Hot Rod Pinstriping from Pomona (click to see these pictures full size) Like most shows with a hot rod and custom car theme, the pinstriping and custom lettering is everywhere. Telling a story of bygone racing years or thin, symmetric lines setting off a deck lid, we dig it all! So here at the 2012 LA Roadster Show, pinstriping found my lens often... Here's a few of my favorites and the complete gallery below. Keeping the lettering theme going, dig this! The gold leaf pinstriping is sexy and get the Cali vibe from the palm trees visible in the reflection. This is the cowl of Throttle King Car Club provisional member Chris. His Model A Hot Rod carried un-fakable patina and some great new-but-looked-worn pinstriping. One of my favorite shots from the show so far! More from Chris's hot rod. You tell me... If you're an artist, get in touch! I'll feature your pinstriping in your own gallery: admin@myrideisme.com If you can't get enough pinstriping, there's more here: pinstriping pictures. Here's the pinstriping pictures from last year:  2011 LA Roadster Show pinstriping [nggallery...

Hot Rods and Custom Cars from Chopit Kustom (Click to see full size) More from the 2012 LA Roadster Show: As a sequel to the radical 1955 Ford turned bubbletop kustom, I want to show off the other great rides the good folks from Chopit Kustom brought. All three rides, the 32 Pickup, the 53 Chevy Coupe and the "55 Ford" you can barely see in the back were all driven in. After parking and before the crowds, I snapped off these shots. Next time I take my kids to Disneyland, I'll arrange a tour and get to know these guys at their Stanton, CA shop. They're breaking new ground as a three man shop and getting the media attention to prove it. Enjoy! Did you get your own shots of these cars? Let's see them! admin@MyRideisMe.com [nggallery...

Bubbletop Kustom Car - Radical Custom Creation! (Click to see full size) Back at the 2012 LA Roadster Show, I'm doing my best to take my favorite pictures and show them to you, just in case you're outta state, country, or worse... you were one of the vendors I talked to that never get to leave your booth! What you see here is a 1955 Ford. Yep. That's what it started as, but according to Gary "Chopit" Fioto, all that's left is the decklid and hood. Gary, and his sons Nick and Fabian of Chopit Kustom in Stanton, CA built this truly radical creation, completely out of steel In a 3 year build, Beatnik made it's debut at the 2005 Fresno Autorama. So, this car's been on the road for a long time! Gary drove the car in as well complimenting the air conditioning that keep him from suffocating underneath that huge bubbletop. Every other detail of this car's been covered. One of the best places to learn the history of the car and Chopit Kustom is by reading the RM Auction page where it sold for $396,000 back in 2006.  RM's...

Land Speed Racer-Recreation at the LA Roadster Show You'll never know what you might see! Wandering the huge-anic swap meet at the LA Roadster Show, I found this: (Click to see full size) Feast your eyes on the not-quite-finished replica of Frank Lockhart's Stutz Blackhawk Special. Handmade and very accurate from what Ned told me to the original. It'll even run a special, rare-like-you-wouldn't-believe Miller 4 cylinder engines. (that's one reason it's not done yet) Why? I don't know... cause the owner can I guess! I wanted more info, but the guys were already loading the car into the trailer (you gotta see it in the pics below) when I showed up and with the sun beating down, it was all business for them. If you know more about the car, please get in touch. [nggallery id=66] To learn more about the original car and the crash that took the life of Frank Lockhart, here's a few links. You should know, at the time, Frank was the youngest Indy 500 winner and the record holder for most laps led from the start (81 Laps). Not to mention, the guy...

Hemi Hot Rod at the LA Roadster Show (Click to see full size - it's huge! Right click to add as desktop wallpaper) Well... you get old and learn slowly. I've learned that I find and shoot so many great hot rods at car shows, like one of my favorites, the LA Roadster Show, that usually they end up wasting away on my computer - never posted. Not this time... I don't know much about this wicked 1932 Hot Rod Ford Roadster except: A tiny sticker on the dash gave away it's a Pinkee's Rod Shop creation - no doubt leading to it's "kill'm with your awesome" stance, fit and finish. See build pictures here at 1932 Ford Hot Rod Roadster at Pinkee's project page. This beast graced the swap area of the 2012 LA Roadster Show on Friday during setup (it can't go into the full-on LA Roadster show yet because it's not painted...) It runs an electronic fuel injected Hemi and monster-cool salt-flat style wheels I didn't get to hear it running... but had a sweet dream about it! The next time you see it, it'll most...

Bring your Money! Hot Rods & Parts for Swap at the 2012 LA Roadster Show Pinkees built 1932 Hot Rod Friday of the LA Roadster Show means swap'n. This year is no exception with cars lined up fer-days waiting to get in and grab the primo swap spots. Just so you know, the gates don't open until 5AM to park and wait for the other, main gates to open at about 10AM (sometimes sooner). Once inside, there's no telling what you might find. Here's my look around with my Pops enjoying the cooler California weather. Featured Hot Rods and Customs at MyRideisMe.com: Here are the follow-up stories from 2012 LA Roadster Show: Pinkee’s Built 1932 Ford Roadster – Riveted and Injected (shown above) Frank Lockhart’s Slick Speedster Reborn - Land Speed Racer with Style Chopit Kustom’s Beatnik Bubbletop – This was a 55 Ford turned 50s Radical Kustom More Chopit Kustom - 1953 Chevy and 1932 Ford Pickup Hot Rods and Customs The first thing you'll find at the LA Roadster Show is problably the most obvious. Like the nasty Hemi powered hot rod above with a severely cool rivet...

