2010 Goodguys Scottsdale Pictures – Golden Morning Sky

Best Pictures from 2010 Goodguys Southwest Nationals

My new desktop picture!

As I get older, the list of reasons for getting up EARLY in the morning oddly keeps getting longer… it used to be simply fishing. Next as Pops started to take me racing, I added, “going to a drag race” and then as I got more interested in cars, I added, “going to a swap meet.”

Now I’ve added, “taking pictures with morning sunshine.”

See the dude laying on the ground for this shot? That’s me!

I see alot of people cruising car shows taking pictures… some with gear much nicer than me, and quite a few using their cell phones. What are you doing with those pics? I wanted to cover cool shows like Goodguys Scottsdale with the best pictures I could, so I started watching guys like Paul “Swanee” Swanson take pics and trying to shoot like him.  (here’s a few of Swanee’s 2010 Goodguys Pictures from this year) Then, I sought out some other pros and got some tips on Shooting Good Car Pictures. I’m learning! Or maybe it’s just the morning sky!  Who cares!! I’m really happy with these pics.

This custom 1951 Chevy Coupe pictures above is owned by Al de la Torre from Scottsdale, AZ. This is the first time this car’s been to a show and these are the first published pictures. I’ve just barely giving you a glimpse of how great looking this car is. Thanks for closing the hood and trunk for me Al!

Just before shooting Al’s 51 Chevy, I shot my buddy Erick Anderson’s newly painted 1964 Chevy C10. The truck’s really not that low, it was tall grass. HAHA!! Erick’s truck like Rob’s burb and Dino’s head-turning C10 Crew Cab all lay frame thanks to custom installed airbag systems.  All I hear from these guys is, “Are you gonna bag your Falcon wagon?”

Back to my morning shots…

Doesn’t it look like the headlights are on?

My wife even liked this picture!

Notice the grass?  Not sure if Goodguys had anything to do with it, but about 1/4 of the grass at West World has been covered by asphalt and filled with vendors. One of my favorite things about Goodguys Scottsdale is the grass!! It’s high 70′s (cool this year!) and perfect for a sit down or a walk barefoot among the cars. I think the cars for sale at Barret Jackson dictate the new paving?

While not a sunrise, the low sun did help set off this color.

Finally, I had to snap some closeup shots of the diamond port hole windows in this slick custom van. I hope van’s are making a come back. With the panel painted custom van in the back ground, did I pull this picture from the MyRideisMe.com 70′s photo archive?

Any comments? How was the show for you? Bigger, smaller than last year? What was your favorite ride and did we get a picture?  There’s three sets of pictures from the 2010 Goodguys Show in Scottsdale. This one, Swanee’s pics and from newcomer Bill Garrett from Garretterokustomphotoandart.com shared some Goodguys Scottsdale Pictures.

Hope you like it!

2010 Goodguys Spring Nationals Autocross

Car shows are fun, but I think I speak for alot of car owners when I say: “Get out of the lawn chairs!” Don’t get me wrong, time with friends catching up on new projects and great hot rod buys are essential to car shows, but what else is there to do? That’s where Autocross comes in…

At the 1st annual Goodguys Spring Nationals in Scottsdale, AZ, Goodguys added an event they call the “Street Challenge Autocross”.  Goodguys does a great job of setting up a small, twisty race course that’s perfect for taking cars normally at home on the the straight line quarter mile and forcing them to go left and right. Up for grabs is a set of BFG tires for winners in a few different classes including Vendor, Hot Rod and Street Rod. (Somebody help me with the classes… they’re not listed on Goodguys website)

So who was racing?

The winner of the hot rod autocross was my friend Doug Jerger in his 1934 Ford Roadster.

Doug is the owner and chief painter at Squeeg’s Kustoms in Mesa, AZ. Doug’s built a couple America’s Most Beautiful Roadster contending hot rods including Todd Steven’s Hemi Powered 1932 hot rod and Doug’s own ride that I’ve seen him drive the heck out of: Another 32 Ford Roadster that was a beautiful, blown and driven hot rod. Here’s another shot of the class winning roadster.

Goodguys draws all kinds of rides pre 1972, so hot rods weren’t the only show goers enjoying the autocross. Probably my favorite participant was this straight axled gasser from one of our local race tracks, Speedworld.

Two thumbs up to this gasser! With Southwest Nostalgia Drags painted on the door and drilled axle for all to see, my man was alot more interested in laying down a couple smokey burnouts than setting low time. Way to go!

