Bonneville Salt Flats World Finals Pictures I took a couple hundred pics at World Finals at the Bonneville Salt Flats a few weeks back.  I thought I should start sharing some of my favorites. This 1955 Chevy Bel Air Post built by Hot Rods by Dean was absolutely gorgeous.  I don't know squat about the car.  It runs in the B/CGC (B engine size is 373 cu in to 439 cu in, and is a competition gas coupe) class.  I dig the yellow interior too.  It gives the cockpit some pop. The first thing that grabbed me is that two-tone paint.  Cream and grey is not the usual color combo for a hot rod, but it works perfectly.   The paint is a smooth, matte or flat finish, it goes nice with those moondiscs. The car is run by Sidney Allen and ran a 172 MPH in the first Mile.  Then on Friday it actually spun, according to the Results page on SCTA-BNI.org. Check out this cool reflection in the crazy chrome bumper.  The bumper was the second part of this Chevy that caught my attention.  This car oozes CLEAN.  Hot Rods...

All right then, I'm a wagon freak. You could even say I'm a Ford Falcon wagon freak. I've written before about the problems I have (Extra W Chromosome) and the 63 Falcon wagon project I'm re-doing. I've learned to live with those issues and I'm doing my best in the hot rod society. But then I saw this totally clean 1965 Falcon wagon owned by Norm Huie of San Clemente, CA at the Cruisin for a Cure Show. More precisely, it's a '65 Ford Falcon 2 door wagon in the original Prairie Bronze paint. It'd get boring if I kept saying original since Norm's taken great pains to restore his wagon back to 99% stock himself. Norm's always been into Falcons but chose this odd-ball 65 because it was the last year of this model.  I say odd because it's a 2 door, no-doubt more desirable than the mor-door cousin I own. Then, it's got the factory V8 another plus, but from there, this car is plain-jane! It's a non-Deluxe, non-anything car but it does have power steering and power brakes and a rare cargo light inside near the...

It's easy to like iconic muscle cars like a Mustang, especially when it's a true Shelby. Add to that it's an original Hertz Shelby and I'm a little more curious. Without much effort, I can see a young man strolling up the Hertz counter (long before internet reservations!) and asking for a 1966 Mustang GT 350H.  "Yes, I would like the optional insurance." If you've seen a perfectly restored 350H or any Shelby Mustang, they're obviously valuable and visually, they're cool. You're likely to see one a concours show or more likely at auction. But for me, (and I hope most of you) I look twice when it's driven! I wanna hear it run! Beyond that, there's the rarest of rare: The unrestored racing Shelby. The first unrestored race Shelby I saw was out of pure luck. I was invited to an anniversary celebration for Bob Bondurant at the Bondurant Racing School of High Performance Driving. A treat in itself no doubt.  We drove the Mustangs he had back then (the 'stangs were later replaced by Corvettes) then he gave an interesting talk. After, we all went outside to...

Part 2 of Hot Rod Ramblings "Car of the Week", we take a look at some rear wheel drive beauties from all around the world, Japanese, European and even American.  These 5 cars have all been "Cars of the Week" in the last few years for me.  They all have great aftermarket support, wheels, suspension, exterior, engine, etc. and can all be built into multiple different styles, drifting, road racing, street car or show car.  Each has tons of potential to let their owners be creative and make their Ride an extension of themselves. Toyota AE86 Corolla GT-S "Hachiroku" A 1980's Corolla?  You're probably thinking I'm nutty.  I am, I love this car.  Why?  It is probably the ultimate drivers car.  Ever heard of Keichii Tsuchiya, the "Drift King"?  Heard of the Japanese comic book "Initial D"?  Anyway, that should give you guys something to Google today.  I can't spoil all the fun.  But, suffice it to say, it has all the makings of a drivers car:  rear wheel drive, 5 speed manual, high revving 1.6L DOHC fuel injected aluminum 4 cylinder and lightweight construction.  I love the boxy lines of...

Stromberg Headquarters—Kookie car clone wins the ultimate accolade and more running genuine Stromberg 97 carburetors at the 2009 Detroit Autorama. Stromberg is pleased to announce our involvement with the new “Kookie” car clone, owned by Detroit’s Ron Kregoski and built by Reno Rods and Customs in Oklahoma City. Featured in hundreds of magazines and a highlight of the 1950s television series 77 Sunset Strip, driven by Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, the original Kookie car is one of the best known hot rods of all time, originally built in the 1950s by actor, artist and hot rod legend Norm Grabowski. Running a hopped-up 1952 Cadillac engine with four chromed Stromberg 97 carburetors, Ron’s clone is as accurate as possible to the 50-plus year-old hot rod. He contacted Stromberg back in 2008 because their new and improved 97s are faithful in every detail to the original 97s Grabowski bolted to the Caddy’s rare Horne four-carb intake manifold. The Genuine Stromberg 97 bowl and airhorn castings, stainless steel linkage and miscellaneous screws and fittings were all shipped to Advanced Plating in Nashville, TN, for chrome plating or polishing, then shipped back to Stromberg...

