Online Hot Rod Magazine and Custom Car Pics

Japanese Legends...also known as JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) Machines, Japanese Nostalgic Cars, J Tin, you get the picture.  Domestically here in the US of A, we have classics like the 1932 Deuce Coupe, 55-57 Chevy Bel Air, 67-69 Camaro, 64 1/2-70 Mustang, etc. In Japan, the classics are cars like the Nissan Skyline, Toyota Celica, Corolla, Datsun 510 (Bluebird in Japan) and 240Z (Fairlady Z in Japan). JDMLegends is a new shop located in North Salt Lake, Utah.  They had their Grand Opening last July 2009.  So bummed I missed it.  Looked like a nice gathering of Japanese cars!  R33, R34 and R35 Skyline GT-R's in Utah at once?  Cooooool!!! JDMLegends' specialty is hunting down your dream JDM classic (25 years old or older) located in Japan, having it inspected and legally imported into the USA, where it can be delivered as is, or have the JDMLegends' special touch. The owner of JDMLegends is a Japanese car nut named Trey Cobb.  Trey started Cobb Tuning.  Initially a turbo Subaru tuning specialist, now Cobb focuses on ECU tuning for many platforms, including the new Nissan GTR. Above is the engine bay of a Toyota...

This is how you do a car show! Complain as you might for a big annual show like Goodguys: the cost, the crowds, the waiting to get out when it's all over, but that's still a bigtime show and one I look forward to every year. Compare that to this past weekend's show at Beaudry RV put on by Roddin' and Racin's Jerry Hutchcroft. I did not attend the show, but I got a first hand account of what went on, and bottom line is: That's a great example of how NOT to put on a car show. Top 10 Ways to Fail at an Arizona Car Show: #10: Don't supply the advertised "Cruise Lane" #9: Don't put on the much anticipated and always fun Burn-out or engine "Rev-Up" contest #8: Have a goodie bag filled with a small box of Tic-Tacs and a pen that doesn't work #7: Have poor facilities planning: Not enough garbage cans, a weak PA system and no as advertised preferred parking area #6: Don't have any car show class voting and trophies as advertised #5: See "NEVER less than 20-30 cars backed up...

Keep your eyes and ears open for Project 1320 described in the press release below, you'll be glad you did.  The project's goal is simple. Get the facts about the how, why and where drag racing started and how it developed over the years from a first hand perspective of the people who were there. Traci Hrudka is the chairman for this project and comes from a long line of drag racing herself. Traci's uncle Joe and father Tom Hrudka started the great Mr. Gasket empire. (Click on the picture to see them full size) Look closely at these pictures taken from Traci's page at the community she's making for Project 1320. Notice the "Hrudka Bro's" and "Mr. Gasket" proudly displayed on the side? Traci worked at the family business for 20 years and in her words, "Boy do I have some stories!" That's what this project is about. An "oral history" of everyone from the legends like Don Garlits to the no name grassroots fellas (and ladies!) that made drag racing what it is. I can't wait to hear more about this project and keep you posted along...

If there's one show I want to attend, it's the Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show in Yokohama, Japan.  I lived in Japan for a couple years and didn't know how cool it was until I left. I lived in the heart of Tokyo in Harajuku (all the Japanese people say, ooooooohhhh) and married a wonderful Japanese woman while I was there. Her family lived close to Yokohama, so I visited the Mooneyes shop. The shop itself was kinda funny. More trinkets and beads than hot rod parts, but I'm sure they could get anything you wanted. Mooneyes has been a well known name in speed equipment since before I was born. Their slanted eyes (what would you call them?) have to be one of the most widely used sticker to date. It's just a cool logo! The show, now in it's 18th year featured all the hottest hot rods and customs from Japan, and there's more than you'd think, as well as some well known cars from the US of A as well. Shown above is Billy Gibbons' 1958 Thunderbird custom from a shot we took at the SoCal...

Yes, I did say Epic.  Trust me, just listen to this video from BMI Racing! We wanted to show you BMI Racing, a Racing Team/Company who moved to the USA from Australia to pursue their racing dreams.  Their plan is to build 2 Mazda RX-8 sport coupes each with a naturally aspirated 4 rotor engine (stock they come with 2 rotor engines and make 240hp), 1 car to compete in drifting and a 2nd car to race in Time Attack events.  They have finished the first one and began testing this past summer. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Fgi1OQqao[/youtube] Isn't it nuts that a crowd will cheer like that over an engine?  It's the first RX-8 Renesis 4 rotor engine in the world right now.   It sounds like an F1 engine, it just SCREAMS!!!  What's a 4 rotor Wankel?  Well, simply put, each RX8 engine has 2 rotors mounted in series.  This 4 rotor is sort of a "big block" rotary with 4 rotors mounted in series, or 2 RX8 engines mounted in series.  Cool right!?  We don't have many details about the 4 rotor engine setup just yet.  We hope to fill you in with the juicy rotary...

Happy 2010!! Now that the holidays are over, it's time to get down to business! And for Grease Girl that means giving you more of what I originally set out for...to help the beginning car person get involved in the garage! While I hope my Studebaker wish list will provide the topics for some great how-to articles over the coming months, I've got a few tech how-to's up my sleeve already. Next to mechanics, paint is priority for most. However its my opinion that interior is more important, particularly if its a daily driver. Far more hours are spent sitting on the inside than viewing the paint outside, right!?! So what better place to start this year off than with the very first job I tackled on my Studebaker - the interior! Get ready for a whole series of articles this month on redoing your classic car's interior. Before jumping in, I thought I'd start with a few tips from a pro. Luis Loyola was kind enough to have me over to his shop, Loyola Auto Interiors, and share with us some terrific expert advice. So sit down, relax,...

