Hot Rods and Custom Car Show Pictures Story Contributed by MyRideisMe.com member: Nick Koljian "Hellcity316" Capitola, CA is a beach village tucked in a river valley in Santa Cruz County on the Monterey Bay. It's well known for it's antique shops, beach side surf condos and grub huts like Pizza My Heart and El Toro Bravo. And in recent years the Capitola Rod and Custom Classic. This the 5th annual Capitola Rod and Custom Classic, they pulled all the stops for this 2 day event.  I would like to say for those of you that can't make it to the Ink-n-Iron festival (more coverage of Ink-N-Iron) that in past years, this show falls on the same weekend and makes a great substitute! When you pull into Capitola they have all of the village, as the locals would put it, closed off. The streets are lined with roadsters, classics rods, customs, woody's, rats and so on. For that matter I could have sworn I saw a dragster this year. This show, hands down, is for the hot rod lover in all of us. The show carries on through the village...

The Hot Rod Power Tour is one of those car events that you need to experience at least once in your lifetime. This seven day/seven city driving tour changes location every year. The route for this year, the 16th annual, began in Newton, Iowa on June 5th and finished in Mobile, Alabama on June 11th. Caddy owned by "Kid Cadillac" who told us, 'On the Power Tour this year the odo hit 45 thousand miles on this since I finished her 3 1/2 years ago. She still gets looks and wins trophies. Don’t be afraid to drive them!' Each leg of the tour averages around 200 miles. Often times during the Hot Rod Power Tour a sponsor will host a lunch stop. This year we had a great lunch provided by Mid America Motorworks at their facility in Effingham, Illinois. Their reproduction vintage gas station made for a great backdrop for photos. You don't really need a souped up hot rod to run the Power Tour. As long as it runs and has four wheels it is welcome to ride. Each Hot Rod Power Tour sees more and more...

2010 Ink & Iron Show from Long Beach California Only a couple of hours remain at the 2010 Ink & Iron show, a show that proved as grand as the Queen Mary itself. Bands can still be heard cranking out tunes as the last rays of sunlight glisten off from metal flake and chrome. We launched Ink-N-Iron with this: First Look: 2010 Ink-N-Iron Festival The beautiful sound of tattoo guns still at work resonant through the belly of the Queen Mary with countless gallons of ink spilt. Yes, to put it mildly the show was amazing. Ivy D’Muerta hosted this years pin-up competition with the curvaceous Gia Genevieve taking home the title of Ms. Ink & Iron 2010 amongst a bevy of gorgeous ladies. Show goers were able to shop until wallets were drained at some of the most unique vendors the scene has to offer. (We grabbed a pic of Gia Genvieve at Viva Las Vegas too) Once again the hot rod & bike show grounds were packed to capacity with creations from some of the worlds top builders. With this years show going beyond expectations one cannot...

How to Find Classic Car Insurance Photo by Ron Ricci Are you one of those people that never has anything bad happen? If so, you may not care about this info. The rest of us need classic car insurance. Once a year, you get a letter from your classic car insurance carrier saying it's time to renew. For the last several years, I wrote the check. For me, it was less than $200 and since I'd never used it, it was working just fine!  Trouble is, since I got my roadster upholstery done, I really wanted to increase the the agreed-on value. That's when I found Condon & Skelly. I needed new insurance and they needed to find new ways to get the word out about their insurance products. Condon & Skelly advertises here now, but that happened AFTER purchasing my new insurance. Why change insurance? For me, it was simple: I got the higher value for my roadster I wanted, no questions asked I got better insurance coverage overall Coverage went from $100k to $500k Same deductible Price went down by $10! Finally, I received great service! I...

Saying that there was a hole in my muffler would be an understatement. My muffler was torn up! This happened from years of scrapping over bumps. Me being the car-learning girl that I am, I thought “muffler…that just quiets noise, right?” Wrong! When it comes to mufflers, there’s much more than meets the ear. Follow along with me as I not only learn about and change my mufflers…but actually get to make a pair of custom glass-pack mufflers! When we’re talking about mufflers, we’re talking about part of the car’s exhaust system. One thing exhaust systems do is carry the fumes created by the engine’s combustion out of the engine. But what makes exhaust systems so important is that the way in which those fumes are carried out affects the pressure (a.k.a. backpressure) of the engine. And backpressure has everything to do with the performance of the engine. When choosing a muffler, it’s not only the muffler but the entire car and exhaust to take into consideration. A few things to think about are: Engine size Level and pitch of sound desired Pipe size Ground clearance While I was...

All Photos by Mitzi and co (Thanks Mitzi! Resume festivities!!) Pinup Monica Renee with Voodoo Larry’s killer 46 Ford 2010 Ink & Iron Show from Long Beach California Being from Wisconsin when I get a chance to hit the West Coast for a show, it had better be a good one. Lately the show buzz has been all about the Ink & Iron show held at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA so I figured I’d give it a shot. Ink & Iron is a 3 day event and we are just partially through the 1st day and I’ve seen more amazing tattoo artists, hot betties, amazing rods, bad ass bikes, and vendors than most shows pack into an entire weekend. While at the show I was given the opportunity to assist the always amazing Mitzi Valenzuela when she photographed the drop dead gorgeous Monica Renee with Voodoo Larry’s killer 46 Ford… I know it’s a rough gig! After the shoot we hit the packed vendors, the outrageous 3 story tattoo convention, and the Hall of Customs…all the while tapping our toes to the great line up of...

