TO ALL ARIZONA CRUISERS: This was a message passed onto me from Lance Baker at Hot Rod Planet. The following was passed on to me and others by Jim Frost of the T-Bucket club here in Arizona. This should help ease some of the concerns about the $5.00 parking fee imposed for this Saturday. The reason for the fee is real simple, the rent for the parking lot & security went sky high. It is costing an extra $10,000 to put this event on! So it boils down to helping out with this kind of event by paying a few bucks or NOT HAVING A CRUISE ON Central. Personally I think $5 is cheap compared to what some of these car shows charge! Where else in this state do you have a gathering of this size that you don't have to pay $50-$100 to attend. Nancy decided to help us out by offering everyone who pays to park a $5 Discount Coupon for the ARIZONA SPORTSWEAR booth. So now you can save $5 on your event t-shirt! With everything that Nancy & Arizona Sportswear has done for us and...

Not all of you ladies and gents can imagine a car being raised to the status of an icon or art form. In fact I haven’t always myself. However, the more I get to work on and see cars, the more enamored I’m becoming. After attending RM Auctions “Icons of Speed and Style” my car love-o-meter has just shot through the roof! An auction doesn’t sound that exciting you say? What if I told you that all of the 80 iconic cars being sold in this no-reserve auction were available to peruse up close and personal? Yep... you could even touch em'! At most car shows, the best cars are roped off to keep you admiring from a distance. There were no ropes at the Friday preview before RM's "Icons of Speed and Style" auction at The Peterson Museum in Los Angeles, California. With nearly seven million dollars being drawn in by the auction, people putting out the money needed to really see what they were paying for. So when I arrived during preview day, I was able to get as close as I wanted to each car. With...

Bonneville Salt Flats: World of Speed Finals World of Speed 2009 goes down on the Salt at Bonneville Speedway this Wednesday through Saturday.  It's the last event of the year on the Salt.  I'm hoping the rain we've been getting here in Utah doesn't cancel it.  I'm planning to be there Friday to cover the action, snap lots of pics and get some Salt stories.  Here's a pic I took from the last World of Speed event I attended in 2007.  This was actually my first time on the Salt and I was there with my oldest son (he was 4 at the time) and my dad, 3 Generations of Hechtspeeders!  That's poppi checking out the Volk Bros '29 Roadster as it sat in the 200 MPH Club Booth and my son giving a thumbs up! See You On The Salt!!! See all my pictures from the 2009 Bonneville Salt Flats World Finals...

Talented Bassist Gene Schwartz hangs up his guitar for a weekend of racing at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway, Oct. 16-18 BAKERSFIELD, CA – Gene Schwartz is a former NHRA record holder in his 1952 Chevy, but underneath his racing suit Gene can’t stop singing the blues. That’s because his “day job” is as a bass player. For over 30 years, Gene played bass for legendary blues guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. When not jamming on his bass guitar, Gene has managed to build his skills as a champion racecar driver setting National records in the 60s to present day. The Euclid, OH resident has made the annual trip to the National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky on numerous occasions, but has yet to visit McFarland, CA for the California Hot Rod Reunion. Fans of both Gene’s music and his racing raised money to surprise him with an all-expense-paid trip to the California Reunion this October. Gene was surprised, thrilled and eager to join fans and friends at the Reunion. Gene’s car will be a sure crowd pleaser. His ’52 Chevy racecar is one of the few nostalgic...

Start getting excited NOW! Mark your calendars for October 16-18 in Bakersfield California for the best of Nostalgia drag racing at the California Hot Rod Reunion. It's a "Reunion" because is more than just a huge gathering of vintage styled racers and the real-deal, too valuable and historic to actually race diggers... it's a social gathering of friends and competitors from all over, but certainly the hot rod-packed southern California scene where the 1320-craze started.  The Reunion includes 3 days of nostalgia drag racing, a car show of hot rods, a growing swap meet and manufacturers midway and a gathering of drag racing legends from years gone by. If you can make it to only 1 drag race, make this one. (pssss... bring your camera!) Press release from the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum Top 5 Things to See at the 18th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Automobile Club of Southern California Auto Club Famoso Hosts Vintage Drag Race Event, Oct. 16-18 BAKERSFIELD, CA (Sept. 1, 2009) – The cackling noise a vintage dragster makes when fired up. Rubbing elbows with legendary racers. These are a few...

Story by Devin Squire (Devin's all Ford Garage) Intro: Devin's back again with coverage of the "Great Labor Day Cruise". Check out his findings from 2008's Labor Day Car Show as well. Thank's Devin! Well, we made it to the 2009 OCCA Labor Day cruise again.  As usual, we had a great time, though we were a little disappointed in the weather. It was hot! Not like Arizona hundred and some-teen degrees hot, but high 80's to low 90's, with the humidity, it was HOT. We're used to going over there to cool off in nice 70's weather. Not this time. But it wasn't too bad, & we still enjoyed ourselves. We took our normal drive up & down Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) from Seal Beach to down past Laguna & back on Thursday. It's always a blast to cruise the SURFORD on PCH & watch people check out your ride.  Some even take pictures while you're stopped at a light. We saw a couple of cool rides doing the same thing. And, of course, we had to stop for some fish tacos along the way (mmmm..Wahoos fish tacos)....

