Pin-ups and Hot Rods, What Could be Better? Pictures and words by Tim Hunter It’s hard to say Kristabelle without smiling and it’s even more challenging to see Kristabelle without smiling. Her warmth and presence brightens a room and even an entire car show – as we found out at the Shifter’s Car Show - Viva Las Vegas #13. The story of how Kristabelle and I started shooting together begins in 2008 at an event called Artease 2 at the Lightspeed Gallery in Costa Mesa. Kristabelle and I had written back and forth on Myspace and I’d told her she was “The Brightest Smile on Myspace” because in all of her photos, she absolutely beamed happiness with that signature smile of hers. Out of the blue in October of 2008, Kristabelle texts me she’s going to a pin-up contest at an event called Rumble in Ramona, did I want to come along? I told her I’d meet her there and we’d do some pictures. On the way, I text her, “Let’s go win a pin-up contest today.” And she won!! Also that same day, she did her first shoot...

A lot of adjectives come to mind when describing Adam Hartley of Las Vegas, Nevada … Eclectic, unique, maybe even a bit odd. Not that this is anything new in the custom car world. Not only is he the father of three, but he's also a heavily tattooed car builder with quite the collection in his stable. He’s built quite a few rides in his past too including a ’94 Toyota pickup, a few VW’s, and an ’87 Astro van, which lead to the purchase of the ’63 Impala you see here. We do mean that literally too. Adam was cruising around a Tangelo Orange pearl Astro van around Vegas everyday with a little “For Sale” sign in the corner of the window. While cruising around town he ran into a dude with a ’63 Impala wagon, also Tangelo pearl, that was selling his car as well. The ’63 was juiced, laid on 14” wires, and even appeared in the pages of Lowrider back when the car was in Hawaii. A deal was struck and Adam traded his van for the Impala, straight across. Even though the car was...

Who doesn’t love dune buggies? You could have gotten a good healthy dose of buggy envy at the Carlisle Import and Kit Car Nationals which was held last weekend in Carlisle, PA. Dig that metallic green finish!  Wow!  There were two seaters, four seaters, white ones, blue ones, green ones, and just about every color imaginable. If you strolled over to Building T you could have chatted with Bruce Meyers, the designer of the first fiberglass dune buggy known as the Meyers Manx. Bruce Meyers was present all weekend to sign autographs and pose for pictures if you asked nicely enough. The good news is that you can once again buy new Meyers buggies like the Manxter 2+2, which is capable of doing 0-60 times of just over 4 seconds. Want something with a little more displacement? How about a Cobra replica? The Cobras dominated the kit manufacturer area and there were plenty of them on the show field as well. Throw a 4.6L motor in a Factory Five Racing 1965 Cobra replica like Anthony and Robin DiMemmo did and I bet you would have a smile plastered on...

Hot Rodders and a stop watch you ask?  Ya, I'll get to that in a minute.  But first, let me introduce you to one of my favorite automotive competitions:  Time Attack or Superlap Battle.   These pictures were taken by the MotorMavens.com crew at Eastern Creek Raceway in Australia, as part of the World Time Attack Challenge, the first of its kind, pitting the best the world has to offer in Time Attack. What exactly is Time Attack?  It's simply taking your car around a road course as fast as you can and recording the fastest single lap time, hence the name Superlap.  There are various classes that your car might fit in.  Currently most of the vehicles that compete today are of the Japanese or European make.  Here's where the hot rodders with the stopwatches comes in.  Time Attack has almost zero muscle cars.  Wat up wit dat?  Here's the R-Magic prepared Mazda RX-7, one of the fastest Unlimited Time Attack cars in Japan.  Time Attack began in Japan in the late 1980's.  It was a chance for top Speed Shops (they're referred to as Tuning Shops, not Speed Shops, but...

