Car Interior Restoration One of the first jobs I did on my 1955 Studebaker was restoring the car’s interior. Even though I didn’t know what I was doing – I had a pretty good sewing background and figured I could handle it. As it turned out, it was a terrific first job for me. I had a lot of fun, met some challenges, and learned along the way. I’ve since had the chance to learn a few secrets and have been looking forward to another car interior restoration. Well…the time is here. When I picked out the materials to use in my Stude, I knew they weren’t very sturdy but I didn’t really care. A few years of daily wear later, my driver’s seat-back has been torn to shreds. Before embarking on this next car restoration adventure, I thought I’d ask for your opinion. Car shows are great places to look for what you like and might want to incorporate into your own project. So that’s just what I did. While trying to keep my head on straight while looking at all the amazing customs at the Long Beach...

How-To Fix Engine Overheating Problems on the Roadside What do you do when your car overheats? With temperatures reaching the 80's this past week in LA, the 383 small block Chevy in my 1955 Studebaker got hot in protest. Thursday was my first problem. After 30 minutes of freeway driving and 30 minutes of stoplight-and-street traffic, I lost power and came to a stop. After letting Stude cool down, the only thing I noticed upon inspection was that my fluid was a little low. I filled up the radiator with a coolant/distilled water mix and was back on my way, hoping maybe this was all I needed. I got home fine that evening and through the 25 mile drive to work the next day without a glitch. This made me feel better, but I was very worried... Studebaker had a date as a wedding getaway car for some close friends of mine on Saturday. I didn't want her to miss out on the excitement! As I pondered what was going on with my overheating, I knew the most likely candidates were the radiator, water pump, or thermostat. I’ve dealt with...

Old Cars Take On New Life In The Winter Snow Snow, cold, and winter weather lock up many a classic car in the safety of a garage. Here in So Cal, we're lucky that our old cars get to hit the roads 365 days a year! During a recent trip up to Montana - since there were no old cars on the road - I grabbed my camera and went wondering to find some old beasts out in the snow. Although my inner "mom" wanted to tow these all to safety and restoration - I think the setting made for some cool pictures. So if you live in a snowy area - enjoy these and stand by until warmer weather. But if you live in a place like lovely Southern California - count your blessings and take your car for a cruise! May this New Year find you all in good and joyful adventures! Happy Trails, Grease Girl All that poor rust, but this 1953 Chevy's hood ornament is still in good shape! John Deere standing proud with tin can covering the exhaust and all. An old Ford logo...

Tips For How To Avoid Brake Failure As  GreaseGirl, I’m always attempting to share with you all the things I’m learning within the hot rod world. Owning my own classic car, I've experienced a pretty steep learning curve to say the least… and brake importance is just one more thing I needed to learn! So read on to hear about my own misadventure and hopefully avoid your own!!! "Collision closely avoided. But my brakes are gone! I have NO brakes…what’s a girl to do!?" I’d had friends see my brake line situation and tell me I should do some work on it. I’ve considered changing my master cylinder. But when your classic car is your only car… sometimes your time and money get spent on what’s needed to keep it running. Lately that list has been pretty involved with "Studie" My 1955 Studebaker pictured above. From a new exhaust system to changing my transmission and rebuilding my front suspension – at each turn of the road I’ve learned a lot and improved Stude’s performance greatly. What was next on my list of things to do to my 1955 Studebaker???...

Power Brakes and Steering from SEMA 2010 ABS Power Brake, Inc Due to my recent brake failure adventure, brake companies were the first ones I went looking for at SEMA. I luckily found ABS Power Brake, Inc which provides “American Brake and Steering” component parts and kits. In business since 1979, ABS Power Brake provides kits as well as individual components for everything from classic trucks to custom rods. They have some good possible fixes for my situation – such as a nifty compact dual-reservoir master cylinder – but they also had a couple of really impressive new products. In addition to their fairly extensive line of disc brake kits they’ve added a new ABS 14” Big Brake Disc Kit with 2” Drop Spindles. If you need BIG brakes, these 14.5” rotors with 4-piston calipers could be just what your project demands. Another new product they’re rolling out is an award-winning Best New Product. It’s an Electric High-Power Master Cylinder Kit that can generate up to 1,200 pounds of pressure all in one self-contained source! ABS Power Brake claims it offers the highest pressure and is the smallest system...

Helping Families Out – One Car At A Time I went to SEMA expecting to see all the new products and trends in the auto industry – I did not expect to be introduced to a philanthropic program helping families get back on their feet. But as I was at SEMA, I got to witness five families given the gift of a “Recycled Ride.” Recycled Rides is a community awareness project of the National Auto Body Council (NABC). NABC members donate their time and services to refurbish cars that insurance companies donate. After a vehicle is repaired to like-new condition, Recycled Rides pairs with a local community organization to find a deserving family, then they to give it to them. The Las Vegas partner organization is Family Promise, an interfaith, non-profit organization helping homeless families in transition from a shelter to a home of their own. Individuals who received cars ranged from two-parent families to single-parent Moms and Dads who've graduated from Family Promise’s Family Mentoring Program. Las Vegas’ mayor, Oscar Goodman, was also at SEMA to hand over the family’s new keys. It was good to see the...

