The Bountiful, Utah "Coats For Kids" Car Show was just another example of small town USA and the car nuts that make up this great hobby/pastime.  Personally, I think its crucial that towns big and small keep hotrodding alive and passing the automotive genes onto the next generation by supporting and putting on car shows and cruise-ins like this one in downtown Bountiful, Utah.          Looking over these pictures again, I thought about how events like this create a sense of community and make family memories for years to come.  Nothing more american, or human, than a good car show with your friends and family.    Here are some of my favorite pictures I took while hanging with my family.  How else can you teach your kid to hang his arm out the window like a true hotrodder than by owning a '32 roadster?  How else will he know what a 4bbl carbed big block V8 sounds like unless he can stand next to it and feel the ground shake!  Shoot me an email at hechtspeed@myrideisme.com and I'll post up your "small town USA" car show pics and...

This past weekend I was able to make it to Ink N Iron 6 - a tattoo festival + car show + rockabilly music event held on the amazing Queen Mary ship in Long Beach, California. Am I glad I dropped anchor! Not only did I hear some great bands and see some awesome cars - but I got to meet up with car customizer Bo Huff and best of show winner Voodoo Larry! Let me fill you in on the show…this was year #6 for Ink & Iron – and I dug it! Each year it’s held in Long Beach aboard the Queen Mary – which is a huge, Titanic-ish ship. There are tons of tattoo artists exhibiting and doing tattoos. There’s dozens of bands playing throughout the day. Pinups are around too of course - vying for the $2000 grand prize in the contest (why don’t they award cars that much when they win?!?) And obviously… custom cars. This show is all about rockabilly and kustom culture. So of course the cars showing up are along the style the rockabilly crowd likes - Classic rods and crazy...

This story was written by Dave or elmoco40 in his MyRideisMe garage. It's a story of a guy finding love and hot rods! It's bring a tear to your eye if Dave's wife, Larua Lee weren't so hot! This is exactly the kind of story we want at MyRideisMe.com! Great times, get'n the girl, what else is there? For Dave's efforts, I'm sending him a pack of Pinup Playing Cards by Heidi Van Horne and Sabina Kelly. Look for a contest soon where you can win your set of pinup playing cards, or just send us your ideas! I grew up in so. Cal, in the town of Santa Ana, CA. Growing up I was surrounded by a lot of lowriders and kustoms that were owned by local clubs and gangs. I was always fascinated by the elaborate paint jobs and the use of hydraulics on there cars, so when I was old enough to know what a wrench was and how to operate a spray can, I began my journey into ripping things apart and trying to somehow make'em different, whether it was bikes or big wheels, something...

MyRideisMe.com is a big fan of John Force and John Force Racing.  Combine that with the idea that we'll help worthy causes and this is a win-win. This food drive is Saturday,  May 9th, so help out any way you can. John Force Racing Press Release: ASHLEY FORCE HOOD ASKS FANS TO JOIN HER AND STAMP OUT HUNGER YORBA LINDA, CA (May 7, 2009) --- NHRA Funny Car superstar and 2007 Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future winner Ashley Force Hood would like fans to join her in helping “Stamp Out Hunger.” Please join her in the fight to end hunger on Saturday, May 9, 2009, by leaving non-perishable food donations in a bag next to your mailbox for your letter carrier. Stamp Out Hunger is the nation’s largest single-day food drive. Last year, over 73 million pounds of food were donated to food banks. “I found info about the Stamp Out Hunger event in a magazine a few days ago and jotted it down in my organizer since it’s such a simple thing to do and yet a very important cause. When I got to...

Someone asked me, "How'd you get 10 Nissan Cubes?" I said, "Well I broke the first Cube 9 times." Figuring I didn't answer his question, I continued... "I asked and they said yes!" They is Nissan and they've got 10 Nissan Cubes being prepped for release to the media for evaluation, write-ups and sometimes criticism. That's what the consumers read in print and online magazines like MyRideisMe.com. For those of you lucky enough to live in Arizona, you'll get a sneak peak of the new Nissan Cube. And.. if you haven't seen one in person, check out the Nissan GT-R. Except for inside national super-shows like the Los Angeles Auto Show where the Cube first occupied equal space on all side 6 sides last year in November, this is the first time the geometric, love-hate styled Econo-box (couldn't resist) has been seen in the wild with other shapes. Where: Scottsdale Pavilion at Indian Bend and 101 When: 4:30 to 9 PM on May 2nd, 2009 (This is a one-time only deal!) What: 10 Pre-release, totally new Nissan Cubes, plus 1 rockin, bad-to-the-bone Nissan GT-R! Since I haven't driven it...

Bonneville Salt Flats: 2008's Pictures: I'm a little intimidated to tackle a story that even has the words: Salt Flats, Bonneville, and Speed Week included. The 2008 Speed Week day-trip I made last year was only my second time on the salt in Bonneville, the "Fastest Place On Earth" as the Bonneville Speed Week website declares. I wanted to share a few words and pictures from that day. I made the 1.5 hour drive out to Bonneville International Raceway with my good'ol 1959 JC Higgins rat rod cruiser pedal bike. The Bonneville salt-essentials strapped on the rear rack: bottles of water, sunflower seeds, sunblock and the old point and shoot camera. You need a bike just to get around the pit area. Why you ask? The pit area is 3 miles long and about 2 miles from the starting line!!! I spent most of my time near the starting line and in the pits soaking in sun, salt and of course the coolest "Car Show/Cruise-In" ever! OK, so there's no official car show, but that's what I call it. There are a few hundred old roadsters, coupes, muscle cars,...

