“Internet Barn Find”: Dry Lakes Racers Australia

---

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 is some cool history of how racing on this Lake came to be.  It took a couple dead end roads before finding this great racing location.  What they’ve found is a salt lake that is as good if not better than any other salt lake in the world.

From the DLRA site, “Since 1990 , a lot of purpose-built dry lakes racecars and bikes have been built and raced with speeds ranging from 90 mph to well over 200 mph. and with this year’s some approaching 300 mph. In this form of racing there is virtually a class for anything and in fact the D.L.R.A decided very early in the peace to run by the rule book of the S.C.T.A.”

We hope you’ll check out DLRA.org.au NOW and see what the hot rodders from down under are up to on their own Salt Flats.

Hechtspeed

“Internet Barn Find #11″: Sandy’s Soda Can Hot Rod Masterpieces

This is probably the coolest Barn Find to date.  I’m not gonna talk much on this one, because it will take up too much space where pictures should be.  Please check out this website. 

Looks like each car can be purchased for $2000.  Heck, if you’re crazy enough, you can purchase his drafting plans for $10/ea to build your own.  Good luck though, because you’re going to need serious craftsmanship to build it. 

Here’s the website: Sandy’s Can Cars

You’ll be blown away, I was!

Hechtspeed

“Internet Barn Find #10″: Burkland’s 400 MPH Streamliner

Bonneville Salt Flats Streamliner

Dallas Volk, my Salt Flats insider, sent me this link.  He is good friends with the Burkland family.  I knew I needed to share their website with you all.   This post does come with some sad news, that Gene Burkland has passed away this week.  I mean this post to be in deep respect and a tribute to Gene and his family’s great history at Bonneville.

The Burkland Streamliner is a twin Donovan Chrysler powered, 4 wheel driven racecar that has gone over 400 mph.  Please take a look at their website HERE as it is full of pictures and information, as well as links to other Land Racing websites and stories.  This blazing fast Streamliner was designed and built by Gene and his son Tom Burkland.  If that’s not “My Ride is Me” I don’t know what is…Here’s a quick blurb from the site about the Burkland family:

“Gene and Betty Burkland, from Great Falls, Montana (the first SCTA members from that state), have been active in racing, and at Bonneville in particular, for over three decades: their first Bonneville car was a chopped-top, Chrysler-powered ’53 Studebaker Competition Coupe, with which Gene set a record in A/BFCC at 255+ mph in 1978 (this car was recently restored to racing condition and ran at Speed Week in 2000 and 2001).
As soon as he grew old enough, their son Tom joined the team, and promoted the building of their next car, a Datsun-based, Chrysler-powered, ground-effect Competition Coupe, which allowed him to set a AA/BFCC record at 294+mph in 1985.
Around that time came the idea of building a streamliner, which took all of the next ten years to become a reality.
As much as the finished car looks like a fairly sophisticated, high-tech, million-dollar job, it is in fact strictly a family effort: in true hot-rodder tradition, it was home-built using generous supplies of the most precious materials available at no cost: skill, hard work and enthusiasm, plus a little help from their friends!
Then of course, Tom’s experience as an aerospace engineer (he worked on F-16′s) was a key factor in the design of the streamliner…”

Do yourself and favor and browse the site for a few minutes, you’ll be inspired!

Hechtspeed

“Internet Barn Find #9″: BringaTrailer.com

The BringaTrailer.com website is home of the Internet Barn Find.  You guys and gals need to check this site out!  It’s the best of the best in cars for sale on the web.  No, we’re not talking the best deal on a used Hyundai, this is the hidden treasure that makes you want to expand your garage and put off that family vacation for one more summer.

Take a look at the BringaTrailer.com About Us page :

“We put together BringaTrailer.com because finding great vintage cars online has become too much of a hassle. There is no need to keep sifting through hundreds of hopeless projects or overpriced dealer inventories to find that one car you’ve been looking for. We pick the winners and save you the trouble… the best bargains, the best dream cars, and the best rarities.”

Gander at a few of my favorites from the BringATrailer.com site.  It gives you a sample of the quality you’ll see.  You can search the site by various categories like American, Japanese, British, Under $20k, Project Car and Race Car and so on.

As you know, we here at MyRideisMe.com have Salt Fever.  I give you a beauty of a dry lakes Belly Tank Lakester straight from the 1940′s.

Then there’s this 1974 Datsun 610 hardtop is super slick, great looking wheels, a modern 2.4L 240sx mill and lowered stance.  A restomod Japanese sport compact if you will.

More flavor by way of a Mercedes Benz 190E 16V in DTM street racer style.

\

Go check ‘em out and tell ‘em MyRideisMe.com sent you.  Buy your dream car or project over at BringaTrailer.com and then set up your virtual MyRideisMe garage.  Here’s My Garage as an example!