Also on the stranger side of things is this pickup:

Note the left rear wheel off the ground as these  ladies enjoyed taking everything the track had to offer, including a few cones. Obviously build for autocross, the old Dodge set a record for fan approval.

Why not a long bed Chevy pickup on the course? Goodguys designs the track targeting a max speed of 35 mph, so next year, I hope there’s at least double the participants.

So with the primered and patina’d trucks, this pristine 540 big block powered Camaro hit the track:

Mark’s Camaro may not have one on the Autocross, but who cares! Rather than sit and watch, he showed his hot rod was built to be driven!  Mark’s a member here at MyRideisMe.com. Check out more picture of his Camaro here.

Look for more autocross pictures from Swanee here soon!  I’ll post the link…

So why didn’t more people take advantage of the autocross?

Any chance of having the autocross at the November Goodguys Show?

More pictures from the Autocross:

2009 Goodguys Southwest Nationals Picture Wrap-up

If you can’t wait until summer time Goodguys Gazette, scratch that now-time itch and check out MyRideisMe.com’s pictures from the 2009 Goodguys Southwest Nationals! Did we shoot your car?

Have you’ve ever worked at something and thought you were making progress improving your skill, then found out you were still way behind? That’s happening to me with my photography. I didn’t shoot alot of pictures at Goodguys, but I shot a few and thought a couple of them were pretty good!

But then, just after I sent the, “Hey Swanee, you gonna load your shots?” email, I noticed he’d already loaded them in the events picture gallery. You’re good people Swanee! ‘Cept for the fact that your images kill mine, that is… You can tell by the logo, that slammed Caddy riding on twenty-plus wires photo above is from our Alaska-raised Director of Photography.

Shown here is one of my best shots. This is the 1957 Chevy Custom that won the Goodguy/Grundy Kustom of the Year. Sunset in Arizona is frequently a, “Damn it’s good to be alive” event and this Saturday evening in Scottsdale made for some great shots. Learn more about this car from an article by our friends at Goodguys. More about the 57 Chevy Custom

Here’s a few more from Swanee’s lens.  The complete collection (sounds official don’t it?) is available in the Car Show and Events Picture Gallery under Goodguys Southwest Nationals.

As you can see, the sky and reflections from the low setting sun do it for me on the Tall T and Mercury Cougar.  Ford genus Puma concolor like this on are on my short but growing list of cars that didn’t TOTALLY SUCK from the 1970′s.

Striking back, I got some of that low-lying sun for myself shooting some other “of the Year” winners that always make their way to Scottsdale, the last show of the year for Goodguys. This is also the start of the, “That guy’s a MyRideisMe.com member” shots.  These first two shots are Kirk Johnson’s Truck of the Year-late 1968 F100. Kirk’s from my old stomp’n grounds in Sacramento, CA and a new member, so go say hi and learn more about his truck. He’s got another F100 he calls, “The Beater” shredd’n some rubber.

Swanee grabbed a few more member ride shots including this 1967 RS SS Camaro from Mesa.

Not sure what award this  supurbly detailed Camaro won, but with the Shafiroff built 540 large-block churning out a ridiculous 700 ponies through a Tremec 6 speed, don’t be fooled. This baby’s show and GO!

Swanee snapped a few members running their classic trucks at Goodguys, too.  On it’s near maiden voyage, Rob’s bumper-scrap’n ‘burb got pinstriped and broke-in some driving in from Mesa with his son riding shotgun. I know Rob, like me, loves it when the boys get involved.

Then up in the winner’s area, the “Unbound Scout” was collecting a prize. This truck’s made heartfelt impression on the IH guys who are coming over from some devoted forums to see the pics and build info.

Another fun and sunny Goodguys Southwest Nationals comes to an end. As usual, we had perfect weather and over 2400 cars.  The Goodguys folks took note that AZ’s the place to be when it’s too cold to be anywhere else and scheduled another show for Scottsdale in March. Now AZ’s got the first and last show of the year!  Anyone planning to come in from out of town, book your hotel NOW! March’s prime golf weather when the greens are frozen across the US, so Scottsdale hotels fill up quickly.

We’ll see you there! Make sure to Join MyRideisMe.com so we can feature your car next time!

Any comments?  Which shot is your favorite? Leave comments below. (Or I’ll assume my writing’s perfect and every word’s spot-on!)

Unforgettable Gold/Copper 1929 Ford Sedan

Cruising any car show with buddies, there’s always one car that even weeks later, you’re still talking about it: “Remember that one car?” and you all do. That happened cruising the Scottsdale Goodguys show in November and I never forgot, even though Otis Schmidt, the owner of this bad hot rod may have thought I did!

