The Hot Rod Power Tour is one of those car events that you need to experience at least once in your lifetime. This seven day/seven city driving tour changes location every year. The route for this year, the 16th annual, began in Newton, Iowa on June 5th and finished in Mobile, Alabama on June 11th. Caddy owned by "Kid Cadillac" who told us, 'On the Power Tour this year the odo hit 45 thousand miles on this since I finished her 3 1/2 years ago. She still gets looks and wins trophies. Don’t be afraid to drive them!' Each leg of the tour averages around 200 miles. Often times during the Hot Rod Power Tour a sponsor will host a lunch stop. This year we had a great lunch provided by Mid America Motorworks at their facility in Effingham, Illinois. Their reproduction vintage gas station made for a great backdrop for photos. You don't really need a souped up hot rod to run the Power Tour. As long as it runs and has four wheels it is welcome to ride. Each Hot Rod Power Tour sees more and more...

May & June's Freebies... Well, they ain't totally free. I hope you didn't stop reading there because this time, I'm asking you to GIVE a little to win one of TWO Optima Batteries. You'll be giving to charity and you'll be glad you did. The charity is for Progeria. Any donation of $1 or more will enter you to win. Please donate here. Progeria is a heart breaking genetic condition that makes kids age 7-10 times more rapidly than normal. Children with Progeria rarely live past 16 years old. This is a very rare but fatal condition. The picture on the left is Kristian from Kristian's Page. The picture is labeled "PreSchool 2005" when Kristian was 3 years old. Kristian died on March 23, 2006. Why Progreria? I met Terry Foose, the mother of famed hot rod designer Chip Foose at the Grand National Roadster Show in 2008. Terry was raising money for Progeria when I talked to her. Terry's daughter and Chip's younger sister died of Progeria, but there's no doubt, she lived courageously. Her story warmed my heart as I'm sure it will for you.  Please take...

Drawing Cars with My Buddy Joel This blog post is a long time coming.  We at MyRideisMe have shown off a number of talented hot rod artists.  Joel Nelson of 1320 Designs is most definitely on that list.  I mean, just dig these drawings below.   Asking Joel how he got into drawing cars, he said: I got into drawing cars from watching The Dukes of Hazzard on prime time and Smokey and the Bandit. Thankfully CarTOONS was in full circulation too and that really put me over the edge! Then during the late 80's and early 90's, I really got into drawing Pro Street cars. Nothing was safe from becoming "pro street-ed". You could make anything look nasty by dropping it and adding a set of big 'n' littles!  I like to work with markers and pastels mostly but have been known to do hand painted work in Photoshop too. Nothing beats pencil and paper though! This first one is Joel's latest and is our own Pikesan's 1961 AMC Rambler Wagon gasser concept drawing.  You'll be seeing more of this concept from Joel in the future as he fine tunes...

Car Drawings vs. Hot Rod Design   Over the last decade, we've seen explosive growth in the hot rod and custom car industry and hobby as a whole. This can be attributed to the popularity of television shows like Overhaulin', American Hot Rod and others, as well as Powerblock TV, the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Events, and of course, access to great personalities like Chip Foose, Stacey David and others. This brings in new enthusiasts, and naturally, more project cars!   Not since George Barris snapped thousands of photos and wrote hundreds of articles promoting the hobby back in the 1950's and '60's have we seen so much attention on our hobby, and it's amazing to witness. Yet, while there's all of this excitement, many of these new fans and participants are feeling lost when starting a project. It can be a daunting task to say the least, but when taking those first steps, having the right footing can make all the difference in the world.   Naturally, any success in a project requires a plan, and building or modifying a car requires very careful thought at this stage. I've...

Being passionate about modified rides, I spend a lot of time on websites that span the spectrum of hotrodding to "tuning" and everything in between. Two favorite build styles of mine are Pro-Touring and the Street Drift style called HellaFlush. HellaWho? I'll explain in a minute. Call it DetroitFlush or Ill-Touring (Ill, as in Siiiick wheel fitment dude!). We can nail down the name later. Let's dig into this concept a little and see what you, the reader, has to say. First, lets define the two components of DetroitFlush individually. Pro-Touring. The Pro-Touring.com's definition as a reminder, is old muscle with new sports car performance. Modern suspensions, brakes, big wheels/tires and late model drivetrains (like a 6.1L Hemi Crate motor, 6 speed Tremec and 20" wheels with 315/30/20 Pirelli's like the TerraCuda built by Chip Foose) HellaFlush on the other hand is the concept, "Offset Is Everything" and traces its roots to Japanese Street Drifting which pushes the limit of fenders on import cars such as WRX's, EVO's, 240SX's and RX-7's. As seen in the picture above from the HellaFlush website, the wheels fit flush to the fender. Simple...

Most times it seems like nobody'd notice anyway, but I've been slacking on blog writing lately cause I'm working on my Diecast Drags track. I posted about it in the discussion forum. Did you see it? The Diecast Drags, or some might say, "Hot Wheels" track is brought to you MyRideisMe.com and supporting the Progeria Research Foundation (http://www.Progeriaresearch.org) The track is 2 continuous lanes that measure 50 feet! I roll it up when I'm done. The entire track lifted off the ground on a support platform to give a gradual decent and super high speeds! Racing will feature an electronic finish line and a "Christmas tree" start that gives an edge to the better reaction time. This promises to be more fun than Pinewood derby racing because it's easier to get started and the fastest car might not always win! Of course from the trial run 2/21 at the local, "Cruise in" called the "Mesa Pavilions" at Power and Hampton (Kmart parking lot) the kids could care less about the start! They just want to see who won and the small jump we had setup at the finish line!...

