coming back to this show for decades: a building full of vehicles that deserve more than a quick walk past them.
That’s especially true at an indoor show. Good lighting and close quarters give you time to notice the things that disappear from across a parking lot—the bodywork, paint, wheel fitment, engine compartments, interiors, fabrication and small details that separate one build from another.
Traditional hot rods were well represented throughout Jason’s coverage. Chopped coupes and sedans, exposed engines, T-buckets, early Fords and traditional-style builds sat alongside cars that took the same basic ingredients in a much more polished direction.
There was plenty of classic American muscle in the building too. Camaros, Mustangs, Firebirds, Corvettes and other familiar nameplates shared the floor with customs that weren’t nearly as easy to categorize.
That’s part of the fun of Cavalcade. You can walk from a traditional hot rod into a beautifully finished muscle car and then find yourself staring at something that has been chopped, reshaped and customized enough that the craftsmanship becomes more important than the badge on the grille.
The truck side of the show covered almost as much ground as the cars.
Jason photographed vintage Chevrolet and Ford pickups, patina builds, lowered customs, detailed show trucks and mini-trucks throughout the weekend. Some were polished from bumper to bumper, while others intentionally kept decades of weathered sheetmetal on display.
For Gauge Magazine, seeing mini-trucks mixed back into a major indoor show is always going to get our attention. Trucks have been a huge part of what we’ve covered since the beginning, and Cavalcade had everything from traditional vintage pickups to laid-out compact trucks with custom paint, wheels, interiors, audio and suspension work.
There were also a few builds that rewarded a closer look underneath. Jason caught suspension, exhaust and chassis details that show just how much work can be hidden below a vehicle that most people only see from eye level.
The 2026 show wasn’t limited to traditional American customs. Jason’s gallery includes a healthy mix of modern performance cars and imports, including Datsun Z cars, Honda builds, Nissan Skylines, a Honda S2000, Porsche 911s, an Acura NSX and plenty of newer customs.
There was even a bright green Honda kei truck in the mix.
That variety is important because today’s custom scene isn’t one style or one generation anymore. Someone who came to Cavalcade for traditional hot rods could spend the afternoon studying early American iron, while someone raised around imports, modern performance cars or mini-trucks could find an entirely different side of the hobby in the same building.
Neither side has to replace the other. Put them together and you get a much better picture of what the automotive hobby actually looks like today.
Four wheels weren’t a requirement either.
Custom choppers, sport bikes, vintage motorcycles and baggers were spread throughout Jason’s coverage. One of the more memorable scenes from the weekend was a Stormtrooper standing guard in front of a custom bagger—exactly the kind of unexpected show-floor moment that breaks up rows of polished paint and chrome.
Race cars and competition-inspired builds added another dimension. Drag cars, road-race-inspired machines and purpose-built displays gave the show a motorsports side without taking anything away from the traditional custom-car atmosphere.
This was also an important weekend for us personally.
Gauge Magazine set up at Cavalcade of Customs to introduce more people in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky to Slamology 2026. At the time, Slamology was preparing for its move to Edgewater Sports Park in Cleves, Ohio, and Cavalcade gave us a chance to spend a weekend right in the area before the June event.
And we had an amazing time.
We spent the weekend meeting people, talking about their vehicles and answering questions about Slamology. Some people who stopped at the booth already knew exactly what Slamology was. Others were finding out for the first time that the show was coming to the Cincinnati area.
Those conversations were exactly why we wanted to be there.
Gauge Magazine has been online for decades, and social media lets us reach enthusiasts every day, but neither replaces standing in a booth and actually talking with people. We got to hear what local enthusiasts were building, where they normally went to shows and what they wanted to know about Slamology before its June debut at Edgewater Sports Park.
To everyone who stopped by the Gauge Magazine and Slamology booth during Cavalcade: thank you. Cincinnati made us feel welcome, and that weekend gave us a great opportunity to introduce Slamology to even more enthusiasts throughout the area before the June 13-14, 2026 event.
You can learn more about Slamology and check out official Slamology shirts and merchandise online.
This wasn’t Gauge Magazine’s first trip to Cavalcade of Customs—not even close.
We’ve been photographing and publishing Cincinnati Cavalcade coverage for more than two decades. You can go all the way back to our Cincinnati Cavalcade of Customs 2006 coverage and see how both the show and the custom scene have changed over the years.
More recently, we were back inside the Cincinnati show for Cavalcade of Customs 2022. Looking through those older galleries alongside Jason’s 2026 photographs is a pretty good reminder of why we’ve kept coming back.
The styles change. Wheels change. Paint trends come and go. New generations of builders bring different vehicles into the mix. But the basic idea hasn’t changed much at all: build something you’re proud of, put it under the lights and let people get close enough to appreciate the work.
From traditional hot rods and custom trucks to imports, motorcycles, race cars and detailed show builds, Jason Carroll captured the variety that filled the First Financial Center throughout the weekend.
Check out the complete Cavalcade of Customs 2026 photo gallery below for more of what Jason captured throughout the weekend.
Photography: Jason Carroll Event: 65th Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Cavalcade of Customs Location: First Financial Center – Cincinnati, Ohio Dates: March 13-15, 2026
For information about future Cincinnati shows, visit the official Cavalcade of Customs website.
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