Hechtspeed

Internet “Barn Find” #7: Andy’s Pinstriping

During one of my daily classifieds searches, I happened upon a really cool vintage toolbox for sale that was pinstriped.  In the ad was a pinstripers blog, Andy’s Pinstriping.  Of course I had to check it out (and so should you) and that’s when I knew we had to feature Andy’s work at MyRideisMe.com and add his work to our Pinstriping Gallery.

So take a look at Andy’s work and read below a little background info on how he got started.  Believe it or not, Andy’s relatively new to pinstriping, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at his lines.  Go ahead and see what Andy has to say about pinstriping and get ready to be inspired. 

MyRideisMe: How did you get into pinstriping?

Andy: I grew up around hot rods and custom cars, and have always had an artistic streak inside me; I got into painting cars while I was in high school, and I took a 2 year college course in Auto Body & Paint. I have never had any formal training in pinstriping, but I have always respected it as a nearly lost art form, and I just decided to start giving it a go. It’s been a lot of trial and error, but it’s been a lot of fun. Basically, just really enjoying the stripes I would see at the shows inspired me to want to give it a try, and here I am.

MyRideisMe: How long have you been striping?

Andy: I guess that is kind of debatable. I’ve had a few pinstriping brushes and limited colors of oneshot lying around for about 10 years, using it sparingly in custom paint jobs, but It wasn’t actually until last year that I got into pinstriping as a full blown hobby. The kit has grown a lot, I have a lot more brushes and just about every color of oneshot paint. So, for a little over a year I have been doing the old skool stripes that people seem to enjoy.

MyRideisMe: What are your favorite objects to stripe?
Andy: I love to stripe hotrods and motorcycles, but I will stripe Anything! I’ve striped a lot of toolboxes, vases, art panels, purses, peddle bikes, leather jackets…basically, if someone wants some stripes, I’m their man.
MyRideisMe: Who has inspired you as far as pinstriping goes?

Andy: Pretty much any striper I meet inspires me in some way. The striping community seems to be pretty close knit, everyone is friendly and inviting, and I have really enjoyed getting to be a part of that. My biggest inspiration has probably got to be Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth, the man was a genius, full of talent and imagination. It’s always fun when someone say’s ‘who’s that’, or points at the fink on my shirt with a grimace on their face and asks what it’s supposed to be. Being able to open people up to Ed is always fun, and I’ve yet to come across someone who wasn’t oddly intrigued by everything the man did. Other artists who have inspired me to pick up the brush include; Kenneth Howard/Von Dutch, Craig Frazier, Wizard, Scratch, Bo Bo, Mike Witt, and the list is always growing. My wife does computer graphics, and has been a tremendous inspiration to me as well. You can find some of her work HERE

MyRideisMe: Any tips for beginners?
Andy: I would recommend people find pictures of stripes that they like. Take pictures at the shows, and just try to recreate the stripes you like. You’ll never want to ‘copy’ anyone per se, but in the beginning when you are just getting started, it’s good to have an idea, something to look at. Also, ask questions. If there is a striper out there that you particularly like, get some input from them on how you can get started. I’m not a wealth of knowledge, but I would be more than willing to help anyone out when it comes to getting started in striping, and I am willing to bet that a lot of other stripers out their would as well.

‘Wizard’ has a few killer instructional videos that can help, and probably more so, watching the stripers at the car shows will give you a lot of insight on the process and tricks of the trade. Biggest advice would be to not give up or get frustrated! Be patient, and expect it to take some time. I started out using stabilo pencils so I could easily modify my stripes if I didn’t like them, I don’t have to do that now, and I owe it all to lots and lots of practice. I look at some of the stuff I did last year and I cringe, but it’s also nice to see the improvements that I have made.

MyRideisMe: What is the best way to get started?
Andy: It’s pretty simple…just do it. Go to your local auto body supply store or cruise the net and get yourself a dagger and a can of one shot, it doesn’t take much to get started. Ask tons of questions, be unique, have lots of fun and just go to town; everything looks better with stripes. I truly believe that if you love this artform, you can excel at it. Strive to get better and push yourself further. Pretty much the motto for everything in life, I suppose.

 

MyRideisMe: Anything else you would like people to know about you or pinstriping?
Andy: I believe pinstriping is a somewhat diminished artform, and I am grateful for the opportunity to talk a bit about it. If I can inspire someone to get out there and give striping a try, that’s pretty exciting, because striping really is a blast. If anyone ever has a question I want them to know they can always ask. Leave me a message on my blog or come hit me up at one of the shows, I’d be happy to help. Thanks again for the opportunity to share, and Stripe on!

So, what are you waiting for?  Get striping guys and gals!  If you know of other pinstripers in your area, send me an email at hechtspeed@myrideisme.com .  Let’s get their work in our Pinstriping Gallery.  I don’t know about you, but  I’m inspired to bust out my old hobby brushes and start playing around.

 

Hechtspeed

Next Page »