Each year in December, Mooneyes throws their Xmas Party Show & Drags. Out of all the car shows here in Southern California, this is one of my favorites. Not only does it have plenty of cool cars and a great people - but it's held at Irwindale Speedway and has a "run what ya brung" drag racing event alongside everything else! Often, it happens to be raining during the Mooneyes Xmas Show - but this year was nothing but blue skies and beautiful weather! I loved the exhaust coming off this little pickup. Walking past this bare-metal Volkswagon van/bus made me do a double take! I've never seen anything like it! Not only for the fact that it's a VW and is in bare metal - but because the body style was completely original to me too! With the front having 4-doors and looking like a VW van, but then it's got this delivery-truck bed in back complete with awning above! Come to find out, this thing is called a VW Vanogen. I love seeing new and unique stuff... ...and Mooneyes Xmas Show always brings it on! For example,...

Must Have Mechanics Tools In my quest to learn about working on cars, I'm realizing that there's a lot I've learned about tools alongside learning about cars! When I first started working on my newly purchased Studebaker around five years ago - the only tools I had were neatly packed into an aptly named "Do-It-Herself" toolkit I'd received for high school graduation years before. Those got me by around the house - but weren't much help in the garage. Having a handy and helpful Dad, it didn't take him long to wrangle me up some spare tools from his garage. Soon enough I had a starter mechanics toolkit. A small assortment of sockets, wrenches,and a screwdriver were about all I started with. Its also about all hot rodding young people had back in the fifties! But as anyone who's worked on cars know - different jobs call for different tools. Sometimes you can make do with what you have and sometimes you've gotta go out and buy or borrow the right tool for the job. For everybody else out there who's learning as they go or just getting into cars - here's...

Hot Rod & Custom Car Photography Jeff Norwell's perfect hot rod pickup at the Moody Mile in Syracuse Whether your building your first hot rod or a website about hot rods, it's best to have a little help. The most generous people you meet help when really, there's nothing in it for them. They're just, "Like that".  That's the case for this featured photographer, Chuck Vranas. I met Chuck at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, CA. He was floating around shooting here and there, but didn't look overly busy and rushed (like me), so I asked who he shoots for. At the time, he was shooting for Source Interlink powerhouse Street Rodder Magazine.  Chuck shoots and writes feature car and tech stories for Street Rodder quite a bit, especially lately. Check out the newest issues and you'll see stories Chuck did. It's almost like seeing someone you know on TV! (but totally different) Chuck is the real deal when it comes to hot rods too. Doesn't it kinda show when a photographer really likes what he's shooting? Ansel Adams can shoot some landscapes like nobody's business, but...

Ford Falcon Wagon - Get'n Buffed Crushed. Stopped dead and pissed. That's how I'd describe myself following my first paint attempt on my 1963 Falcon Wagon.   The After shot of the inner quarter panel.   How should I feel? The bodywork sucked, there were foo-boos all over the place from a careless painter who's been cheating everyone he meets since. But... that angry tone and deflated project is  almost completely back on track now! My wagon's got a new coat of flat gold paint and the interior paint's almost completely fixed thanks to my buddies at Infinite Detail.   I first met Jeff from Infinite cause he joined MyRideisMe.com and uploaded some pictures of his 1960 Falcon Wagon. I contact him and cried on his should some about the sorry state of my Falcon's paint. He showed me his website and the "before and after" pictures and said, "Let me take a look."   Soon after, Jeff and his brother-in-law Mike were over. They took a long look, then explained in great detail what they could and couldn't do and offered a written quote. That kind of honesty and...

1954 Chevy Pickup -Chopped and Dropped Author and Photographer: Mike Harrington Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. A truck is a truck, right? It’s meant for only one thing, to be beat to death on the local farm or sentenced to a life of hard labor. If only the designers of the ’54 Chevrolet truck could see how this one fared the test of time. They just might pass a peach pit. There’s a nifty little story attached to this former hay hauler and it all began south of the border and we’re not referring to the Mason Dixon line. Decades ago Mateo San Martin, living in Mexico, pieced this truck together one part at a time. Almost like that Johnny Cash song and just like the hot rodders here in the USA - a scrounged part here and there over a span of time had the truck all back and working again. Only this truck wasn’t built for any aesthetic reasons, it was built to handle life’s daily chores and experience more hard labor. But things don’t always work out the way they were intended... sometimes...

Flat Black 51 Chevy Deluxe Cruiser Author and Photographer: Mike Harrington We have all heard the expression. “I'm going to beat you till your black and blue”. I don’t know about you, but anyone I’ve ever seen with a black eye or a serious bruise, the bruise looks more black and green. Kind of like this here ‘51 Deluxe custom owned by Dead Sleds member Crow and his wife Adrianna. Now before you splatter your drawers thinking “not another black primered car!” Throttle back for moment and take our word for it... This suede sleds body work is smoother than a velvet Elvis under a black light while puffing a cigarette packed with Mexican hay. Many times a black sled will be bathed in apocalyptic black to hide the flawed body work. However, during the construction process of Crows blacktop bruiser he and club member Cepe spent a year massaging the metal on the ’51 Chevy bringing her back to life. That massaging came in the form of shaving all the prickly protrusions from the body of the Chevy. Some prefer to call them emblems and door handles, we’ll...

