It's Saturday night rolling down Main Street in El Segundo, a cute little Maybury-esque town in Los Angeles County. All of the sudden the street is lined with hot rods and some bobber-styled bikes. Cool cats pour out of a store front holding cans of Pabst beer in their hands. Have I landed in heaven?! Not just yet. It just the New Year's Nuisance 2 art show & party at Gasoline Gallery. This gallery has been growing into its own little epicenter of kustom kulture over the past couple years. Specializing in low-brow art and artist-featured t-shirts (and most recently a record label all their own,) Gasoline Gallery throws these great shin-digs every couple months when their gallery-show changes. I've been to a few of these now and am pleased to report this show was just as high quality and fun as the others - with artist, 3 sheets, taking the spotlight. That's enough of my blabbering, let me just show you the pictures! For more info on any of the work or artists shown, contact Gasoline Gallery or look em up on MySpace. I didn't realize at first...

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...

Call them "lemons" or piles of crap or simply junk. Still, can you argue these guys are having fun racing them!? I first heard about the Concours d'LeMons and took note because it was part of the super prestigious and maybe super "snobby" Monterey Concours Week including the world famous Concours d'Elegance. Dating back to 1950, we can't hate on the big-daddy of Concours Week in Pebble Beach because they now include class "U" Hot Rods: Lakesters and Bonneville Racers. Gotta hit that show one of these days! The 24 Hours of LeMons, an obvious play on the 24 Hours of LeMans, the worlds oldest endurance sports car race, the "Lemons" used in this race are cars worth not more than $500.  More than anything I'm wondering, what kind of cars get entered and when can I see this first hand?  Turns out, I'll show you the cars here and see'm first hand in Phoenix at the kickoff event for the LeMons series at Firebird Raceway. Dubbed the Auction-Weekend Gavel-Tap GP in honor of the slew of high dollar auction that are part of Arizona's Auction Week, the race...

Hot Rods on a Cold Day - Guests' Rides at POSIES Open House So what would make this car guy get up at 5am on a Saturday morning and drive 2 hours in temperatures struggling to make it into the 20s? FREE DOUGHNUTS! Well, that and a chance to hang out with other car enthusiasts at the POSIES annual open house. Posies Rods and Customs, best known for their Super Slide Springs, swung open their shop doors to the general public on the morning of Jan 9 from 8am until noon. Ken “POSIES” Fenical was there to greet everyone and treated us like old friends. This small shop, just a few miles outside of Hershey in Hummelstown, PA, likes to say they build “statements” rather than cars. “Anybody can restore an antique. . . it takes a real man to cut one up,” as one of their t-shirt says. A couple of their statements were out in the snow covered parking lot on display: the ’32 Ford based “Euroliner” and the ’72 Jaguar XKE “FlatCat”. All of POSIES’ statements are built to be driven. In fact, the Euroliner was...

This is how you do a car show! Complain as you might for a big annual show like Goodguys: the cost, the crowds, the waiting to get out when it's all over, but that's still a bigtime show and one I look forward to every year. Compare that to this past weekend's show at Beaudry RV put on by Roddin' and Racin's Jerry Hutchcroft. I did not attend the show, but I got a first hand account of what went on, and bottom line is: That's a great example of how NOT to put on a car show. Top 10 Ways to Fail at an Arizona Car Show: #10: Don't supply the advertised "Cruise Lane" #9: Don't put on the much anticipated and always fun Burn-out or engine "Rev-Up" contest #8: Have a goodie bag filled with a small box of Tic-Tacs and a pen that doesn't work #7: Have poor facilities planning: Not enough garbage cans, a weak PA system and no as advertised preferred parking area #6: Don't have any car show class voting and trophies as advertised #5: See "NEVER less than 20-30 cars backed up...

If there's one show I want to attend, it's the Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show in Yokohama, Japan.  I lived in Japan for a couple years and didn't know how cool it was until I left. I lived in the heart of Tokyo in Harajuku (all the Japanese people say, ooooooohhhh) and married a wonderful Japanese woman while I was there. Her family lived close to Yokohama, so I visited the Mooneyes shop. The shop itself was kinda funny. More trinkets and beads than hot rod parts, but I'm sure they could get anything you wanted. Mooneyes has been a well known name in speed equipment since before I was born. Their slanted eyes (what would you call them?) have to be one of the most widely used sticker to date. It's just a cool logo! The show, now in it's 18th year featured all the hottest hot rods and customs from Japan, and there's more than you'd think, as well as some well known cars from the US of A as well. Shown above is Billy Gibbons' 1958 Thunderbird custom from a shot we took at the SoCal...

