Online Hot Rod Magazine and Custom Car Pics

Hot Rods and Custom Car Show Pictures from Skoty Chops Custom Showcase 2012 Words & pictures by Nick Koljian - CLICK to zoom Alameda, CA has a little old place called the Forbidden Island. It's a well known tiki lounge right in the heart of the historical Bay Station shopping district. It’s quite the retro oasis and has been a staple in Alameda since April of 2006. Many compare the dreamy decor to the Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland from the glowing puffer fish to the tiki statues and Tahitian velvet paintings. The Forbidden Island also is well known for serving up award winning, world famous and classic exotic cocktails and for the past 5 years serving up a little diddy known as The Tiki Car Hop. So let the gang from MyRideisMe.com take you on a little Polynesian treat where tiki island tradition meets mainland hot rod culture. Grab yourself a scorpion bowl, relax and enjoy East Bay Sinners CC Tiki Car Hop @ The Forbidden Island in Alameda, CA. This being my first trip to the car hop, I didn't know what to expect. Outside the Forbidden Island vintage rides...

Classic American Sports Car - AMC AMX I was looking through my buddy Mike Gulett's website called MyCarQuest.com when I found this beauty of an AMC. It immediately reminded me of this concept drawing: While not the same car, both show that the AMC make needs a little love! The drawing is hot rod art straight from the  mind of my buddy Brian over at ProblemChildKustoms.com. He called it, "Let them eat cheese" Mike's MyCarQuest article explains: The AMX could be bought with a 390 cid V8 that produced 315 hp, 325 hp or 420 hp depending on the options. The AMX appealed to both muscle car lovers and sports car enthusiasts. The result may have been confusion in the market place. While Brian takes a different route detailing the build and says, The concept: A '74 AMC Hornet built with a nod to the Mulholland road-race crowd of the '70's. A tube chassis with a 9-inch center section IRS and Corvette-based front suspension allows the car to sit right on the ground, and the full 'cage helps everyone inside feel safe as the world rushes by in a...

Cadillac's Top Model - Eldorado Biarritz When I saw this sexy Cadillac for sale at Auctions America Auburn Fall Auction - sorry, we missed it, it was Labor Day weekend... I immediately thought of a couple other Custom Cadillac Biarritz stories I did. Before we get to that, what's up with this award winning "Champagne Iridescent" Caddy? The experts predict the sale price at $80-100k. Here's what that gets you: By the 1960s’ Cadillac had claimed its supremacy as the flagship line for General Motors and bested the rest of its competition in the luxury car segment. Although the Eldorado line was heavily equipped with many luxuries that were standard on most models, it is worth mentioning the accessories that complete this outstandingly restored Biarritz. This particular car includes all power steering, brakes, windows, seats, top, antenna, plus Cadillac Air Suspension, cruise control, air-conditioning and much more. It is finished in Champagne Iridescent with complementing gold leather interior and black vinyl top. It is powered by a 390-cid V-8 with a Hydra-Matic Drive transmission. Most importantly, this example benefits from a no-expense spared restoration and is the recipient of an...

Ford Falcon 2 Door Wagon - Can you see the vision? See it? No? Fine, I'll help with your future hot rod vision... What do you see? Junky old Falcon wagon? That's it? Notice it's a 2 door? That's much more desirable to most... what else? It's very straight, I can't see any cancerous rust from 6 feet away. Anything else? Yea! It's complete! From this pic, this would be a car I'd like to see and know more about. And you can! This low mileage dreamer is for sale Sept 21-22 by Auctions America at their Bennett Collection Auction in Rollinsford, NH. I imagine that we've still got a few non-believers. Fine... take this! Same car, I think it's even the same color. The only difference (you can't see) is this one's an original V8 car. But look how plain this baby is! No side trim at all, just like the un-optioned beauty in the first picture.  I wrote about this Falcon and called the story: When Bone Stock Marries Plain Jane - it's a completely, and near perfectly, restored 1965 Falcon wagon done by a chrome restoration specialist...

Hot Rod Pinup Kelly Lindahl Continuing to get to know hot rod and pinup model photographer Trent Sherrill, let's get to know his girlfriend, pinup model, hair stylist and makeup artist out of New York: Kelly Lindahl. Describe the best date you ever had. My Best Date was when my boyfriend Trent, flew into NY then took me to Yankees Stadium, (which I've never been to a baseball game ever) but we got sushi. then we walked around NYC even though I live/work here it was nice to spend time with him and show him around a bit. How about the worst date?  One time I was on a date and the guy I guess "googled" my parents name, I guess he got their names off my Facebook , he thought he found out what they did for a living, it was creepy, never saw him again. What's your favorite car ever and what's your favorite that you've actually owned? I like 1964 Impala's, really anything that’s a lowrider, or I really like low, big kustom cars. For my favorite car I’ve owned, it has to be my Jeep. It...

Hot Rod Pinup Jenna Sherrill When I first met Trent Sherrill by finding one of his "liked" hot rod or pinup photos on Facebook, I checked out his other pictures and found this one: After seeing the tag, I asked Trent, "Is that your sister?!" Turns out this lovely girl is, in fact, Trent's sister Jenna Sherrill. As much talent as Trent shows behind the camera, Jenna's making it easy on her bro by looking fabulous! We're getting to know Trent a little better by asking his sister and next, his girlfriend Kelly Lindahl (another rocking pinup) a few questions. Once you get to know the girls, I'm sure you'll love them like Trent does. Thanks guys! Describe the best date you ever had. The best date I ever had was when my fiance and I were first together. He drove me to Avila Beach in his 1957 Plymouth Savoy. We stopped in Pismo Beach to get some clam chowder from Splash Cafe and then headed to Avila. He bought me a wide brim sun hat and laid out a Mexican blanket on the beach. We ate our chowder...

