Hot Rod Pin-up Calendar If you're a poker player, peaking at your cards and seeing pocket aces, or in five card draw holding a set on the deal, you're feeling like you can't lose... Same thing's true with pinup photographer Mitzi's 2012 Pinup calendar. Mitzi's a long time friend of MyRideisMe.com shooting  and sharing pinups and the best hot rods custom cars from SoCal and beyond. Now she's delivering 12 months of hot rod pinups for your viewing pleasure. I just called for service, beer's on the house... tilt one back and check out the winning hand below. On the cover shown above is the lovely Miss Doris Mayday. Also seen as Miss September, Doris is welcoming you to Vegas in front of the Wild Cad hailing from Australia. Featured in magazines and online everywhere, owner Mario Colalillo's 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville has every mod and custom trick available and thanks to legendary customizer and painter Gene Winfield, has an amazing purple fade paint job. When you see Doris dealt face up like this... raise. Next up is Miss April, simply known as Mosh. Look closely and there's...

Hot Rod Pinup Crissy Henderson After a short break, Pinup of the Month is back and hot as ever with the sizzling Crissy Henderson. With pinup photography by Trent Sherrill, we can't miss here. Being so close to Christmas, I had to ask... What's your favorite Christmas you can remember? Everyone road tripping to my grandparents in Kansas for a few days until Christmas. The whole family would help my grandpa with morning farm chores and then we'd eat breakfast together then open gifts! I miss those days where the whole family got together and had a meal! White Christmas or sunny Christmas? Has to be a white one! Snow is fun! Trent's photos seem to bring out the best in women, what makes a hot, vintage styled photo for you? Ive only ever shot pinup pics with Trent. He's amazing at what he does! I love the old school looks! They're all hot! We gotta ask, are you a car girl or do you just see the hot rods as just another prop? I love the way a car looks and sounds - other than that I'm pretty...

Hot Rod & Custom Car Photography Jeff Norwell's perfect hot rod pickup at the Moody Mile in Syracuse Whether your building your first hot rod or a website about hot rods, it's best to have a little help. The most generous people you meet help when really, there's nothing in it for them. They're just, "Like that".  That's the case for this featured photographer, Chuck Vranas. I met Chuck at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, CA. He was floating around shooting here and there, but didn't look overly busy and rushed (like me), so I asked who he shoots for. At the time, he was shooting for Source Interlink powerhouse Street Rodder Magazine.  Chuck shoots and writes feature car and tech stories for Street Rodder quite a bit, especially lately. Check out the newest issues and you'll see stories Chuck did. It's almost like seeing someone you know on TV! (but totally different) Chuck is the real deal when it comes to hot rods too. Doesn't it kinda show when a photographer really likes what he's shooting? Ansel Adams can shoot some landscapes like nobody's business, but...

Ford Falcon Wagon - Get'n Buffed Crushed. Stopped dead and pissed. That's how I'd describe myself following my first paint attempt on my 1963 Falcon Wagon.   The After shot of the inner quarter panel.   How should I feel? The bodywork sucked, there were foo-boos all over the place from a careless painter who's been cheating everyone he meets since. But... that angry tone and deflated project is  almost completely back on track now! My wagon's got a new coat of flat gold paint and the interior paint's almost completely fixed thanks to my buddies at Infinite Detail.   I first met Jeff from Infinite cause he joined MyRideisMe.com and uploaded some pictures of his 1960 Falcon Wagon. I contact him and cried on his should some about the sorry state of my Falcon's paint. He showed me his website and the "before and after" pictures and said, "Let me take a look."   Soon after, Jeff and his brother-in-law Mike were over. They took a long look, then explained in great detail what they could and couldn't do and offered a written quote. That kind of honesty and...

1954 Chevy Pickup -Chopped and Dropped Author and Photographer: Mike Harrington Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. A truck is a truck, right? It’s meant for only one thing, to be beat to death on the local farm or sentenced to a life of hard labor. If only the designers of the ’54 Chevrolet truck could see how this one fared the test of time. They just might pass a peach pit. There’s a nifty little story attached to this former hay hauler and it all began south of the border and we’re not referring to the Mason Dixon line. Decades ago Mateo San Martin, living in Mexico, pieced this truck together one part at a time. Almost like that Johnny Cash song and just like the hot rodders here in the USA - a scrounged part here and there over a span of time had the truck all back and working again. Only this truck wasn’t built for any aesthetic reasons, it was built to handle life’s daily chores and experience more hard labor. But things don’t always work out the way they were intended... sometimes...

New Stromberg 97 Carb That's Old Too When you're building a 276 inch flathead to power a 32 Ford XF roadster for the Bonneville Salt Flats... and you're from the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop whose specialty is combining the old with new and making it all look period perfect, what else would you run but Stromberg carbs? Making the new look somewhat older just got alot easier with Stromberg's new "Barn Find" 97 Carb. It's a completely new Stromberg 97 with all the updates and design fixes of their signature Stromberg 97, but some aging tricks like a little media blasting and some old fashioned neglect (they leave the cast iron base out in the rain for a spell before painting it) result in a "no two alike" patina that fits great and looks perfect on your hot rod's flathead. The "new" Barn Find Stromberg 97 is on the left with an original Stromberg 81 on the right. Need more patina? Just handle it some more. With the media blasted finish, a little finger oils and a well placed grease smudge and you're there! So head on over...

