I'm a huge air-cooled vdub nut at heart.  My first car was a 1972 Standard Beetle that I bought for $500.  With my dad's help we turned it into a nice Cal-Looker with new bright Corvette yellow paint, black 8 spoke Empi's, freshened heads and new interior kit.  I was even a member of the Wasatch Vintage Volkswagen Club for about a year until I sold that Bug to get wedding/honeymoon money. On to this past Saturday, where I took my wife and 3 young sons to the No Show in Kaysville, Utah.  This was the 4th annual show and is put on my the Northern Utah VW Club.  I've been to the 2nd and 3rd annual shows as well.  This year's show was at a new venue and it seemed bigger and better, with more cars and people.  This No Show is a laid back affair, just the style of VW owners.  They have a Hot Wheels track set up for the "kids" to race and the trophies are miniature vdub scenes using rusty hot wheels.  As we were driving up to the Show, we pulled off the freeway...

The Legendary Custom Cars and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield is a new offering from Motorbooks written by David Grant. The title could have had an addendum that says "A pure automotive styling genius far ahead of his time." I became a huge fan of Gene from the first time I laid eyes on his creations in the "little books" when I lived on the East coast. The book gives you a tremendous insight as to how he did what he did. This man just went out and built his dreams. If there was a part he needed and was not available, he manufactured it. Gene fabricated his own dual carb intake manifold for his '31 Model A, constructed custom headlight rings from hub caps, fingertip control steering and a camera & small television to substitute for a rear view mirror are a few of his innovations.     Within the storyline of this book we are allowed into his private life by hearing stories about him from former members of the Century Toppers Car Club as well as former coworkers "Hammer Happy" and Sam Foose. The text is...

Just met, at least through email, a professional hot rod writer living in England named Keith Harman. I'd like to introduce him some, but he does it better in his own words: Since 2002 I've been working as a self employed freelance automotive journalist specializing in Hot Rods, American Cars, Bikes etc and to date I guess I've had about 300 pieces published so far, mostly in magazines like Custom Car and Classic American in the UK, Old Skool Rodz and Car Kulture Deluxe in the US and also Cruzin in Australia. I've had one book published, entitled 'Great American Hot Rods' which is available online from Amazon in the UK, though as it was published mainly for the American market it can be bought over the counter in Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores in the US. I drive a steel '34 Five-window Coupe with a 327 and 5-speed that I imported from Tennessee in 2006. I'm happily married to Paula who often accompanies me on my travels far and wide, we like a lot of the same stuff which makes life easy and I'm sure she'll feature...

NorCal Hot Rod Car Show Story Contributed by MyRideisMe.com member: Nick Koljian "Hellcity316" There's something about a car show that's 15 minutes from the house that gives me the warm fuzzies. That my rod enthusiasts was Nite of the Hot Rods in Antioch,Ca. A quick trip over the hill and *BAM* there I was pulling up to the pier at the Riverview Lodge. The Riverview Lodge is a classic place to have a show. The breeze off the bay kept the crowd cool as cars lined the lodge's pier. And if the breeze wasn't enough, drinks at the lodge bar also helped! The lodge is like a old Elks club lodge turned restaurant but still keeping with the old beat up look. This would be the 3rd annual show hosted by Antioch's own Dragoons CC. Being in Antioch I knew it would be a diverse show and boy was I right. Everything from your classic and custom bombs brought in by Bay Bombs CC and the Dukes CC of the East Bay. Then there were the rat draggers provided by Vallejo's Swanx CC. Not only did they roll in...

Story and Photos submitted by Gerd Liebschner Gerd contacted MyRideisMe.com and asked if we'd like to see a little of the Streetmag Days in Germany.  OH YEA!  Thanks Gerd!  Anyone else?  Please leave a comment if you're finding this story from anywhere in Europe. The Streetmag Days are a yearly event in Germany ans Austria.  Here's a list of future,"Tour-Dates:" Street Mag Show Hamburg 23./24. May Street Mag Show Dornbirn/Austria 30./31. May Street Mag Show Geiselwind 12.-14. June Street Mag Show Hannover 08./09. August Street Mag Show Grefrath 22./23. August Meanwhile the whole US-Car Scene is getting more and more popular in Germany. Really beautiful cars! - I think the Hamburg show is one of the smaller parts of the show Days - but it´s really quite near to my home. This year I have been in Hamburg for the first time because I REALLY love US Cars - especially Hot Rods and Pickups. It´s a real nice event. Feel free to visit their official website: http://street-mag-show.de I look forward to the Hannover show in August to take more shots! Thanks for the info and pictures. Hot rodding is...