Custom Car Wheel Review at SEMA Show 2010 In my search with pikesan for the biggest custom rims at SEMA 2010, I was struck with horror by the ugliness of some of these wheels. Did something go wrong in the design department? How did so much money go into making such an awful rim?! In Las Vegas terms, these wheels rolled crap dice! Splatter paint? That fad was SO third grade. If it were only one color it would look like a gaudy daisy... perfect for a decked out VW. But four colors? Enter: guy with large truck taking place for small ego. I like stars too... but they shouldn't be on your rim dude. These may be custom but that doesn't mean they're good looking. We had a general dislike for this uber-ugly Challenger. (At least it didn't have any LED's) PINK! On the right car, these could look pretty cool - the thing is they'll probably be showing up on a crappy Honda Civic near you. I actually really liked these on this cool little VW. But again... coming soon to a Honda Civic near you. Something...

Searching for the Biggest Custom Rims At SEMA Show 2010 Over the past few years the size of rims and wheels has been getting out of hand. Previously, Craig (known here as "pikesan") and I generally try to avoid the ginormous wheel and tire section of SEMA – this year we dove right in and went scouting for SEMA 2010’s biggest wheel. Here’s what we found… Just as we started on our search we ran into this whole wall of rims. Most with a diameter roughly the full length of my arm. Just so ya know - from fingertip to armpit I measure 31 inches. Then in Giovanna Wheel's large display were these big guys. Seeing all these rims sitting around, one forgets how incredibly expensive they are. One online source I found to purchase Giovanna rims at quoted a price of nearly $10,000 for a set of 26 inch rims. Ten Thousand Dollars!!! Ten. Thousand. Dollars. What else could you do with all that money? Maybe you could customize your Rolls Royce? Mini-Me or Mega-Me? Next up we found these classic wire spoke rims. Whether you're sportin tiny...

SEMA is over and that means its time for racing! I'm out at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, NV and there are fifty amazing vehicles competing! The competition began before this morning though - it started yesterday evening as SEMA convention saw its close. At that time all available vehicles met up and left the convention center to head down the strip. I was lucky enough to grab shotgun in a 2009 Mercedes C63 AMG. If you think Mercedes are no big deal in the race world, think again. This car tore up the road!! I've never had so much fun in Vegas! More details on the road rally portion of the race later... but this picture is just one of the many adventures we got that Mercedes into last night. Out here on the road course and motocross are all sorts of cars! From classic style hot rods, to muscle cars, to modern stuff - it's all here! I've got to get back to the racing... so much excitement and they haven't even began the 0-60-0 brake challenge! You think that Mercedes has a chance of...

SEMA Automotive Conference 2010 in Las Vegas Racing & Performance, Hot Rod Alley, Restoration Marketplace, Tools & Equipment... These are just a few of my favorite sections of the 2010 SEMA show in Las Vegas. What's a girl to do in a sea of very cool car stuff??? What every guy does of course - run around like its Christmas morning! So while I finish hitting the pavement on the showroom floor to bring ya'll more info on some very cool stuff, I wanted to at least show you a few of the reasons why people get so excited about SEMA. First of all, there's some very fun things going on in displays. I'll never tire seeing an engine put together or taken apart. Especially when that engine is a Corvette LS7 engine as seen in the top picture - as is being demonstrated all week in the Chevy booth. Ya think if I hang around enough they'll let me turn a wrench?!? Speaking of turning wrenches, the high schoolers in the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge National Championship are getting an arm up on wrenching experience. These...

From SEMA Car Show to the Race Track SEMA is starting and I can hardly wait for all the fun! Since most of you can’t make it to Vegas for the biggest aftermarket automotive event of the year, you can rely on catching all the coverage here at MyRideisMe.com! Not only will you see some of the baddest cars, new products and tools from the showroom floor… at the end of the week we'll serve up an extra treat of street racing – the Optima Batteries Street Car Invitational. The spirit of the OPTIMA Invitational is unite the performance automotive aftermarket industry while exhibiting the true potential of the vehicles showcased at SEMA, proving they are built for speed and performance, not just for looking good on the show floor. Last year, there were 51 cars competing for the title of "Ultimate Street Car" out at the Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, NV. Everything from a 1927 Tucci Roadster, 1966 Cobra, 1969 Camaro, and even a modern Bentley were seen on the course! This year will be no different. All 50 racing entries must be street legal cars. Some...

Homebuilt Hot Rods Car shows, car club, breakdowns, wrench nights, possible near death experiences, getting things fixed, and as always adventuring in the hot rod world - these things and more are what've been goin' on for the past month as I've neglected my writing. The month started with a car club meeting (I haven't told ya'll too much about them yet...I'll have to remedy that soon!) The following day was Bedlam Ball Car Show in San Pedro. Me and the other Gasoline Girls had fun hanging out together and seeing our buddies the Throttle Kings along with some other cool cars down in the port town of Los Angeles. The next week included ongoing wrench nights to get Lori's truck finished, a 1948 Ford F1, as well as some work to be done to get Rosa's 1965 Ford Falcon working correctly again. In the meantime, Stude was tellin' me her front suspension was gone, really gone. After months of driving her knowing that her bushing were on their way out and then completely gone. With rain falling in LA and a nearly bald tire... I decided to park...