At the Grand National Roadster Show, one exhibition hall, #9 I think, always has a theme.  Last year, it was former America's Most Beautiful Roadster winners. The hall was filled with with AMBR winning roadsters from back when the show was still in Oakland, CA. This year, the theme hall was the "History of the Race Car". I just published another story about the Drag Race cars in this hall, but this one's just about this 1969 Corvette named, "Revolution" and owned by the late Mike Mitchell. In a hall filled with wild race cars, this one, as you can see stands out. The paint is fantastic!  The "Fastest Hippie" theme is carried out throughout the car with the psychedelic rainbow patterns on the side then the jumbo hookah on the hood and the zig-zag man near the cockpit. I bet Mike was alot of fun! (click on these pics to see them full size) Researching for this story, I found a bit more info about Mike Mitchell, and about his passing in 2000. The story's written by Phil Elliot at our friend Draglist.com.  The story's called, "Farewell to...

You can almost smell the tires burning cruising through the "History of the Race Car" hall at the 2010 Grand National Roadster Show.  The exhibit, of course featured drag racer from the way-back-machine, especially my favorite: Nose in the air gassers! Getting up-close and personal with the "Outer Limits" Mopar, I'm reminded of a buddy who saw his first altered wheelbase A/FX'r and asked, "Who'd do that?!"  That's exactly why I love them! Make noise, look near ridiculous and have more fun than anyone! I want one, and some day I'll get it.  I might have to build my 61 Rambler American wagon as a gasser. Low-buck, fast and loud = funner-mostess. Continuing my stroll, I found the, "Fastest un-blown Ford V-8 powered dragster running in National Nostalgia Drag Racing." ...and it's driven by a woman named Kathy Lloyd out of Castro Valley, CA. According to their show card, the car was built in 1969, then restored in '85, then back-halfed in 1996, no doubt to return to racing. Safety rules have changed, juuuuussst a little since 1969. Running on a cocktail of 85% Nitro and 15% methanol, this...

Member Benefits If you don't like free stuff. Stop reading now. I've posted some how-to articles from the Lincoln Electric website in the past and since then have kept in touch with the well known welding brand. Lincoln even included at tiny MyRideisMe.com back in 1997 in their iWeld newsletter when we barely had any content.  (Sure wish they'd do that again!) So now, Lincoln has asked MyRideisMe.com to make sure these brand new Viking welding helmets go to deserving members. So how do you get one? (If you don't want one, this might not be the right website for you!) How to WIN one of these welding helmets: Members Only. If you haven't signed up, click here to sign up now Members must have an avatar in their garage. (it's easy, just click on it!) Maybe that's enough rules. Write a welding tip and leave it as a comment below.  My Ride is Me is a community. Car people, in my experience are a friendly bunch and willing to lend a hand. Do that now and get some new gear! Ideas for Welding Tips: Tips or tricks you've...

Well if I could paint like Tom Fritz, I would. If I could draw like my friends Brian and Dwayne, I'd probably do that too.  Since my creativity's pretty much limited to taking pictures, I'm doing my best to catch up to the great shots taken by Swanee, my main man shooting for MyRideisMe.com. Swanee's yet to lay down his shots from GNRS, so here's mine, FISHEYE style. A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens that takes in an extremely wide, hemispherical image. A side effect of this super wide shot is the distortion.  I'm shooting with a 10.5mm fisheye lens. Sometimes that distortion looks kinda cool with the swoopy angles of a custom or in tight on the details of an engine like the Stromberg powered flathead in Blackie Gejeian's "Blackie" Roadster. Sometimes, the look is just sinister!  This is the grille from "Camel Toe Racing" 1932 Ford.  The closer you get, the more distortion. I'm just a couple inches off this grill and I probably cropped the shot some. Too bad I have to give the lens back to my boss! Shooting in the Suede Palace...

