1930 Ford Model A HotRod SoCal - Long revered as the mecca for hot rods and custom cars, and for good reason... Builders from LA and the San Fernando Valley launched what is now known as traditional style builds and continue to set the standard.  But, just a few hours north up the 5, San Jose's Jeff Cimoli and the Rompacoglioni C.C. are turning out traditional customs and hot rods rivaling anything cruising the PCH. Originally a self-proclaimed Cadillac guy and with a well recognized and respected '60 Caddy to back up this claim, a visit to the Cow Palace in San Francisco back in 2007 would steer him away from his first love. On display was a traditional styled ’30 Ford Coupe by Nor Cal builder Scotty Chops. Jeff immediately knew what he'd build next.  Fortunately, Jeff soon heard about a barn fresh coupe in the near-by farm town on Morgan Hill. The rumor turned out to be true and Jeff soon scored a ’30 five window Ford body and frame to kick off the project. His time building Cadillacs earned him a good local rep and several contacts in the area. In no time, the coupe found its...

Hot Rod Art by Tom Fritz at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance (Click picture for full size) "What D'Ya Reckon She'll Do?" - Oil on canvas, 41" x 27" Catch Hot Rod Artist and overall cool-guy at the upcoming Pebble Beach car show. Tom Fritz art has been featured several times here at MyRideisMe.com for a simple reason: Tom's paintings inspire! Tom captures the coolest hot rods and vintage motorcycles in vivid colors, but what you'll remember is the emotion seen in every painting. You'll wonder, what's that guy thinking? It's my pleasure to see Tom all over SoCal and at Barrett Jackson in Arizona, and it will be yours too at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The show runs from August 17-21 with the Automotive Fine Arts Society (AFAS) Exhibition on Sunday, August 21. Here's Tom prepping you for the show and his new paintings: Two globs of oil are scooped up and shmushed onto the sheet of glass I use as a palette. A couple quick swirls and the color is pretty close to what I'm looking for. A little modification with a previously mixed color satisfies my eyeball,...

Salty Boneville Hot Rods 2011 Bonneville Speed Week sponsored by Spectre Performance   I'd like to tell ya I'm a great photographer. I'd like to even suggest that I posed these hot rods on the salt for a big-time photo shoot. I didn't. Truth is, Bonneville Speed Week brings out some of the coolest vintage hot rods you'll find. The coupe above is from Wrecked Metal. My buddy Josh Clason did a cool video at Wrecked Metal's shop featuring the guys who drove in from Idaho.     What else do you want? This trick little roadster was way different and way cool. Dig the triple carbed six cylinder, the swept back Duvall style windshield and look closely for the motorcycle-like gas tank out back. If you think this is a thrown together "rat rod" you're wrong. (Stop thinking that and seek help)     Speed Week brings out the hot rods. It's simple! When you see them out on the salt... tires caked with it, chunks sitting on the louvered roofs... it's plain to see: These hot rods are driven and the owners are having fun. That's enough...

Going to Impound - That's a GOOD thing! 2011 Bonneville Speed Week sponsored by Spectre Performance It's a thing of beauty. The 1969 Plymouth Barracuda built by Rad Rides by Troy. So imagine that everyone's happy they're off to impound! You should remember that when you run faster than a record, the car goes to impound, then the next morning you back up the record or start over. Review: Setting a Record at Bonneville The thrash is on! In impound, the team has 4 hours to make any changes and get ready for the back-up run. Blowfish is owned by George Poteet and nobody's more excited to see what the team has almost accomplished in the B/BFCC class. The record is held by a family everyone knows, the Burkland's. Tom Burkland set the record way back at Speed Week in 1985 with a coupe named "411 to Bonneville" at 294.868 mph. Blowfish ran 303 and change, so a new record, and a coveted blue hat (300 mph club) are within reach. Stay tuned for an update... Update! I caught up with Lawrence Laughlin, the shop manager from Rad Rides...

Bonneville Salt Flats -Speedweek 2011 I wasn’t sure I’d be able to come to Bonneville this year. Studie didn’t get to come with me, but by 3pm Thursday afternoon my boyfriend Ethan and I were headed out of So Cal. By 9pm we were zooming across the empty desert underneath a full moon. By 3am we’d passed through Wendover and found an empty space at “The Bend”(the aptly named bend in the road just before getting to the Bonneville Salt Flats.) Early the next morning the sun woke us up to the sight of an amazing sunrise out over the salt flats – it was time for Speedweek 2011 to begin. Although the racing doesn’t begin until Saturday of Speedweek, Friday is full of activity as salt fever builds toward its breaking point…exploding as each participant racer zooms away from the starting line. Here’s some of the things I found going on in the pits as I wandered around on Friday… As racers arrive they register and begin lining up cars to get through tech inspection. This year has seen a number of safety changes – from head restraint...

Bonneville Salt Flats -Breaking Records 2011 Bonneville Speed Week sponsored by Spectre Performance Any time a land speed racer says what they're "planning" to do, they better be smiling! As a warm up for the record breaking session this year at Bonneville, I stole 15 minutes with Amir Rosenbaum, the founder of Spectre Performance and driver of the "SpeedLiner" race car shown above. He was smiling... The plan is to break five records! Record #1 - B/BGS: When the SpeedLiner hits the starting line of the long course on Saturday, stuffed inside the long lean frame rails will be a 434 cubic inch Cadillac motor. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a B-class motor  at 373-439 cubic inches. They're gunning for the B/BGS record of 337.197 mphcurrently held by Vesco Racing's D. Spangler. Record #2 - A/BGS: If things go well, (isn't the "if" redundant!!) the B-class record's in reach because SpeedLiner already holds the A/BGS record at 356.645 mph. A-class allows 440-500 cubic inches, so they're working a plan they already know fairly well. (there's that word plan again!) Record #3 - AA/BGS: One word:...

