Paint Review - Phoenix Custom Paint Shop to Avoid! You're not looking at an artistic interpretation of the state of West Virginia, you're looking at the terrible paint work by a company in Phoenix, Arizona called "Terrific Paint and Customs". When you start a project, one of the biggest things you need to decide is a budget. Because my four-door, Ford Falcon wagon was never going to be a high-dollar car, no matter what I did to it, I didn't want to spend a fortune on paint. I did want something shiny that I could be proud of, but I knew that getting a great paint job, or "Show Quality" was not in my budget. That's when I started looking for a "driver" quality paint shop.  I found a Craigslist ad and gave the guy a call. He sounded cool enough, knowledgeable, and his ad said, "15 year experience". I sent a bunch of pictures of my Falcon, we talked and sent way too many texts about all the things I wanted to do and he said $1800 and it'd be done in about 3 weeks. (keep that in...

How To Metal Flake Your Car Just because I love grease, doesn't mean that I don't love sparkly things too! Before going to Viva Las Vegas this year, I wanted to add a little bling to my 1955 Studebaker Champion with a metal flake paint job. Studie and I have been through a lot together in the five years I’ve owned and drove her. I’ve become attuned to her original patina’d coral and white paint job. So originally the thought of changing her exterior in any way made me nervous. But the more I thought about adding a subtle sparkle to Studie’s white roof portion, the more I liked the idea. Not knowing the first thing about how to paint, I was lucky to have an expert nearby. Pati Fairchild is the newest member of my car club, the Gasoline Girls. She also happens to be a professional paint and body chick who teaches the subject at El Camino College. After polling friends on Facebook and looking through various paint samples, I paid a visit to Coast Airbrush in Anaheim for my final selection. I went in knowing I wanted...

Vintage Camaros, Mustangs, Chargers and AMC's on the Track MyRideisMe.com doesn't normally publish press releases, but since this is a track near and dear to me, I had to... plus, this just looks like a blast! 2011 Tour Begins with Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, Infineon Raceway Los Angeles (May 16, 2011) -  The Big Boys are back June 3-5, 2011, at the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, being held at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA. Bring the entire family for a day of incredible racing with the Historic Trans AM Racing Group. Featuring the original cars, the excitement and the noise you remember from the late ‘60s and early 70s Trans Am series. This exhibition race will bring back memories of the glory days of road racing. The original series drove auto makers to go faster, be louder and better than their competitors. Detroit’s battle cry of “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” correctly labeled an escalating new-car marketplace demanding affordable, high-performance automobiles, and the most popular American road racing series of all time. The Trans-Am Series thrilled racing enthusiasts four decades ago and significantly helped to change America’s mainstream automobile...

World Wide Hot Rods and Custom Cars Documentary Dirk Behlau, noted "Kool Lifestyle" photographer and long time friend of MyRideisMe.com (he let us use a picture when we had about 20 visitors a day...) and custom pinstriper and artist Jesper Bram are workin on a worldwide panoramic of hot rods and custom cars along with the people who make the Kustom Kulture. In their words, "Dirk and Jesper will spend a year going from California through Europe and end-up in Japan in search of the coolest Kustom Kulture people and events on the planet. Picking the brains of living legends, up and coming artists and builders within the kustom kulture." The adventure will include some of the worlds best car and motorcycle builders, tattoo artists, pinstripers, custom painters and pin-up models to share their tricks and experience. Have I peaked your interest then?  If so, check out this teaser video: [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23927615[/vimeo] Then get a closer look at one of Dirk's photo shoots... hey Dirk, where's the pinup model?![vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23954070[/vimeo] Dirk already publish a killer book called "Speed Kings" and we'll be after Jesper for a pinstriping story to see his...

100+ Hot Rods and Custom Cars Story and Photos by Royboy Productions Wow! What can I saw about John Well's Vintage Torque Fest!? Great show sums it up succinctly, but that doesn’t do justice to this event, car show, music festival, drive-in, bus racing, motorcycle racing exhibition, hot laps with the show cars… and all to benefit helpinghannahsheart.org! Here’s my Royboy Production story of Vintage Torque Fest 2011. 4:30am came early on Friday, I'm not a morning person but I was on a mission! The forecast was for rain on Saturday but since the show started at noon on Friday I planned on getting there and getting some shots in of all the folks that showed up Friday. 600 miles behind me I arrived at Vintage Torque Fest at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Maquoketa, Iowa. Friday's drive was no time for enjoying my travel like normal, it was 80mph for 9 hours... and it was sooooo worth it! There was a good turn out on Friday, ton's of cool cars and some of my favorite folks showed up. The Oliver Built Group out of Des Moines was out...

Hot Rod Pinup Ludella Hahn If you're a fan of Modern Pinup and you told me you don't know who Ludella Hahn is, I'd ask you what rock you were living under. If an award for "America's Sweetheart of Fetish Models" existed, I'm pretty sure Ludella would win it, atleast in my book... She's been in Retro Lovely magazine numerous times, and can be seen modeling on countless Pin Up clothing sites. Besides that, Ludella stars in many hot, sizzling, and tantalizing burlesque shows and it's really no wonder why. Ludella boasts a curvaceous physique with a bright and sparkling imagination to match. Anything different and unique is what fuels this Pin Up and really gets her engine roarin'. This Pinup gone wild has an affinity for oddities or as Ludella calls them 'eccentricities' and has a major case of  'puppet love' - which you will understand after you read my interview with her.You can check out her photos from recent shows on her website which is linked at the end of this story. You have an amazingly diverse portfolio of work. What is your favorite type of modeling? Thank...