Everyone gets into the truck scene differently. Some inherit the interest from their father, some get sucked in by their friends, and others, like Tony Saenz of Andrews, Texas, got into it by going into a convenience store to grab a tasty beverage. It was on that fateful day 3 years ago that he first saw a yellow Dodge in the parking lot of said store that was painted with ghost flames. A short conversation later, Tony had the number to the painter of that truck, Jamie Torrez, the owner of Demented Customs in Hobbs, New Mexico. Hobbs isn’t known for being a big town, but for a city with just over 31,000 people, there’s a surprising number of custom car and truck guys. One of those shops is Demented Customs, who have slowly been building a reputation for themselves as powerhouses in the industry. Over the past few years they’ve put quite a few customs out on the pages of various magazines, so when Tony decided to take his car to them, it turned out to be a very fortuitous decision. The first thing that Tony wanted to...

We spotlighted the 1st Gen Chevy Camaro RS sponsored by Optima Batteries a couple months ago in a blog (click the link to check it out) when it was being prepared for the One Lap of America 8 day long grueling competition.  The One Lap (it used to be called the Cannonball Run) of America makes the race cars drive themselves from track to track (3500 miles total) and then expects them to race hard at the track.  That's right, no trailers.  How did it do in its first year at the race?  Keep reading... Here is the updated livery for the One Lap event.  Looks just like PCK Studio's rendering/T-shirt. This Pro-Touring built Camaro RS won its class, which is called American Vintage.  This was its first One Lap race, so the fact that the car won its class (which competed against a 1981 Camaro that has run the event 20+ times before) is really a big deal. This is the Katech prepared 427ci LS7 Corvette Z06 powerplant to propels the OneLapCamaro. The team of James Shipka and car owner David Pozzi had a pretty crazy 8 days.  At one point...

So, if you missed Part 1, The Tear Down, read that first, then come back for this, Part 2: The Install.  So, at the end of Part 1, we had removed the old ring and pinion.   Now we're ready to install the Ford Racing 3.73 ring and pinion gear set from AmericanMuscle.com. First, I wanted to show you what the Ford Racing 3.73 Gear Set comes with.  Ring gear, check.  Pinion gear check.  Crush sleeve, nut and shims, check, check and check.  But remember, its SUPER DUPER HIGHLY recommended that you ditch this crush sleeve and get yourself the Shim Spacer Pack for easier preload setup.  You'll thank yourself later, trust me. OK with Ford OEM/Racing gears i have found that they are pretty much ground on the same centerlines. So if you measure the pinion and shim after you've removed the pinion bearing and match the length to your new gears by adding the correct shim to equal the first measurement, you will be very close.  Now that being said, I always have to check the gear pattern and add or subtract shims to get the gear pattern correct. it is recomended to...

It’s funny how trucks work. No matter how many stories are written about trucks and their experiences, they all seem to have a common thread: Guy buys a ride with the pure intention of just doing a few things here or there to make it a little bit better, and next thing you know, the truck is getting painted, the suspension is rebuilt and it becomes as far away from stock as normal. This story is no different. Andrew Moreno, of Tucson, Arizona, bought this ’72 Chevy truck in 2004 with the intention of fixing it up a bit. His brother was about to turn 16, so Andrew and his father figured that they’d rebuild the motor, give the truck a blue paintjob and some chrome wheels and it’d be a perfect driver for his little brother. Andrew and his dad tore into the truck, taking out the drivetrain in the process, and they discovered that the suspension all needed to be rebuilt. Plus it really needed a quality restoration if they wanted it to be safe. No reason why not, right? A decision was made: Take the truck...

Thanks to member NumbNutz (top 10 member names for sure!) who took photos from a show I've always wanted to attend. Formally the known as the Paso show in Paso Robles, but always the West Coast Kustoms Cruisin Nationals run by Rich Pichette since 1982. Now about 60 miles south of Paso, the West Coast Kustoms Crusin Nationals brings a worldwide audience for the rides and great California weather.  For more info about next year's show, make sure to check out the West Coast Kustoms home page. I hope to see you there! See the rest of the pictures in our Car Show Picture Gallery. Want to share some of your car show pictures? Please get in touch. You're already loading them to flickr, might as well help us out too! email...

You've  probably met guys like Jerry before. He’s a good guy, always worked hard at his job, been around the local club scene for a while, and has built a few cool rides in his time. Then one day, he steps it up a notch and builds something really wicked. That’s just what happened to Jerry Taylor, of Glendale, Arizona and this Nissan Hardbody. Except Jerry doesn’t go by Jerry. Most know him as “Bear,” a nickname used by all of his fellow club members in Kastawayz. He’s built a little stable of rides over the past few years, including a pair of Hondas, a bodydropped Nissan Hardbody, and a Toyota mini. When Bear bought this particular Hardbody a few years back, the goal was to really go above and beyond what he had done in the past. Something that would get some attention, and really take the custom scene by storm. It started in Bear’s garage, a cozy little spot named “Bear’s Customs.” In that 20X20 space, he tore into his hardbody, starting with the suspension. The factory Nissan 6-lug had to go, so Bear did a spindle...