Minnie the Moocher 1964 Morris Minor 2 door sedan (See the Custom Morris Minor) Written by: "Tootall" Paul from Cornwall, United Kingdom ‘Minnie’ is my Wife’s ‘64 Morris. She had wanted a kustom for a while and has a particular taste for ‘round’ cars. When one of our clubmates (We are members of UK Kustoms) suggested a Minor we looked harder at them and realized that one would make a great sled. When we were told that if we could find one before the 2002 NASC Nationals then the club would chop it for us, the search was on. We bought her from a young chap who made us promise that we would look after her. We assured him that we would take great care of her and we have – though maybe not quite in the way he would have expected. We had owned her for 2 weeks before we drove her the 300 miles to the Nationals. She was driven there on Friday, stripped of her glass and interior on Saturday, chopped on Sunday and, with a plastic windscreen installed, driven the 300 miles home again on...

Written by: Erock805 (Erick's Garage) -Primer National Show Pictures also by Erock Not sure if there’s a better way of spending a Labor Day weekend then in Ventura, California at the Primer Nationals. Why is that you say? Well first of all, Ventura breathes blue collar. Nestled between the grime, glitz and plastic of LA and the pure money and luxury of the uber-rich Santa Barbara lies a little beach town ripe with local color. Ventura has resisted the flow of dough from its northern and southern brethren. Urban sprawl has yet to conquer its pockets of agriculture, manufacturing, and overall laid back attitude. It remains the sleepy beach town, where both free time and surfing are worked into one’s daily schedule. Sure you can find a restrauntuer who supplies the finest wine and a $30 dollar steak or fufu lorange, but I will stick to a great burger, an amazing shake and unrefurbished bowling alley. Old Town Ventura is still a real old down town that has yet to be bombarded with food and clothing chains. Stroll around to a few of the antique shops and you will...

Lead East in Parsippany, NJ is definitely not like any other car show that I have ever visited. Actually the guys and girls over at Appleton Productions Inc., the company that produces the show, like to say "Lead East is NOT a car show, it is a party, a 50's party!" And you had better be well rested before you attend this party or you won't survive. Because, the party is pretty much non-stop from Thursday to Sunday night every Labor Day weekend. The event, billed as the "World's biggest 50's party", emphasized the music of the 50's with Doo Wop groups such as Kenny Vance & the Plantones, Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, Little Isidore, and many more playing in the Hilton Ballroom. Rockabilly groups such as The Greyhounds and The Razorbacks also cranked it up to annoy the neighbors. Keeping everyone informed was the job of DJ Jerry "The Wolfman" Burst as he played the tunes and made announcements broadcasting through a low power FM broadcast and being piped to the very large speakers set ontop of the hotels. This was great because Lead East actually encourages everyone...

A person seeing my photography for the first time usually pauses for a moment, gazing, trying to understand just what it is they are looking at. I start to smile, knowing what is coming next. I say, “No…It’s a photograph”. The reply is almost always, “Really, I thought this had been airbrushed or something.” The beauty of a well-designed automobile, truck, or, motorcycle inspires me to photograph them. I have a true appreciation for all the time and effort needed to bring a vehicle to a prime conditioned state. I see photography as a means of permanently recording that beauty. When I first began searching the internet for a more artistic type of photography, I came across a series of photographs from Trey Ratcliff at the website: www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms. Trey produces amazing photographs with HDR, a computer generated enhancement tool. To fully understand all the nuances of HDR, check out the website, www.HDR.com. The HDR technique I use blends several photos together bringing to life the color and texture that is seen, but not recorded by a single photograph. Every reflection, color, and shadow is enhanced to a degree that...

It's a long haul from Arizona, but I wanted to tell you about a great cause, a great man and what looks like a really fun event. It's the Iowa SuperCruise & SuperShow'n Shine in Des Moines benefiting those suffering from spinal injuries, disease, and paralysis in coordination with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (CDRF). Joe Kelly, the organizer and chief promoter, contacted me to see if I'd help spread the word. Of course I will, this is what hot rodding's all about! For the past ten years Joe has suffered and survived the crippling pain associated with spinal injury, disease, and permanent nerve damage. So it's no wonder he's got his heart and soul behind this show. He credits his beautiful wife and three wonderful children for his strength to continue when his own pain, at times, leaves him unable to care for himself. I'm inspired by his courage. It'd be easy for any of us to give up to the pain, but not Joe. Held August 30th, the Iowa SuperCruise & SuperShow'n Shine is an all-day event consisting of a cruise around metro and the surrounding...

RIP Jae Bueno.   Visiting MyRideisMe.com you'll notice that it's pretty heavy on Hot Rods. What can I say? That's what I like most, that's what I photograph most and hot rod shows are my scene. But... MyRideisMe.com is NOT limited to any one type of car. Not at all. It's more then a URL, My Ride is Me is the theme of the site. What is it about your car that describes you? It's always something! You didn't just HAPPEN to like lifted Jeeps or 1970 Chevelles or 64 Fairlanes. There's a reason you say, "That's my ride." Case in point for this blog is Lowriders. I dig'm. Would I ever own one? Maybe not, but so what! I can still appreciate them as sweet custom cars that at times have the most intricate paint to be found on any car. Whatever your opinion is, there's no doubt that the owners of these rides love their cars and they no doubt tell you something about who's driving them.   I haven't had a chance to photograph many lowriders, so I turned to my new friend Jae for these...

