New Prestige Pearl gauges from Auto Meter     The good news? Now I know what gauges I want for my 1963 Falcon Wagon project! I knew I'd update what was in my old long roof, but hadn't decided what would work best until I saw these. I'll see them first hand at 2013 SEMA Show and report back if they're as pretty in person as they are here in pictures!  Here's more info in the official press release below... read on!   From Auto Meter:   Introducing Prestige Pearl Instruments from Auto Meter!   October 1, 2013, Sycamore, IL - Auto Meter's newest addition to the highly successful Prestige series join the nostalgia-inspired Black Diamond and Antique Ivory designs offering a pure white dial colorway for greater design possibilities when planning your build's interior. Auto Meter Prestige Pearl instruments are proudly built in the USA, featuring hybrid dials highlighted by embossed spun aluminum accents, traditional arrow-styled pointers and are finished with period correct domed lenses and chrome bezels. The beauty of these instruments is more than skin deep, at their heart are the same performance meter movements found in race cars across...

1955-1959 Chevrolet Truck New Gauge Style   I'm happy to showcase another great new product from our friends at Auto Meter. To complement their 1955-1956 Chevy Bel Air gauge panel, they're now custom making a gauge set for every Chevy Truck from 1955-1959. Set your truck apart with this great looking new panel!  MORE in the official press release below... read on!   From Auto Meter:   Introducing Auto Meter Nostalgia Series Five Gauge Mount for 55 - 59 Chevrolet Truck   July 17, 2013, Sycamore, IL - The dashboard design of the 55 - 59 Chevrolet "Task Force" trucks is regarded by many enthusiasts as one of the hallmarks of that generation of pickups. However, the nearly 60 year old original instruments are hardly up to today's standards. Whether you're working on a resto-mod or a full blown hot rod issues of installation and compatibility where newer performance engines and transmissions are concerned are likely to cause you some headaches.     Historically the unique V-shaped opening of the original speedometer cowl in the dashboard made the upgrade to better aftermarket instruments a difficult task without disrupting the...

Your 1955-1956 Chevrolet Bel-Air Never Looked Better!   It may be official now... Auto Meter's making just about every custom gauge set except what I need for my 1963 Falcon Wagon! Now with the 1955-56 Chevy Bel-Air custom gauge set ready to ship, what else would set off your custom Chevy better? Get the gauge panel then pick the perfect gauges to fit your ride. MORE in the official press release below... read on!   From Auto Meter: Introducing Auto Meter Nostalgia Series Five Gauge Mount for 55 - 56 Chevrolet Bel-Air   July 2, 2013, Sycamore, IL - The dashboard design of the 1955 - 1956 Chevrolet Bel-Air is regarded by many enthusiasts as one of the most beautiful and iconic interior stylings ever produced. However, the nearly 60 year old original instruments found in those cars are hardly up to today's standards of technology, response and accuracy.   Whether you're working on a resto-mod or a full blown hot rod issues of installation and compatibility where newer performance engines and transmissions are concerned are likely to cause you some headaches. Historically the unique arc-shaped opening of the...

Never Calibrate your Speedometer Again   I found the perfect solution to finding out how fast I'm going in my roadster without hooking a speedo-cable into the transmission. I mean, I wish I could, but the speedo input is right next to the frame. I'd have to do some major surgery to make it work. No worries with the GPS setup... and it'll be more accurate, even if I change tire size some time in the future... read on! From Auto Meter: Monitor speed accurately, on or off road with satellite signal technology from Auto Meter! New GPS Rally-Nav speedometers are engineered to interpret data from an included high speed  antenna assembly providing lightning quick response and eliminating the need to ever calibrate the instrument for gearing and tire size changes. In fact there's no reason to interact with the transmission or driven wheels at all, resulting in a simplified installation. Built in the USA utilizing race proven, rugged and precise digital stepper motor drives for smooth pointer readings and heightened resistance to shock and vibration. Rally-Nav red LED digital display includes standards like odometer and trip, in addition...

COPO Gauges for your Camaro While we might not all be able to get our hands on one of the limited edition COPO Camaros, Auto Meter is pleased to be able to offer you the COPO Camaro Gauge Pack instruments separately to help complete your latest Chevrolet project. New from Auto Meter! Official Licensed COPO Camaro Instruments Now Available! March 19, 2013, Sycamore, IL - Auto Meter is proud to be the official licensed supplier for the performance gauge pack in the new COPO Camaro. Designed to commemorate the original Central Office Production Order (COPO) system used by dealers in 1969 to offer performance models that were designed to be the quickest in NHRA Stock Eliminator and Super Stock classes. The current generation of COPO Camaros, are limited production models specially designed for NHRA competition today. When Chevrolet Performance decided to build the COPO Camaro they knew they couldn't trust just any instrument to track the vitals of the beast. So they contacted Auto Meter, manufacturer of the most trusted instruments in NHRA and NASCAR competition, to draw on our 55+ years or racing instrument experience for help putting...

