Nissan Z-powered Land Speed Racing Falcon Ranchero   So I'm riding by on the XR70 bike my buddy Erock loaned to me (a sight to see with my long lanky frame) and I see this wicked looking Ford Falcon Ranchero.   Anyone following this site knows I'm partial to the round bodied Falcons... so much so I'm building a 1963 Falcon Wagon myself. It's your typical summer remake that's taken 4 years so far. Anyways, that's another story.   As I walked up on this bad little pickup, I saw only one valve cover poking up... I thought, SWEET! He's running a Ford six just like me. To my surprise, Alan Morris out of Montrose, CO chose a 1980 Nissan 280Z motor to chase the F/CFALT record of 165.224 held by the Cohn Jucewic Monza.     I was surprised because in addition to being the owner/editor/janitor of MyRideisMe.com, I'm also a test engineer for Nissan. One of my favorite Fords combined with different and unexpected powerplant that's also from the folks who pay my mortgage... win, win, WIN!   The sixer runs a healthy 14:1 compression and triple...

Better Pinup Poses for Great Pictures Photo courtesy of Digital-Photography-School.com I'm always trying to take better pictures. Whether it's custom car or family portraits or a beautiful pinup model, we're all trying to do our best work. To keep learning, I receive newsletters from a few great websites. One of them is Digital Photography School. I found this post called: Posing Guide: 21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Female Subjects I figured this would help out models and photographers alike, even though it's not focused on pinup photography. Take a look and see what you think: Read more: http://digital-photography-school.com/21-sample-poses-photographing-female-models#ixzz23gQS36df Sign up for their newsletter and learn a little every...

Land Speed Racing Cars Shake the Salt You wait all year for this... then on the first day, you're in impound.  Here's how that looks: Willie Boelcke looks happy because he is! Not only has the rain dried up from yesterday, his "Low Sodium" racer ran 239.158 mph against the B/FRMR roadster record of  235.436 mph set at Speed Week in 2009. You'd be smiling too! Willie's roadster already holds the C class record so now he's doing what alot of racers do and adding cubic inches to go for another record.  The A-engine class might be next since that record's only 207! (someone build an A engined FRMR and get a red hat!! Here's a look at what used to be a 1927 Ford Roadster. See the painted part? Tomorrow, at 7AM, Willie and the other folks who beat the existing record speed will head to the front of the line to try and back up their record and officially break it.   Need to know more about setting records at Bonneville? Check out, How to Set a Record at Bonneville   Also smiling big was this guy:...

Failed Bonneville Hot Rod Take-over at the Nugget   What do I mean failed? Well, compared to shows at the Nugget years ago, this one was a bust.   First off, it's been raining on and off since we rolled into Wendover. It'd be easy to say that the show was small because of the weather, but my buddy Keith kept saying, "Well, the cars have to be parked somewhere!" For me, I kept snapping photos. If you see a blurry spot on a pic, it was mother nature's fault.       Looking closer, we noticed most of the parking along the casino was blocked off. The normal parking spots along the road were filled with the first-come-first-served hot rods, but as new roadsters and heavily chopped coupes rolled in, they found nowhere to park. I bugged the casino manager, "What gives?" He explained that after the show last year where there were too many cars and too many people, the fire marshall shut them down. Sorry, I call BS. I think it's more likely that the casino's management blocked off more hot rods from filling their parking...

Custom Cars with Custom Paint - Favorite Flake Roof Photography (Click on any photo to see it full size) I've been meaning to write a post on custom paint and especially the amazing custom paint you'll find on lowriders and customs, especially in NorCal. With the great customs piling in at the NorCal Knockout, I finally got the shots I wanted. Lend a hand! If you know these cars, and more importantly, who the painter is... please leave a comment (you don't have to register or anything) and I'll add the info to this story. There's nothing I'd like to do more than give credit to these painters. Fantastic work! This is the roof of the 1959 Lincoln (pretty sure on the year) shown above. Rainbow flake with lace and darker flake fade. This car was a show stopper and won best of show. I know this was the roof of a 62 or so Ford Thunderbird. You've got it all here! Lace, multi colors of metal flake including rainbow flake and silver metal flake. There's even some flames... I'm running out of ways to say, Unbelievably cool. You'd...

Northern California Car Show - Hot Rods and Custom Cars Story Contributed by MyRideisMe.com member: Nick Koljian "Hellcity316" You ever get an invitation to a party and just get stoked that you are going? You mark it on the calendar and count down the days. "Oh man, 1 more week!" You check your smart phone mid week knowing that it's this Saturday, "Dude, I wonder what's going to be on the BBQ?" Friday rolls around and you're cruising home from work just gassed about tomorrow, " This party is going to rock!" you're so excited that on Saturday morning you're  already up before the alarm goes off. You're on Facebook telling all your friends where to be at. Then, at that very moment you receive text on your phone, you break down to check it and the number's one you don't recognize: 4664. The message reads,"kool-aid will be served...." My alarm goes off and I pop out of bed knowing with a dream like that I must be excited for the show. Today is the Dragoons Car Cult 6th annual Nite Of The Hot Rods @ The Riverview Lodge in downtown Antioch,...

