Top 10 Tips to Survive SEMA   by Karma Carlson of Chaotic Customs We live in Kansas. That’s a long haul to Las Vegas! 1,262 miles to be exact which equals out to 17 hours and 50 minutes of driving. Pull a trailer and travel with two women and that time increases by a good six hours. We installed a 75 gallon fuel tank in the bed of the truck. It’s great because you don’t have to fill up as often. It’s not great because we don’t stop as often. In order to make it from one stop to the next, I forgo all liquids for two days before we travel. Arriving in Vegas dehydrated is never a good idea. (Have you seen that 100 ounce margarita at MargaritaVille? Not the best idea when you are thirsty and dehydrated!)   SEMA is a great place to network, see all the latest products and get new ideas. You can see what other people in the industry are doing and showcase your own workmanship. The best part is seeing the talented builders and innovative ideas that keep the hot rod market fresh...

Custom Car Wheel Review at SEMA Show 2010 In my search with pikesan for the biggest custom rims at SEMA 2010, I was struck with horror by the ugliness of some of these wheels. Did something go wrong in the design department? How did so much money go into making such an awful rim?! In Las Vegas terms, these wheels rolled crap dice! Splatter paint? That fad was SO third grade. If it were only one color it would look like a gaudy daisy... perfect for a decked out VW. But four colors? Enter: guy with large truck taking place for small ego. I like stars too... but they shouldn't be on your rim dude. These may be custom but that doesn't mean they're good looking. We had a general dislike for this uber-ugly Challenger. (At least it didn't have any LED's) PINK! On the right car, these could look pretty cool - the thing is they'll probably be showing up on a crappy Honda Civic near you. I actually really liked these on this cool little VW. But again... coming soon to a Honda Civic near you. Something...

Searching for the Biggest Custom Rims At SEMA Show 2010 Over the past few years the size of rims and wheels has been getting out of hand. Previously, Craig (known here as "pikesan") and I generally try to avoid the ginormous wheel and tire section of SEMA – this year we dove right in and went scouting for SEMA 2010’s biggest wheel. Here’s what we found… Just as we started on our search we ran into this whole wall of rims. Most with a diameter roughly the full length of my arm. Just so ya know - from fingertip to armpit I measure 31 inches. Then in Giovanna Wheel's large display were these big guys. Seeing all these rims sitting around, one forgets how incredibly expensive they are. One online source I found to purchase Giovanna rims at quoted a price of nearly $10,000 for a set of 26 inch rims. Ten Thousand Dollars!!! Ten. Thousand. Dollars. What else could you do with all that money? Maybe you could customize your Rolls Royce? Mini-Me or Mega-Me? Next up we found these classic wire spoke rims. Whether you're sportin tiny...

It was my first time to a 24 Hours of LeMons race. As soon as I could see the track, I knew I wanted to do this. How else can you race all day for so little money?  With a set of not-so-serious sounding racing rules we told you about in a another post, there were some very serious safety rules in place at the track. Off-track excursions or spins were subject to penalties and that's where the 24 Hours of LeMons style fun started. (click the picture to read) The penalties for a track infraction are wide reaching.  For the worst kinds of repeated offenses, including total disdain for judges, there were simple time penalties, but with a bribe here or there (of course bribes are legal!) you could get off with a written penalties like the ones above.  I won't guess the political affiliation of "Chief Perpetrator" Jay Lamm. So what other kinds of penalties did I see? The top photo shows the tires of one team in the stands so they could, "watch and learn how to race."  Too funny! The car was on jack stands...

I wrote about the 24 Hours of LeMons (yea, I spelled that right) in another blog about the "Strict Racing Rules". I expected some easy going people out to have a great time. I found'm! It took the "Eyesore Racing" shown above 6 months of weekends to put their 94 Mazda Miata together. The car, built for $500 or less by the rules, was made from 2 Miatas practically welded together in the middle. One car had front end damage and no motor and the other had been carefully wrapped around a tree with the front end intact. The engine, including the small rusty-wheeled turbo from a Mexico only Dodge pickup, was resurrected from 4 engines. Where would 24 Hours of LeMons racing be without Craigslist! The team consists of neighbors and friends making up 4 sets of couples out of Long Beach, CA. In the Phoenix race, their 9th race,  6 of the 8 team members drive including "March Hare" Dave, "Tweedle Dee" Jay, "Tweedle Dum" Dan, "Alice" Sara and "White Rabbit" Sarah and my man, the "Mad Hatter" Kyle who helped with the details for this story....