We already covered the Grand National Roadster Show's big winner of the coveted America's Most Beautiful Roadster award.  The title now belongs to the 33 Ford named, "Possessed". So now, I want you to feast your smoke filled eyes on the "Contenders".  Usually the GNRS has 12 cars running for the AMBR, but this year, only 10 made it.  Here's 4 of them.  Which one's your favorite? The bright orange 32 roadster shown here first is my friend Todd Stevens from right here in Arizona.  Todd's got a gorgeous late 40's or 50's Mercury convertible he runs to the local Goodguys show, but in stark contrast to that cool cruisers is this nasty injected Hemi Hot Rod! Doug Jerger, the builder and another friend just a flew blocks away, runs Squeeg's Kustoms in Mesa, AZ and is no stranger to America's Most Beautiful Roadster competition. In 2008, Doug built is own AMBR roadster and we showed his shop and 32 Ford in this story. I know that just like Doug's 32, Todd will drive this car and drive it hard. Shouldn't that score points some how with the judges?...

Here it is! America's Most Beautiful Roadster, or the AMBR award as it's known.  The AMBR is easily one of the top awards in the country and this year drew 10 roadsters to competition. 2010's AMBR winner is a 1933 Ford, or loosely based on that design, and is owned by Mike and Dianne Dingman.  The car was called, "Possessed" and was built by Scott's Hot Rods, a shop that built another America's Most Beautiful Roadster winner back in 2008. (2008 AMBR Story) Beyond that, you know what?  Not much to say.  This is one of only a couple pictures we took of the car for a couple reasons: First off, it was tough getting decent pictures. On Friday, during our media happy hour and right into the time when the public crowds started rolling in, the Scott's guys were busy setting up the car and the display.  Sure, there were chances to get shots of dudes busily wiping stuff down and placing the display panels, but there's only so much you can photoshop. (We did get one "interesting" video, but that's being saved for the, "how to ruin...

I know, Pancakes right?  Crazy!!!  Just keep reading, you'll dig it! I know we have some wagon/hatchback/van aficionados out there.  Our own Pikesan owns 2 project wagons himself. When I'm not blogging for MyRideisMe, I read other people's blogs and enjoy their auto-passion, vehicular photography and car features.  One of the blogs I follow is OMGPancakes Blog.  It's run by Marlon, or "Big Hindu", a college student in Pennsylvania who has a big fat sweet spot for the people movers and grocery getters.  I asked Marlon what's up with the blog name?  OMGPancakes?  What the Hecht?  Well, there really is no one meaning, its just a wacky name that fits perfect for this wacky cool blog and the cars he features.  It's pretty funky, you gotta give it up for that.  I mean, Pancakes?  Okey dokey!  Ha Ha Ha  You go Marlon! Here's crazy big Hindu doing some crazy monkey jump thing.  Ya, he's even crazier about wagons and vans.  He's been blogging for just over a year and his blog is growing every month.  Enough about the man...Big H's own wago-van-box-hauler-thing is a bright yellow Scion xB.  He's a...

Links to 2008 to 2013 Grand National Roadster Show Pictures and America's Most Beautiful Roadster 2013 Grand National Roadster Show Coverage WINNER! 2013 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster 2013 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Contenders - Best 7 5 more contenders for AMBR 2013 AMBR Cars - The Air up there Bird's Eye Look 2013 GNRS Shots in the Dark: Long Exposure Hot Rod Pics 2013 GNRS First Favorite Rides and Pinstriping Pictures 2012 Grand National Roadster Show Coverage 2012 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Winner 10 Roadsters, 40 Photos of 2012 AMBR Contenders Tons of PICTURES from 2012 GNRS 2012 Grand National Roadster Show – First Favorites Jack Howerton – Behind the 2012 AMBR Winner 2011 Grand National Roadster Show Coverage 12 Contenders for 2011 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Vote for the 2011 America's Most Beautiful Roadster Idaho Invades Cali for America’s Most Bitch’n Roadster How the AMBR Award Judging Changed Explained Suede Palace Beauties at 2011 GNRS 2011 Grand National Roadster Show – First Favorites A Japanese Man’s Perspective: 2011 GNRS Jake’s Road Savage 1954 Chevy Bel Air Custom Bubble-Topped Futuristic Customs from Roth and Winfield AMBR is all in...