Hot Rod & Custom Car Photography & Writing Through some good luck and a willingness to talk to everyone I meet... "Hey Do you use the internet!?" is a favorite thing my buddies tease me about... I bumped into Michael Harrington up at Bonneville Salt Flats in 2010. He was photographing a sick gasser Corvette (yes, on the salt!) and I asked who he shot for. Well, he's worked for a few Primedia/Source Interlink titles you've heard of, most recently, Super Chevy.   Flash forward to present and Michael and I are back in touch and we've worked out a deal to publish his incredible photography and musings here at MyRideisMe.com. It's incredible to publish professional pictures like this! Michael's got a gift and I know I'll learn from staring at his work.   I snaked this info from his photography home page Automotive-Photography.net to let you know more about him: I don't know how it happened, but it did. I guess most of us enthusiasts can blame it on our fathers. In my case, I can definitely pass the blame. My father was never a huge Hot Rodder...

Gene Winfield Faded Kaiser Custom Sick. Wild. Ground Breaking. Fantastic.  All of these, no doubt. But the coolest thing? HOME BUILT! Download this picture as a desktop image (BIG ONE) - 1951 Kaiser Kustom Desktop Photo If you're into customs, you've probably seen this car in Hot Rod Magazine or over on the HAMB. I've been following the car since I first saw it at the McDonald's Saturday car show over in Scottsdale, AZ. That's when I got to know Keith Charvonia. Believe it or not, Keith's not a full time builder. He's a designer now working with Airaid, the air filter folks designing, well... anything he wants to based on this Kaiser! I've been twisting Keith's arm to let me profile this car, and the build on MyRideisMe.com, but Keith's held out for a good reason... Rodder's Journal called and they want the story. Got it. I'd be wandering around with a tube of modeling cement in one hand and moonshine in the other if I thought we could trump Rodder's Journal. I get that... so I wish Keith all the best and every accolade for his hard...

Hot Rod & Custom Car Photography Photos & Text by: Mark Stacks of Tin Woody Photo - Click on any image to see it full size Like the last two galleries we've put up lately, the California Hot Rod Reunion and the LOWTECH Hot Rods, Mark's got a style all his own. He was kind enough to share some of his favorites with us as part of the "Best of" series I'm doing on folks like me who want to improve their photography overall, and have a passion for hot rods! Custom street rod at the October 2011 Golden Super Cruise In Mark's words: I'm a hobbyist photographer that really loves cars and their culture.  My goal in taking photos of car is to tell a little a bit of a story of the car, show some of its character, and maybe include a little mood or emotion. It may be a pipe dream, but if could have a viewer thinking they smell the gasoline or the rust...well, that would awesome! I go everywhere looking for cars to photograph, shows, rural farms, industrial areas, back alleys, if there is...

Custom 1960 Cadillac 1960 Cadillac Shot at the 2011 Goodguys in Scottsdale, AZ (Click on any pic to see full size) What's eight and a half Coors Light cans tall and a mile long? This 1960 Custom Cadillac built by Scott's Insane Chops in Lake Havasu City, AZ for owner David Hoekstra. It's got to be obvious by now, right? I shoot and publish stories about cars I like. You've probably seen I have an, arguably un-natural, hankerin' for wagons, but I also like what's more mainstream too... if you call 225 inches of laid out Caddy mainstream!   Need more evidence Sic Chops knows custom Caddillacs? Check out his latest, a chopped 1959 Cadillac Convertible. With 'bout 2300 cars packed into West World for the 2011 November Goodguys show, it takes a special bling to stop you in your tracks. This 60 Caddy did it so well the 'guys moved this car to front and center for all to see. Makes for great visibility and crappy photos with heads poking out all over the place. Still, the graceful elegance of the now 44 inch tall bad-to-the-bone Caddy woulda...

Traditional Hot Rod & Custom Car Photography Casny Coupe The entirely home-built model A coupe of Chris Casny on the way to the HAMB BBQ. Photos by Marc Woeltinger - LOWTECH Garage Photography Recently I've had a few people ask me, where do you get the stories and photos for MyRideisMe.com? The answer really is, all over the place! That's been most true lately as fantastic photos pour in from new friends on the web. I missed the Hot Rod Reunion Drags at Famoso Raceway, but thanks to Tim Scott's photography, we all get to see it. Same goes for these shots by Marc Woeltinger. From Switzerland with an eye for vintage steel, Marc's been holding a camera since he was 10 years old, but says he, "started getting really into it in 2008. Winfield Mercury This old leadsled is sitting in the Mojave desert in Gene Winfield’s back yard. Now working in the advertising industry, his knowledge of color and style is paying off. In his words: American car culture is my passion. I love to shoot traditional hot rods and customs and try to capture the stories...

Hot Rods & Nostalgia Drags at 20th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion Shooting with a vintage 1953 Zeiss Ikoflex twin lens reflex camera, Tim Scott captures the beauty of the hot rods and nostalgia diggers at one of the coolest drag races on the planet! Dig the warmth of these photos as Tim takes photographic demons of the past out for little ride... (Click on any picture to see it full size) Photos & Story By Tim Scott - Scott Photo Co. - www.scottphoto.co This was my second year attending the Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, CA. October 20-23 were the dates of this amazing event for 2011, and this year certainly didn't disappoint. See, I'm not much of a car show guy. I love vintage cars, motorcycles and speed, but I really don't care for the attitudes that often come with car or motorcycle cliques. I don't care if you're a Harley Davidson or an import bike rider. I don't care if you're a "rat-rod" fan or a custom fan. If you work on and ride/drive your toys – respect. Just leave the attitude at...