PT Cruisers - Way Over Done So far, MyRideisMe.com has resisted the occasional urge to say anything negative about anyone else's ride. After all, to each his own and all that. But, in the words of Clint Eastwood, "A man's got to know his limitations." And I hit mine at the 2009 Cruisin for a Cure show in Orange County with the PT Cruiser club that rolled as the fog still hung low early in the morning. Love'm or hate'm, (you can say which at the end of this story) the PT Cruiser came on the scene 2000 and were immediately popular as one of the first of many, "throw back" cars.  No doubt the Chrysler company wanted to spring board off the relative success, or at least show room traffic, of the Plymouth Prowler.  The story about how it was a "light truck" to help the Dodge boys meet CAFE compliance is another, boring story... With the PT Cruiser, however, Chrysler clearly targeted the main stream, family buyers in the minivan market Chrysler invented.  I wonder how surprised they were by the following they found with PT Cruiser,...

When it comes down to it, there's one universal truth. You can't fight the man.   Oh go ahead and fight, my weary and simple minded friends, but you're gonna lose. That's why I've decided to stop fighting and get with America's Program. Like most American's, I don't want a stylish car with features that make me feel good after a long day's work... and I don't need to tow my boat with a truck big enough to haul my family. No. I want a fuel efficient car and I don't care what it looks like or what it costs.   That's why nobody wants to get the American economy running on green jobs more than MyRideisMe.com. I've decide to do my part to contribute to the new 27.3 mpg standard for new cars by making a change to my hobby and reduce my carbon footprint.   If you didn't know, I'm building a 1963 Falcon wagon. I've always loved wagons for their sleek design and roomy interiors. I can take all my 2 stroke lawn maintenance equipment (my blower, mower and wacker too) in for service all at...

Found a really entertaining website called Fail Blog: failblog.org. I grabbed this video from their youtube gallery and I doubt it'll be the last. Just kick back and enjoy! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6BidDtffG8&eurl=http://failblog.org/page/18/&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]  ...

Brandon over at AmericanTorque.com sent over some info about a fun game that tests your knowledge of American V8 Engines. Here's how the idea got started: One night when I was a kid my Dad and I were at a dirt track watching the Sprint Cars racing, and he pointed out which cars had Chevy engines and which had Fords. How could he tell from the bleachers? He explained that you could tell by the spacing of the header tubes. The Fords were evenly spaced and the Chevys were not (the middle two exhaust ports are right next to each other on the Chevy small-block). Years later, I'm thinking of ideas for an automotive trivia game, and it hits me - make a game where you identify an engine from a photo. Soon after my first engine ID game was born. After hearing feedback from players of that game I made another engine ID game, and more games are on the way. You can check them out at: http://www.americantorque.com/game/ This one pictured's too easy. AmericanTorque.com's get tougher... much tougher! If you can't figure this one out, don't bother! Please...

If you have ever been to a large auto swap meet with commercial vendors or flipped through a car catalog that offers automobile collectibles for sale, then you've probably seen the art of George Trosley (Troz). Troz started his career the traditional way by attending Hussian School of Commercial Art in Philadelphia, PA. After schooling, he landed several well paying commercial jobs working for various studios. But Troz felt that something was missing in his life. Illustrating commercial products was boring and tedious. Taking a big chance in 1973, he threw it all away to chase his dream of becoming a freelance cartoonist. He soon began drawing for CARtoons magazine where he would later create a couple of the best loved characters of the magazine known as Krass and Bernie. Originally Troz wanted to name them “Crash and Burn” which were the nicknames for his brother and himself growing up. They received the nicknames from all their crazy mini-bike and go-cart stunts. Being the hard worker that he is, Troz refers to himself as an “art prostitute”; he is not scared to draw anything for anybody. His work has...

In addition to the sleek new set of 26x10" wheels and tires from Dubs, I'll also be installing a new LT1 fuel injected crate motor to replace the pinto power! Check out these new rims! (They make spinners look like 13"Centerlines!) Gonna be ROLLIN baby!! go back Oh, and APRIL FOOLS! (did I get'cha? Please leave a comment) (MyRideisMe.com is not receiving advertising money from Dubs, I just thought this was outrageous and a good prank for April...