Streched and Custom 1940 Ford Truck at 2013 SEMA Show   Once again, is SEMA known for Hot Rods? Ahhh... maybe it's time we changed our minds! I've got a couple more hot rods from SEMA Show 2013 to share with you! This one's from our friends at Chaotic Customs in Kansas. Owners Chris and Karma Carlson hooked up with NAPA Auto Parts and Martin Senour Paints to have the freshly done hot rod pickup in their SEMA booth. A wise choice!     We ran through the details on how truck owner Mike Young had his eye on 1949-1951 Chevy Fleetlines but Chris knew of a fairly clean 1940 Ford pickup. When Mike saw the 1940 Ford, Mike said confidently, "You can't drink it pretty!" (turns out that wasn't quite true...)   The story's your typical "barn find" truck out of Mulvane, Kansas that was... was going to be a nice driver. "It got out of hand..."     When you review all the build pictures, you'll start to see all the customizing work done by Chris totaling 200 body mods. After trying some body work myself, I'm most impressed on how...

Injected Ford SOHC 1932 Ford Roadster at 2013 SEMA Show   Is SEMA known for Hot Rods? I have to say late model cars (unfortunately) dominate at the SEMA Show. There are times when I felt like I was tripping over the new Camaro, Mustang and of course, the Scion FR-S.  Those are the "modern day hot rods" I guess, so it could be worse.   But could it be any better than this?     I think not!   The beast you're staring at is an original, "Sock" motor. If you heard that and said, "WHAT??" Then let me clue you in. Sock refers to SOHC or single over head cam. You'll also hear it called a "Cammer" motor refering again to the overhead cam design. Ford, in the glory days of racing, back in 1964, set forth on the world one of it's most glorious creations. Why? (besides why not!) They were merely trying to compete with the Chrysler 426 HEMI at the track. What's the harm in that?     The Ford Single Overhead Cam (SOHC) 427 engine left the drawing board based on the hipo 427...

Chip Barbee's Hot Rod and Custom Car Pics from Bonneville Words and Pics by Chip "Teach" Barbee See the full hot rod gallery here.   Chip's another friend from Bonneville Speed Week. I've seen him, shared the starting line, "media only" spot and had a great time getting to know him. This is his first time being published at MyRideisMe.com, so please make him feel welcome!   "It's in the record books. The 65th annual (SCTA) Southern California Timing Association's Speed Week is History !!! Some records fell. The crowd was lively and the Hot Rods and Custom roamed the salt and local casino curse night with ease. Come along and take a look at my favorites from the salt and the Nugget car show." - Teach   1) So what do you do with that rusty 4-door Edsel your uncle Fred leaves you in his will ??? Break out ye old trusty Plasma Cutter, remove all the ugly and end up with this sweeet Edsel Roadster the we ran into everywhere during Speed week.   2) Who says imports can't be cool. NOT US this little custom is...

Mark Jacobs' Salt-shots from Bonneville my man... Mark's come through with a great set of pictures from 2013 Bonneville Speed Week. With his wife Teresa, they flew down from Washington to attend their 2nd Speed Week. Instead of an over-priced hotel room, they stop by a sporting goods store, or Target or the like and get all the camping gear - and cooler full-a-cold-ones - to hang at the local KOA campgrounds with friends. Between or busy photo sessions (consisting of mostly shooting every cool thing we see!) we hung out and caught up on what's been happening since last year's Speed Week...   So enjoy Mark's photos and tell'm hey over at his Photography Fan Page.   Rob Ida's Tucker recreation. It was awesome to meet Rob and see the Gyronaut X-1 recreation Rob worked on as well. I've seen some amazing picture of the Tucker floating around Instagram.  Rob's a Tucker fan because his grandfather owned a Tucker dealership!   Tell me Mark shouldn't make posters of these fine hot rods!!   Do you prefer the color, or black and white?   Click here for all of...

Get $2500 from Gumout for your Hot Rod Project   Are you working on a hot rod project? Maybe your project is stalled? Is it taking too long (that's me!) or you haven't even started yet? Don't worry! Make it fun, and take advantage of Gumout's offer to help out with $2500!   To inspire or maybe just give ya the friendly kick in the pants you need to get started, I wanted to tell a couple stories about successful hot rod projects and one slick Chevy truck getting dropped and bagged in one day.   First look above... you see Victor, closest to his home built Model A hot rod coupe, standing with Jim and Chris. I know Vic's a hard worker and talented building just about anything he sets out to make for himself or his Throttle Kings Car Club buddies. I met Vic when his hot rod was just getting started:     Vic enjoyed this hot rod coupe as much as anyone could with multiple trips to Viva Las Vegas Car Show and LA Roadster Show visits. Maybe that's the trick to long term project...

1930 Ford Hot Rod with Traditional Style (Click to see Trent's great pictures full size)   Time – that one thing you can never truly get back and the one thing you can never seem to have enough of. There are those times though when a little patience, a bit of preparedness and a calculated bit of timing pay off dividends when a long awaited opportunity raises its head.   For Kopis Georgalos, that time came at the 2008 LA Roadster show. Despite a good rep as a fabricator and custom builder, with a mild 1951 Pontiac custom to showcase his work, Kopis long had plans in the works for a project yet to occupy a space in his garage – a traditional rod. Notice I said his garage, not so and so’s customs or such and such’s garage. Nope – this build wasn't simply just for Kopis to have the traditional rod he had always wanted, but a chance to push himself, test his skills and learn some new tricks along the way.   Kopis knew an open car, maybe a roadster would be right for him. Coupes...