Cool Hot Rods from York NSRA Car Show Hazy, Hot, and Humid was the only way to describe the weather at the 2008 NSRA Street Rod Nationals East in York, PA. What few shady spots were available were taken shortly after the gates opened to the York Expo Center and Fairgrounds. Luckily the buildings, where most of the vendors were located, were air conditioned which provided some relief. We wimped out and parked our '48 Ford rather than cruise around the fairgrounds since the only AC is provided by a cowl vent and the windows down. There seems to be quite a change going on at the NSRA shows. While there are still a large collection of high dollar builds more and more jalopies (like my car), beaters, and dare I say rat rods are showing up. I think people are getting back to just enjoying driving these old cars rather than the stress of worrying about dirt and scratches. It doesn't appear that the price of gasoline has reduced the number of people attending these large shows. Close to 4000 vehicles gathered around the fairgrounds. Dozens of vendors...

I met Keven Carter doing what I do best... surfing the web for the best Hot Rod and bike sites out there. Keven's been sharing his work at Photobucket where old ladies looking for pics of grandkid and quilting pics browse. I talked him into letting MyRideisMe.com have a few. It's a cool mix of black and whites and color shots of mostly period correct style hot rods and kustoms with a few pinups mixed in just for fun. Keven shared this brief bio... Ever since I was a young boy I wanted to grow up and own a car with fins. Since the automotive world looks to never go back down that road, I was compelled to look to the past. I have always been fascinated with old cars and vintage design elements, from packaging to advertising. I'm a graduate of The Center for Creative Studies (now College of Creative Studies, CCS) in Detroit, Michigan where I received my bachelors of fine art with a focus in Animation. My creative endeavors aren't limited to animation, but rather they span from Video installations, Sound Design, Film Production, Music, Photography,...

Somehow, I found another Kustom Kaiser! When I found Keith's Kaiser (Click here to see his Garage) I instantly thought, this is one of a kind! Well, it turns out it's not. Keith and Ron (Click here to see Ron's Hot Rod's Garage) have taken different approaches to customizing their Kaisers, but both will be equally cool because of the clean and near-custom finishes on the stock Kaiser. Ron's writing a blog for Blogger.com (Click here) that I stumbled on recently. He's let me run this blog to see what he's up to for the interior. I'm checking it out just in case I get to work on my Rambler Amercian wagon project again some day! Check it out: The priming of the miscellaneous parts for the Kaiser went well as the weather was nice and I was able to paint outside. I used PPG self etching epoxy primer DPLF and prepared the bare metal with "metal Prep" a 50/50 mixture with water then wiped the area down with a 50/50 mixture of PPG Dx330 wax and grease remover and lacquer thinner cleaning a 2' x2' area at a...

Slick 1956 Buick Special from the Valley of the Sun In case you didn't know, My Ride is Me has a meaning. Everybody's ride tells you a little something about the owner and every owner has a story. Ed shared this story for MyRideisMe.com about his 1956 Buick Special after I took some photos at the recent Cruise on Main Street in Mesa, AZ. It's a beautiful car, so I'm happy to share this brief story and pictures. Enjoy Ed's story of this custom Buick.   Written by "Special" Ed (click to see his custom garage)   There is a story with this car. (Isn't there always?) I had a blue and white Buick when I was 19, and was devastated when a drunk hit me in the rear and totaled the car. I paid $375.00 for it and had to borrow $200.00 to get it.     25 years later, while living in Detroit, I asked my brother-in-law (who was in the car business in Chandler, AZ) to keep an eye out for a clean AZ '56 Buick. I've owned several street rods and always had a soft...

Ford Falcon: Sedans, Wagons, Rancheros and Convertibles: I've wanted to write a few blogs for a while. One of them is about the cool Falcons at MyRideisMe.com already. I take a personal interest since I've got one of them even though it might be for sale before too long. You know what they say about having too many projects... I know, you can never, but in this case, I might punt so I can do some work on my Rambler Wagon. So, if you're a fellow Falcon Fanatic, (Craig's about to be clever) a Bird of Prey Beholder or Carnivorous Bird Custodian, dig these rides. First is the 62 mor-dor from garvinzoom. This car is rolling proof that a 4 door can be cool and that high-def Coolosity you doesn't have to break the bank. The original 170 inline six and two speed auto ride in the factory but lowered chassis with 13" skinny whites on blacksteel rims. The body has primer with the trim holes filled, reverse lights shaved and fuel cap moved inside trunk. The interiors a self described "Crappy but clean". The next Falcon is the...

Damn slacker! Oh well, better late then never. I did take quite a few shots at in the Suede Palace at the 2008 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, CA. For those of you who missed it, the Suede Palace is a show within a show featuring vintage hot rods and customs that pushes back against the modern looking 20+ inch-wheeled billet monsters of the main hall. Some might say that's where all the "rat" rods are, but look closely, there's more to the Suede Palace than just flat paint. With help from his wife Celeste, Axle from the Shifters Car club puts the best of live music and vintage hot rod movies together with DJ's playing doo-wop, rockabilly, rhythm and blues and surf. The vendors inside sell the unique items Suede-folk are looking for. Also, 2008 marked the first year that Bombshell-n-Ink will host a vintage style pin-up contest sponsored by PinUpGirlClothing.com. Somehow I missed the pinup contest... don't miss Pinupgirlclothing.com... it might be better than the Victoria Secrets catalog! So here are a few of the shots I like... the rest are over in the events picture...