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'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,...

Bonneville Salt Flats Inspired Hot Rod Thanks to Speedhunters.com for this beautiful shot of Rex's amazing Lakes Modified roadster at Speedweek 2009. If you had the engineering and fabrication skills of Rex Schimmer, how would you build a Model A roadster?  If (or when) I build a roadster, it could look much like this 1929 Lakes Modified Ford roadster!  Rex is actually a MyRideisMe.com member.  You can see his MyRideisMe Garage and make his ride one of your favorites and put him in your "crew" like I did. Rex's roadster is unmistakeably a traditional style Lakes Modified build, but it is also very unique and one of a kind.  Read on to find out exactly what went into this 7 year project, which culminated in the ultimate drivable roadster you see here. Rex: How did I get into cars? Been a car guy since I was 11 or 12. I started reading the "small" magazines, Rod and Custom, Car Craft, etc. around 1955 and bought my first car, 1953 Ford Victoria hardtop in 1958. I dropped it using dropped spindles, cut coils and a de-arched spring, removed the hood and trunk chrome, frenched the head lights...

The Legendary Custom Cars and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield is a new offering from Motorbooks written by David Grant. The title could have had an addendum that says "A pure automotive styling genius far ahead of his time." I became a huge fan of Gene from the first time I laid eyes on his creations in the "little books" when I lived on the East coast. The book gives you a tremendous insight as to how he did what he did. This man just went out and built his dreams. If there was a part he needed and was not available, he manufactured it. Gene fabricated his own dual carb intake manifold for his '31 Model A, constructed custom headlight rings from hub caps, fingertip control steering and a camera & small television to substitute for a rear view mirror are a few of his innovations.     Within the storyline of this book we are allowed into his private life by hearing stories about him from former members of the Century Toppers Car Club as well as former coworkers "Hammer Happy" and Sam Foose. The text is...

Dean Jeffries 50 Fabulous Years in Hot Rods, Racing and Film By Tom Cotter This new book on Dean Jeffries, written by Tom Cotter (and forwarded by Bruce Meyer) is a fun look at the career of one of the most under-rated builders of all-time. As stated right from the beginning, Jeffries was never one to "toot his own horn", and this may be a large part of the reason that many folks don't know that much about this incredibly talented man. While he was one of the pioneers of the custom car movement (alongside the more "celebrity" names like Barris, Winfield, Von Dutch and Ed Roth), he's always been relegated to the footnotes, or seems to play the "behind-the-scenes" role more often than not. The humble visionary was born in Lynwood, California in 1933, the second of three children, and from an early age took an interest in cars... but preferred metal work to mechanical, as he hated to get his hands dirty. His father being a mechanic and truck driver who wrenched on race cars (midgets, namely), took young Dean to the races, further inspiring him. Jeffries...

She started out as a yellow, fairly stock, 1962 International Scout 80 2WD.  She was powered by the original slant 4-cylinder, producing a shattering 83 horsepower while sitting on the original frame and suspension which included leaf springs all around.  Seating was less than luxurious, sporting the stock bench seat with broken springs. By the time “Unbound” hit the streets, not a square inch was left untouched by the builder, Marty Schreiber of n2 Hot Rods (n2HotRods.com), and designer/owner, Chris Adams (SYTCN@cox.net). The stock chassis and suspension were replaced with a custom full Art Morrison chassis with independent front suspension and a 4-bar rear end with panhard bar.  The ride was smoothed out with adjustable coil-over springs on all four corners, and stopping power was updated with a host of Wilwood components including dual master cylinders, 13” 6-piston discs in the front and 12” 4-piston discs in the rear. The new power plant was put together by Turn Key Engine Supply and came in the form of a LS6 Corvette engine producing just over 400 ft. lbs. of torque.  The LS6 got mated up to a 4L60E transmission, controlled...

Bonneville Hot Rods Yearly Car Show:     2009 Bonneville Nugget Casino Car Show Picture Gallery is now online!   After the Salt closes on the first Friday and Saturday of Speedweek, hot rods, street rods, a street-driven belly tanker and any ride that made the trip to Bonneville congregate to relax at the Golden Nugget Casino parking lot.   This is not your typical car show, these cars are driven hours and hours to make this show.  There were numerous cars from California and as far as Nebraska. (any farther?)  Make sure to check out the Nugget Car Show at next year! Check out the Nugget Car Show Gallery for more pics!...

