Kustom D'Elegance Winner at 2010 Motorama Custom Car Show If you're into customs, then the Long Beach Motorama is not to be missed! Although there are plenty of beautiful cars (like the ones I featured in my Motorama - First Look article) the highlight of the show is the Kustom D'Elegance award. Each of the dozen-plus contenders impressed in their own way... just being in the room sets these cars apart from the pack. However, just one could win the $20,000 cash prize along with a place on the perpetual trophy! As soon as you walk on into the Long Beach Arena, the red carpet leads you on past each of the skillful and innovative kustoms. Each one was fantastic... This roof- hammered 1959 Cadillac came all the way from Australia and was, I'm sure, one of the most customized cars present. Gene Winfield's old 1935 Ford Pickup shop truck , which had disappeared in 1965, was found in 2008 and resurrected to beautiful completion by Hatfield Restorations. This 1936 Auburn Roadster had some nice appeal. Voodoo Larry's newly completed 1946 Ford was in the running also. Those of you who...

Custom Car 1965 Crown Imperial Sedan What does a hot rod shop owner's wife drive?  It's gotta have some purple and lace right?  Even some fur... Even though its a ladies ride, I think you dudes out there will dig as well. This is Julie's 1965 Crown Imperial custom.  Julie is married to Scotty Birdsall, owner of Chuckles Garage.  If you missed the story on his ride, click this link, '62 Ford Falcon Straight Axle Gasser. This 1965 Crown Imperial (alot of folks call it a Chrysler, but Crown was its own entity at the time) is definitely My Ride is Me.  Let's see why... You can see it certainly fits in as a "Mild Custom" build.  There's not alot of mods other than a super crazy paint job, some suspension work, a groovy fur dash (it is a lady's ride remember!) and some 600-15 wide whitewalls.  When the goal is to personalize your classic machine, those are simple and effective touches. Here's the face of a not-often seen 60's classic luxury sedan.  I can't say I've seen one of these before, but I like the mid 60's era Detroit...

Hot Rods and Customs With a Twist of Strange I took the opportunity to sit down for a while with Tim Strange of Strange Motion Rod & Custom Construction, and threw the book at him, question-wise. I've been a fan of his for years and have enjoyed the good fortune of not only creating design work for him at Problem Child Kustoms Studio, but also becoming fast friends. Tim's created some of the most memorable cars in recent history and has won a number of accolades, including the Goodguys Trendsetter, numerous ISCA and KKOA top finishes and best in class picks, not to mention hundreds of magazine features. Tim's no doubt one of the elite hot rod and custom car builders out there and is a down-to-Earth, talented guy who "gets it"... It not the sort of career where you take everything seriously. You need to be able to laugh at the goofy stuff, and make the most of every situation, and Tim is definitely able to do both, and with a style that's unmatched. To understand Tim's secrets and have a little fun, we sat down to discuss...

Hot Rod Pin-up Calendar Looking for 2012's calendar? Hot Rod Pinup Calendar for 2012 from Mitzi Sometimes there's just no words! Who cares what day it is when you have the lovely Monica Renee greeting you every day of January in the brand new, 2011 Pin-up Model calendar from Mitzi and Co. Not only is Mitzi buddies with just about everyone at the shows, she's also been a great friend to MyRideisMe.com supplying several pinup model features and Pinup of the Month shots. We love Mitzi, but we love her girls better! See More of Monica Renee as Pinup of the Month here. Heating up your June, this is Emily Marilyn . Make sure to grab yourself a calendar. They're a super high quality, 11x17 portrait style, wirebound calendar for only $25. International orders are $30.  If you're not clicking Mitzi' "Buy Now" page, you might want to check your pulse! Last but not least, another friend of MyRideisMe.com, pinup Notorious Ang. As an undisputed babe and self proclaimed computer nerd, she's also a radio personality! She graced Viva Las Vegas where we grabbed these pinup of the month...

2010 Motorama Custom Car Show Just when you thought the car show season was coming to the end, there's one more you don't want to miss! The Long Beach Motorama, featuring the Showcase of Kustoms, was created specifically to feature the top custom cars being built today. Not only that, but there's plenty of history too. Motorama is modeled after the custom car show begun in 1958 by the Renegades Car Club and  recognizes important builders, cars, and individuals from hot rodding history. To be sure that the Long Beach Motorama draws some of the most impressive custom builds around, it features a Kustom D'Elegance award that'll earn the skillful car builder a $20,000 purse! While the cars in competition for the Kustom D'Elegance award are fantastic, I wanted to give ya'll a chance to see the variety of other cars that showed up. From mild to radical customs, pickups to lowriders - this was a very well-rounded show! Scroll on down through this pick of ten from Mitzi (try not to drool on your keyboard) and be sure to leave a comment below and let everyone know which...

1933 Ford Street Rod Featured Ride I first shared a quick photo of Jim Baugh's light blue 1933 Ford Sedan Street Rod in the Salt Flats Speed Shop Open House story. When Jim pulled up to the shop, I immediately started taking pictures.  Let's have a closer look... First of all, this '33 was built with a mix of two styles, Street Rod and Traditional Hot Rod.  When Jim was telling all about his '33, he sounded almost disappointed that it was a Street Rod.  I think he's been bit by the Traditional hot rod style bug that is so prevalent at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The Street Rod comes from the  big 'n' little tires, a reliable 350 small block Chevy and TH350 auto trans and front disc brakes.  The Traditional Hot Rod style's evident from several features: the chopped top, fenderless hot rod rake, authentic Ed Roth laid pinstriping, heavily louvered decklid and solid front axle. So which is it? Who cares! Jim nailed the complete execution and made a long-haul driver at the same time. Jim drove his '33 from Washington state to Alabama (or was it Arkansas?) for a family...

