Had to share some pictures of this year's Goodguys giveaway car. I'm working on a story about last years winner. The guy was in Equador when a buddy pulled the winning key. Funniest thing is that same friend qualified to win THIS car in November at our home show in Scottsdale. So check out the "Boss Snake".  We caught a glimpse of the Snake in Scottsdale for the first annual Spring Nationals where the RPM Hot Rods guys and another magazine were shooting. We snaked (haha) the picture in that sweet AZ sunset light. My man Swanee's every bit as good as Ken's shots below. Here's some more info: Goodguys 2010 Grand Prize Giveaway BOSS SNAKE Bay Area photographer Ken Phuong (www.spotninestudio.com) stopped by the Goodguys world Headquarters last week to photograph the all mighty BOSS SNAKE 2010 Grand Prize Giveaway Car. The photos will appear in a future issue of the Goodtimes Gazette but we wanted to give our loyal web readers a sneak peak at just how awesome this car really is! Built completely in house by RPM Hot Rods (rpm-hotrods.com) and designed by Kaucher Kustoms ,...

One of the best things about the expansion of hot rodding is the availability of aftermarket parts. The only downside, especially if you own a 1st gen Camaro, might be too many choices! After you've decided to make your ride turn as hard as it accelerates, you probably hit the web for discussion forums and communities like MyRideisMe.com to ask friends, "What'd you use?" Unfortunately, there's general wisdom about opinions, how's that go?? I know it finishes, "Everyone's got one..." Left to make the choice alone, how do you chose? Would it matter to you if the supplier was owned by suspension engineers from GM?  Enter Detroit Speed Inc. The bright blue colored Camaro's prominently labeled, "Test Car" caught my attention at the 2010 Goodguys Spring Nationals first thing in the morning. I saw "Detroit Speed" discretely sticker'd on the fender, so walking through the supplier pits, I saw Detroit Speed and stopped in to find out what "test car" meant. I talked briefly with Kyle Tucker, president and husband of the husband and wife owner team. Kyle told me to go see Stacy to learn more about the...

I think its safe to say that there's a little bit of everything at Viva Las Vegas. So instead of just bringing you back pictures of all the cool stuff we saw at VLV13 - Pikesan, Swanee, and I thought we'd give ya'll a chance to put in your own two cents. So time to VOTE! MyRideisMe's first official, Top 11 Viva Las Vegas Car Show Favorites! We're each including our top three picks (plus one from my Dad, plus Pikesan's added a 4th) ...making for a varied and diverse choice of 11! Leave a comment and vote for your choice! From Kristin & her Pops, Picks and Pics: #1 Suede 1953 Chevy Custom with fade... #2 Suede Ford Pickup with Green Flames #3 (another) Suede 1936 Ford 3 Window Coupe #4 Custom ?? From Pikesan, Picks and Pics: I'm cheating and making it the top 11. Never conform, right!?  I would have ended up with all customs (and what's with the orange theme?) so I picked a pair of hot rods to contend! #5 Pike's Pic of the 1953 Chevy Kustom with fade... (sorry GreaseGirl! This is probably...

Custom 1959 Cadillac Photos by Paul "Swanee" Swanson I think I just coined a new term for cars: Custom Restoration.  Why? I guess we could just say "custom" because this 59's been customized front to back. On the other hand, the builder's shop, Xtreme Restorations out of Rhode Island, suggests his specialty is "restoration".  So somewhere between full custom, resto-mod and restoration, I introduce to you: Custom Restoration. What better start than a 1959 Cadillac!? Standing back, trying to take in the 225.0 in (5715 mm) length that is 1959 Cadillac, the first nod to "restoration" over pure customization has to go to the color choice.  Not a factory color, but also not the typical red or black; PPG supplied a Soft Yellow and Vanilla Shake to gracefully compliment the flowing lines of the Cad. I think it works perfectly and gives a taste of understated modesty to a car that makes a quite a statement! Back to a custom nod then, check out this interior! Bold yes, but as you can see it works! As outrageous as you might think it is, it's a factory ORIGINAL color on Cadillacs in...