You're on Facebook right yall?  No?  Get with the program!  That's how MyRideisMe.com and Pascal Hein got together, through the MyRideisMe Facebook Fanpage.  Go check it out and join our Fanpage, right after you read this cool story of course. Pascal is from Germany and he has shared his classic bimmer he calls "Lemon".  A 1973 1802 Touring model.  Sit back, grab some Kugen (yummy pastries my German grandma Hecht makes for desserts) and enjoy storytime from the motherland.  Take it away Pascal! "My Bimmer was built in 1973. The so called "Touring" was BMWs first try to build a hatchback and also the last try until 1993, when they introduced the compact edition of the 3 Series. Actually people didn't like this concept in the early 70s so just around 30,000 Touring models were produced and just around 970 of them were 1802 Tourings like mine, while there were houndreds of thousands of normal BMW 02 sedans. So in 1984 my father managed to buy this car after he wanted to have one for many years. It had two owners before he bought it and had some damage on the rear...

My first car was a 1972 Bug I picked up from a family friend for $500 (Check my Bug Garage here).  Then I spent 2 years in Brazil as a missionary for my church.  Brazil was one of the few countries that manufactured the Volkswagen Beetle.  I was surrounded by them.  One of the cities I lived in had a race track and they used to run Copa Fusca, which means Beetle Cup, a race class just for road racing Vdub Bugs.  Some of these photos also come from the German version, the Kafer Cup series.  I got to thinking and did a quick google image search.  Check these Fuscas out, so rad! I dig the front airdam spoiler, extra wide fenders and wide wheels and tires.  Pretty simple formula. This silver Fusca may be running a front radiator or oil cooler, not sure.  Man that looks fun! Here's a German Kafer racer.  Check out that big Porsche style rear wing!  The little vent behind the rear window tells you its a 1972 or newer Bug.  I believe all these VW racers are "Super Beetles", the name given to the...

Check this out guys and gals.  I told you to keep an eye on Andy's Pinstriping blog didn't I?  Here's his latest work, getting ready for the Rat Fink Reunion 2010.  "As is tradition every year at the Rat Fink Reunion, The artist's give out an "Artist's Choice" award to their favorite vehicle at the show.  This years "trophy" from me is a metal panel that features my man Fink doing some ca-razy stripe and letter work...and to finish it off I also distressed the panel so it looks like it was hanging in Ed's shop in Maywood California back in the early sixties. I hope whoever receives this enjoys it as it was a labor of love to make!"  Andy   Click on the image to blow it up real big.  Looks even cooler! Rat Fink Reunion 2010, Manti, Utah June 3-5, be there or be square!  I hope to attend this year's event.  How often is there an event of this caliber in Utah right? Hechtspeed...

Call them "lemons" or piles of crap or simply junk. Still, can you argue these guys are having fun racing them!? I first heard about the Concours d'LeMons and took note because it was part of the super prestigious and maybe super "snobby" Monterey Concours Week including the world famous Concours d'Elegance. Dating back to 1950, we can't hate on the big-daddy of Concours Week in Pebble Beach because they now include class "U" Hot Rods: Lakesters and Bonneville Racers. Gotta hit that show one of these days! The 24 Hours of LeMons, an obvious play on the 24 Hours of LeMans, the worlds oldest endurance sports car race, the "Lemons" used in this race are cars worth not more than $500.  More than anything I'm wondering, what kind of cars get entered and when can I see this first hand?  Turns out, I'll show you the cars here and see'm first hand in Phoenix at the kickoff event for the LeMons series at Firebird Raceway. Dubbed the Auction-Weekend Gavel-Tap GP in honor of the slew of high dollar auction that are part of Arizona's Auction Week, the race...