  Kirk Wilmes may seem like your average gearhead, he loves lead sled Mercury's, hot rod fords and classic Cadillac's.  However Kirk has an unique story to tell about his late Grandfather Don Kizziar and his enormous collection of classic cars!   Kirk Wilmes hails from Atlus, Oklahoma where he had the privilege to grew up around his grandfather  and his grandfather's car collection. His grandfather started collecting cars in the early 70s and never stopped! Don's collection contained over 40 cars that spanned over 7 decades of automotive history! His collection contained everything from Lead Sled Merc's to Hot Rod Ford's to Muscle Mopars and even rare cars such as Cord Aubruns! He was able to afford this enormous collection due to the fact that he founded and owned a Cattle Business known as Cattle Management Systems.   Sadly Don passed away in 2010, and  his entire collection was left to his wife Ruth.  She was unable to take care of the cars, so the entire collection was auctioned off in a series known as the Kizziar Collection Auctions in the summer of 2011. While the cars may...

Meet Uncle Jed: A Robert Killian creation aimed to run 200-plus mph Story by Ben Mozart Photographs by our friends at Moore Good Ink Now here's something you don't see every day! You've seen mash-ups of a pro-touring Mercury Comet, but this one's the ultimate combination of hot rod style and pro-style motivation. Robert Killian, you out did yourself! Robert Killian hails from Canton, Georgia. He’s been building hot rods for most his adult life, and he has always indulged himself in the unorthodox.   But when contemplating Uncle Jed he told his chassis builder, “Let’s have one last adventure into the unknown. I’m reaching a point in my life (58) when I don’t anticipate foolin’ with 200mph cars much longer.” So this was how he approached his latest creation: a 1,900hp big-inch Pro Stock-powered road-legal Rat Rod. “Mind you,” said Killian, “I’m hesitant about calling Uncle Jed a Rat Rod because some Rat Rodders take offense. They’re adamant that it’s not low-buck enough, but obviously there’s not enough gleaming paint on it to call it a hotrod.” So its genre is uncertain.   What is certain, however, is...

1937 Chevy Coupe with Hot Rod Pinup Kelly Lindahl Car Owner: Keith Goettlich - Click any picture for full size As with most car guys, automotive make and style preferences are more often than not generational; Traits passed down through generations just like hair or eye color. For Keith Goettlich, it was a passion for Buick’s, and more specifically, their legendary Torque-bomb Nailhead V-8s that Keith inherited from his father.   Keith’s father, like few others in the 60s, steered away from the more popular (and generally cheaper) Bowtie and Blue Oval route and took the path less traveled in the big displacement horsepower wars with a 1964 Buick Wildcat ragtop sporting a 425 Nailhead guzzling leaded gas through dual quads. This would spark Keith’s lifelong passion for Buicks vertical valved line of V8. Keith would build a few customs and rods throughout the years, including a 1933 Pickup that gained quite a bit of recognition along the East Coast. Each ride containing his signature trait: A Nailhead tucked in where most would expect to see a SBC. The Nailhead made Keith’s creations a bit more memorable, and before...

Adventures of Losing Your Brakes in a Classic Longtime readers may remember when I lost the brakes in my 1955 Studebaker...while I happened to be wearing a swimsuit (headed to the local pool) and ended up jumping from my moving vehicle. You read that right. Now's your chance to enjoy the story retold, in retro comic book form! For more on brake loss, figuring out how to fix things, and other crazy car adventures - you can always visit me on...

2013 Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Car Show Another pinup model and Pabst packed Viva Las Vegas car show is in the books. In some unscheduled laziness and a fit of working too much on MyRideisMe.com... I didn't go. Luckily, my good friend and photographer Mark Jacobs covered for me. So here's just a couple of his favorite rides from the 2013 Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender. Want to see all the pictures? Here's Mark's 2013 Viva Las Vegas Car Show Gallery I think this slick custom is a Pontiac based on the door trim? It's hard to tell sometimes. All I know? I agree with Mark, this is tough! It's great to see someone else's take on Viva. What cars caught their eye and then how'd they shoot them? Watching other photographers, I try to up my game too. Mark's the second photographer to shoot this trick custom: Someone help with info on this beauty! One last picture, then you can scoot over to the Mark's picture gallery:  2013 Viva Las Vegas Car Show Favorites Mark's a wagon guy too! This Squire wagon surf machine is right up my...

Detroit Autorama Favorites - Chris Voyles Picks MyRideisMe.com's show sponsor: Auto Meter Gauges Who's Chris Voyles? He's the dude with the GIANT camera hustling around the Detroit Autorama so you can enjoy what we saw from your computers and phones. I recruited Chris to help me with photos and get his favorites from his first year at the Detroit Autorama. Here's what he thought... He's shy so let him know if he screwed this up. We might be able to shame him into a reply? Also see Chris' picks for Ridler Contenders that weren't. Words and pictures by Chris Voyles: (High quality pictures!! Click to see full size) Walking around the 2013 Detroit Autorama, I made note of the cars I considered my favorites. Just some very nice rides that made me take notice and click a few extra shots. 1968 Dodge Charger R/T: I grew up around cars as a kid and by far this is the car I want most of all! See, my Dad had 1968 Charger R/T very close to this one here, minus the Hemi motor. His was also red with a black top but...