Turns out pinup photographer Mitzi from Mitzi & Co is a St. Louis Rams fan. That's great for me for a couple reasons: The Cardinals whooped the Rams here in Arizona and Mitzi's coming to town! I'm a hack pinup photographer. Who am I kidding, I'm a hack photographer, but I'm trying. That's why I was jazzed when I got a chance to meet Mitzi again and see her working. I also helped out getting my buddy Erock to bring his traditional styled 34 pickup down for the shoot. I wanted to use Bonnie, my 27 roadster, but she had other plans (damn webers!). Mitzi on the other hand is a pro. In stead of seeing the, "Work it, yes YES, oh you sexy bitch!" style of Austin Powers, Mitzi was super calm and professional. She shot slowly and purposefully and I could tell the girls were comfortable and having a good time with their "Pinup for a Day" photo shoot. Here are a few of the shots taken outside Mitzi's buddy Adam's Electric Haven Tatoo/High Life Pomade shop in Tempe, AZ. Adam's also a member and has posted...

Written by Len Stupski I moved to the Bay area in 1996 and attended the 1997 & 1998 Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS). As good as they were, nothing prepared me for the 50th Anniversary show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco that next year in 1999. As I set my eyes upon the main floor my jaw dropped down to my shoulders. Just about every previous America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) winner right there in one spot. Awesome!!. Then, scattered throughout the rest of the building were more and more dynamite cars, built by guys like Bill Reasoner, Gene Winfield, Dave Crook, Marcos Garcia and many other great craftsmen. Saying hello to Big Daddy Roth was a great highlight of the event. After taking in all the colors, the chrome and history I vowed to be at the 60th show, God willing. Fast forward ten years and I'm living in Gilbert, AZ, and the show is being held much closer now in Pomona, CA. Pure chance? I don't think so.... perhaps God shares my love of cars. Early Saturday morning I pile into Pikesan's car with my...

Courtesy of Ford Media and PCGCambell John Force, driver of the Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Funny Car, heads into this weekend’s 2009 Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., with four career victories in the season-opening event. Force, who has a record 126 career victories and 14 championships, reflects on his team’s 2008 accomplishments and looks ahead to this year. JOHN FORCE – GTX Castrol Mustang – CAN YOU CONTRAST WHERE THE TEAM IS RIGHT NOW TO WHERE IT WAS A YEAR AGO THIS TIME? “Well, we’re in the middle of change right now. That’s what our new president Obama has been coming in and screaming and that’s what I have been hearing, you know, from all of the automakers, but Ford started change, we went back years ago. You know we knew this was coming; we are trying to get right and what I’m taking to my race team is I’m not going to wait for the opening race to figure out how to run on a budget – we saw this six months ago coming. We have got to cut back everywhere to make this thing in...

Couresty of Ford Media and PCGCambell Bob Tasca III, driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang Funny Car, enters his second season at the Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals this weekend in Pomona. Tasca talks about the importance of off-season testing, racing in Pomona with sophomore eyes and the return of the Mustang Cobra Jet to competition. Bob Tasca III – MOTORCRAFT/QUICK LANE SHELBY MUSTANG FUNNY CAR – HOW WAS THE PHOENIX TEST SESSION? “Phoenix is traditionally a difficult race track to go down this time of year. For whatever reason, it lends itself to cause tire shake. In our sport, tire shake is a huge challenge for crew chiefs with certain track conditions. It prevents you from going A-to-B and it will cause tire smoke. The car will shake and will end up smoking the tires. Going into Phoenix this year, I have a lot more confidence than I did going into it last year and our results proved pretty strong. When you look at the teams that were there, John Force Racing, the Schumacher camp, Del Worsham and other seasoned teams with a lot of data didn’t go...

Pinstriping for Charity For 14 years, pinstriper Von Hot Rod has assembled legends and up-and-coming pinstripers from around the world in the main hall of the Grand National Roadster Show. Von told me the Pinstriper's Reunion was started because, "The freehand pinstriping was coming to an end in the 80's when vinyl was trying to take over." I guess I never saw that because I can't believe anyone would mistakenly apply vinyl after seeing the talent assembled in Pomona. Pinstiping looks easy... when you watch these guys freestyle a complex design while you snap pictures, but give it a try! This is art! The creativity of the top stripers can spruce up your car, garage or in my case my office. Nothing says cool like hand laid stripes. Screw vinyl! For all the pinstripers, Von reminds me this is a invite only show. On hand this year were 30 of the greatest pinstripers from all over the world. We had Pekka from Finland, Dr.D from Florida, Artie from SC, Wildman and Ghost from Japan just to name a few. Von's proud to share his success with others through his...

  Every year at the Grand National Roadster show, Von Hot Rod assembles local, and as it turns out international pinstripers for the Pinstriper's Reunion. The get together of 30+ pinstripers culminates with an auction where proceeds from the sale of donated items goes to charity. Hats off to Von Hot Rod for organizing this event.   Cruising through the end of building 4, the main hall with the AMBR contenders, many of the pinstripers are at work, including Von Hot Rod, but I what caught my eye was a couple of Japanese guys shooting a video.   I lived in Japan for a couple years and I speak some Japanese. I'm not sure what I like more... speaking some Japanese is great because you get to sneak up on guys and spit out "Hajimemashite, Pike desu." (kinda means, How are you, I'm Pike). The look on their faces when this tall lanky American dude (call me henna gaijin) hits the accent dead on, but usually they look past me to see, who really just said that? When they finally see me smiling, they realize, it was me. After...