Mazda Rotary Engine Car Show Every year the rotary gearheads gather from all over the globe to attend the so called "Biggest rotary show in the world" at SEVENSTOCK 2010 at the Mazda North America Headquarters in Irvine, California. Since the release of the RX-8, its uncertain what rotary engine equipped vehicle will be produced after the RX-8, and perhaps events like the Sevenstock are an attempt to show Mazda corporate that the Wankel rotary spirit is still going strong.  Sevenstock is also more of a niche venue than your ordinary assembly of piston loving enthusiasts... rotary engines have a special type of bond that adheres to any car loving person. Why is this? Perhaps its the attraction to the free spinning bumble bee rumble, or the simple nature of the compact displacement that drops into almost any type of chassis? Regardless of the reason, it's a legendary engine that's made an immense footprint in the automobile world. The latest of Mazda's rotary creations, the RX-8 were in full effect. The Renesis is a naturally aspirated rotary engine engineered for performance as well as fuel efficiency, but most importantly,...

Evo X Mitsubishi Performance With the turn of the global economy and the effects it had on the automobile industry, one must ask; who actually gets sponsored these days? In these hard times, its a meaningless question to pursue; however sponsorships are directly related to the exposure and good brand image of the company. The life of Jason Macgill's EVO builds actually started as a plain sponsorship from Tomei Powered, the engine specialists. This relationship was mainly fueled by Macgill's undying pursuit of maintaining the positive status of the company, and actually carried the burden of proper representation of a 40 year old brand image.  Over the years, Tomei Powered recognized that Macgill was no ordinary enthusiast, but one that devoted his valuable time for the success of the company. The Mitsubishi  EVO X was immediately acquired at the US release date, even before some hit the dealer lots. Then began the networking to various Japanese companies such as Voltex, Colt Speed, and even Ralliart since these companies were already producing aftermarket performance parts for this fresh chassis. Sure the car looks pretty with its body kit and carbon...

Car Show Invaded By The Gasoline Girls It was labor day weekend, and you know what that means... leaving LA for the 100 mile drive to Ventura for the weekend. Although the show's been going on for 8 years now, this year its name changed from "Primer Nationals" to "Ventura Nationals"... so don't get confused! Other then being filled with great cars, good music, a pinup contest... it was extra special because it also marked the first official show that me and my girl's car club attended together! I've been meaning to introduce ya'll to them, so no time is better then the present - say hello to the Gasoline Girls! We've been meeting up and getting together to wrench on one another's cars for a few months now  - and having a darn good time at it! Waking up early to get our old cars parked at the show is difficult (especially when there's so many after-hours activities going on!) But its a little easier when there's a pretty Studebaker waiting for you! The show was at capacity this year, with sweet customs like this one from Cole Foster....

Bonneville Salt Flat Racing Vintage Studebaker The moment my Studebaker and I drove out on to the salt this year during 2010 Speed Week, what was the first thing I did? Look for other Studebakers of course! And what was the first one I found but Gord Driedger's Blue Beauty. This 1953 Studebaker Coupe looks like she was born on the salt! In fact, this was her first time there - as well as Gord's! People end up on the salt from every corner of the earth it seems, and with all sorts of fascinating stories about how they got there. For Gord, his timely meeting with Blue Beauty happened while on vacation... in Napa of all places. Sitting on the patio, basking in the California sun, enjoying Napa wine, when suddenly Gord and his Wife's peace was disturbed by the loud sound of a racing engine. With salt flat racing on his bucket list, Gord went a-searchin'. The search led him to a neighboring garage. Not to the Studebaker, but to the guy who would put him in touch with #653. As it turns out, Blue Beauty was...

7 Hot Rod Artist Pinstriping for Charity (part 2) Bid to win this helmet on Ebay now: Custom Pinstriping on Welding Helmet Next up is pinstriper Mitch Maciel. In case you missed it, this is the custom, brand new Lincoln Electric Viking Welding Helmets we'll auction on Ebay with the benefits going to our friends from Progeria Research. Want to see pics of the finished helmet? Right here: Finished pinstriping pictures Mitch pinstripes out of Los Angeles, CA and showed us a distinct scroll style of pinstriping. Looking for something in this style for your hot rod? Catch up with Mitch by email. And for a lady's touch, meet pinstriper Jenn Hallett The first thing you'll probably notice about Jenn is she's cute as a button! If you're smart enough to talk to her, you'll quickly learn her looks aren't her only great quality! Jenn's just cool and a talented artist. I asked about her brush prep technique... look at her fingers. Some pinstripers use glossy paper, like from a magazine, to prep their brushes for fine lines, but others use their fingertips like Jenn and Dave Whittle coming...

7 Hot Rod Artist Pinstriping for Charity Bid to win this helmet on Ebay now: Pinstriped Lincoln Electric Welding Helmet I already showed you this brand new Lincoln Electric Viking Welding Helmets we'll auction on Ebay with the benefits going to our friends from Progeria Research. More about all that, and finished pinstriping pictures here. So who did the pinstriping? Enter Von Hot Rod's Pinstriping Circus.  Pictured above, Von Hot Rod is a man of many talents. His pinstriping work is a style of it's own developed from years of striping at just about every car show including those outside this continent! Von's also been known to host the Sunday service at event's he attends. Von Hot Rod is also the man behind the Pinstriping Reunion held at the Grand National Roadster Show every year. In 2009, they raise a cool $14 g's for charity. So when I asked Von and his Pinstriping Circus for help, I knew he'd do it. The picture above shows Von pinstriping on the welding helmet. Having these photos showing where the helmet came from has got to add to it's collectible provenance, right?...