Best Pictures from 2010 Goodguys Southwest Nationals My new desktop picture! As I get older, the list of reasons for getting up EARLY in the morning oddly keeps getting longer... it used to be simply fishing. Next as Pops started to take me racing, I added, "going to a drag race" and then as I got more interested in cars, I added, "going to a swap meet." Now I've added, "taking pictures with morning sunshine." See the dude laying on the ground for this shot? That's me! I see alot of people cruising car shows taking pictures... some with gear much nicer than me, and quite a few using their cell phones. What are you doing with those pics? I wanted to cover cool shows like Goodguys Scottsdale with the best pictures I could, so I started watching guys like Paul "Swanee" Swanson take pics and trying to shoot like him.  (here's a few of Swanee's 2010 Goodguys Pictures from this year) Then, I sought out some other pros and got some tips on Shooting Good Car Pictures. I'm learning! Or maybe it's just the morning sky!  Who cares!!...

Best Product Display at SEMA 2010 How many different ways can you show a car battery? At some point, are there new ways to show anything?  I could recommend a SEMA babe or a radical custom car in your booth... or of course both!  Optima chose a different path with their "Wall of Power" display and I dig it. It's a "Best Product Display of SEMA 2010". Assembled inside the glass "Power" display were several red top, yellow top and blue top batteries that were all bought back from users and all tested to be in proper working condition. No small feat given the extreme duty these batteries endured! Shown here is a blue top battery taken straight from the land speed racing effort of the North American Eagle. The North American Eagle is your every day 43,000 horsepower, F104 Jet Chassis and J-79 jet engined rocket ship! The controls, data acquisition and something you might agree is important, the parachutes, are all controlled by a series of deep cell batteries like these blue top Optimas. After the chutes failed at 300mph plus due to the extreme temperatures and...

Best New Tools from SEMA 2010 No matter what you're driving or what your skill level, the right tool always helps get the job done right. Trouble is, you don't have that tool in your box and your buddy's sleeping cause it's 1:30AM and the Goodguys Show is tomorrow! That's where GearWrench comes in. I found their booth at SEMA 2010 where they had a simple, but effective display of how their tools can get you out of a jam. The open end ratchet wrench shown above has the fit-in-tight-spaces of an open end wrench with the convenience and speed of a box end ratchet. In this display (and as you'll often find working on your ride) the box end wouldn't work. Ad a ratchet end box on the other side and you're ready to turn flat-rate time into big money. (Click on image to see full size) The next tool is kinda hard to describe which makes it weird that I want it! The box end features a ratcheting wrench, but the twist is how you can reposition the angle of the box end. There's a push button...

Best New Tools from SEMA 2010 I'm no body man, and I'm not sure I want to be. It's hard work, takes a long time to learn and it's probably done wrong as much as it's done right. I do know something about inspecting bodywork in preparation for paint or checking a painted car to see if it's straight.  Straight has different meanings though. To some professional body men and to car owners who'll only be happy with the best, it means "like a mirror". I looked at the door shown above for a while cause I knew it had dents in it. These dents had been filled by body filler, probably a ton of it... otherwise, there wouldn't be much to show for The Filler Detective! To review, "Body Filler" is the generic term for products such as: Bondo (a 3M product), Putty or spot putty, Feather-Rite or Duraglass from USChemical or Evercoat. Whatever you call it, filler is part of the bodywork process and in very general terms, the less of it you use, the better the bodyman or bodywork. Without going into too much detail on that,...

SEMA 2010 Car Show Mistakes In case you didn't know, SEMA is a business convention or call it the biggest business meeting of everyone and everything that's related to the automotive industry. Want to go? Sorry, can't! SEMA is only open to SEMA Members and Automotive Industry Professionals like the guy above. Welcome to "Wrong at SEMA 2010". I managed to make it to most halls, save the entire floor of truck accessories, and see plenty that made me ask, "What the..." (Insert your own expletive.) As I'm bashing SEMA trends and pointing out styles or designs that are OUT or just plain wrong, keep in mind that these are my opinions and as you know, "My Ride is Me" so opinions vary.  Feel free to chime in to agree or disagree... I dare you! The automotive design tragedy above is a creation from Rich Evans and was part of the Mopar/Dodge booth. The turn-table spinning this normally cool looking Challenger only added to the nausea. As it spun, I challenged myself to find the angle that showed all of it's disastrous lines.  Here you go.  What's worse: Those nasty wheels...

SEMA 2010 Trends - Flat Paint Jobs Cruising SEMA, certain booths draw a crowd. The serious business people (eh..) who attend SEMA still like a model here and there to add some beauty to the mechanical toughness of the rides or parts in the booth. I gotta be honest... I don't mind it either! This is not a new trend, but flat paint jobs are! (for some rides) I searched around about the car above and found it's an NSX? That's what I'm going with. Whatever body kit it has, it's working to make me think there's some Italian heritage at play. Note the paint though... not the bold red or even the other trend I'll bring up, "Black", it's a suede yellow that fit perfectly. Tip-of-the-hat to the lovely Standard Suspension model shown here. I think she was my favorite. I wrote about this Lexus GS in the Custom Cars of SEMA day 1 story. It's cool that another car style has fully embraced flat paint jobs or call it satin, suede, matte, whatever. Traditional style hot rodders have been reviving (or maybe inventing?) flat painted rat rods...

