Casting Car Enthusiasts in Arizona! You ain't Chip Foose, but you can be on TV! I was introduced to Tim Cooper, Associate Producer from True Entertainment down in San Fernando Valley by a great friend who's always watching out for MyRideisMe.com. (Thanks Susan!) Tim told me about a show they're casting to shoot, in fact, shooting NOW up in the north part of Phoenix.  They said I was too good looking for the show, so Tim asked me to put out this message: A new automotive show for a major cable network is looking for your classic car restoration story.  Seeking hot rodders, muscle car fiends, and guys and girls with that almost finished classic pick-up truck.  We’re looking for projects with a strong story behind them, be it a relative’s old car, a car your spouse wants finished NOW, a surprise graduation or wedding present, etc. The program follows customers as they visit a salvage yard that WILL have that rare part they’ve been looking for to finish their project car. We’d like to see the happy ending to your quest to complete your classic. Looking for car...

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....

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...

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...

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...