May & June's Freebies... Well, they ain't totally free. I hope you didn't stop reading there because this time, I'm asking you to GIVE a little to win one of TWO Optima Batteries. You'll be giving to charity and you'll be glad you did. The charity is for Progeria. Any donation of $1 or more will enter you to win. Please donate here. Progeria is a heart breaking genetic condition that makes kids age 7-10 times more rapidly than normal. Children with Progeria rarely live past 16 years old. This is a very rare but fatal condition. The picture on the left is Kristian from Kristian's Page. The picture is labeled "PreSchool 2005" when Kristian was 3 years old. Kristian died on March 23, 2006. Why Progreria? I met Terry Foose, the mother of famed hot rod designer Chip Foose at the Grand National Roadster Show in 2008. Terry was raising money for Progeria when I talked to her. Terry's daughter and Chip's younger sister died of Progeria, but there's no doubt, she lived courageously. Her story warmed my heart as I'm sure it will for you.  Please take...

His accent says “West Texas”, which is only partially true. The tall guy with the all-American boy looks was born in Lubbock, Texas, but that’s only because his folks were in the area when he decided to break free. In reality, Chad Fincher is from Hobbs, New Mexico, a city famous for … well, nothing really. Chad spent his formative years growing up in this small town, and when he turned 18, his father bought him a 1998 GMC Sierra as a gift for graduating high school. That truck took him through college and came with him when he moved to Phoenix, Arizona in the summer of 2003 with his new wife, Shelly, to start their life together. This is all boring stuff really, I mean Chad’s life in small town New Mexico shouldn’t have a lot of bearing on the direction his truck went in, and in most cases, that would be correct. But here, with Chad and his ’98, however, the city of Hobbs actually plays a vital role in this build, because his dedication to his hometown is bordering on legendary. It was May of 2004,...

The latest Internet Barn Find is for those land speed racing Salt (or dust) Fever infected bunch.  I bring you DLRA.org.au, the Dry Lakes Racers Australia site.  The Dry Lakes Racers Australia held it's first Speed Trials meet in March 1990 and has been doing so (weather permitting) ever since. It has attracted competitors from all over Australia, the United States of America, New Zealand and the UK.  Currently they only race once per year, but that could change in 2011. The racing happens on Lake Gairdner (well, it used to be a lake).  It's an 8 mile track including the shut down area.  The bummer part is it takes 80 miles driving on dirt roads to get to the race track (compared to Bonneville's 1 mile from "Lands End").  Just like at Bonneville, the site admin told me that if you stand around too long, you'll likely get put to work.  Here's a fendered (smart move with 80 miles of dust) hot rod roadster heading out to Lake Gairdner for Salt Flats Racing.  80 miles of dirt roads is no joke and not for the faint of hot rod heart. There...

As I mentioned in the blog about the Rocky Mountain Raceway's Midnight Drift event, I met Marco and his friend Rudy in the pits during the Midnight Drag and Drift event.   First of all, to you hot rodders out there who don't YET get drifting, let me tell you about the Nissan 240SX.  In a way, this car in Japan is similar in following and cult status as a Mustang or Camaro.  The similarities may be more than you think.  Rear wheel drive setup, Coupe body styling, small back seat, huge aftermarket support and fun to drive status.  The differences are aplenty as well though.  Mustangs get a solid rear axle and V6 and V8 engines and weigh 3200-3600lbs.  The Nissan 240SX (or 180SX or Silvia in Japan) comes with an independent rear suspension and 2.4L 4 cylinder (turbo 2.0L outside Japan) naturally aspirated truck engine in the USA and weighs about 2800lbs.  So, there's a little history on the 240 for ya.  Marco has owned his S13 (S13 is like what the Mustang guy's equivalent of SN95 or S197 chassis codes for the 1989-94 240SX, S14 for 1995-1998 and S15 for...

