1966 Mustang Fastback - Pro-Touring on a Budget   One of the hightlights of the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational (aka OUSCI) was meeting Ron Schwarz, the owner of this extremely well done - homebuilt - 1966 Ford Mustang fastback. Sporting all the pro-touring trim, MyRideisMe.com featured this car long ago as part of a how-to story: Build A Pro-touring Mustang for $5000   The key point was, as you can imagine, "Do it yourself".   With a few stickers, new wheels and a new, budget blowing LS motor, Ron's Schwarz's Mustang now cracks the wallet closer to $15,000, but I'd guess is still many thousands on-the-cheap compared to the other competitors at the Optima Invitational. Unbelievably, Ron finished 33rd in the Design challenge. I don't know what those cats are looking for, but this was a ground up car featuring only what's needed to go fast. Other than that, Ron finished just outside the top 20 on the Hot Lap Challenge and the Speed Stop Challenge, but did bring home a top 20 in the Autocross.   At least he can say he tied with the Lamborghini!  ...

First Gen Camaro Parts from SEMA 2010 Some of the displays at SEMA are overwhelming. Too many colors on banners flying everywhere and every part in the catalog cluttering up the booth make it hard to find anything, let alone the cool new parts for your first gen Camaro. Then I found Marquez Design. I noticed the billet gas caps above shown elegantly in the mostly black booth filled with just the right number of slick looking original designs for late-60's to early-70's muscle cars and trucks. With the LS and LSX crate motor's reliability and stout performance filling the engine bays of go-fast-turn-hard g-machines and pro-touring rides that never were real RS or SS Camaros, the LS badge fits perfectly. I asked founder and cheif designer Pascual Marquez about how he got started and he walked me over to the center billet Camaro taillight above. Back in 2003, Marquez was an admin guy that likes cars. Bored with his job and filled with desire, he created Marquez Design and put out his first Camaro taillight. That's all it took. As orders poured in, part designs and product lines were added,...

This is a Mustang for all car enthusiasts, old hot rodders and young tuners alike...its the "Game Changer!" If you like American Muscle, you'll dig the Dynacorn '69 Mustang fastback shell, Art Morrison custom front subframe,  individual throttle body/injected 2011 Mustang GT 5.0L 32Valve engine with 6 speed trans and Pro-Touring style.  If you like Drifting Imports, you'll dig the slammed stance, 50-60 degree steering angle, 7000 redline, aggressive Japanese wheels sized 18x10 front and 18x12 rear with 7" lips and Street Drift style! Meet the '69 Mustang "RTR-X"!  The coolest project car of 2010, due to intro at the 2010 SEMA show in Vegas later this year. This is the answer to my "Pro-Touring + Hellaflush" Dreams!  Remember this post I did last year? The creative mind behind this Street/Drift Mustang is Sir Vaughn Gittin Jr (ok, I added the Sir), Formula Drift points leader and "RTR" Mustang brand owner.  But you'll also notice the "Team Need For Speed" logo in the bottom right.  This is a collabo between Vaughn, Speedhunters.com and the Need For Speed brand.  Andy Blackmore of the Speedhunters.com/Need For Speed family has helped Vaughn put his Inspired Ideas on paper (or...

We spotlighted the 1st Gen Chevy Camaro RS sponsored by Optima Batteries a couple months ago in a blog (click the link to check it out) when it was being prepared for the One Lap of America 8 day long grueling competition.  The One Lap (it used to be called the Cannonball Run) of America makes the race cars drive themselves from track to track (3500 miles total) and then expects them to race hard at the track.  That's right, no trailers.  How did it do in its first year at the race?  Keep reading... Here is the updated livery for the One Lap event.  Looks just like PCK Studio's rendering/T-shirt. This Pro-Touring built Camaro RS won its class, which is called American Vintage.  This was its first One Lap race, so the fact that the car won its class (which competed against a 1981 Camaro that has run the event 20+ times before) is really a big deal. This is the Katech prepared 427ci LS7 Corvette Z06 powerplant to propels the OneLapCamaro. The team of James Shipka and car owner David Pozzi had a pretty crazy 8 days.  At one point...