New Stromberg 97 Carb That's Old Too When you're building a 276 inch flathead to power a 32 Ford XF roadster for the Bonneville Salt Flats... and you're from the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop whose specialty is combining the old with new and making it all look period perfect, what else would you run but Stromberg carbs? Making the new look somewhat older just got alot easier with Stromberg's new "Barn Find" 97 Carb. It's a completely new Stromberg 97 with all the updates and design fixes of their signature Stromberg 97, but some aging tricks like a little media blasting and some old fashioned neglect (they leave the cast iron base out in the rain for a spell before painting it) result in a "no two alike" patina that fits great and looks perfect on your hot rod's flathead. The "new" Barn Find Stromberg 97 is on the left with an original Stromberg 81 on the right. Need more patina? Just handle it some more. With the media blasted finish, a little finger oils and a well placed grease smudge and you're there! So head on over...

Engine Disassembly Begins for this Ford Straight Six After beginning my 1960 Ford Falcon project, hearing from you all, and thinking about it a bit - I've decided I do want to keep the original straight-six engine. I will quite possibly be hopping it up some as I rebuild it - but I like the idea of keeping the car original and just working with what I've got. As I continue growing in my car knowledge and mechanical skills, I continue to be drawn towards performance and racing. Thankfully I've not only got the Falcon to work with, but also have my Studie. Since my 1955 Studebaker Coupe is already modified with performance parts, it helped in my decision to keep the Falcon original. First things first, the radiator had to come out (after being drained first, of course.) Once that was done, I decided I'd go ahead and pull other front pieces off. Not that it will help very much with getting the engine clear (there's a permanent bar in front that we'll have to lift the engine up and over when the time comes.) But if I'm going to do a job,...

1933 Ford Hot Rod Pickup Author and Photographer: Mike Harrington No doubt about it, this little hot rod pickup has it in spades, unlike many of the flash in the pan gow jobs running the city streets. Gary Culmer’s ’33 pick-em-up was built with design, purpose, and reason. Purpose and reason: two themes that echoed through Culmer’s mind as he salvaged what was left of this leprous ’33 Ford cab. What was the purpose or reason of having a pickup truck that could haul nothing? It was his goal to have a functional truck that could haul engine blocks, axles, and other discarded Detroit iron. Starting with a discarded Model AA frame from a 1929 1 ½ ton truck would not be the first choice of most builders, however Culmer was undaunted. The AA frame was shortened 18-inches, and then Z’d 6-inches in the back while the front was given a 3-inch sweep and boxed. A one inch dropped Model A cross member was added to the front and finally a tow hitch was added to the rear bumper. The bed of this former hay hauler is actually from...

1963 Ford Fairlane 60s Custom Author and Photographer: Mike Harrington Less IS More We Americans seem to have this “bigger is better” mindset. After all if a little is good then a lot is better right? We can biggie size our French fries, biggie size our body parts with pecker pills or bags of silicone. Big, big and bigger! We are obsessed with size. Don’t take me wrong, if someone wanted to put a 572 cubic inch big block in my classic ride, I surely wouldn't object, but is bigger always better? I guess it all depends on your perspective. (Editor's note: Maybe less isn't more with the lovely Cherry Doll! She's smokin hot...) I once heard a saying that has seared its self into my memory. “Less…is more”. This saying holds true to music, design and even meal time. It also holds very true in the case of this ’63 ½ Ford Fairlane. With all the subtlety of a serpent, Ford introduced the 260 cubic inch lightweight Windsor featuring 164 horsepower, that was the "Challenger" versions of Ford's mighty small block. At 12 inches shorter than a Galaxy...

1934 Ford Hot Rod at El Mirage Author and Photographer: Mike Harrington We first spotted this ’34 ford at the Antique Nationals. There she was sitting in the staging lanes waiting to race with the rest of the antique American iron. A picture was snapped at the Antique Nationals. One thing led to another, and there we were a few weeks later in the blistering heat on a dry lake bed doing a photo shoot. Ron Hammack owner of this ’34 5-window has an interesting story to tell. This machine is a genuine Northern California barn find and had been sitting since the early 1970’s until he recently acquired it. As to the history of the vehicle prior to Ron’s ownership, and where it was raced; it’s still shrouded in mystery. Suffice it to say that when it arrived on the trailer it still had the grill shell, body, hood and frame. Rats had long eaten away sections of the wood floor and left a dung heap the size of Rhode Island inside the cab. Brenda, Ron’s wife, insisted that it be taken to a car wash first and...

Hot Rod & Custom Car Photography & Writing Through some good luck and a willingness to talk to everyone I meet... "Hey Do you use the internet!?" is a favorite thing my buddies tease me about... I bumped into Michael Harrington up at Bonneville Salt Flats in 2010. He was photographing a sick gasser Corvette (yes, on the salt!) and I asked who he shot for. Well, he's worked for a few Primedia/Source Interlink titles you've heard of, most recently, Super Chevy.   Flash forward to present and Michael and I are back in touch and we've worked out a deal to publish his incredible photography and musings here at MyRideisMe.com. It's incredible to publish professional pictures like this! Michael's got a gift and I know I'll learn from staring at his work.   I snaked this info from his photography home page Automotive-Photography.net to let you know more about him: I don't know how it happened, but it did. I guess most of us enthusiasts can blame it on our fathers. In my case, I can definitely pass the blame. My father was never a huge Hot Rodder...