In 1964 Ford launched an icon: Mustang. Riding two years of blistering sales, marketing dollars funded a project to put rising stars Sonny and Cher behind the wheel of brand new, nearly consecutive serial number, 1966 Mustang Convertibles. To match the sporty but mainstream Mustangs to the flamboyant rockers, George Barris and Barris TV and Movie Cars were hired to customize the pony car. A great Train of Thought, or so it would seem... Ford, their red-hot Mustang, George and a few Barris Kustom tricks should have been a Good Combination. Here at MyRideisMe.com, United We Stand in saying, these cars failed! Sold as a pair, they fetched over $150,000 (including fees, maybe a win?) at the 2010 Barrett Jackson Auction with George Barris himself on the block to add his, "I Got You Babe" to the auctioneers urging that when it comes to these two collectible cars, Its the Little Things that make'm bring big bucks. Watch the full 6 minute auction if you'd like: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qip5x7crHI[/youtube] It's hard to decided which of the "custom" treatments I liked least. I guess we'll start with the empty ice cube trays...

8 Days. 3,500 Miles. 0 Excuses. 1 Lap. 1 Fast Camaro. This can only be the formula for One Lap of America, a brutal competition and that may be THE ultimate test of a street car's performance and reliability as well as teamwork and driver skill. Optima Batteries, Hellwig Products and ISIS Wiring are supporting the "1 Lap Camaro" team in this 8 day, 3,500 mile battle where teams rally around the country competing at some of USA's top race tracks. Dig this PCKStudio rendering of the 1 lap Camaro over the race track locations.  Man that is cool!  I think you'll be able to get that logo on a tshirt. The 1 Lap Camaro seen here is a highly modded 1967 Camaro RS running an LS7 427ci Z06 engine tweaked by the well known Katech Performance crew who preps the engines for the C5R and C6R endurance Corvettes that race and win at Daytona and LeMans. This is a rad Pro-Touring style Camaro real track focus. Dig the front splitter, low ride height, big and wide wheels with grippy rubber.  This thing means business. Keep your eye's peeled on pro-touring.com forums as well...

We were sent this story and being Comet/Falcon lovers, we had to post it.  Anytime I hear or see a Mercury Comet, I smile.  My dad owned a '64 Comet Cyclone.  '61 Comets are not your typical hot rod platform, but you wouldn't know it from seeing this particular purple rod.  It was built by Full Tilt Street Rods in Grand Junction, Colorado, and they had this to say about the project on their website: "Clay and the Full Tilt Crew started with a bone-stock 1961 Comet, tore it down to the frame and installed a couple of tons of the finest street rod parts available.  The '61 features Full Tilt's complete Hub-to-Hub Mustang II IFS and Full Tilt's Parallel 4-Bar rear with ShockWaves.  Full Tilt also did the body work, applied the dive-in-deep "Full Tilt Purple" base coat/clear coat paint and fabricated the custom upholstery." Of all the views of this rod, I like this rear 3/4 shot.  The painted bumper, custom frenched tails and the big 335/35/17 meats give this ride the perfect street rod stance.  Super low and the just the right amount of rake.  Too...

Our friends at BringaTrailer.com have some cool and unusual cars for sale.  It wasn't hard to find one to feature at MyRideisMe.com. This Dodge Seneca stood out, especially for the 413 Cross-Ram that grabbed my attention.  Throw in a 4 speed and now you're talking.  Check out BringaTrailer's feature and let us know what you think!  You better go get on BringaTrailer's email list too, so you can check out all the newest rides for sale that just might find its way to your garage. Odd Design, Huge Engine: 1961 Dodge Seneca 413 Same day update: This Dodge was sold for $14,900 via the Buy-It-Now option just two hours after going out on this morning’s BaT Daily Email! Wow. Those have to be the farthest apart pair of carburetors ever produced, and there is enough metal in those intake manifolds to cast some 4-cylinder engine blocks. The smaller engined versions must have all been crushed long ago as we are sure we’ve never seen this body style before. This one has had one re-spray in the factory color and is otherwise  very original. This 1961 Dodge Seneca 2-Door Sedan...