Following up on Dwayne Vance's new book called: The Hot Rod Art book: Masters of Chicken Scratch, I caught up with Dwayne at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona (damn that was a good time!) The book will be officially released on February 10, 2009 and judging from the buzz at GNRS, the books already of to a great star! There were about 100 advanced copies available at the Grand National Roadster Show, but they sold out! It's no wonder when 8 of the 13 artists featured in the book were at the show and ready to sign their pages of your brand new book. Several artists stopped by and checked out my book at the show including: Chip Foose, Steve Strope, Carter Hickman, Eric Black, Larry Wood, and many others to check out the book. The book's also going to be featured in Rod and Custom magazine as well as Hemmings Auto news. For those of you that have not yet heard of this "Hot Rod Art Book", it is a unique book of over 100 pages of beautiful hot rod art from thirteen very talented artists...

Written by Len Stupski I moved to the Bay area in 1996 and attended the 1997 & 1998 Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS). As good as they were, nothing prepared me for the 50th Anniversary show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco that next year in 1999. As I set my eyes upon the main floor my jaw dropped down to my shoulders. Just about every previous America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) winner right there in one spot. Awesome!!. Then, scattered throughout the rest of the building were more and more dynamite cars, built by guys like Bill Reasoner, Gene Winfield, Dave Crook, Marcos Garcia and many other great craftsmen. Saying hello to Big Daddy Roth was a great highlight of the event. After taking in all the colors, the chrome and history I vowed to be at the 60th show, God willing. Fast forward ten years and I'm living in Gilbert, AZ, and the show is being held much closer now in Pomona, CA. Pure chance? I don't think so.... perhaps God shares my love of cars. Early Saturday morning I pile into Pikesan's car with my...

I expect a hot rod driver or builder to know who Boyd Coddington was. Like him or not, there's no denying his influence on style and the budget of custom cars, especially the one-off rides built for his TV show, "American Hot Rod". His death almost 1 year ago shocked the custom car world. It looked like there were alot more hot rods and cars that I'll call "regular" at the 2009 Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona this year. What the heck is regular? Well, I just mean they're somewhat obtainable by more then just wealthy collectors out there. I guy with a dream who's been saving for a while might have a shot. With the "dreamers" and the collectors all gathered at Barrett Jackson, how many knew who Boyd Coddington? Quite a few! Case in point are 2 hot rods sold on Saturday at Barret Jackson. The first is this neo-classic styled: chopped, red and flamed but with billet (of course Boyd's) wheels, 1932 Ford 3 window coupe. A great looking, no-expense-spared car, no doubt, but was it worth the $200k it sold for? (without commissions) Who...

The artists and illustrators I've featured on MyRideisMe.com all are super talented and I could easily recommend them. In talking and getting to know them, I'm seeing a trend in the people that make art, especially car art, their living. In talking with Scott Fisk from Studio 669 and CAR-TOONER.com, I've found some of the same important features I see in Brian Stupski from Problemchildkustoms.com and from Jimmy Smith from Jimmyshotroddesign.com and it's my suggestion you look for these 2 qualities in your next artist: A true passion for all things cars. A unique style they're proud to use. I think you'll hear these qualities loud and clear after reading my talk with Scott Fisk. Scott gave me his regular bio for starters. Like many other car artist, he's been drawing his whole life finding inspiration from rod magazines and one of his instructors while getting his Fine Art degree in Signage and Graphic design in Boston. Struggling through college, Scott recalls drawing for drinks on cocktails napkins. He says, "I was good for about 3 drawings, then the quality started to go down hill, but the people loved...

You're walking around a show and when you see a car cruise in that makes you stop in your tracks. You're stunned and instantly curious. You're hear it and feel it as it drives by. Time for a closer look. Cars that make you feel that way have alot to see, but it's all skin deep. What'd he do for the rear axle setup? Are those custom engine mounts? Unless the builder took great pics and brought them, it's tough to fully appreciate what it took to bring that car to the show. That's where Build Book comes in. BuildBookUSA.com has published 5 books covering 5 cars built by some of the top builders in country. I met Scott and BJ Killeen (long time auto journalists) at the Grand National Roadster Show and they were kind enough to let me preview the complete series of books. You gotta check these out! The first book, and my favorite, is about Joe Rogan's "Sick Fish" 70 Barracuda. Built by the legendary Troy Trepanier & Rad Rides by Troy, this book oozes coolness page by page. What do you want to know...

By now, this isn't breaking news, but I just heard it. I thought I kept up with hot rod and general car news, but I guess not. On top of that, I'm a big fan of Chip Foose. There are several good blogs that are writing about this story. Basically, Unique Performance has been busted and raided. Check it out: Shelby severing ties with Unique Performance Round 2: Unique Performance fires back at Shelby Foose Cuts All Ties With Unique Performance Unique Performance raided by local police What a mess! Uniqueperformance.com website is DOWN... I'll try to update this story as I follow it. I hope Foose's name is cleared. Everything I've seen or read says he's a solid guy. The NY Times added this: A Cloud Over Reborn Shelby...