2008 Grand National Roadster Show Winner It's official, at least it was at about 7:30 Pacific Coast time, 1/25/2009. The "Hot Rod Special" built by Willet Specials in Chicago is the winner of the 2009 America's Most Beautiful Roadster title. Except for being able to roll forwards and back under their own power, the judging for the AMBR title is like "Riding a unicycle on wallpaper". (I don't know what that means either.) Let's hope the judges do cause they're looking for "excellence". That part couldn't be a simpler task, really, given that the level of competition for the AMBR is ridiculous. Pretty much every car in the main hall (not just the AMBR contenders) is a "Best of Show" winner at a regular show, but this is the "Granddaddy of them all" the Grand National Roadster show. When excellence abounds, the judges are forced to find something, "wrong" with the cars. Now there's a task! Every year, however, a winner is chosen and regardless of any complaining, "AMBR winner" is something that can never be taken away. (even if the car later appears topless in Playboy... in fact,...

There's too many rocking hot rods... the customs... they're oozing coolness into the ultra-chromed and engraved super-show low riders. It's too much and perfect all at once. The aftermath is several hundred photos of who knows how many of the toughest cars anywhere. This is the Grand-daddy of them all, the 60th annual, Grand National Roadster Show. We're still arranging the hot rod and custom car pics and all there is to say from the Arizona crew that attended the 2009 Grand National Roadster Show. Starting out, we hit the road for Pomona on Saturday at 2 AM then we motored non-stop the whole weekend to try and take it all in. Only the mariachi band provided some relief. The pictures we took from the show are now loaded: Hot Rods and Customs from GNRS So stay tuned for these stories. The American's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) winner: The Harry Willett of Willett Specials built "Hot Rod Special" (pictured here) - Read it now: "Hot Rod Special" AMBR Winner in Pictures & Video Nihon in the house! A Japanese magazines, blog and a pinstriper were in town for the...

I expect a hot rod driver or builder to know who Boyd Coddington was. Like him or not, there's no denying his influence on style and the budget of custom cars, especially the one-off rides built for his TV show, "American Hot Rod". His death almost 1 year ago shocked the custom car world. It looked like there were alot more hot rods and cars that I'll call "regular" at the 2009 Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona this year. What the heck is regular? Well, I just mean they're somewhat obtainable by more then just wealthy collectors out there. I guy with a dream who's been saving for a while might have a shot. With the "dreamers" and the collectors all gathered at Barrett Jackson, how many knew who Boyd Coddington? Quite a few! Case in point are 2 hot rods sold on Saturday at Barret Jackson. The first is this neo-classic styled: chopped, red and flamed but with billet (of course Boyd's) wheels, 1932 Ford 3 window coupe. A great looking, no-expense-spared car, no doubt, but was it worth the $200k it sold for? (without commissions) Who...

Summary of Contents: Robert Hight, driver of the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang Funny Car, finished fourth in the NHRA Funny Car standings in 2008 after posting back-to-back runner up results in 2006 and 2007. Hight will once again team with 14-time champion John Force, 2007 Rookie of the Year Ashley Force and 2008 Rookie of the Year Mike Neff to comprise the lineup for John Force Racing. Hight took a few minutes to chat with TWIFR about the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car Series. Bob Tasca III, driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang Funny Car, reflects on his rookie year as he prepares for the 2009 Full Throttle NHRA season. Tasca talks about his goals for 2009, the alliance with ’08 Funny Car championship contender Tim Wilkerson and other changes at Tasca Racing. ROBERT HIGHT – Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang – COMPARE WHERE YOU AND THE TEAM ARE AT THIS POINT IN 2009 TO WHERE YOU WERE IN PREPARATION FOR THE 2008 SEASON. “I think we are in better shape as far as going out and contending for a championship and...

Submitted by Jason Wenig from The Creative Workshop, a restoration and full service coach builder out in Florida. An interesting turn of events transpired this past weekend. As you are probably aware, last week was the "big auction week" out in Scottsdale, AZ (culminating on Saturday night), where all of the major car auction companies display and sell a dizzying array of vehicles. On top of the grandeur of these events, in many ways, it can be said that this past week sets the tone for values and trends for the coming year. As a car builder, I walk a thin line. I personally am not a big fan of the auctions - I don't sell cars - I build them, but it is hard not to at least be interested, and in many instances, it is important for me to understand where people's money is going - what types of cars, what eras, etc are being sold… if not just for business, then certainly for my own love of cars! Which brings me to my story: My Client, (Arizona's own, car collector) Barry Smith, decided to get the...

Have you ever gone through your closet to find some clothes that make you say, DAMN!  I never wore that, did I?  I think the same is true for cars, especially custom cars that were built in the 80's. At some point, did the designers take a step back and go, "Really?  Is that cool?"  I wonder cause this is an example of just about everything that's wrong with 80's custom paint. The only redeeming quality about this car is the LT5 tucked under the hood.  As a 1988 Camaro, this is a combo that never was and that's probably why with this car, like every other car offered by GM, they read a long a boring disclaimer stating that basically that as far as GM is concerned, these cars don't exist. So if you can, look past the glowing neon yellow wheels and matching neon yellow seating surface and dig that sliding seal fading to upside down shoe graphics done in, you guessed it, neon yellow and *gulp* purple.  Adios 80's! What do you think?  Please leave a comment below! Look for many more and much less nauseating...