Real Carbon Gauges for your Custom Dash Looking for the perfect custom touch for your race car or street performer? Take a look at these new gauges from Auto Meter. You get REAL Carbon Fiber along with the trusted quality from Auto Meter.   New GT Series Gauges from Auto Meter reporting for duty! April 23, 2013, Sycamore, IL - Powered by race hardened, high precision internals developed from 56 years of competition experience, GT Series gauges are equipped with cutting edge, white LED illumination to maximize visibility in all conditions. Fitted matte black bezels minimize cockpit glare while aircraft inspired dials constructed from real carbon fiber clearly communicate mission critical data. Available in multiple configurations for optimal deployment in applications ranging from hot rods, muscle cars, diesel trucks and modern street/race machines, GT Series gauges from Auto Meter are equal parts street fighter and stealth fighter, ready for battle. Who's watching your six? Click Here for part numbers and...

1964 Chevy C10 Dually - Dino's Dually (Click to see any picture full size -- want any of these for a desktop screensaver? leave a comment)   Dino builds bad Chevy C10 custom trucks. This one's no different as one of five C10's he owns right now. I posted one teaser image and was holding out posting the rest until the NEW version of MyRideisMe.com was out. Well here it is! And here's the rest of the pictures...   I'm hoping for the same crazed reaction to these photos as the one we saw after posting Dino's truck on Facebook.   You like? Here's what it started as! See more build pics including the custom fenders   Want to see more of this AMAZING Custom C10? I spent quite a bit of time editing the pics I took. Dino's a good friend and I knew he'd like some different looks... which one of these do you like better? In that cool evening light, I get lucky and snap some good ones here and there!   Looking under the hood, Dino keeps it pretty sanitary. The truck came with a...

1964 Chevy C10 Dually - Dino's Dually Build Here's what it started as! (Skip to see the Finished Truck! 29 Additional Photos) I'll let Dino tell the story of this build. When it's done, you'll agree, this is the baddest C10 Dually ever.   "I found this truck on craiglist and watched it for a few months and finally pulled the trigger. After helping my friend dbomb on his short bed, it got me fiending for another project. This 1964 C10 dually work truck was a friend of mine's that he drove for 30 years in the appliance install biz. He sold it a few years back and it just resurfaced.   My plans are to bag it with a pancake front cross member, Nate built me some arms for it and a center trailing arm support and a huge notch for the rear with the p/b hinges. I'll also install a big back window. The truck came with a new 350 crate motor and a turbo 400. I've been gathering parts for a week or so and have almost every thing I need to get it done... not...

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...

2013 Detroit Autorama - Voyles' Picks For Ridler Award Words and Pics by Chris Voyles MyRideisMe.com's show sponsor: Auto Meter Gauges   The 2013 Detroit Autorama was a great one indeed with eight cars nominated for the prestigious Ridler Award. These cars where exceptionally nice, but I think it’s safe to say we all said to ourselves, “Hey! Why wasn’t that car nominated?”   We’ll Pikesan and I thought the same thing... while he's still deciding which rides he would have picked, I'm done! Here's a few of the custom cars I thought were the best of the best, and could have, or should have been nominated.   1961 Impala: This was a very nice done 1961 Chevy Impala owned by Gil & Janet Losi. The body channeled, shaved, nosed, decked and roll pans worked... it flowed very nicely. The chassis on the car was done by Morrison Custom and finished off with Ridetech air suspension. The Impala had a 2,000 hp 540 cubic inch twin turbo motor  by Mike Moran between the fender! Completely stunning car!   1934 Ford: Bill Hughart is the owner of this awesome 1934 Ford hot rod....

2013 Ridler Award Winner: 1940 Ford MyRideisMe.com's show sponsor: Auto Meter Gauges The Results are in! The 2013 was a tough competition! After talking to just about everyone I knew... I think the consensus pick is the winner. This 1940 Ford is outstanding top to bottom, and as owner Ron Cizek told me, "It's too bad the car's not displayed upside down!" You can check the detail pictures in the gallery below. I overheard it's the same/similar setup as the unbelievable 2007 Ridler Award winner, a 1936 Ford called, "First Love". Just my opinion, the paint, by Charlie Hutton, and the gold accents just set it off. There literally was no other car like it, and to win the Ridler Award, there shouldn't be. I'm happy to have shot it Sunday morning without the HUGE crowds in the Cobo Center, especially with the hood down. It's even more impressive! Hats off to all the other Ridler Contenders. As always, there'll be some discussion, dissention and plain-old calls of bullshit! But... from my point of view, this classic hot rod '40 Ford was the winner. I'll do my best to contact the owner...

2013 Detroit Autorama - Pikesan's Picks for Best of Show MyRideisMe.com's show sponsor: Auto Meter Gauges Like last year, I took too many pictures. I couldn't stop! To do my best to quickly-as-possibly share what I have and what I liked, I'm loading up the MyRideisMe picture gallery. There's 200 events covered since 2007, so lots to see, something for everyone... including - The Best of the 2013 Detroit Autorama. The rest of the BEST pictures and info are here. This wasn't a Ridler Contender? (Insert confused look here) 1934 Ford 5 Window Coupe Last year, I did a "Shoulda-been Great 8" story from the 2012 Detroit Autorama. I'm putting that story together, and when I do, this will top the list. Not only is the car way-over-the-top RIGHT ON traditional cool... it's also displayed beautifully and has an amazing Darryl Hollenbeck paint job. It's called, "Iron Orchid". Look for more pictures in a feature story soon. When my 1927 Roadster Grows up: 1927 Ford Model T Roadster This Brothers Custom Automotive hot rod was parked down in the basement. Just like last year, Brothers brought out the heavy guns...