2013 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals- Sleeper 1965 L-79 Chevelle     Gordon Rohde looked over his plain-jane 1965 Chevelle 300 like a proud papa and said “losing just 17 points in judging sure isn’t too bad.” Particularly when you find out this car has a racing history which many times can complicate a restoration. “I left some of the parts on the car from when I originally raced it,” said Gordon. “Just couldn’t see taking them off for a few extra judging points.”   On display at last month’s 2013 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, the 38,000 mile L-79 equipped two-door sedan looked almost out of place among the surrounding muscle cars and Corvettes. Plain Jane and super subtle, you bet! Gordon brought it to the Rosemont Convention Center to see how he had done in bringing the little street terror back to life. “Lost some points for some incorrect bolts on the flywheel cover and the homemade driveshaft loop plus I still have the mounting pads welded up front for the tow bar.” He just didn’t have the heart to pull them off.   Gordon knows this...

 The Rarest Corvettes and Muscle Cars - The Rarest of the Rare Up Close and Personal! Bob Ashton hit another home run with the 5th Annual Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals held November 23 and 24 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. The show, which uses nearly 400,000 square feet of space in the sprawling convention center, again brought together an amazing collection of muscle cars, many of which are rarely seen outside of private and museum collections.   See all the car show pictures right here   If you like what you see here, stay tuned! We'll add more pictures and details to our favorite muscle cars from the show. 1967 Camaro Cherokee Concept Car 1958 Desoto Firesweep convertible   The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals is the nation’s largest, all indoor specialty show and swap meet devoted to Muscle Cars, Dealer-built Supercars and Corvettes. Ashton is Managing Member of the group of enthusiasts who got together and staged the first show back in 2009, replacing the long running Chevy Vettefest.   1963 Buick Riviera Silver Arrow I   Ashton is a long time muscle car...

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...

Timeless 1951 Ford Victoria Ford or Chevy? The oldest rivalry in American car history and one most can easily tell you which side of the line they stand on. For Ameth Gonzales it was on the bow tie’s sidelines until he laid eyes on the 1951 Ford Victoria Hardtop. Ameth picked up the Vicky in Arcadia, CA back in 2002 and despite it being just over 50 years old at the time, it only had two previous owners. Better yet, the body was straight with no signs of any major accidents or rust which made it a perfect platform for a full restoration. Several features of the 51 drew Ameth to the 1951 Ford Victoria. For starters, 1951 was the first year Ford produced a hardtop and the three-piece window in the rear adds a graceful accent to the simple yet flowing bodylines. Then, the single chrome spear running the length of the body has always been a revered styling cue of the early 50’s Ford Shoebox. Once Ameth got the Vicky back to Fresno the restoration was quickly underway. However, with three coats of paint standing between him...

18,000 Mile 1955 Chevy Bel Air Classic To say Chevy's relaunch of the Bel Air in 1955 kick started an automotive revolution would be a understatement. As the first entry into what would become known throughout the world as the "shoebox Chevy", the 55 Bel Air became one of the most iconic Chevrolets in history, right up there with the Corvette and the Camaro. Highlights for the model year include the first year for a 12V electrical system and the timeless "eyebrows" over the front headlights. Designers extended the front fenders just over the headlights giving the remodeled Bel Airs what appears to be a raised eyebrow when viewed from the front. Features in films such as "Two-Lane Blacktop" and "American Graffiti" increased the mystique surrounding the 55 Bel Air ten-fold. And when Harrison Ford's character Bob Falfa staged his 55 Chevy against "The fastest  thing in the valley", Milner's coupe, you could easily argue the car helped launch his career. The 55 Bel Air's popularity stretches across the gamut of auto enthusiasts. Its sleek accents and generous use of chrome captured the attention of customizers just as the lightweight and easy acceptance of...

Car Interior Restoration One of the first jobs I did on my 1955 Studebaker was restoring the car’s interior. Even though I didn’t know what I was doing – I had a pretty good sewing background and figured I could handle it. As it turned out, it was a terrific first job for me. I had a lot of fun, met some challenges, and learned along the way. I’ve since had the chance to learn a few secrets and have been looking forward to another car interior restoration. Well…the time is here. When I picked out the materials to use in my Stude, I knew they weren’t very sturdy but I didn’t really care. A few years of daily wear later, my driver’s seat-back has been torn to shreds. Before embarking on this next car restoration adventure, I thought I’d ask for your opinion. Car shows are great places to look for what you like and might want to incorporate into your own project. So that’s just what I did. While trying to keep my head on straight while looking at all the amazing customs at the Long Beach...

You're on Facebook right yall?  No?  Get with the program!  That's how MyRideisMe.com and Pascal Hein got together, through the MyRideisMe Facebook Fanpage.  Go check it out and join our Fanpage, right after you read this cool story of course. Pascal is from Germany and he has shared his classic bimmer he calls "Lemon".  A 1973 1802 Touring model.  Sit back, grab some Kugen (yummy pastries my German grandma Hecht makes for desserts) and enjoy storytime from the motherland.  Take it away Pascal! "My Bimmer was built in 1973. The so called "Touring" was BMWs first try to build a hatchback and also the last try until 1993, when they introduced the compact edition of the 3 Series. Actually people didn't like this concept in the early 70s so just around 30,000 Touring models were produced and just around 970 of them were 1802 Tourings like mine, while there were houndreds of thousands of normal BMW 02 sedans. So in 1984 my father managed to buy this car after he wanted to have one for many years. It had two owners before he bought it and had some damage on the rear...

All right then, I'm a wagon freak. You could even say I'm a Ford Falcon wagon freak. I've written before about the problems I have (Extra W Chromosome) and the 63 Falcon wagon project I'm re-doing. I've learned to live with those issues and I'm doing my best in the hot rod society. But then I saw this totally clean 1965 Falcon wagon owned by Norm Huie of San Clemente, CA at the Cruisin for a Cure Show. More precisely, it's a '65 Ford Falcon 2 door wagon in the original Prairie Bronze paint. It'd get boring if I kept saying original since Norm's taken great pains to restore his wagon back to 99% stock himself. Norm's always been into Falcons but chose this odd-ball 65 because it was the last year of this model.  I say odd because it's a 2 door, no-doubt more desirable than the mor-door cousin I own. Then, it's got the factory V8 another plus, but from there, this car is plain-jane! It's a non-Deluxe, non-anything car but it does have power steering and power brakes and a rare cargo light inside near the...