Bonneville Salt Flats: Traditional or Modern? It's no doubt I have Salt Fever.  For me, the car that represents the Bonneville Salt Flats, El Mirage Dry Lakes and the hot rod hobby as a whole is the early Ford roadster. At Speedweek 2009 while hangin' out at the starting line just soaking in the Salt, I spotted 2 Lakes Modified Roadsters.  I knew I dug the stance on both rods.  I went in for a look-see.  CLICK on each Picture to Zoom in. The dark blue roadster is a more traditional style rod with its dual carbed flatty V8, cowl-less engine bay, floorless interior (ok, so there was some wood "floor panels"), bomber seats and wire wheels and skinny tires.  The orange roadster has a plush interior, shiny paint, an independent rear end and hot rod style big n little wheels and tires.  I actually dig each style for different reasons.  But, if I could only have one...which one would it be?  Let's take a closer look. Again, the difference is easy to see.  Bomber seats, no door panels, wood floors, a couple guages and big steering OEM wheel on the left, plush leather interior, shiny...

Hot Rod Pinup Sabina Kelly Photo by Shannon Brooke Standing tall at 5'10" at the top of the pinup modeling ranks (or close to it!) is May's Pinup of the Month, Sabina Kelley. Sabina Kelley the pinup can be seen all over in magazines and calendars, but she's reaching beyond now modeling internationally, in TV and music videos, too. She's been modeling for 10 years now, so there's not much she hasn't done in front of the camera. So much more than a pretty face, she's a professionally trained dancer as well with ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and pointe (you know, on the tip of your toes...) dancing on her resume.  She started as a ballerina in a small town but her talent and long flowing gorgeous-ness soon took her to Sin City where she performed as a showgirl in "Jubilee" for over 2 years at Ballys Hotel.  It's no surprise then that she's training for her own burlesque dance show to debut soon. (we'll watch for it!) After alot of trying and help from MyRideisMe.com friend and fellow Pinup Heidi Van Horne, I finally caught up with...

Salt Lake City, Utah has a decent sized auto enthusiasts community for how small of a city and state it is.  There's about 2.5 million people in all of Utah.  Utah has 2 racing facilities, Rocky Mountain Raceway (RMR) with its 1/4 mile dragstrip and asphalt oval and Miller Motorsports Park with its 4+ mile road course. Last night I hit up the 2nd Midnight Drag and Drift event of the year.  RMR has been holding Midnight Drags since about 2001 or so.  It was touted as a way to get the young punks off the streets and have a safe and organized way to race.  I raced my first Civic at a couple Midnight Drags back then.  A couple years ago though, the Drift Enterprise of Utah started holding Midnight Drift events on the oval track.  I thought this sign was kinda cool.  "Section D" for DRIFT!!! The number of cars entered in the drag portion are probably 150-200.  For the drift boys, there's only about 8-10 cars.  The number of people watching the drag racing is probably somewhere around 1000+.  The people watching drifting?  1, maybe  2.  Ok, not that...

One of the first hot rod tricks a hot street car gets is a set of gears.  If your 'Stang's 8.8 inch rearend came from Ford with a set of 3.08's or even worse, 2.73's, the car was pretty much a DOG!  A set of 3.73's, 3.90's or even 4.10's really wakes 'em up.  Don't throw away those 2.73's though, you may wanna go for a run down the Salt.  haha Here is "Calera Kid" himself doing a burnout at the now defunct L.A.C.R. drag strip.  This was taken at the "Hang Over Nationals" in 2002.  Anyone ever hit the Hang Overs at Palmdale? "Sally" has run a best time of 12.85 seconds at 106mph at Famoso with 4.10's.  Eventually the plan is to replace the stock ported E7 heads for the GT40P heads and the stock cam with a higher lift unit.  For now, a set of Ford Racing 3.73 ratio Ring and Pinion from AmericanMuscle.com might allow the low revving stock head/cam "five oh" motor to utilize the good torque with a set of 3.73's. If you're a "do it yourself" hot rodder, here's the step by step instructions for the swap.  Part 1 will focus on the...