If there's one show I want to attend, it's the Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show in Yokohama, Japan.  I lived in Japan for a couple years and didn't know how cool it was until I left. I lived in the heart of Tokyo in Harajuku (all the Japanese people say, ooooooohhhh) and married a wonderful Japanese woman while I was there. Her family lived close to Yokohama, so I visited the Mooneyes shop. The shop itself was kinda funny. More trinkets and beads than hot rod parts, but I'm sure they could get anything you wanted. Mooneyes has been a well known name in speed equipment since before I was born. Their slanted eyes (what would you call them?) have to be one of the most widely used sticker to date. It's just a cool logo! The show, now in it's 18th year featured all the hottest hot rods and customs from Japan, and there's more than you'd think, as well as some well known cars from the US of A as well. Shown above is Billy Gibbons' 1958 Thunderbird custom from a shot we took at the SoCal...

Ford Falcon 4-Speed Shifter How-to Video     Do your choices for how you build your own ride need to make sense? To everyone?   I'm sure there's more than a few people who'd say I'm nuts for putting a Dagenham 4-speed back into my 1963 Falcon Wagon project.  I hear you.  But, I've got my reasons.   The main reason is the fact my Falcon's a rare (or maybe odd's a better word) bird.  This long-roofed wonder's an original, 6 cylinder, bench seat, floor shift, 4 speed car.  I've found one other goofy-six-by-four on Fordsix.com but just one! I like that! (have you got one?)   The other big reason (no, friends that know me, it's not just cause I'm a cheap SOB) involves some great memories and even better, life-long friends.   The Dagenham four speed and shifter that I'm rebuilding here is from my dad's friend Brad Bradly or "Harry" as his friends know him. This shifter's from his 1963 "shop truck" Falcon Ranchero that he still owns.  That Ranchero's been built, raced, totaled, re-built, raced, modified, raced again, totaled again... you get the idea! Now,...

Every once in a while when cruising Youtube, you find gold. I found it five times with these 5 videos from the "Big Go" the US Nationals from Indianapolis, Indiana from way back in 1969 when they just called it, "The Nationals". Called the "Tournament of Champions" and presented by Hurst Performance Center you'll hear the late great voice of drag racing Steve Evans narrating.  The videography's cool too. You'll have no doubt, this is the late 60's! Even cooler for me is that these are from 1969! The year I was born and like me, they're about to have their 20th birthday, again. I haven't heard a single drag racer, especially the current pros, mention any other race ahead of the US Nationals. This is THE race of the year and it looks like it has been for 40 years. Enjoy these 5 nostalgia drag racing videos from before corporate sponsors and big dollar teams. The 4-speed bang'n, the tire smoking, the love of drag racing shows clear. Here's part 1: Featuring the intro and credits. Don't want watch the first minute of this one, then skip on...

When's the last time you held onto the edge of your seat watching a small format racing video like what you see on Youtube? You're in for a treat. I found this video while surfing NAGTROC.org, the North American GT-R Owners Club website. It's not a video of the GT-R, but it's the kind of stuff anyone who loves fast cars would really get into. The video is made by Race Media TV, a German website that specializes in track race videos (from what I can see) and I'm guessing they have the Nurburgring right in their back yard. Give the video just 1 minute to get past the short into that precedes a Dodge Viper chasing at Porsche GT3 around the twists at the Nurburgring. Some serious driving skills shown by all!...

Before I dive in, let me introduce myself real quick.  I go by Hechtspeed on all the car forums I join.  I'm a certified car nut.  It doesn't matter what type of car, if its modified and customized, I can dig it.  I'm really excited to be blogging for MyRideisMe.  Hopefully I can bring cool content that you readers will enjoy.  So, let's get to it shall we?  The internet is home to thousands, even millions of websites. That means there has to be cool websites out there displaying hidden hot rod treasures. This "Internet Barn Finds" series of blogs will venture into the world wide interweb to see what we can find. Part 1 takes a look at a couple cool Scale Miniature Hot Rod engines. These are not your typical scale plastic model kits you put together during Christmas vacation, these are billet aluminum, high precision, CNC machined engines that actually run, some even powering 1/4 scale radio controlled hot rods. The first Barn Find is from weberprecision.com. Searching through Weber's website you'll find detailed pictures of both the end product and the tools/machines used to build...

Now this is what NASCAR should be! Imagine going 179 mph in these cars! (that's what the movie "track announcer" said) Those brakes and all that weight running that fast! This clip is from the 1965 film called "Redline 7000" There's a pretty well done crash stunt for the time. FIRE FIRE!! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR1SmKihPtQ[/youtube] Yes, that is Mr. Sulu! Here's part #2 (not sure how related it is to the first part...) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsbJ2-PdCk4[/youtube] Then for something totally unusual, but still somehow related to this post... I give you, "Speed Lovers"...

This is too cool! Fuel injectors of Renault's F1 engine is spraying fuel in at an INSANE rate.  Even on the dyno, they're banging through the gears.  Must watch!...