Ford Falcon Gas Door Relocation - No More Gas Cap As I continue to fill you in on the progress of my 1963 Ford Falcon wagon build/restoration/customization/marathon, feel free to follow along here:  1963 Ford Falcon Wagon Build I had someone ask me about what I did on the gas filler door on my 63 Falcon Wagon after seeing it painted. Here's the update on that... Could there have been a worse place to put the factory filler tube? The filler was relocated on my 63 Falcon Wagon before I bought it, up onto the top of the rear quarter panel. The original owner shaped a piece of sheetmetal, then threw a hinge on it with a cabinet "pop-lock" thing to keep it shut. It looked bad... lots of bondo and for some reason, the door opened "suicide" or the hinge was on the back. I was afraid it'd pop up at speed. See below. Rather than try to fix what was there, I searched around and when I had the body work done (one of the only things the guy did well) I had this pop-up filler installed....

1963 Ford Falcon Power Tailgate or Squire Trim For those of you following along at home, I've been SLOWLY wrenching on my 1963 Ford Falcon wagon in between creating the website you've found here, MyRideisMe.com. I decided to fill you in on a couple details of what I've been up to. (see, I'm doing something!) On display this time is the crown jewel of my Falcon wagon, the chrome tailgate bezel found on Falcon Squire models and on some sedan deliveries. Even before I had it restored and re-chromed, it was my favorite part on the whole car. It oozes cool! Taking you back a few steps, here's what I originally purchased: (click to see larger pic) Sexy as hell, but pitted and in need of restoration. This is what happens to pot metal, so no need to panic. I did call in the help of an expert though, Norm Huie at Shine on Me Automotive Trim Restoration. Norm had a flawless 1965 Falcon Wagon I called, "Plain Jane". If you're a Falcon guy, it's worth a look. For a very reasonable price, Norm fixed all the pitting in...

Tim Strange's Hot Rod Reality TV  Season 2 Update Back for season 2 is Tim Strange's take on reality TV car building. Tim's a unique guy not short on opinions and always telling it like it is. Sound like every other TV car show? It doesn't to me. I caught up with Tim and asked about Season 2 and the first build of a 55 Chevy Handyman Wagon. To catch up from Season 1, check out our other interview with Tim Strange. Since I'm late getting this story up... watch the build of the 55 Handyman Wagon here Heading into season 2 what was the biggest lesson learned from season 1? Probably the amount of time it takes to set up the shots and set lights. I still get a little crazy when we're trying to get a project done in four weeks, but we sometimes have to stop and set lights for different angles. In the long run, it's worth it when the show is all done. Also the amount of film they record and what they use. Each build gets almost 400 hours of film and edited...

Trend Pushrods - New Ways to Combat Pushrod Troubles Seeking and finding stories about great engine builders and the high performance parts they use, every once in a while, you find yourself asking. "What makes xyz so special?" In this case, I got to talking about high performance pushrods and didn't know much about them. Luckily, Trend Performance makes pushrods for everybody from the weekend warrior to the best of NHRA and NASCAR. So I asked a few questions... An interview with Bob Fox, founder of Trend Performance By Sam Logan with photos by Moore Good Ink Today the Michigan firm Trend Performance is the largest manufacturer and supplier of pushrods in racing and the performance aftermarket. But in 1988 when Bob Fox founded his pushrod company, after working the phones as a tech rep at Diamond Racing, things were different. During his time at the piston company, he noticed that the performance of competition pushrods was little better than adequate—their lengths varied and their ends failed—both ends! Manufacturers would reduce the material thickness of the cup ends in order to form them, and as a result they would...

Cylinder Head Innovations for 302w Heads & 351w Heads I made an appointment with the Engine Doctor, Jon Kaase. The good doctor told me about a new set of 302w or 351w heads that are ahead of their time like morphine to a cheap bottle of whiskey. Before we trust any doctor, it's best to look'm up and see where they come from. Kaase, as fate would have it, is the self-described "black sheep" in a family full of actual medical professionals... Kaase, on the other hand, "...liked mechanical things from the time I was little, and I never gave it up." Sound like anyone you know? With references checking out fine, let's learn about the new  P-38 canted-valve Windsor cylinder heads. (Text and images provided by Moore Good Ink) Small Block Ford Aluminum Heads with Better Cylinder Filling Jon Kaase keeps his eyes peeled. Over the years, the engine builder has seen an endless string of improvements and aftermarket components visited upon the 302 Windsor heads but he was woefully aware that there were no real advancements beyond the original cylinder head configuration. He thought he could produce...

Camshaft Assembly Lube & Break in Lube Part of my 1963 Ford Falcon engine build is researching how to build and break-in the engine... the right way. To get great advice, I asked the experts at Edelbrock. They've been building engines and hot rod parts forever... not to mention they've been very cool helping me with my engine build and with MyRideisMe.com. Hope these tips are helpful! Tech with Edelbrock: Camshaft Break-in for Hydraulic Flat Tappet Camshafts Upgrading your hydraulic, flat tappet cam is a very popular performance upgrade. In many cases, cam changes happen independently of a complete engine rebuild. With or without engine rebuild, when changing cams, proper steps must be taken to ensure a hassle-free installation, break-in period, and of course, good cam and lifter life. The following are the basic steps for camshaft break-in. Read and follow the included instructions with every Edelbrock cam and lifter kit. We're skipping the assembly and disassembly steps because there's too many variations to cover it all. 1) Always use new lifters with a new camshaft. Do not use existing lifters with a new camshaft. Cam lobe wear is...