Just got a note from Debbie, the planner and chief life saver for the 10th Annual Show - "Cruisin for a Cure". Just a reminder here: When: Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 Where: OC Fair & Events Center,  Costa Mesa CA Important Spectator Info: With less than two weeks remaining before the event the excitement is building. The areas best show and collection of world class cars, trucks and motorcyles is just around the corner. Opening ceremonies start promptly at 9 am. This year, the USMC Color Guard will lead down to the stage where Casey Simpson will sing the National Anthem. The Fire Truck will also raise the 60 foot flag and then we will officially start Cruisin' all day. Cruisin for a Cure Car Show Facts: Over 2500 classic & custom cars and trucks are pre-registered! (they had 3500+ cars last year) All day live music (The Answer, Casey Simpson),for those Country Western Fans of Casey Simpson, she will sing at the stage at Noon until 1:30. Over 200 vendors of items of interest to the whole family! See and hear the nostalgia dragsters fire up near the...

Words and Pics  by Keith Harman Over here in the UK, the NSRA Supernationals has quickly risen to be the biggest and best rod run of the year on the British calendar. Its popularity is probably down to a combination of things, one certainly being the great venue, the run is in the grounds of Shuttleworth House, a stately home in Bedfordshire some 60 miles North of London, the site boasts plenty of shade, a great camping area and the added attraction of a vintage aircraft museum and preservation trust on the adjoining airfield. The run also attracts a great variety of rods and customs since the NSRA in the UK is not part of the American organization and is a volunteer- only non profit making proper club run by the members and for the members. To this end, faced with a smaller scene in a much smaller country, the club does not apply a pre-'49 rule but encourages members to run pre-72 cars, more like the Goodguy runs in the states. Despite thunder storms and heavy showers on the Friday of the weekend, there were plenty of rodders...

On August 8th, the Saturday evening during the NSRA Street Rod Nats in Louisville, Tim & Carrie Strange organized and put on the First Annual Hot Rod Industry BMX Challenge race at Derby City BMX. The idea was hatched this past winter while Tim was traveling the show circuit with a 1952 Buick, he had his BMX bikes in the front of the trailer at Detroit, when during tear down of the show, Dave Tucci from Tucci Hot Rods grabbed the bikes and started riding them. Carrie thought "we should put on a BMX race for Hot Rod Builders". Knowing that a lot of the younger generation of builders used to race, or ride BMX growing up, some have moved on to road bikes or mountain bikes for a hobby outside of the hot rod world. Well, Tim and Carrie are still familiar with and into the BMX world, as they both not only race but also run and support a team on the circuit through the Hot Rod shop. They discussed with different people that wanted to ride in it, "where do we put it on and during what event?",...

The Hill Air Force Base Museum in Ogden, Utah held a Car Show they call Wheels & Wings!  The entry fee for spectators was a money donation or canned foods for a local Charity.   I was surprised at how many people showed up.  Enjoy these photos of some of my favorite rides.  There were some great hot rods and customs.  I wish there were more warbirds and airplanes, as they make for great photo ops.  Go HERE for the full Picture Gallery.    ...

I'm a huge air-cooled vdub nut at heart.  My first car was a 1972 Standard Beetle that I bought for $500.  With my dad's help we turned it into a nice Cal-Looker with new bright Corvette yellow paint, black 8 spoke Empi's, freshened heads and new interior kit.  I was even a member of the Wasatch Vintage Volkswagen Club for about a year until I sold that Bug to get wedding/honeymoon money. On to this past Saturday, where I took my wife and 3 young sons to the No Show in Kaysville, Utah.  This was the 4th annual show and is put on my the Northern Utah VW Club.  I've been to the 2nd and 3rd annual shows as well.  This year's show was at a new venue and it seemed bigger and better, with more cars and people.  This No Show is a laid back affair, just the style of VW owners.  They have a Hot Wheels track set up for the "kids" to race and the trophies are miniature vdub scenes using rusty hot wheels.  As we were driving up to the Show, we pulled off the freeway...

I've been havin' a hard time getting any grease on my hands lately as there's just too many cool things to do during summer! I got wind of the 8th Annual Main Street El Segundo Car Show just the day before while at Loyola Auto Interiors (thanks Luis for helping me out with fixing my side panels!) Lucky for me I heard about it because I sure enjoyed strolling along Main Street on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with about 125 cars to gaze at of all different shapes, sizes, and styles. The atmosphere was just how a So-Cal beach town should be - laid back with a variety of cool people.. While I enjoyed the whole event, below you'll find my choice picks...enjoy! Let me know if ya happened to be there and which picks you like too! 1. Most Artistic Hot Rod. This 1930 Ford was customized in Ngoya, Japan and now calls Carson its home. It was a treat to see it on the street! 2. Best Summer Cruiser. Gee it'd be nice to cruise down the coast in this beauty wagon/tear-drop trailer combo wouldn't it? Surf,...