I can't let another day go by without sharing about my amazing past weekend! Yes, I was at Gene Winfield's. Yes, I learned a gazillion metalworking tips from a legend. Yes, I even did my very first burnout. Let me start at the beginning though... Early Saturday morning I stumble out of bed, grab a cup of coffee, and jump in Stude for the hour and a half drive up to Mojave, CA. My Dad makes the trek there from Vegas and we meet at Roadhouse Mikes - just the sort of greasy spoon you'd expect in a small desert town. With full bellies we head eight miles down the road to Gene Winfield's. We're signed up for Gene's bi-yearly metalworking workshop. By 9 o'clock Gene is busy acquainting all 10 participants with the various tools around his shop. Among the tools are a slip roll,  english wheel, beverly shears, pipe anvil, bead roller, and dozens of hammers, dollys, and dies. Soon Gene is fully absorbed into teaching us about various metals, chopping customs, gas welding, breaking an edge, and hammer forming metal. (You'll have to come back for how-to articles!)...

Carlisle Performance & Style 2010 showcased many highly detailed modern rides like Joey Talarico’s 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse. But, Mother Nature tried real hard to stop 14th annual Carlisle Performance & Style Show in Carlisle, PA. Despite the ferocious 40 mph wind gusts and the threat of morning rain on Saturday, over a thousand tricked-out cars, trucks, and SUVs turned out to participate in the festivities. The show organizers were trying real hard to overcome the bad image the show gained back in the rowdy early 2000s when it wasn't uncommon for the local police departments to make a couple hundred arrests during the course of the weekend. Their efforts to be more family friendly could be seen by such simple items  as “Parental Discretion Advised” signs posted on some of the buildings that contained content not suitable for the youngsters and passing out carnations to mothers on Mother's Day Sunday. For the most part, attendees were more laid back and respectful of others. The show was also changed to encourage more domestic muscle cars. There was a decent showing of Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers on the Carlisle Fairgrounds. There was even...

It all started with a phone call. Justin Higley of Phoenix, Arizona, had built a few trucks in his day, but nothing really crazy. He was barely getting into the scene, and little by little he dipped his toes into the water of customization. Soon he had a few trucks under his belt, but nothing that really made him satisfied. He needed more. Enter Kevin from BNC Offroad and Third Coast Customs. Kevin’s a master builder, and has been putting trucks in the sky for years. Third Coast Customs is the fabrication side of things, making custom suspension kits for mass production and sale, while BNC Offroad is the retail side of the puzzle, installing those same kits, as well as selling other miscellaneous accessories. From lifted to lowered, the BNC crew can do it all. Kevin was looking to build himself a truck for the new show season, so he needed something special. It was around the time that the first 2007 Chevrolet Silverados were rolling off the transports, so he bought himself a brand new crew cab. Third Coast specializes in independent suspension lifts, and Kevin wanted to...

Pictures and words by: Doug Nykanen Gumball Rally Toronto-Niagara Falls May 6-7 2010 The Gumball Rally started as a movie from 1976. It had a hodgepodge of characters racing across America in a variety of exotic cars. Fast forward to 1999 when Maximillion Cooper founded the Gumball3000. A Rally that ran 3000 miles across a variety of countries on a different route each year. Yea, across countries! Here's the type of cars you'll find: A couple of days ago I heard the Gumball was passing through Toronto. The 2010 Rally started in London England, then on to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Boston, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto with the final destination at Times Square in New York City. Never one to miss an automotive event I headed down to a very congested event in downtown Toronto. By the time I got there it was getting dark, so the pictures were not great especially without a high powered flash and someone to clear people out of the way, there were thousands of people. The event was pretty low key, most drivers were already partying it up but some, like the Sheiks, had just...

Reaching out to be friends or at least friendly with other car sites, I met up with Alex at "Road and Track" magazine online. Oh, you've heard of them?  Alex told me about a "Corvette Chronology" piece they'd compiled and thought it'd be great for the readers at MyRideisMe.com.  "I'll take a look." I have to admit. I didn't look very hard. Some time later, I finally went back and realized there was so much info about the Corvette, I missed most of it just for being in a hurry. There's a ton to see and it's laid out in a clean, easy to follow format when you take the time to look closely. The coverage starts from the 50's, but I skipped right to my favorite years, the 1960's. (I mean, it's hard to imagine a 'vette with a six cylinder, so that throws out the first two years!) Clicking on the link that says, "1960's" you're taken to a page with the picture above. There's a brief description that says: The Sixties was a decade of rocketships — both NASA's thundering moon machines, and the rubber-burning road...

I heard from one of our favorite pinup models, Zoe Scarlett.  Zoe's the first pinup model we featured when she was on a flier we made for the very first show we attended in California.  She was our Billetproof Pinup here thanks to our friend and extraordinary photographer Dirk Behlau from Pixeleye Racing. And just for the record, Zoe's Swiss! From Switzerland, you know? No matter how many times I screw that up, that's not gonna change... So Zoe told me she's on a bottle of lemonade. Here's the scoop. Available soon, I'll try to post a link to where it's on sale. In the first time of history, Abbondio Aranciata has decided to use a still alive pin up beauty to cover their bottle. After intensive research, Abbondio found the well known Swiss Pin Up girl and discovered she's the only European doll on the world ranking of the top 10 pin ups. The Zoe Scarlett Limited Edition beverage will be launched worldwide in late March. In addition to the "Terroni in Los Angeles, " harrods " in London or the "Zanzibar" in Frankfurt the lemonade will also...