Andy from Andy's Pinstriping gives us 5 Steps for painting Vintage Door Art on Shop Trucks 1. The first thing I like to do is use some wax and grease remover and clean the panel to be painted. This simple step is honestly one of the most critical and most often overlooked steps in any paint project. . . . . 2. I like to make a stencil to help draw out the design. There are several methods I use to achieve the stenciled on pattern. One of the easiest ways is to use a pounce wheel & chalk, but on this particular truck I had no colored chalk, and obviously white wouldn't do, so I went old school on it and cut the pattern out of poster board with an exact-o knife....five blades and several blisters later ta-da, a handmade stencil. . . 3. Finally to the fun part, let's thrown on some paint! I start by tracing the pattern (after centering it on the door) with a stabilo pencil. After that it's pretty self explanatory...just fill in the spaces with the one shot color of choice. ....

Stromberg Carburetor is proud to announce the first World Land Speed Record powered by New Stromberg 97 carburetors. Congratulations to Bobby Green and the Old Crow Speed Shop crew from Burbank, CA for shattering their 104mph 2008 V4/FS record with a new 127.270 mph pass at Bonneville’s Speed Week in August 2009 with their belly-tank lakester. The traditional belly tank lakester has been a Bonneville favorite since Bill Burke fixed a war-surplus aircraft drop tank onto an early Ford chassis back in 1946. The natural streamline shape of the tanks, used during the war to hold extra fuel on aircraft which could then be jettisoned or “dropped”, was the perfect ready-made streamlined race car body. The Old Crow Team was put together specifically to maintain this tradition. In the FS (Fuel Streamline) class, the design of the body is restricted only to the extent that at least two wheels must be covered. The V4 engine class is for Vintage (pre-1935) 4-cylinder engines. Says Stromberg owner Clive Pew, “I met the Old Crow guys with heads in hands on Monday as they couldn’t get enough fuel into the very hot H&H...

Once I'd decided to start gettin’ my hands greasy – the first thing I went for was the tire. It couldn’t be too hard to take a tire on and off, right? Right! Changing a tire is as easy as 1-2-3! 1. Gather all your tools and jack your car up. Most modern cars come with a spare tire, a lug wrench, and a jack of some sort. Look in all of the nooks in your trunk – they’ll probably be there. My Studebaker certainly didn’t come with these, but I’ve got them back there now (along with a pair of jumper cables!) A note about jacks. A jack is a metal contraption that when worked correctly lifts part of your car off the ground. There are a number of varieties of jacks and they all work slightly differently. Most cars are equipped with small scissor jacks. I carry a small floor jack with me in my Stude though. You need to find out what sort of jack you’ve got and read the instructions on how its safely operated. Do this now…don’t wait for an emergency! Before operating the...

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,...

One thing I liked (and some might hate) about the Crusin for a Cure car show in Orange County, California is the wide variety of cars filling Costa Mesa's OC Fair and Events center. Seems like most of the big shows I've been to are restricted to a certain year or type of car. Not here! From hot rods and classics to exotics and muscle cars and even some, "Custom" PT Cruisers ( More on that soon) Crusin for a Cure had a little something for everyone! Dont' forget, this show's for charity. I haven't heard the final stats, but the show benefited City of Hope to raise awareness and fund prostate cancer research. As part of the show and like everyone else in the line that was fairly full every time I went by, I got my free PSA screening as a first step to making sure I stay prostate cancer free.  Guys could also wait in a short line for a test that's never any fun, but necessary for early detection of the most survivable cancers in men... the dreaded digital exam.  I applaud the guys who...

Bonneville Salt Flats: "Save the Salt" With all the Bonneville Salt Flats racing coverage and stories from MyRideisMe.com, maybe the most important story is the behind the scenes one, which is the "Save the Salt" program.  Please follow along as Larry Volk (Chairman of the Board) and the Save the Salt Board Members provide a history of the Save the Salt Program and how important it is to the future of Land Speed Racing at Bonneville. What is Save the Salt? It has come to our attention that there are a number of folks out there that are not fully aware of what our Save the Salt organization is all about.  To that end we have comprised the following brief history of when and why Save the Salt was formed.  We hope this tells the story "In a Nutshell". Thanks to Mary West (Secretary of Save The Salt) for putting this history together and thanks to JoAnn Carlson (SCTA/BNI Office) for forwarding the note to us from a gentleman who is a new competitor at Bonneville.  He said that he knew Save the Salt was important but he wondered what it...

Bonneville Salt Flats Race Car: While at World Finals at Bonneville on Friday, I was cruisin' the pits looking for cool cars.  I spotted the little red Vega with its hood up and the small crew busy working.  I walked over and just started watching and listening to the sweet Cosworth powered twin cam engine.  I did not know anything about the rare Cosworth Vega (only about 3500 total built during 2 years of production), but I left with the interesting basics.  The owner/driver Frank Sloan from California answered all my noobie questions and left me wanting more.  Luckily, his "Cosworth Vega Owners Association" decal had a website that can give you the history of the Chevy.  The concept actually started out as early as like 1970 or so.  The Chevy Special Projects group (Chevy Racing Dept.) wanted a hot little econo-rod to compete with BMW's 2002ti and Datsun's 510.  Original designs called for a 2.0L twin cam, 16 valve aluminum head and block built by the Indy car engine builder Cosworth to make around 185hp.  After having smog certification test failures, the car was late to the market and...