Goodguys Spring Nationals, March 12-14 Street Challenge Autocross To see all the juicy event details, check below.  What we are excited about and wanted to point out to you readers is the new event they're having this year.  The "Street Challenge Autocross"!  Take your hot rod and bash some cones and yank that steering wheel around and put a hurtin' on your tires and brakes.  Check out these 2 hot rods showing you how autocross is done!   Check out this CRC Vette getting it on in the twisties.  Man that looks fun! ...or maybe Corner Carving Muscle is your thing, check out Bryan Frank's Trans-Am.  I'd love to see some lead sleds or kustoms out on the course.  Or maybe a 32 roadster!  Details of the event below: The Goodguys Spring Nationals is a new hot rod and custom car festival featuring the Southwest’s premier custom vintage automobiles! The event will feature over 2,000 1972 & earlier hot rods, customs, classics, street rods, muscle cars, & trick trucks as well as manufacturer and vendor exhibits, a swap meet and cars for sale area, special “themed” parking areas, model...

Who was Joel Rosen? Ever heard of Baldwin-Motion? Or maybe just, "Motion Performance"? Back in the late 50's and early 60's, a young Joel Rosen finished high school at only 17 to begin college, but then joined the Air Force to get some more hands on experience. It was at Shepards Air Force Base where Rosen fine tuned his engine tuning and mechanical skills that he later used to hot rod his first car, a 1955 Olds 88 that ended up with a 4 barrel  and a McCullough supercharger. From there, Rosen bought his high school dream car, a fuelie 58 'vette, and used tune-up work and brake jobs to fund his real passion:  Build Motion Performance Super Cars. This new book by Motorbooks publishing, Motion Performance: Tales of a Muscle Car Builder by Martyn L. Schorr, a man who obviously was THERE, says: Mr. Motion was responsible for building, racing and selling the most outrageous low-volume-production, high-performance, new-car-dealer-delivered Chevrolets you could buy during those freewheeling decades. Baldwin-Motion Chevys have since become highly prized mega-priced collectibles that best define the Decade of Extreme Performance. This book is recommended by...

After doing the Volk '29 Roadster story last week, I was way into traditional hot rods.  But, knowing that my daily driver/hot rod needs to be more practical, have a heater and a back seat, 1960's rods make more sense. My parents were up visiting from California and of course, poppi and I talked cars.  He had a 1964 Mercury Comet Cyclone for about 15 years or so.  I've thought many times I should do a tribute Comet, black just like dad's, high revving 289 ci or 302 ci and a modern 5 speed.  The problem is, Comet's are hard to find clean.  Plus, they're a little bigger  than I typically like.  I'm a small car kind of guy.  The Ford Falcon is the Comet's baby brotha from another motha. I was doing my usual daily classifieds browsing on Craigslist and found this 1964 Ford Falcon Futura with a V8 and 4 speed trans, front disc brakes,  and a straight body already being used as a daily driver. Typically what I do when I get hooked on a new "Car of the Week" is I go straight to Google Image searches.  My...

I am on the Utah Cobra Club's email list and got this email this last week.  I thought I'd pass it on to you charitable hot rodders.  I'll find out more about how we can send donations to Kirkham and update this later. Fellow Car Nuts: A few weeks ago a friend of mine came by and was looking at the pictures and magazine articles we have on the walls here at our shop. He noticed the cars we have donated over the years to various charitable organizations. He asked if we had ever thought about donating a car to Primary Children's Hospital. Every year Primary Children's Hospital does a fundraiser with the Festival of the Trees and KSL is a major sponsor of the Festival. He just retired as the general manager of KSL, the main Utah news organization, and so he has been deeply involved for years with the organization for years. www.festivaloftreesutah.org He then described to me the incredible things they do there at the hospital. They do hundreds of thousands of visits and procedures every year--many of them for children from all over who can't...