Bonneville Salt Flats Hot Rod:   One piece of the Bonneville Speedweek recipe that can't be forgetten is the get together on Friday and Saturday night at the Golden Nugget in Wendover. From a Salt insider, the Nugget Car Show is not an official car show. You won't find any websites announcing the Car Show, but it just sort of happens. It has become a tradition. Enter Jerry Armijo and his 1933 Ford Pick up hot rod.     As I was strolling the Nugget parking lot soaking in the hot rods, I saw this pick up full of Salt. It was not the only hot rod with salt covering it, but it appeared to be the rod with the most.   One of my favorite parts of the Bonneville Salt Flats is how the salt gets everywhere. These open wheeled hot rods are especially good at flinging the salt. I started snapping pictures of this rod and how the salt was basically covering the windshield when I met Jerry, the proud owner.Here's what I found out about this cool ride.   It's a 1933 Ford Pick up. When...

Just met, at least through email, a professional hot rod writer living in England named Keith Harman. I'd like to introduce him some, but he does it better in his own words: Since 2002 I've been working as a self employed freelance automotive journalist specializing in Hot Rods, American Cars, Bikes etc and to date I guess I've had about 300 pieces published so far, mostly in magazines like Custom Car and Classic American in the UK, Old Skool Rodz and Car Kulture Deluxe in the US and also Cruzin in Australia. I've had one book published, entitled 'Great American Hot Rods' which is available online from Amazon in the UK, though as it was published mainly for the American market it can be bought over the counter in Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores in the US. I drive a steel '34 Five-window Coupe with a 327 and 5-speed that I imported from Tennessee in 2006. I'm happily married to Paula who often accompanies me on my travels far and wide, we like a lot of the same stuff which makes life easy and I'm sure she'll feature...

It was an early morning wandering around the quaint streets of Stevensville, Montana. The last thing I expected to see was a slammin' 1934 Ford Hot Rod Pickup. If it wasn't for my own pre-morning-coffee-haze I would've gone into the Full Moon Saloon and inquired who the owner was. Lucky for me (and you) that I ran into this pretty truck along with its owner Ken Scobie, once more that evening at the Stevensville Summer Picnic & Car Show. With 2 trophies under its belt in a mere 4 weeks since being completed, this truck is worth giving a peek. Its been built from the frame up by Ken Scobie, a San Diego native that migrated on up to Montana 35 years ago while still working as mechanic. He's since retired, and at the age of 69 says "For a poor kid growing up in the days of cool rods it has always been a dream of mine to build a rod in the old school style." Build a rod he did! "Finding this beauty was the real treat. She was in Helena, Montana behind a house out in...

Hot Rod Roadster from the Grand National Roadster Show When you compete for the biggest roadster prize there is, America's Most Beautiful Roadster (the AMBR as it's called) you've already won. When you're the second woman in the Grand National Roadster Show's 60 year history to compete, there's got to be a story brewing for MyRideisMe.com. I first noticed Kim Vranas' 1927 Ford Touring Roadster resting quietly, not 30 feet away from the eventual AMBR winner  named "Hot Rod Special" built at Willet Specials. Owning a 1927 roadster myself, that is in fact a cut version of the very same Model T touring body Kim chose. Trouble is, two people barely fit in my "lakes style" modified roadster. That's why, this uncut touring was easily one of my favorites at the show. It could be a "Family Hot Rod"! Following the GNRS, the roadster took a short ride into Los Angeles to accept an invitation of the Peterson Automotive Museum.  The So-Cal show in Pomona, CA marked the "outside" debut of Kim's hot rod with her husband Chuck getting the chance to pour in some 108 octane and blue...

Cruising any car show with buddies, there's always one car that even weeks later, you're still talking about it: "Remember that one car?" and you all do. That happened cruising the Scottsdale Goodguys show in November and I never forgot, even though Otis Schmidt, the owner of this bad hot rod may have thought I did! Otis, a hot rod, custom car and racing fan since he started building model cars at 12 years old, is now living in Moore, Oklahoma. He bought his 1929 Ford Sedan from Mark Riojas of Bridge Creek, Oklahoma after finding it parked right next to him at an NSRA show in Oklahoma City. Otis immediately dug the car cause it reminded him of a similar-styled 1934 Ford Sedan he'd recently, and regrettably sold . Between missing his 34 and the gold teaser parked right next to him, Otis contacted Mark soon after the show and a deal was struck on the phone. The first thing you notice about Otis's 1929 Sedan, called the "Corrugated Flyer"  is the wild gold/copper color. The color's officially Gold Acrylic enamel. From there, throw in some flattener and mix in...