SoCal Pomona’s Open House – Nothing to See Here

Hot Rod, Street Rods and Customs Pack Pomona

(click on any picture to see it full size)

In all the years I’ve been going to the LA Roadster Show, I’ve always attended the SoCal Speed Shop’s open house car show on the Friday night before the Roadster Show. By about 4PM on Friday, everyone’s already setup their swap spaces and scoped out the early deals, so besides grabbing a bite, there’s not much else to do except see some great local custom hot rods and see what Jimmy Shine and the other builders are up to at the shop.

Outside the shop, the streets are lined with hot rods and customs like this 49 Buick Sedanette. Out of all the cars I saw this weekend, this Buick was one of my favorites. It was for sale too. Got an extra $45k?

Much like the high style and high dollar cars found at the LA Roadster Show, SoCal brings in some of the finest hot rod examples to be found in all of California… and farther. They normally have at least one Billy Gibbons project going on, and he’s, “Bad, bad, bad… nation wide!”

Speaking of projects, here’s two in progress. The one on the left sports a 409 Chevy and all the touches of a very special nostalgia hot rod. On right is the Indy Speedster fashioned after an Indy-like sprint car with a Roush motor. It’s taken 15 years of construction to make the hand formed, all aluminum body. This will be one of a kind, to say the least, when finished. Do your projects look like this when they’re going together?

Finishing strong:

The paint on this Willys Gasser doesn’t have the shine of the other hot rods at the Pomona show and probably didn’t before it sat for 15 years untouched in  Jack “Racer” Warren’s garage… but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I owe you a feature story about this Willys after the Viva Las Vegas Show. Some day!

Here’s the rest of the best pictures from Socal Pomona. Look for more in the Hot Rod Picture gallery… soon!

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Different Ways to Win at GNRS

With all the talk going on about the AMBR winner at the Grand National Roadster Show, I wanted to take the opportunity to show you some of the other great award-winning cars on display. There must have been well over 100 awards given out during Sunday’s award ceremony! This is not including awards given out  in the Suede Palace (those cars don’t run in competition with the others, it’s more of a  low-shine exhibit if you know what I mean.)

To start with, this sweet 1952 Chevrolet Coupe won the George Barris Kustom D’Elegance Award. I dug it for it’s cool green paint by Gene Winfield as well as it’s cam shaft front grill.

There were lots of nice wagon’s at the show, as I’m partial to wagons they really drew my eye. This 1963 Falcon Squire stood out to win in it’s 1955-1979 Conservative Wagon class.

I’d heard about this 1932 Ford roadster, dubbed the Platinum Bomb, as it was progressing. I hoped it would take home first prize, but it only got class recognition (this is, however, the most competitive class in the entire show!) Built by owner Zachary Norman along with Troy Ladd of Hollywood Hot Rods… be watching for an in-depth story on this baby!

While Lowriders aren’t my style, I’ve at least got to recognize the money and hard work put into these pieces of art. I was very surprised when I saw this 1988 Volkswagon Jetta pimped out! Dubbed “The Passion,” it was covered with crosses and Jesus murals. Evidently others were impressed too, it was awarded the Full Lowrider Compact Custom Award.

The ’88 Jetta wasn’t the only place for Jesus to be seen at the 2010 Grand National Roadster Show. I spotted him (along with Mary) on this sweet ride out in the Greaser’s Alley. It was all the more classic  that mariachi music was booming from inside, along with a custom light-bar beneath the radio keeping beat with the music! I don’t think this one took home any awards, but it was one of my top picks! I wouldn’t mind rolling around my East LA neighborhood in this!

I definitely don’t want to leave out the Suede Palace picks!  This beauty 5-window was the chosen winner of my favorite car club fellas, the Throttle Kings. Extra points to them for picking a car based on it’s drivabililty! This one’s owned by a fellow Grease Girl and gets driven all around, including destinations like El Mirage and Bonneville Salt Flats along with her Bean Bandits crew. Stay tuned for more on this one later also.

Lastly, I don’t want to ruin it for you, but there will be a few spectacular cars highlighted in detail here at MyRideisMe.com that took top in their classes. The only clues I’ll give ya is the classes: 1955-1959 Semi Hardtop class and Early Street Roadster – Topless Pre 1935. Keep checking back, as we’ve got plenty more to report from the 61st Annual Grand National Roadster Show!

SoCal Cube with Cues from VW Bus

It’s green and creme and low. Oh, and it has a sliding rag top, crank-out style windshield (power-operated on my concept) to mimic the old VW busses… rear door has additional swing-out glass panel, all to complement the open-air approach. The sliding rag could even be replaced by a full glass roof (with water drop-look pattern etched in!) for more exposure to the paparazzi. As it sits, the sliding rag would be power-operated, and close when the key is moved over 20 feet away.

The remaining custom touches are pretty minimal, but include a grill filler panel to smooth the lines out, louvers in the front fender (right-side only to play-up the asymmetrical design of the Cube in general), and small “nerf-ettes” (small nerf bar-inspired trim pieces) at the fascia corners to give a slight “retro” touch and visually extend the new chrome grille bar in the lower opening. This also assists in making the car look a bit lower and wider yet!

Slammed stance over classic 5-spoke wheels sets the laid-back cruiser tone. The theme here is California sun and fun, and opens up a world of aftermarket accessory possibilities, like bamboo roof racks, the sliding rag top, window kits, lowering kits, interior seating options (waterproof and beach-ready seat covers, etc), grille inserts, trim add-ons and more. My hope is to inspire hot rod-minded folks to grasp just how big of a blank slate these are for customizing, and that you can think well outside of the “tuner” look on the Cube.

Get this cube and the crazy “Surfite” concept at Problem Child Kustoms