Hot Rod Pinup Dinah Derosa This week's smokin'  hot pinup, is none other than Dinah Derosa. Dinah is featured below in photos brought to you by Pin Up Photographer extraordinaire Mitzi Valenzuela of Mitzi&Co. Dinah is a lady who knows what she wants and I'd put my money on the fact that she knows how she's gonna get it! Her devilish, sexy smirk may get you, or maybe it's her gorgeous aqua colored eyes? Whatever the case, be sure to check out her photos, and also read her interview with me- if you can take your eyes off of her long enough... So first off, are you taken or lookin' for love? I am happily taken. What about a man is a major turn on for you? Turn offs? The biggest turn on to me is someone who basically has their act together.  When a man is full of drive and grabs life by the horns, it makes for a lot of excitement.  I also like when a guy takes good care of himself, he's gotta have hobbies, and no prissy boys!  Intellect is a HUGE turn on. As for turn off's, there's a...

Drag Racing Art by Liz Northrup Liz Northrup is an artist and true hot rod and drag racing enthusiast. This article is written by her and features her newest hot rod art piece, the legendary "Motown Missile". -pikesan In the midst of looking for ideas on a project, I was referred to seek help from a fellow artist named Bill Stinson. Interestingly, I’ve learned that Bill has a unique past as a writer and cartoon artist for various hot rod magazines such as, ISCA's ‘Show Stopper’, ‘CARtoons’, and the original ‘Hot Rod DeLuxe’. Bill currently writes for ‘Cruis’news magazine’. Bill was kind enough to send me a few pictures of some of the most legendary drag cars in history. Out of that collection,  one car in particular caught my interest: the Motown Missile, a ‘70 Dodge Challenger. Being a Mopar fan, I was intrigued to learn more of it’s story. Bill is friends with Ted Spehar, who owned and built the Motown Missile. Teddy (as Bill likes to call him) is a master in building high performance engines and had extraordinary success with the Chrysler Hemi’s. Teddy was commissioned...

2011 Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Car Show Video Recap My man Josh Clason did it again! I see people walking around with hand held video cameras shooting people, cars, whatever all day long. When will you ever watch it again? Not so for Josh! With his #1 supporter, photographer... also his loving wife Becca, Josh wheels the heavy gear around Viva's car show to get the best, clean shots. Enjoy. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23517705[/vimeo] Josh is an independent that can shoot your hot rod shop, club event or track day with the same professionalism you see here. Get in touch at Joshclason.com. Need more? Check out Josh's first video shared with MyRideisMe.com: Bonneville Salt Flats Video The Salt "It Sings" Everything else from Viva Las Vegas Car...

2011 Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Car Show -Best of Kustoms As we said in the #1 Best of Viva Car Show, at any car show, you'll have your favorites... Here's my pic for "Best of Show". Thanks to Bill Garrett of Garrettero Kustom Photography, we learned this is Mike Bello's 1953 Chevy kustom. Mike's a member of the Scrapers car club and owner of Bello's Rods and Customs in the San Diego area. Fantastic work Mike!! To celebrate Mike's insane custom car, I uploaded a LARGE image to use as your desktop. Click on the photo, then use your right mouse button to save the image or "Set as Desktop Background". This should fill your screen.  Enjoy! Please leave a comment if you downloaded... (you don't have to be a member of MyRideisMe.com to comment) For everything from Viva Car Show, go here: 2011 Viva Las Vegas Car Show Don't try to download this one... it's just a little...

2011 Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Car Show Best 7 Engines As we said in the #1 Best of Viva Car Show, at any car show, you'll have your favorites... Here's the best of hot rod engines... Are any of these engines in YOUR car? Let me know! Alot's already been said about this crazy-green-flaked hot rod pickup, but there was more to it than just the paint.  Four singles on top of a flathead Ford turned just as many heads as the paint. For you Oldsmobile nailhead fans, this little modified roadster was packin a full six pack! There's a full shot of this car in the 2011 Viva Car Show Picture Gallery. Then here's the rest of the best! [nggallery id=51] . For everything from Viva Car Show, go here: Viva Las Vegas Car Show...

Hot Rods and Cool Classics at 2011 VLV Car Show Who knew Viva Las Vegas began as a music festival? Heck...we're only interested in the cars! What I love about rockabilly car shows - is you get a little bit of everything. VLV14 in 2011 is no exception. From barely running to nearly show quality and everything in between... it'll be at Viva! This slammed three-window was a-glow in glitter. Heavy green metal flake covering nearly everything...  what wasn't covered in green flake was covered in silver flake. So mean... but so cute! This larger sedan looks clean laying on the pavement! From sunrise to sundown, the VLV car show at The Orleans was hoppin'! This chopped Ford Pickup had just the right style. Great tire choice. A clean chop job. And time-worn Ford Blue was a terrific color choice! My car club, the Gasoline Girls, were there for our 1st time as a club too! Lori's 1948 Ford F1 "Bondorella" got tons of attention! Onlookers went crazy for Bondorella's bare metal with hidden ice-pearl flake cleared over it. (See more Gasoline Girl's Adventures!) This five-window coupe got it...