My first car was a 1972 Bug I picked up from a family friend for $500 (Check my Bug Garage here).  Then I spent 2 years in Brazil as a missionary for my church.  Brazil was one of the few countries that manufactured the Volkswagen Beetle.  I was surrounded by them.  One of the cities I lived in had a race track and they used to run Copa Fusca, which means Beetle Cup, a race class just for road racing Vdub Bugs.  Some of these photos also come from the German version, the Kafer Cup series.  I got to thinking and did a quick google image search.  Check these Fuscas out, so rad! I dig the front airdam spoiler, extra wide fenders and wide wheels and tires.  Pretty simple formula. This silver Fusca may be running a front radiator or oil cooler, not sure.  Man that looks fun! Here's a German Kafer racer.  Check out that big Porsche style rear wing!  The little vent behind the rear window tells you its a 1972 or newer Bug.  I believe all these VW racers are "Super Beetles", the name given to the...

Check this out guys and gals.  I told you to keep an eye on Andy's Pinstriping blog didn't I?  Here's his latest work, getting ready for the Rat Fink Reunion 2010.  "As is tradition every year at the Rat Fink Reunion, The artist's give out an "Artist's Choice" award to their favorite vehicle at the show.  This years "trophy" from me is a metal panel that features my man Fink doing some ca-razy stripe and letter work...and to finish it off I also distressed the panel so it looks like it was hanging in Ed's shop in Maywood California back in the early sixties. I hope whoever receives this enjoys it as it was a labor of love to make!"  Andy   Click on the image to blow it up real big.  Looks even cooler! Rat Fink Reunion 2010, Manti, Utah June 3-5, be there or be square!  I hope to attend this year's event.  How often is there an event of this caliber in Utah right? Hechtspeed...

Japanese Legends...also known as JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) Machines, Japanese Nostalgic Cars, J Tin, you get the picture.  Domestically here in the US of A, we have classics like the 1932 Deuce Coupe, 55-57 Chevy Bel Air, 67-69 Camaro, 64 1/2-70 Mustang, etc. In Japan, the classics are cars like the Nissan Skyline, Toyota Celica, Corolla, Datsun 510 (Bluebird in Japan) and 240Z (Fairlady Z in Japan). JDMLegends is a new shop located in North Salt Lake, Utah.  They had their Grand Opening last July 2009.  So bummed I missed it.  Looked like a nice gathering of Japanese cars!  R33, R34 and R35 Skyline GT-R's in Utah at once?  Cooooool!!! JDMLegends' specialty is hunting down your dream JDM classic (25 years old or older) located in Japan, having it inspected and legally imported into the USA, where it can be delivered as is, or have the JDMLegends' special touch. The owner of JDMLegends is a Japanese car nut named Trey Cobb.  Trey started Cobb Tuning.  Initially a turbo Subaru tuning specialist, now Cobb focuses on ECU tuning for many platforms, including the new Nissan GTR. Above is the engine bay of a Toyota...

Yes, I did say Epic.  Trust me, just listen to this video from BMI Racing! We wanted to show you BMI Racing, a Racing Team/Company who moved to the USA from Australia to pursue their racing dreams.  Their plan is to build 2 Mazda RX-8 sport coupes each with a naturally aspirated 4 rotor engine (stock they come with 2 rotor engines and make 240hp), 1 car to compete in drifting and a 2nd car to race in Time Attack events.  They have finished the first one and began testing this past summer. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Fgi1OQqao[/youtube] Isn't it nuts that a crowd will cheer like that over an engine?  It's the first RX-8 Renesis 4 rotor engine in the world right now.   It sounds like an F1 engine, it just SCREAMS!!!  What's a 4 rotor Wankel?  Well, simply put, each RX8 engine has 2 rotors mounted in series.  This 4 rotor is sort of a "big block" rotary with 4 rotors mounted in series, or 2 RX8 engines mounted in series.  Cool right!?  We don't have many details about the 4 rotor engine setup just yet.  We hope to fill you in with the juicy rotary...