Story and Photos by Nick Koljian Today was the 9th Annual Car & Bike show held at Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo,CA. I've never been so I thought today would be a nice day to check it out. The sun was shining, a nice breeze blowing and my oldest, Mia, was really jazzed about her first show of the year with pops. So at about 9:00am the crew rolled out in route for San Lorenzo. Upon arrival at the High School I noticed that it was being held on the football field which I thought was pretty cool. Slapped down our 5 bucks (which goes to the Arroyo High Boosters Club) and we were in. As a  local show I wasn't expecting anything huge and I was right. But with that said, it was a comfortable show, maybe 100, 120 rides. There was more hot rods than channeled rusters, there was more paint than primer and there was more post 68' than pre 52'. But hey, not everyone has the same tastes in rides and that's what makes the love for cars so great. Beauty is in the...

I'm going to put this out there up front... I will not be able to do this story justice.  But, its such a great story and a cool car that you are going to get it and you are going to like it.  Ok, I got that out, now on to the man and the machine. The man is cancer survivor and current cancer fighter Dan Sallia.  The machine is the historic Burke Bros. Bonneville record holding 1962 Studebaker Avanti.  I originally found Dan's story on landracing.com in a build thread he started there.  That led me to his more detailed build thread on RacingStudebakers.com where I spent about 4 hours reading through the posts during 2 separate nights, checking out the pictures and soaking in one of the coolest car-guy stories I've ever heard.  I knew I had to share it the MyRideisMe.com readers. Here's Dan working in the engine bay of the Stude.  Now THAT is a setback motor! Dan has been racing against Cancer for about 4 years and has had 3 tumors.  Recently another tumor was discovered, so Dan is working with his doctors (one doctor is actually a land...

Bonneville Salt Flats: Speed Week 2010 Preview: ...ok, ok, for those counting (who, me?) its actually 100 Days, 19 Hours, 34 Minutes and...wait for it, wait for it...53 seconds! For everything about Bonneville and Speed Week, check this out: Bonneville Salt Flats – Speed Week, Records and Pictures Or, see for yourself at the LandRacing.com homepage, where they have a countdown clock for Speed Week.  It's going year 'round for those with Salt Fever. Here's a little taste of the Salt from Speed Week 2009.  Dig this flamed 5 window coupe hot rod and yes, oh yes, a Studebaker Avanti.  That's a teaser for a feature coming up on another certain Avanti you guys will love. Speed Week is THE coolest car show around! One of the great "unofficial" events at Speed Week is the first 2 nights (the night before races start is night #1), there is a big gathering of all those racers, crew and hot rodders who've made the trip out.  It goes down at the Nugget Casino (across the street from Montego Bay Casino as you can see in the pic above) in Wendover (about 5 miles...

It's been too long since I've posted a "Hot Rod Ramblings" feature.  For this post, I'm gonna go Nostalgia Drag and Funny Cars on you guys.  But, these "hot rod ramblings" come from my Uncle, "RickyRod" Hechtspeed.  These are my Uncle's memories of the "Pit" from the late 60's.  The "Pit" was the nickname for the first Irwindale Dragstrip. A quick background... the "Calera Kids" were my dad (Rodger "Calera Ave burnout king" and Ford/Merc' lover and his little bro, the "Chevy Puke" (as my dad would call him) and their buddies Rick Patterson, Scott Henry, John DeGraff (sporto), Lalo Gabriel, Rob Shultz, Pat Murphy and a few kids not directly in the "hood" Scott Taylor and Steve Presley were drag fans.  They lived on Calera Avenue in Azusa, California, the next city over from Irwindale. Anyway, these ramblings are taken from some emails from my Uncle.  They mean a lot to me, because it is a piece of the Hechtspeed history.  I thought you guys would really dig 'em too, so here goes, let the Ramblings begin! "It is possible that the four kids shrouded by the supercharger are the “Calera Kids”.  That was one of...

I'm a car guy, not a web guy.   Yes, I've spent the last 3 years making MyRideisMe.com and spending a huge portion of my limited free time on the computer, but it's all been worth it. The community's growing, sponsorship is growing and that means there'll be more free stuff (see the freebies stories) and more content for everyone to enjoy.   That said, I had to spend some time in the garage this weekend to prove to myself, I am a car guy. My 1963 Falcon wagon's been neglected so that MyRideisMe.com's not. I've had a new radiator to put in for a while now and I have an Optima Battery to put in as well. My new yellow top's still waiting, but at least I've got the radiator in!     Why'd it take me so long? It was a hard day's work, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I have this tendency to over think to the point where it keeps me from getting started. Maybe that's how I'm wired as an engineer. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out....