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...

This year’s SEMA show was just that, a SHOW. There is something on display for every auto enthusiast. Like everyone, I have only a certain amount of time to get around and fulfill a basket of wants and like most, I started out with a predetermined list of vendors to see. Shortly thereafter, the list is tossed in the nearest trash bin. Here's where your alter ego takes over, leading you with reckless abandonment to wander aimlessly. SEMA this year had 1700 vendors spread over five buildings and the parking lots surrounding them. It starts to hit me, what will separate one booth from the hundreds of others? What will stop me in my tracks and taking the time to actually see what is being offered... The SPOKESMODEL is born! A vision of beauty that draws me in, like a carnie at the local county fair (just without the small hands and cabbage smell). She offers up a smile and gleefully signs a poster with her graceful image on it. Feeling empowered, I ask, “May I take your photograph?” She gladly answers, "Yes!" and it's on. SPOKESMODELS come in...

As always, MyRideisMe.com is on the lookout for pinstriping at races or car shows so you can see what's out there and decide what to do on your own ride.  Here's a few from the Goodguys Southwest Nationals in Scottsdale, AZ. All Photos by my man and Director of Photography at MyRideisMe.com, Swanee... To see all of Swanee's pinstriping pictures from Goodguys, please go to the Pinstriping Picture Gallery This Arizona Pinstriper Joel from 1320designs.com doing his thing on MyRideisMe.com member Mr. Freeze's slammed Suburban he recently picked up. Joel's rates are very reasonable for striping and he's also an up-and-coming designer as well. Make sure to check out his website and let him know MyRideisMe.com sent you! What do you think? If this is YOUR pinstriping work (or your car!), please let us know and we'll say so next to the picture. Leave your comments below and don't forget to see all the pinstriping pics in the: Pinstriping Picture...

Interview with Austin Coil about drag racing today Click to read it... 12th ANNUAL JFR HOLIDAY CAR SHOW A HUGE SUCCESS (story starts below) Press Release from John Force Racing: 12th ANNUAL JFR HOLIDAY CAR SHOW A HUGE SUCCESS YORBA LINDA, CA (December 6, 2009) --- Mother Nature and the people of Southern California cooperated to make the 12th annual John Force Racing Holiday Car Show one of the biggest in the events history. Ominous clouds made brief appearances over the 14-time champion’s shop but a comfortable breeze was the only weather variance all day as thousands of toys were dropped off making a mountain of memories for children this Christmas season. From 10 a.m. until well after 4 p.m. today toys, stuffed animals and games poured into the John Force Racing shop as fans filled the streets. Tens of thousands of people wandered through one of the largest collections of vintage cars, trucks and street rods. In addition to the hundreds of car club vehicles a number of specialty vehicles were on display including the Force Borthers “Nightstalker,” Funny Car which returned to competition this year in a...

You need to watch this video to believe it!  There is now an iPod app that can control any electronic piece of your car, including turning the car engine on/off, lights, door locks and yes, even your hydraulics or air ride suspension.  That's right low car junkies, you can show off your air suspension at the local car show with your iPod.  Amazing! This story's from a site called mp3Car.com. Mp3car.com's Forum is the largest car computing community online, hosting well over 100,000 members worldwide, comprising leading mobile technologists, hardware engineers, software developers, car audiophiles, automotive installers and vendors. The community drives mobile computing innovation by allowing for collaboration on major technical challenges and product development. This ain't your daddy's 8-track! To learn more about mp3Car.com, go to the site and read the history: http://www.mp3car.com/history What's...

Before attending Speed Week at Bonneville this past August, I had no idea what El Mirage was. But once the land speed racing bug gets ya, it gets ya bad. So rather then waiting until next year to drive out to Bonneville salt flats again I decided to check out another SCTA event, the 2009 finals at El Mirage dry lake bed. There is one drastic difference between racing at Bonneville and El Mirage; Salt vs. Dirt. From what drivers say, the dirt is more of a challenge to drive on then the salt. From a spectators perspective, the dirt kicks up a trail so you can't see the car as it speeds away. Both venues have their draws though. One big draw to El Mirage (for me) is that it's a mere 2 hours from Los Angeles, just outside of Palmdale, California. You know what that means, my '55 Studebaker got to get her little tires on the dirt! And there was a lot of dirt! I've never experienced anything quite like rolling onto the dry lake and speeding 4 un-marked miles west to the starting line amidst a...