Had to share some pictures of this year's Goodguys giveaway car. I'm working on a story about last years winner. The guy was in Equador when a buddy pulled the winning key. Funniest thing is that same friend qualified to win THIS car in November at our home show in Scottsdale. So check out the "Boss Snake".  We caught a glimpse of the Snake in Scottsdale for the first annual Spring Nationals where the RPM Hot Rods guys and another magazine were shooting. We snaked (haha) the picture in that sweet AZ sunset light. My man Swanee's every bit as good as Ken's shots below. Here's some more info: Goodguys 2010 Grand Prize Giveaway BOSS SNAKE Bay Area photographer Ken Phuong (www.spotninestudio.com) stopped by the Goodguys world Headquarters last week to photograph the all mighty BOSS SNAKE 2010 Grand Prize Giveaway Car. The photos will appear in a future issue of the Goodtimes Gazette but we wanted to give our loyal web readers a sneak peak at just how awesome this car really is! Built completely in house by RPM Hot Rods (rpm-hotrods.com) and designed by Kaucher Kustoms ,...

One of the best things about the expansion of hot rodding is the availability of aftermarket parts. The only downside, especially if you own a 1st gen Camaro, might be too many choices! After you've decided to make your ride turn as hard as it accelerates, you probably hit the web for discussion forums and communities like MyRideisMe.com to ask friends, "What'd you use?" Unfortunately, there's general wisdom about opinions, how's that go?? I know it finishes, "Everyone's got one..." Left to make the choice alone, how do you chose? Would it matter to you if the supplier was owned by suspension engineers from GM?  Enter Detroit Speed Inc. The bright blue colored Camaro's prominently labeled, "Test Car" caught my attention at the 2010 Goodguys Spring Nationals first thing in the morning. I saw "Detroit Speed" discretely sticker'd on the fender, so walking through the supplier pits, I saw Detroit Speed and stopped in to find out what "test car" meant. I talked briefly with Kyle Tucker, president and husband of the husband and wife owner team. Kyle told me to go see Stacy to learn more about the...

8 Days. 3,500 Miles. 0 Excuses. 1 Lap. 1 Fast Camaro. This can only be the formula for One Lap of America, a brutal competition and that may be THE ultimate test of a street car's performance and reliability as well as teamwork and driver skill. Optima Batteries, Hellwig Products and ISIS Wiring are supporting the "1 Lap Camaro" team in this 8 day, 3,500 mile battle where teams rally around the country competing at some of USA's top race tracks. Dig this PCKStudio rendering of the 1 lap Camaro over the race track locations.  Man that is cool!  I think you'll be able to get that logo on a tshirt. The 1 Lap Camaro seen here is a highly modded 1967 Camaro RS running an LS7 427ci Z06 engine tweaked by the well known Katech Performance crew who preps the engines for the C5R and C6R endurance Corvettes that race and win at Daytona and LeMans. This is a rad Pro-Touring style Camaro real track focus. Dig the front splitter, low ride height, big and wide wheels with grippy rubber.  This thing means business. Keep your eye's peeled on pro-touring.com forums as well...

Goodguys Spring Nationals, March 12-14 Street Challenge Autocross To see all the juicy event details, check below.  What we are excited about and wanted to point out to you readers is the new event they're having this year.  The "Street Challenge Autocross"!  Take your hot rod and bash some cones and yank that steering wheel around and put a hurtin' on your tires and brakes.  Check out these 2 hot rods showing you how autocross is done!   Check out this CRC Vette getting it on in the twisties.  Man that looks fun! ...or maybe Corner Carving Muscle is your thing, check out Bryan Frank's Trans-Am.  I'd love to see some lead sleds or kustoms out on the course.  Or maybe a 32 roadster!  Details of the event below: The Goodguys Spring Nationals is a new hot rod and custom car festival featuring the Southwest’s premier custom vintage automobiles! The event will feature over 2,000 1972 & earlier hot rods, customs, classics, street rods, muscle cars, & trick trucks as well as manufacturer and vendor exhibits, a swap meet and cars for sale area, special “themed” parking areas, model...