Otis, a hot rod, custom car and racing fan since he started building model cars at 12 years old, is now living in Moore, Oklahoma. He bought his 1929 Ford Sedan from Mark Riojas of Bridge Creek, Oklahoma after finding it parked right next to him at an NSRA show in Oklahoma City. Otis immediately dug the car cause it reminded him of a similar-styled 1934 Ford Sedan he’d recently, and regrettably sold . Between missing his 34 and the gold teaser parked right next to him, Otis contacted Mark soon after the show and a deal was struck on the phone.

The first thing you notice about Otis’s 1929 Sedan, called the “Corrugated Flyer”  is the wild gold/copper color. The color’s officially Gold Acrylic enamel. From there, throw in some flattener and mix in this-n-that to get a color that, in the sun, is really striking. The paint and most of the build were done by Mark.

Looking past Mark’s slick paint, the custom touches are found all over the sedan. The body’s chopped a full 8 inches, including the 1932 window frame, then set down on deuce rails. Looking closer at the back end, you’ll see the rear was pie cut to fit a 1932 tank . (Click the image to make it bigger) Move forward just a bit to see the wheel wells from a model A roadster cleverly grafted in to tuck the big 8.90-16 Firstones mounted on steelies. The front wheels are off a vintage carnival ride to get’m only 4″ wide.

Inside, Mark put his custom casting skills to use. Along with his other talents, he also casts custom hot rod parts in his backyard! The steering wheel’s custom made to duplicate a 1940 Ford wheel and the instrument cluster’s made to look like a 1932 piece with a little patina cast right in. Subtle black pinstriping finishes the at the time unfinished interior.

Up front, the induction’s pretty hard to miss, too. Cruising home for the first time, the 29′s Chevy LS1 was acting up and Otis blamed it on the original Stromberg 97′s and a vintage mag setup. Right then, Otis decided to run the new-stalgia look of 4 Demon carbs. After getting it running again with the Demon’s, the real devil turned out to be a couple flattened cam lobes. The old school true Stromberg’s weren’t running bad, after all!

Otis and his hot rod made the long trip to Scottsdale to visit his nephew over in the small Arizona town of Wadell. Along for the ride is Otis’ close friend Bob Starks and his equally bitch’n Gasser-style 1966 Chevy Nova done in pink murano pearl. Bob and Otis have been buddies since high school. I guess they’re glad they made the trip; Bob’s Nova got a “Period Perfect” award and Otis came away with a “Street Rodder Top 10″.

No I haven’t forgotten Otis’ sedan, and I probably won’t. Otis sent over some in-progress pictures of the interior going in and when this car’s done, look for it on the cover of your favorite print magazines.

If you remember this unforgettable 1929 Ford Sedan, let us know!

Please leave a comment.

10 Nissan Cube(s) Stack into Scottsdale Car Show

Someone asked me, “How’d you get 10 Nissan Cubes?” I said, “Well I broke the first Cube 9 times.” Figuring I didn’t answer his question, I continued… “I asked and they said yes!”

They is Nissan and they’ve got 10 Nissan Cubes being prepped for release to the media for evaluation, write-ups and sometimes criticism. That’s what the consumers read in print and online magazines like MyRideisMe.com.

For those of you lucky enough to live in Arizona, you’ll get a sneak peak of the new Nissan Cube. And.. if you haven’t seen one in person, check out the Nissan GT-R.

Except for inside national super-shows like the Los Angeles Auto Show where the Cube first occupied equal space on all side 6 sides last year in November, this is the first time the geometric, love-hate styled Econo-box (couldn’t resist) has been seen in the wild with other shapes.

Where: Scottsdale Pavilion at Indian Bend and 101
When: 4:30 to 9 PM on May 2nd, 2009 (This is a one-time only deal!)
What: 10 Pre-release, totally new Nissan Cubes, plus 1 rockin, bad-to-the-bone Nissan GT-R!

Since I haven’t driven it yet, I’ll have to let you know what I think, but I can tell you there’s a handful of creative features in the Cube not found in other Nissan. I especially dig the kooky, ripple-waved head liner. The mood lighting and accents are covered at length by everyone already, so I won’t go there.

Let me have my drive of the Moss Green 1.8L SL with all the “Sport” goodies and tell you what I think, what others, customers and non-customers think about and then you can love it or hate it for yourself. For my review, I’ll give you nothing but the oppisite over the adjacent side for this Cube and not go on a tangent.

Fine, criticize my writing… do you know Thesaurus.com has no words with similar meaning to geometric?

Customize your own Cube

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