Customs, Hot Rods and Drag Racing in Kansas Story and Photos by: Mark Stacks, Tin Woody Photo This pretty in purple sled doesn't miss a trick. The 32nd annual KKOA Lead Sled Spectacular in Salina, Kansas was hot... figuratively and literally! With temperatures topping out at a very humid 105 degrees, participants earned their dues at this show. Despite the heat the turnout was huge with lead sleds galore. Also, in attendance were hot rods, gassers, rat rods and few other random rides rounding out the diversity. Hot flames on flat black paint were an eye-grabber on this pick-up. Oakdale Park was a wonderful location for the show, with plenty of space all those awesome custom cars. In addition, it offered beautiful mature trees offering up some wonderful shade to escape the heat. Events were not limited to the park, with a parade, cruising, drag racing and after-parties. Good times and fond memories were found by all at this great event. Check out the rest of the photos supplied by Mark Stacks: An early arrival Chevrolet and Ford that couldn't wait to get the party started. A dropped and...

Land Speed Racing: Quest for 1000 mph MyRideisMe.com doesn't typically post news releases. But... not that many news releases are talking about a 1000 mph race car either. There are some pretty amazing technical challenges here that intrigue me. I'm guessing you'll trip out too... One mile (1.6 km) in 3.6 seconds 10 million square meter race track (107 million square feet or 3.86 Square miles) cleared by hand Driven by Andy Green, the Fastest Man on Earth and record holder at 1228 kph (763 mph) in the Thrust SSC in 1997. The first car to officially break the sound barrier 22,000 lbs of thrust to 350 mph using EJ200 Eurofighter jet engine Add 47,000 lbs of thrust to the target of 1050 mph using the Falcon hybrid rocket engine burning solid rocket fuel 750hp F1 engine powers the fuel pump (sort of) - 963 liters in 20 second 42.6 liters/second or 11.2 gallons/second of rocket fuel oxidizer Stay tuned. Download this image as wallpaper here Bloodhound SSC News release FASTEST MAN ON EARTH VISITS DESERT RACETRACK On 24 July 2012, Land Speed Record (LSR) holder Andy Green visited...

Straight 8 Buick Bonneville Salt Flats Racer There are some cars that are near-universally popular. Here's one.   Jeff Brock, the owner, co-builder and driver of this wicked 1952 Buick Super Riviera showed up at the 2008 Bonneville Speed Week with his Buick and floored spectators and racers alike. Since then, the "Bombshell Buick" has seen some serious metal work to make and re-make it into the, "the sculptural form he favored for creating a fast, furious work of art." Done.   To help you catch up on where the Buick started, after finding it in an abandoned lumber mill near Phoenix, here's a few build pictures, then we'll catch up with Brock's plans for this year. Here's how she looked when purchased. Jeff says, "Our "first date" ... bofore shot. Her ass was fat ...I played hard to get." Here's a great shot of the Buick nose before modification. Most of the GREAT shots featured here were taken by Gunther Maier. (If I'm using someone else's shot, please tell me)   From here, we better fill you in on Brock's plans for 2012 Bonneville Speed Week:   "Yes,...

Bonneville Race Cars of Friends Oh, I might have mentioned it before... maybe every time I write about the Bonneville Salt Flats... the people are great. Hot rodders and racers in general are an easy-to-get-along-with group, but something about the salt turns competitors into co-conspirators to see who can go faster. On some levels, it doesn't make sense. These racers are after the same record, both are dying to wear the coveted red hat of the "2-club" or 200 mph club, and they both have been trying for years, but still they'll share everything from cold sodas to spare parts to advice to help a fellow racer. It's special. Speaking of special... each year I make my 15 hour trip from Phoenix, AZ to Bonneville, I meet and become friends with more racers. You almost can't help it! I want to kick off 2012 Bonneville Speed Week with pictures and updates of a few friends I'm looking forward to seeing. 400 mph Streamliner owned by Bobby and Peggy First up is this beautiful machine called the, "Maro Special". Bobby, Peggy and their entire crew treat me like family when I...

Bonneville Salt Flat Racing For Charity (and Fun!) Bonneville's an amazing place for so many reasons. I just learned of one more. I read and reviewed a book about Baldwin Motion, you know the "Phase III", Motion Performance, "Dragon Snake" guys?? Well that was written by Martyn Schorr who's now my Facebook buddy. He told me about the Bonneville Racing Team 608 he's a part of and forwarded this story. I had to publish it. Greatest thing is, as good as the people are on the salt, this doesn't surprise me. TEAM 608 RETURNS TO BONNEVILLE WITH TWO CARS, AND A MISSION: GO FAST – DO GOOD! Grassroots racers run a Lakester and Roadster on the Salt Flats to raise money for, and awareness of, health-related charities. Team 608, a 100% volunteer, grassroots land speed racing team, is comprised of lifetime hot rodders and drag racers who have been competing at Bonneville for more than a decade. Since 2006, Team 608 has raised and donated in excess of $95,000 for charities: Susan G. Komen For The Cure (Breast Cancer), Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and Autism Speaks. Next month, they...

Fine and Finished Hot Rod Roadsters Segregation Works Segregation. It's a word with a perfectly bad score for connotation. I'm hear to give it a boost and say... It works at the LA Roadster Show. Over here, a fantastic swap meet when you're looking for that obscure 50s original part for your Caddy... Over there, a car show fit for everyone. Trucks, traditional hot rods, nose up street gassers and even a laid out Econoline van. Then, there's the "real" show... Over yonder... Separated by a walk that your dog would turn down, but featuring a conditioned air main hall filled with go-fast goodies and hot rod art... and of course, the shiny, finished roadster that are, the LA Roadster Show. To get in, you need a finished, glossy painted car and no fixed windows. True roadster and no rats. Thank you, moving along... Skip all this, I just want to see more pictures: 2012 LA Roadster Show photo gallery The AZ Hot Rod Connection (Click to see full size) Making the trip out from Arizona, my home state in case you didn't know... where two fine, real deal hot...