Local small town car shows and cruise-ins are at the heart of the American Hot Rodding hobby. Layton, Utah is a good example. The cars at this show cover the gamut of usual suspects along with some nice surprises. This show is a monthly event during the summer months and is part of the JC Hackett's Rock-n-Roll Cruisin' Oldies car show tour in northern Utah and surrounding area.  The 2009 Calendar can be found on the site in Excel. I hope you dig these photos. Check out the gallery below. I was toting around my 3 sons (ages 6, 4 and 2), so I didn't get to stop and talk to any car owners and get more info on my favorites. Gotta pass on the hot rod blood, right!? Have you gone to a local cruise in spot or a big national hot rod event yet this year? If so and you took some pics, let us know about it. We'd like to see what the hot rodding scene is doing in your neck of the woods. [gallery =...

One of the fun and from what I've seen fairly unique parts of the Viva Las Vegas car show is the girls! Some of them professional pinups like the lovely Kim Falcon pictured here, and some of them girls trying to be pinups or just out having a good time! Whatever the motivation, we like! As you cruised the show, you'd see these girls done up pinup-like or sometimes just looking hot and when they'd stop at a car, the cameras would come out like crazy and a near mob-scene started as everyone tried to get their own shots. They should just come to MyRideisMe.com, it saves on film! (duh, I know) So check out Paul Swanson (Swanee@myrideisme.com) my man and chief photo madman's new Ladies of Viva gallery. He's got photos all over the place and a really nice garage filled with his favorite pics. Contact him if you want one of the photos, especially a high resolution or something without the MyRideisMe logo. He's cool like that. If we caught you walking around, let us...

YORBA LINDA, CA (April 2, 2009) --- John Force Racing, headquartered in Yorba Linda, Calif., will be expanding its tradition of giving back to the community beginning April 25th when the first of seven John Force Cruise Night Car Shows will be held. Participants and spectators at the John Force Cruise Night Car Shows are being encouraged to bring a can of food that will be donated to the Orange County Food Bank. For each can donated a raffle ticket will be distributed good for a chance to win a 52" Sanyo Flat Screen TV. If participants bring one can of food they get one ticket if they bring twenty cans of food they get twenty tickets or chances to win. The raffle will be held on Halloween at the final John Force Cruise Night Car Show of the season. "In December we have built up a tradition of giving toys to kids in need with the John Force Holiday Car Show that benefits the California Highway Patrol's "CHiP's for Kids" program. During these tough economic times we felt that we needed to do something for our community right...

My new friend Justin filled us in on a car show in Australia. Thanks Justin! I arrived at the meet up for the Australian lowrider scene which was organised by one of Australia's newest lowrider club Loyalty IV Life. The event was held at Sydney's Homebush Bay. I arrived at 10 am to find great weather and about 10 or so Cars which ended up around 30 cars by the end of the day. There was various makes and models of cars at the show from Cadillacs to Buicks to even Pontiacs and Holdens. I walked around, had a chat to few of the owners whilst walking around snapping a few images. There were various clubs represented including: LOYALTY IV LIFE, OTHERSIDE, SYDNEY STYLE, OLDSKOOLRYDZ, HEART & SOUL, ETERNAL ROLLERZ and FRESH STYLZ. They had a BBQ and a hop off at the end of the day and I was glad to have made this event which will go down in history as Australia's first lowrider event. Photos courteous of Bliss Photography & Designs [gallery =...

As a Viva LasVegas car show virgin, I drove blindly into a sea of horseshit opinions about what the Rockabilly Weekender is... without first hand experience, I checked and heard varying opinions about the show, especially about what I'm most interested in, the strolling pinups... no, scratch that, the hot rods! Just like the saying goes, everyone's got an opinion and I have to say, most of what I heard STANK! Living in Arizona, and only about 5 hours from Las Vegas, I decided to roll up and check for myself. (so here's my opinion... keep the air-freshener handy) First off, what had I heard about the Viva Las Vegas Car Show or "Rockabilly Weekender" as it's called? I heard the quality of cars sucked. NOT true. I heard it wasn't a fun crowd. Also not true. Then, even though I'm not a big rockabilly fan, I did enjoy the music... and I only got to hear what was played outside at the car show. About the rides... The cars I found were almost all right up my alley. Nobody goes to a car show and only finds what...

Nicole and Chris Eades from the Jennabears Foundation sent the nicest email asking if it would be OK to promote their Jennabear Car Show at MyRideisMe.com. YES!! I heard of their show last year but didn't get a chance to attend. I asked a few questions and here's what I found out: Who was Jenna and why a car show? Jenna was my beautiful daughter whose life was taken by a reckless driver. She was only 6 month and 21 days old. She had beautiful blue eyes and personality that everyone parent dreams of. She was and always will be my bestfriend. Jenna was always around mustangs. I had a '89 fox body that I restored and really enjoyed. We also had a '95 mustang gt for more than 8 years at the time that slowly went from stock to our family street-legal drag car. Jenna rode in it the last week of her life. Jenna was born on 9/11 and our new goal with this car is to run a 9/11. The car was dedicated to her memory and is our official foundation race car. So needless to...