I'm sure many of you are under snow like me.  You lucky hosers in Socal and Arizona, I'm jealous.  Seeing the white stuff outside made me think of the white stuff 2 hours west of me, the Bonneville Salt Flats, also known as the "Great White Dyno".  I wanted to post up some pictures from Speedweek 2009.  They're not glamorous shots or anything, but they remind me of the mecca of hot rodding that is Bonneville and Speedweek that I experienced this past August.  I can't wait for 2010. The wait's over: Bonneville Speed Week 2010 – First Look This red Olds is cool.  Dig the aluminum sheet airdam, blower poking through the raked hood, Mooneyes decal and Moondiscs and the front windshield littered with Bonneville Speedweek stickers.  This was the first car I shot when I got on the Salt. This was the second car I saw.  Love the yellow with white walls against the white stuff.  This truck had a "Bean Bandits - San Diego" plate.  Super clean hot rod here.  Everyone's gotta have a Shop Truck! Love this roadster (I think maybe a model A by the...

Salt Flats Speed Shop in Orem, Utah is run by Chris Davenport, a metal fabrication and finishing craftsman and hot rod builder who is dedicated to building 1930's traditional hot rods.  Chris has been in business officially for about 2 years now and is attracting more and more customers as the word gets out about his affordable, high quality craftsmanship. "Need a Chop, a roof insert, fender, or a quarter panel? Well you've come to the right place. We'll fix all your cars issues, and have it looking as good in "bare metal" as it did when it was made." Chris (in the white shirt) showing us around his shop in Orem.  This is a customers 3 window coupe with suicide doors.  We dropped in on Chris Thanksgiving week.  He willingly took an hour or more to give us the full shop tour.  He explained all his tools, showed us all his projects and talked shop.  I could tell Chris is passionate about hot rods! I had emailed Chris letting him know that a friend and I wanted to drop in and check out his shop.  My friend, Gary, has a 1928 Model A Pickup of his own...

Just wanted to wish all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  2010 will be rockin' at MyRideisMe.com. I thought I'd share this Gingerbread Rat Rod I made last year.  I was planning a Chop Top 1932 Tudor for this year, we'll see if I can find time......

The Acura RSX is definitely one of the cars on my short list for fun to drive daily transportation.  They're lightweight, good handling, reliable, fuel efficient and the performance model (Type-S) has a 200hp high revving 2.0L DOHC 4 cylinder using a 6 speed manual.  I've only seen a few RSX's that have really impressed me.  Jose Guadalupe's silver Base model (non-200hp) is one of those and it certainly caught my eye with its aggressive styling. Photos are by FotoSet, djdorifto and Kami Speed.  Click the images to see them Full Size. That aggressive look is courtesy of STANCE.  If you're a hot rodder or custom nut, you already know what Stance is.  The "tuner" cars of today are continuing the Stance trend set by low 50's Custom's, raked 60's Muscle Cars or 80's Lowriders by going with low ride height and aggressive camber and flush fitting wheels.  Jose's ride has -5.5 degrees of rear camber and -4.5 degrees in front.  But why so much camber?  First, it helps get those 9.5" wide wheels to fit under fenders made for 7" wide factory wheels.  Second, negative camber just looks so cool.  To me, big camber is a street car interpretation of...

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!...

Following in the footsteps of my last post about Cool Pinstriping, a post about cool hot rod art, drawings and paintings is needed for sure.  We've shown you some great art this year, here's just a sample.  We're going to put together a "Hot Rod Art" picture gallery soon, so we'll let you know when that's up and running.  For now, peep these for your viewing pleasure! Included are links to the stories these pieces of hot rod art came from in 2009.  Don't forget to click the images for a Full Size view! First, some digital artistry from our man Brian Stupkski, of PCKStudio fame!  Check out the informative story on "How to Pick a Hot Rod Designer" I personally have a print of this Ed "Big Daddy" Roth inspired Nissan Cube concept.  Check the story out HERE! Next up, we have some hot rod sketched art by Alan Brightmore!  These were a couple of my faves from 2009. There was a time when I serious considered having a 60's VW Bus custom as my family daily hauler.  This is exactly how I'd want it to look! This Black Camaro...

Here's a look at some of the coolest pinstriping found on MyRideisMe.com during 2009.  I think you'll agree, pinstriping is alive and well.  So many hours go into practicing and painting, it takes a dedicated person on top of the skill required to lay a great line.  Enough words, these pictures will tell a 1000 of them on their own.  Enjoy! Please check out the full Pinstriping Gallery to see even more works of art! Click the pictures to see them Enlarged. And a few of the stripers who we give much respect to, Charlie, Joel and Andy. So, there were so many pictures I wanted to share that one post is not enough.  Keep your eyes peeled for more!...

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...