Hot Rod Roadster from the Grand National Roadster Show When you compete for the biggest roadster prize there is, America's Most Beautiful Roadster (the AMBR as it's called) you've already won. When you're the second woman in the Grand National Roadster Show's 60 year history to compete, there's got to be a story brewing for MyRideisMe.com. I first noticed Kim Vranas' 1927 Ford Touring Roadster resting quietly, not 30 feet away from the eventual AMBR winner  named "Hot Rod Special" built at Willet Specials. Owning a 1927 roadster myself, that is in fact a cut version of the very same Model T touring body Kim chose. Trouble is, two people barely fit in my "lakes style" modified roadster. That's why, this uncut touring was easily one of my favorites at the show. It could be a "Family Hot Rod"! Following the GNRS, the roadster took a short ride into Los Angeles to accept an invitation of the Peterson Automotive Museum.  The So-Cal show in Pomona, CA marked the "outside" debut of Kim's hot rod with her husband Chuck getting the chance to pour in some 108 octane and blue...

    The Bountiful, Utah "Coats For Kids" Car Show was just another example of small town USA and the car nuts that make up this great hobby/pastime.  Personally, I think its crucial that towns big and small keep hotrodding alive and passing the automotive genes onto the next generation by supporting and putting on car shows and cruise-ins like this one in downtown Bountiful, Utah.          Looking over these pictures again, I thought about how events like this create a sense of community and make family memories for years to come.  Nothing more american, or human, than a good car show with your friends and family.    Here are some of my favorite pictures I took while hanging with my family.  How else can you teach your kid to hang his arm out the window like a true hotrodder than by owning a '32 roadster?  How else will he know what a 4bbl carbed big block V8 sounds like unless he can stand next to it and feel the ground shake!  Shoot me an email at hechtspeed@myrideisme.com and I'll post up your "small town USA" car show pics and...

I've always liked my car... Good thing, right? I guess I always wanted a hot rod. Bonnie, as in Bonneville, sure has changed since I bought her at a Goodguys show. The 3 pictures shown here are the 3 evolutionary changes of the car. Step 1: As I bought her: I was thinking of buying a Zipper bodied Lakes Modified until I found out there's a 6 month wait to get one. I felt pretty lucky to grab this when I did. You'll see the long split wishbones hooked to a 3 inch dropped axle. The rear axle is a old school banjo. The wheels are the 1935 style wires with some hard as hell bias ply or tractor style tires. I'm not sure what kind of paint the original owner used, but that yellow is tough as NAILS!! The engine block hasn't never changed, but it did get updated. I've got the original header on it too. The quarter elliptical spring suspension front and back is there, but there's friction shocks (only better then nothing at all!) in the front and nothing in the rear. Step 2: My...

UPDATE: 10/10/09 - I've been getting a few calls and emails about restarting Church of Hot Rod. If interested, leave a comment here or reply in the forum. Ah brothers... It was another fine couple-o-Sundays. Cool morning air and hot coffee strong enough to peel paint off our vintage rides. After notifying a few people at the Chandler/Gilbert Community college car show, I expected there to be a few more members. I've also been fulfilling my duties as an elder in the church by notifying RoddinandRacinTV.com and cruisinarizona.com. If you're looking for a great excuse to get out of bed and meet some fellow rod and custom car enthusiast over on the East side of town on Sundays, please come on over. Time and Place: Every Sunday morning at 7 AM over at the Starbucks in downtown Chandler. The address is: 1 San Marcos Place, just west of Arizona Ave, south of Chandler Blvd. We're kinda hard to miss, just look for the Hot rods! Can I hear an AMEN? For winter (yea right, it's still in the 80s in November!) we're meeting at 8:00AM.  Feel free to email...

UPDATE: 10/10/09 - I've been getting a few calls and emails about restarting Church of Hot Rod. If interested, leave a comment here or reply in the forum. Whatever you do on Sunday, it's always a great to meet friends and go for a drive. We're pushing it here in Chandler, Arizona cause it's still damn hot, even at 8 AM in the morning. This was a special Sunday cause our better halves joined the normal Sunday coffee run and we made it a breakfast cruise over to the Good Egg near Chandler Heights and Alma School. We had some special occasions to celebrate too. (click and save this photo, it'd make a great desktop!) Bonnie, my hot rod, was celebrating the repair of a CRACKED FRAME, found, luckily while the car was parked in my garage. Doug from Squeeg's Kustom, helped me fix the crack on Saturday and make today's breakfast 5 roadsters strong. More on that later. (of course I took pictures!) I celebrated the cruise-in by putting a new red rag on the oil breather. (nothin but the Sunday's best!) My lovely wife Miyuki also joined...

The LA Roadster Show is one of the MUST shows of the year, at least for me. The Pomona Fairplex gets another sweet show too, the Grand National Roadster Show. (let's not forget 2 NHRA events!) It's no wonder, about a ka-jillion hot rodders and custom car builders are in the greater LA area. The LA Roadster Show is put on by, you guessed it, the LA Roadster Car Club. Founded in 1957, this is the 44th annual show. I posted some pics of the LA Roadster Show, but only of the show itself. Here's those pics (Click HERE). Sorry, they're not my best effort. Camera broke, I'm not so talented behind it anways, 'nuff said! I also got some from the So-Cal show (Click HERE). So before next year's show, I better show you what I found outside the show; in the swap and in the show lot, I call it. That's where I found this hot little sedan. This is my favorite picture from the show. (if the owner wants it, you can have it free, just email me.) One thing that's true at all the LA...