Whoever came up with the idea to put on an event that would demonstrate the performance capabilities of the cars being showcased at SEMA was a genius! And that's exactly what the Optima Invitational is all about. Happening the day after SEMA ends, it gives people a chance to put their "money where their mouth is" so to speak. 2009 was just the second year for this event, and the fellows at FM3 made sure that it was pulled off without a hitch. This year there were 38 vehicles competing for the Ultimate Street Car title along with 14 other cars under the "exhibition only" category, making for 51 beautiful cars out at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch on race day. What goes into an Ultimate Street Car you ask? You might say it needs to be well rounded. At this invitational race they competed in 4 catagories: Road Course, Autocross, Acceleration/Braking, and Styling. Having driven the course the day before, I had an extra appreciation for what these cars and drivers were doing. Not surprising to many, Bruce Cambern's 1966 Cobra took the cake in three of the four catagories. On the...

The best 1964 Ford Fairlane? 1964 Fairlanes will always be one of my favorites. At one time, Pops owned a Blue one, Mom's was white and mine was my high school driver called, "The Highway Bitch". Red, white and blue, we loved our 64's. Pops still has his and is done up Pro-street with a small block Ford and big-fatties in the back.  The C6 went south so it's been sitting for a while, but here's a pic so you know what a "regular" 1964 Fairlane looks like. Here's another "regular" 1964 Fairlane at Bonneville Speed Week   The not-so-casual viewer will notice this is a 2 door post model just like the factory race cars Ford built known as the "Thunderbolt".  I've seen Pops work his butt off on this car and we've had alot of fun times in it.   Not to be outdone by the factory Thunderbolts, allow me to introduce, "Afterburner" If you've seen any of the Ring Brothers' builds, you know they set the standard and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Goodguys named Ring Brother's cars "Street Machine of the Year"...

1966 Mustang Fastback - Pro-Touring Budget "I bought a 1966 Mustang Fastback out of a junk yard for $400. Thought I would challenge myself to build as exotic a g-machine as possible for $5000. "   It sounds impossible, anti-Pro-Touring even. MyRideisMe.com asked Ron Schwarz, owner/builder of this Grabber Blue beauty, to share his 5 Tips with our readers. He tells it like no one else can. This guy is hilarious! There are some killer classic quotes here. Stick to these 5 Tips below and you too can build your own budget dream ride.   1. Choose The Right Car Your car has to be affordable, but still turn you on. If it doesn’t keep your interest it will be just another project that doesn’t get finished. Choose a car you can get cheap parts for, period.   2. Do your homework The mods on this Mustang were done with factory (Ford and GM) parts from performance models/sports cars. The front suspension is all C5 Corvette parts; great handling, big brakes, relatively cheap, and fairly easy to come by.   3. Choose The Right Drivetrain. Find a drivetrain that...

Being passionate about modified rides, I spend a lot of time on websites that span the spectrum of hotrodding to "tuning" and everything in between. Two favorite build styles of mine are Pro-Touring and the Street Drift style called HellaFlush. HellaWho? I'll explain in a minute. Call it DetroitFlush or Ill-Touring (Ill, as in Siiiick wheel fitment dude!). We can nail down the name later. Let's dig into this concept a little and see what you, the reader, has to say. First, lets define the two components of DetroitFlush individually. Pro-Touring. The Pro-Touring.com's definition as a reminder, is old muscle with new sports car performance. Modern suspensions, brakes, big wheels/tires and late model drivetrains (like a 6.1L Hemi Crate motor, 6 speed Tremec and 20" wheels with 315/30/20 Pirelli's like the TerraCuda built by Chip Foose) HellaFlush on the other hand is the concept, "Offset Is Everything" and traces its roots to Japanese Street Drifting which pushes the limit of fenders on import cars such as WRX's, EVO's, 240SX's and RX-7's. As seen in the picture above from the HellaFlush website, the wheels fit flush to the fender. Simple...