SEMA Car Show - Our Favorite Engines I gotta be me! How could I resist the power packed old school nastiness of this blown small block Chevy riding in an authentic nostalgia dragster? Why would I want to? I talked to Dennis Overholser from Painless Performance wiring about his new ride. It's almost ready to run the full Comp Cams roller equipped Dart block at a "Drag strip near you!"  Dennis can't terrorize an existing Nostalgia Drag Racing class because of the electronic fuel injection he used but he'll still be able to tear up the quarter mile! Did I sense a little hesitation to drop the hammer Dennis? Prove me wrong! Dennis already has the Truckster featured here from 2009 SEMA Coverage, so check it out! Something like the custom fuel injected LS motor, I'm a sucker for stand up fuel injection. This bad 66 Chevelle also runs Hilborn fuel injection, but this time it's the original mechanical setup that put Hilborn on the map and made many weekend tuners wear a thinner head of hair. I don't know much more about this 427 Chevy big block beast,...

SEMA Car Show - Our Favorite Engines I tripped over my normally aspirated tongue on the way to this insane twin turbo Dodge Viper in the K&N booth at SEMA 2010 in hot rod alley. How do you take it all in?  I was so "blown" (I'm hella funny) away that I didn't grab any overall pics or get the rest of the details. I'll leave that to our friends at Speedhunters.com: From Speedhunters: What you're looking at is a stroked 510 CI Viper V10 featuring two Bullseye Power Borg Warner T-4 80mm turbos with a MoTeC M800 Engine Management System that was calibrated by Shane Tecklenburg. The result? Roughly 2000 horse power at 12 psi. No biggie. I agree, tame and ordinary! The guys at Twins Turbo Motorsports built this beast. From their website's "About Us" page,  "Twins Turbo Motorsports specializes in fuel injected turbo systems for race and street vehicles. We have been building and setting up vehicles for competition as well as for the street since 1996." It shows and their efforts landed them a prime spot at SEMA with K&N. Read the rest of the...

SEMA Car Show - Our Favorite Muscle Car Engines Feast your eyes on a little on cubes 4.6L DOHC Ford modular motor that's long on horsepower. The valve covers read "720 HP". What looks like a Kenne Bell supercharger rests on top of another super clean, not-a-wire-outa-place layout that totally makes the engine bay for me. That's the detail you'll find at the SEMA Las Vegas Car Show. Outside the convention halls, I spotted this slick custom Mustang Fastback. Maybe some can say if it's a 1967 or 1968 Mustang. It's got the 68 side scoops, but doesn't have the side marker lights of 68. I could see those shaved off for this car, but I'd also say the 67 side scoops aren't as attractive as the 68's. So in the best of both worlds custom car scenario, let's call this a 1967.5 Mustang Fastback! I'd like to tell you more about this car, but unlike most cars at the SEMA show, there was no show card and I didn't notice any sponsor stickers. Clean execution all the way! (too clean?)  Too busy trying to get the best coverage...

SEMA Car Show - Our Favorite Engines This is the kind of engine that stops you in your tracks at SEMA. Among all the great rides making the SEMA car show, standing out is tough, so hats off to the "Be Cool" Bomber project 1972 Chevelle. From their show card, this is an LS1 motor punched to 388 cubic inches and built by Terry Rosebush Performance for owner Kiet Pham. Pictured right up front you'll see the ProCharger blower force feeding the custom made Hilborn fuel injection setup. It's said, "Injection is nice but I'd rather be blown."  Why not have both?! Next two photos courtesy of the Be Cool Chevelle Facebook Page The beautiful Genevieve Chappell So this is how it started. Hilborn supplied the fuel injection setup, but from there, it was all custom. The guys from the facebook page said, "The mandrel bender will be hot on Monday!" No sweat! Eight tubes all merged to one inlet, then moving backwards, you'll go through the throttle body, to the intercooler, around to the ProCharger blower and to the air cleaner. All that fits neatly under the hood....

SEMA Car Show - Our Favorite Muscle Car Engines Steve Strope from Pure Vision built this subtle but nasty 1969 Mustang Fastback with a Boss 502 stretched to 521 cubes and a mind blowing 805 ponies on pump gas. The motor is an all aluminum Boss 9 built by Jon Kaase Racing Engines. Kaase took the original Boss 429 head design and improved on it. Bolt it to a Ford 460 and have some fun! Couple the unmistakable Ford Boss looks with the ultra-clean under hood layout that's sitting completely under the Mustang's hood and it's no wonder it's a favorite engine at MyRideisMe.com. Learn more about the Boss 9 head design from the Kaase "Boss 9" page. Built for Anvil, makers of Camaro and Mustang carbon fiber body panels, this new Boss Mustang Fastback should be as fast as it is beautiful. Congratulations to the Pure Vision Crew and Anvil on a great new ride! The crew at Pure Vision did a great job documenting the build of the Anvil Mustang.  I'll start with the video of the the engine, then step back to the intro of the...

NHRA Drag Racing Crew Competition How can you not like Ashley Force Hood? I just found out that Ashley Force Hood and her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang funny car crew have been nominated as one of the four finalists for the 2010 Full Throttle Hard Working Crew Award. You can vote from now until the end of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season (Nov. 15). Ashley's crew was nominated for their fantastic effort the weekend of the 56th annual Mac Tools US Nationals where they won their second consecutive US Nationals Funny Car title. Please vote for Ashley and also help us spread the word. Here's a video of Ashley Force and her crew having a little fun... [youtube width="575" height="425"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQaQrk4IsVA [/youtube] Here is the link to video all the nominees and to vote for Ashley Force Hood's Castrol GTX Mustang crew for the 2010 Full Throttle Hard Working Crew Award http://www.nhra.com/hardworkingcrew/ FOLLOW JOHN FORCE RACING AT...