Who was Joel Rosen? Ever heard of Baldwin-Motion? Or maybe just, "Motion Performance"? Back in the late 50's and early 60's, a young Joel Rosen finished high school at only 17 to begin college, but then joined the Air Force to get some more hands on experience. It was at Shepards Air Force Base where Rosen fine tuned his engine tuning and mechanical skills that he later used to hot rod his first car, a 1955 Olds 88 that ended up with a 4 barrel  and a McCullough supercharger. From there, Rosen bought his high school dream car, a fuelie 58 'vette, and used tune-up work and brake jobs to fund his real passion:  Build Motion Performance Super Cars. This new book by Motorbooks publishing, Motion Performance: Tales of a Muscle Car Builder by Martyn L. Schorr, a man who obviously was THERE, says: Mr. Motion was responsible for building, racing and selling the most outrageous low-volume-production, high-performance, new-car-dealer-delivered Chevrolets you could buy during those freewheeling decades. Baldwin-Motion Chevys have since become highly prized mega-priced collectibles that best define the Decade of Extreme Performance. This book is recommended by...

Ford Falcon 4-Speed Shifter How-to Video     Do your choices for how you build your own ride need to make sense? To everyone?   I'm sure there's more than a few people who'd say I'm nuts for putting a Dagenham 4-speed back into my 1963 Falcon Wagon project.  I hear you.  But, I've got my reasons.   The main reason is the fact my Falcon's a rare (or maybe odd's a better word) bird.  This long-roofed wonder's an original, 6 cylinder, bench seat, floor shift, 4 speed car.  I've found one other goofy-six-by-four on Fordsix.com but just one! I like that! (have you got one?)   The other big reason (no, friends that know me, it's not just cause I'm a cheap SOB) involves some great memories and even better, life-long friends.   The Dagenham four speed and shifter that I'm rebuilding here is from my dad's friend Brad Bradly or "Harry" as his friends know him. This shifter's from his 1963 "shop truck" Falcon Ranchero that he still owns.  That Ranchero's been built, raced, totaled, re-built, raced, modified, raced again, totaled again... you get the idea! Now,...

I'm sure many of you are under snow like me.  You lucky hosers in Socal and Arizona, I'm jealous.  Seeing the white stuff outside made me think of the white stuff 2 hours west of me, the Bonneville Salt Flats, also known as the "Great White Dyno".  I wanted to post up some pictures from Speedweek 2009.  They're not glamorous shots or anything, but they remind me of the mecca of hot rodding that is Bonneville and Speedweek that I experienced this past August.  I can't wait for 2010. The wait's over: Bonneville Speed Week 2010 – First Look This red Olds is cool.  Dig the aluminum sheet airdam, blower poking through the raked hood, Mooneyes decal and Moondiscs and the front windshield littered with Bonneville Speedweek stickers.  This was the first car I shot when I got on the Salt. This was the second car I saw.  Love the yellow with white walls against the white stuff.  This truck had a "Bean Bandits - San Diego" plate.  Super clean hot rod here.  Everyone's gotta have a Shop Truck! Love this roadster (I think maybe a model A by the...

Salt Flats Speed Shop in Orem, Utah is run by Chris Davenport, a metal fabrication and finishing craftsman and hot rod builder who is dedicated to building 1930's traditional hot rods.  Chris has been in business officially for about 2 years now and is attracting more and more customers as the word gets out about his affordable, high quality craftsmanship. "Need a Chop, a roof insert, fender, or a quarter panel? Well you've come to the right place. We'll fix all your cars issues, and have it looking as good in "bare metal" as it did when it was made." Chris (in the white shirt) showing us around his shop in Orem.  This is a customers 3 window coupe with suicide doors.  We dropped in on Chris Thanksgiving week.  He willingly took an hour or more to give us the full shop tour.  He explained all his tools, showed us all his projects and talked shop.  I could tell Chris is passionate about hot rods! I had emailed Chris letting him know that a friend and I wanted to drop in and check out his shop.  My friend, Gary, has a 1928 Model A Pickup of his own...

I’ve found that everybody has their own unique approach to building and working-on their car projects. You’ve got factors like money, who’s doing the work, skill level, space to work in, time, end-result, and of course personal organizational style (or lack thereof!) My 1955 Studebaker Champion is a work-in-progress. Since she’s my daily driver my top goal is to keep her on the road so I’ve got regular maintenance to keep done and of course unexpected events come up too! But that doesn’t rule out my desire to get her into better shape as time goes by. So with it being the holiday season, I figured this would be a good time to step back and identify what I’d like to get done and what my priorities are for Stude. So I’m not sure whether this is a Christmas wish list or my 2010 New Year’s Resolutions... but here it is! Maybe you’d like to make your own for your project car! Get a new exhaust system on. The pipes that went on my car were originally shaped for a different model Studebaker. This means I’ve got an ugly exhaust system...

Just wanted to wish all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  2010 will be rockin' at MyRideisMe.com. I thought I'd share this Gingerbread Rat Rod I made last year.  I was planning a Chop Top 1932 Tudor for this year, we'll see if I can find time......