SpinTron Roller Tappets, Rockers and Friction Testing From our friends at Goodink and Jesel, here's your chance for an inside look into the highest performance race engine component development and the special equipment needed to break records at Bonneville or in the NHRA. In this case, it's a dyno, it's got a laser... it's SpinTron! - pikesan Story by: Ray T. Bohacz Jesel, one of the best competition valve train specialists to emerge in the past thirty years, owes much of its supremacy to extensive developing and testing of its competition parts. The test machine is a SpinTron. The parts being tested are principally roller tappets and rocker arms. “Ten or twelve years ago when I first pressed the SpinTron into action,” says Danny Jesel, “my immediate response was one of shock—the racket it generated was incredible! I just wasn’t expecting the opening and closing of two valves to be so loud, and initially I thought something was broken.” Once Danny Jesel became accustomed to the commotion, his next challenge was grappling with the phenomenon known as "lofting". Lofting occurs when engine speeds increase, usually above 4,000rpm, causing the...

Hot Rods and Custom Car Show Pictures from Skoty Chops Custom Showcase 2012 Words & pictures by: Have you ever heard the old phrase "You have to see it to believe it." Well that old phrase stands true to a local car show that has been going on for the past 4 years in Redwood City, CA. That show is Skoty Chops Shootout custom car show. Along with the show, Mr. Wim puts on his Brush Stroke for the past 3 years. So with that type of 1-2 punch you can't go wrong! Skoty Chops is one of most well known fabricators in Northern California and pinstriper Jaime "Wim" Trevino is one of the steadiest hands this side of Los Angeles. You combine the two and you get a pretty impressive showing of custom cars and pinstripers. Seeing is believing, that's why MyRideisMe.com show hounds, the Lens Junkies Nick Koljian and John Lemoine were on the spot bringing you Skoty Chops Shootout and Brush Stroke #4. Time in and time out, a Skoty Chops show will bring in some of the south bay's best customs, bombs, classics and hot rods...

Drive your Hot Rod! Nebraska to Utah in a Model A Roadster Download image for your iPhone here.   Nick Hoesing's a cool guy. We met at Bonneville Speed Week 2009, my first year there. He was cruising a great looking 1962 Ford Galaxie he'd driven from Omaha, Nebraska to the Salt Flats in Utah.   As friends on Facebook, I caught a glance of the model A roadster he was building, but hadn't made it over to the HAMB for a full look. I wish I had before I shot these pictures because I missed some fine details of this roadster. I'll write a brief history of the build, but you should read the 40 or so pages of posts at the HAMB where Nick supplies details and photos of the build and fellow HAMBers encourage him and help when needed. That's a community to be proud of.   Build of Nick's Model A Hot Rod   In the shortest summary of Nick's supreme one-car-garage hot rod build... Nick started with a 28/29 Ford Model A Roadster body, then added a Blackboard Hot Rods 1932 Ford frame. The...

Motorized Bike Sets Records at Bonneville Salt Flats Photographer turned record setter turned friend. It's Gunther Maier on his "Sportsman Flyer" replica 1910 Indian board track race bike.   Photos in this story are © Keith Berr www.keithberr.com. Thanks Keith! Click to see this shot full size and check out the chain. Not sure how fast Gunther's going here, but it it's a great snap!   I posted this photo of Gunther enjoying his time in impound at Bonneville Speed Week 2012: Little did I know that Gunther was the guy who'd supplied the best pictures shown in the feature story about Jeff Brock's 1952 Buick Super Riviera race car. Turns out Brock and Gunther are buddies and were pitted right next to each other on the salt!   Gunther told me, he's part of the RED RACER Team running a new production of an Indian board track racer form the 1910. The bike is the coolest and is made by Sportsman Flyer. (worth a look, or get your own kit!)   Gunther's team runs in the SCTA's A-PF class with a 175cc engine. With some success I might...

Nissan Z-powered Land Speed Racing Falcon Ranchero   So I'm riding by on the XR70 bike my buddy Erock loaned to me (a sight to see with my long lanky frame) and I see this wicked looking Ford Falcon Ranchero.   Anyone following this site knows I'm partial to the round bodied Falcons... so much so I'm building a 1963 Falcon Wagon myself. It's your typical summer remake that's taken 4 years so far. Anyways, that's another story.   As I walked up on this bad little pickup, I saw only one valve cover poking up... I thought, SWEET! He's running a Ford six just like me. To my surprise, Alan Morris out of Montrose, CO chose a 1980 Nissan 280Z motor to chase the F/CFALT record of 165.224 held by the Cohn Jucewic Monza.     I was surprised because in addition to being the owner/editor/janitor of MyRideisMe.com, I'm also a test engineer for Nissan. One of my favorite Fords combined with different and unexpected powerplant that's also from the folks who pay my mortgage... win, win, WIN!   The sixer runs a healthy 14:1 compression and triple...

Better Pinup Poses for Great Pictures Photo courtesy of Digital-Photography-School.com I'm always trying to take better pictures. Whether it's custom car or family portraits or a beautiful pinup model, we're all trying to do our best work. To keep learning, I receive newsletters from a few great websites. One of them is Digital Photography School. I found this post called: Posing Guide: 21 Sample Poses to Get You Started with Photographing Female Subjects I figured this would help out models and photographers alike, even though it's not focused on pinup photography. Take a look and see what you think: Read more: http://digital-photography-school.com/21-sample-poses-photographing-female-models#ixzz23gQS36df Sign up for their newsletter and learn a little every...