NorCal Hot Rods and Custom Car Show Pictures Midnight Mass #8 This year I thought I would go against what I was hearing about Midnight Mass and experience it for myself. For some reason Midnight Mass was getting a bad wrap for the past couple of years. Yeah, there has been some drama inside the Poor Boys car club but really, what club doesn't have a little drama here and there. Mostly when rumors are spread it just makes it 10x worse by the time it reaches it's final destination. This year marks number 8 for Midnight Mass and it was held at Gibson Ranch out in Sacramento, CA. Generally, this show is held from 5:00pm till midnight, hence Midnight Mass. Calendar-wise it's also held at the end of July. So if you are not familiar with Sacramento, especially at the end of July, I would like to give you a heads up for future summer shows out in this area... bring a ton of sun screen and enough water to fill a 50 gallon drum! Simply... it's hot. Which is pretty smart thinking by the Poor Boys CC...

NorCal Hot Rods and Custom Car Show Pictures Nite of the Hot Rods #5 107.7 The Bone Rock Girl Brittany Cervantes 11:05 am on Saturday morning I was in the back yard pulling some unwanted weeds and up in the skies were some wicked black and grey clouds just looming over the city of Concord, CA. As I had 10,000 years by High on Fire running through my head and anticipating the sky to rip open at any second I pondered the thought of, "How cool would it be if the weather stayed like this for the show tonight?" Meaning, the 5th Annual Nite of the Hot Rods at the Riverview Lodge in Antioch, CA. The day went on and the thunderhead started to disappear the closer it got to show time. Reason why I thought it would be cool that the weather stayed that way is because the show, like every year is held on the pier at the lodge, but this year there was something different in the air, something a bit weird. Kind of like that feeling you get when you walk into a room and...

NorCal Hot Rods and Custom Car Show Pictures Story Contributed by MyRideisMe.com member: Nick Koljian "Hellcity316" 2011 Strangers Car Show I would like to start off by saying the Strangers Car show and BBQ is a special show in many ways. One, it's a family show for us here at the N/K residence. The whole family piles in to the wagon and heads down 680 south in route for San Jose's Kelly park. Dave,my bro-in-law and his son roll in for the festivities. It's a family affair gig. We all park it in the same place right behind the raffle booth every year under one of the many shade trees in the park. Throw the blanket down, kick out the chairs and the girls spew out all their toys for the day. Two, it's the headliner of a double dip show weekend. On that Saturday is Gambino's Sit Down custom car show in San Jose which is always a dandy. Then you have the Strangers on Sunday. Which in my opinion is one of the highly anticipated and blockbuster weekends of the summer for shows. Third, it marks my...

1939 Ford Coupe - Nostalgia Minded Business Coupe “High School Hot Rods” have been staples of the car scene since their popularity first took off in the 1950's. Innovative and determined teenagers across the country turned out these cars in their local high school shop class with a single goal in mind – beat anything the rich kids from the other side of the tracks could buy from the local Big 3 dealerships. Ray Southard’s 1939 Ford Business Coupe Deluxe exemplifies traditional high school hot rod styling and how you never forget your first; hot rod that is... Ray spent his teenage years growing up in Reno, NV. At the age of 14, Ray bought a 39’ Ford Coupe shell from a friend’s dad that had been basking in the Nevada sun for several years. The shell only set the young teen back $15, but a long list of parts and time lay ahead. Ray took a job doing parts inventory at a local salvage yard. As any part he could use came through, Ray set'm aside into his own personal parts bin or quickly installed them on the...

Northern California Car Show - Hot Rods and Customs in Vallejo Story Contributed by MyRideisMe.com member: Nick Koljian "Hellcity316" Round 2 was a TKO 2012 NorCal Knockout Coverage Here Just 365 days after the 1st ever Nor Cal Knockout, Korena and Hollywood Hank were at it again with the 2011 Nor Cal Knockout. Simply put it's Nor Cal Knockout Round 2. I will tell you this: Round 2 was just that with local heavy hitters the Swanx CC stepping in to lend a well needed hand to the founders of this amazing show. The morning of the show while sipping on a cup of joe in my front yard waiting on my ride I thought to myself, "It's going to be tough to top last years phenomenal showing." As Scotty of the Villianz CC pulled up in his 51' flamed Chevy (shown above with knockout Sarah Neary) I hopped in and we were off to Vallejo to meet up with the rest of the club. Once everyone was in-check and the coolers where filled with ice, grub and of course bevmo's... We set off to the Solano County Fairgrounds....

Hot Rod Hemi's, Flatheads and Bangers - Take Your Pick! #1 Overhead Valve Conversion Banger Ford Flathead in a Slick looking Slingshot. Best Engines of the 2011 LA Roadster Show We tried this at the 2010 LA Roadster Show and it's been a great story with interesting feedback. So why not try it again? Everyone's got their own style and as you can see from the engines I picked out, I trend towards nostalgic, blown, FAST looking engines. How about you? Take a look at these and choose which one your favorite! Hit the "Like" button above and call it out by number. Or, if this is your car or you happen to be an expert on early Hemi's or overhead valve conversion flathead motors, then let us know what we're looking at. I hope I caught something to your liking! #2 Another well executed Ford "Banger" Flathead - Think there's enough carburetion? #3 I'm a sucker for the black and chrome look with simple lakes style headers. This Ford Flathead engine's got Harrell Los Angeles Racing Equipment on board. Learn more about Jim Harrell and the flathead parts...