Hot Rods and Custom Car Show Pictures Story Contributed by MyRideisMe.com member: Nick Koljian "Hellcity316" This time of the year for the past 10 years the Strangers CC has it's annual car show & BBQ at History Park in San Jose, California and for the past couple of years I've been wanting to go, but something always prevented me from going. Whether it be work, being out of town or just plain too lazy to drive an hour or so down 680. Well this year was the 10th anniversary of the show and I did not have to work, I was in town and it was just to nice of a Sunday to be lazy. So I packed up the camera bag, flipped the A/C on and down 680 I sailed. Hoping by the time I got there that I would be feeling a little bit better than I did earlier that morning. About a hour later I pull up on History Park. History Park is a very cool setting with old historic houses set in the park, hence the name. I stroll up and pay my 2 bucks...

As much as we love our home-built cars that we’ve poured blood, sweat, and sometimes tears into – most of us recognize we don’t have the skill or talent to produce cars along the caliber that greats such as Boyd Coddington, Ed Roth, Harry Bradley, and the Alexander Brothers do. Which is why its such good news that coming this September we all have a chance to own one of these “Icons of Speed and Style”. Yep, that’s right. Nearly 80 cars, all from a single-owner collection, will be up for grabs in a no-reserve auction billed “Icons of Speed and Style” held September 26, 2009 at The Peterson Museum in Los Angeles, California by RM Auctions. Whether its speed, style, or history you’re into, this well-rounded collection offers it all. Legendary cars such as the famous Dodge “Little Red Wagon” wheel-standing drag truck, the dominating Ray Allen LS6 Chevelle Convertible, legendary “Big John” Mazmanian’s Corvette gasser, the original “Road Agent” show car by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth as well as famous customs from the Ayala Brothers, Sonny Mazza, the Alexander Brothers, George Barris, Daryl Starbird and Boyd Coddington...

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...

All Ways Hot Rods, located near downtown Phoenix, was founded in 1999 by the Way brothers Mike and Randy. They help hot rodders build their dream cars. One of those dream cars you may be familiar with is a flawless 1932 3 Window Coupe that won the 2008 Goodguys "America's Most Beautiful Hot Rod" award. In this shoebox how-to we'll take a look at how Gregg Grisham, a long time member of the All Ways team gives the custom touch to a '50 Merc's front and rear bumper by adding '51 Merc' bumper guards. Let's listen in to the how-to instructions from Gregg: "This method will work for most combinations. I need to mention that it is important to clean off the chrome and copper from where you are welding, and to make the surfaces of your welds as pit free as possible, and a good chrome shop like Kerr West can do wonders to finish off the parts. Here's a list of the Chop Shop Tools All Ways Hot Rods used: Rolloc grinder with various pads to clean chrome and grind for fit, 45 degree with cutoff wheel...

So I know ya’ll are dyin' to hear what the ladies were up to during Viva Las Vegas 12. If you had the privilege of being present, you already know that Viva Las Vegas was swarming with some of the purdiest ladies you ever did see. While you fellas might've been out merely lookin' for ladies - I was lookin' for fellow Grease Girls. Being that the car show at VLV draws one of the biggest grouping of home-built cool traditionals, customs, and rat-rods – I was hoping I'd find a few of those “builders” who also happened to be ladies. As Stude (my own 1955 Studebaker Champion) and I arrived on the lot Thursday evening, many other cars had already arrived, but we were the only girl-owned car so far. By the time Saturday rolled around the entire lot reserved for the VLV 12 Shifters Car Show was full, with ample stragglers in The Orleans parking lot. As soon as I showed up on the scene Saturday morning, I wholeheartedly began my search for fellow car ladies. You'd think finding other lady car owners wouldn't be too much...

Info about the October 2009 Cruise and the $5 Charge Carbon footprint size 12 triple E, but that was fun! For those of us living in Arizona, April's not necessarily the START of the cruising season, but it the sure is nice! After some ill timed rain canceled the cruise on April 11th, we got treated to some especially nice weather for April 18th. Wow, enough BS about the weather! So how was it? PACKED! I showed up late after a busy day of honey-do's and sports with my boys to find a packed house! At 8PM, about when I got there, some of Arizona's finest hot rods, customs and lowriders were found cruising to the delight of the packed sidewalks along Central in front of the Park Central Mall just south of Osborn. I didn't get a chance to cruise into the parking lot, but from the street it looked packed with cars and people and even the mandatory kettle corn vendor. For about 2 miles, it was a rare treat to actually enjoy "stop and go" traffic cause you were surrounded by cool cars and folks having...

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...