Hot Rods and Kustom Cars
Since I can’t be everywhere at once, I call on my friends for help from time to time. While I was off galavanting in Detroit for the Autorama, Ben “Dragdaddy” Mitchell and Travis “TwoTallOkie” Miller went from OK out to Bakersfield for the March Meet. Travis was kind enough to share some of his images with me to share with all of you.
Back in 2013 I decided to give out an award called the Young Blood Award at the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. The photo above was an in progress shot of the award being built. Thanks to my friends at Sign House in Salina, KS for building that kool award! So in early 2014 I announced that the award was to be renamed the New Blood Award and I would be giving away not one but two at the 2014 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular, one for a people’s choice that was to be voted on by the public and one that I picked. Then we had a party at the Paramount Bar on Saturday of the KKOA weekend to give the awards away and have some fun!
Now it’s time for the 2015 New Blood Award announcement!
Continue reading “2015 New Blood Award! $1000 In Cash Prizes!”
This week Royboy tells the tale of the 2015 Goodguys Spring Lonestar Nationals in Fort Worth, TX then sits down for a BS session with photographer Trent Sherrill.
The sky remained cloudy all day, occasionally spitting just a tiny bit, but not raining until about 3 in the afternoon. We ran back over to the car and waited it out. After 15-20 minutes it was nice and dry again and we made our way back into the show, walking through the swap meet area. Plenty of nice rides for what seemed like good prices in the swap meet but I was more interested in the show. Making our way back over to the show cars we made a trip through the vendor area to see some friends.
This is another one of those shows that I just have a great time at because of the people. The cars are secondary, that’s the way it should be in my book.
My friend Jeff showed up in his new to him 56 Chevy. A nice looking ride that a friend of his rebuilt. A couple of years ago the previous owner built up the stock 6 cylinder and after driving it for a year or so he decided he needed a couple more cylinders. The straight 6 came up to KS on my dad’s trailer and the 56 was now capable of keeping up with modern interstate traffic with no problem.
Tons of great rides like this on display at the 2015 Goodguys Spring Lonestar Nationals. More below the break!
Even though the car count at the 2015 Goodguys Spring Lonestar Nationals wasn’t what was expected, there were still gems to be found. The 40 Ford above had me drooling. I ran into a few of my North Texas friends and had a great time. The track was wet from rains on Friday and over night so I didn’t see the normal NASCAR Cup cars taking laps with folks in the passenger seat getting the rides of their lives. Later in the day the stretched cup car with 4-5 rows of seats was taking laps. I haven’t done that yet but I will have to try it next time.
The very first car I see as I drive in the north tunnel at Texas Motor Speedway for the 2015 Goodguys Spring Lonestar Nationals is this beautiful 57 Ford 2 door wagon. While the weather forecast kept the crowd away there were still some beautiful rides that showed up. The forecasted rain didn’t really show up until about 3pm which is when most people start leaving shows anyhow. I had a great time hanging with friends and seeing some cool rides, enjoy the photos below!
This week Royboy talks to Dave Lane from Fast Lane Rod Shop in Iowa.
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Obviously I (Royboy) can’t be everywhere all the time. So when John Wells of Vintage Torque said he was attending the 2015 Mama Tried show and asked if I wanted photos I said heck yeah! Thanks John for shooting the photos and sending them to me to share with everyone!
Continue reading “2015 Mama Tried By John Wells : 60 Photos of Awesome Bikes!”
Things are about to get busy! After a couple of months of shows here and there, before you know it I’ll be doing shows every weekend. This weekend I’m heading down to the Texas Motor Speedway for the Goodguys Spring Lonestar Nationals, the photo above is from my last trip down to the show last year. I’m hoping that we have a repeat of last year where the forecast called for rain but it stayed dry the whole time I was there.
This post will feature some photos from previous trips to different shows that are coming up on my schedule. If one’s in your area and it looks like a good time, make plans to be there and come say hi!
For the final post of the 2015 Detroit Autorama coverage is a biggin! Almost 100 images in this post for you to enjoy!
Normally I’d keep my coverage posts to 5 days but there was so much kool going on at the Detroit Autorama that I’ going to overflow the coverage into this week.
Continue reading “2015 Detroit Autorama Part 6: Coverage Brought To You By The Stray Kat 500”
The basement of the 2015 Detroit Autorama. Ahhhh the basement. While the upstairs had many incredible machines, the downstairs was really more of my thing. The traditional rods and customs were spread amongst the upstairs and the “Extreme” basement display, but more concentrated in the basement.
Continue reading “2015 Detroit Autorama Part 5: Coverage Brought To You By The Stray Kat 500”
This week Royboy travels to the Detroit Autorama. While there he interviews Todd Jones, Chad Lampert, Ed Tillrock, John Wells and Jeff Norwell while at the show, then records an unedited brain dump of the weekend while driving home.
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I have heard that this year the 2015 Detroit Autorama featured more traditionally styled hot rods and kustoms than years past. So I picked a good year to go! Personally that’s the style I like the best, because it will never again go out of style. Trends come and go in car building but when it comes back like the traditional style has, it’s here to stay. The next few years will probably see the traditional thing become less popular but it will never go away, and that’s fine by me. The photo above was one of the cooler displays of the upstairs when it comes to traditional styled hot rods.
Continue reading “2015 Detroit Autorama Part 4: Coverage Brought To You By The Stray Kat 500”
The main floor of the 2015 Detroit Autorama was bigger than any indoor show that I remember attending ever. The building was overflowing with kool. From slammed C10’s like the one above to Jeff Norwell’s perfect example of a 32 seen below, there was a little of something for everyone at the Autorama.
Continue reading “2015 Detroit Autorama Part 3: Coverage Brought To You By The Stray Kat 500”
2015 Detroit Autorama
I flew into Detroit Friday afternoon, quickly hooked up with a friend that gave me a ride to my hotel and about as quickly as humanly possible I made my way down to Cobo Center and met up with my buddy Chuck Leighton who was gracious enough to give me a weekend exhibitor’s pass to get me in to the show. Just another generous guy that I’ve been blessed to meet along my travels.
We started at what I’m going to call the West end of the building, the opposite end from the escalators that lead to the basement. The first floor of the building not only had the Great 8, but every other kind of car that you’d expect to see at an Autorama. In fact the first few rows of the show reminded me of the other Autorama events I’ve seen over the years. It wasn’t long before the Great 8 cars started to appear in my field of vision, plus incredible machinery by the likes of Jason Graham, Steve Cook (a Great 8 car) and so many more. This show was stepping up quickly as I walked the floor.
Continue reading “2015 Detroit Autorama Part 2: Coverage Brought To You By The Stray Kat 500”
2015 Detroit Autorama
For years I’ve wanted to go to the Detroit Autorama. It’s the biggest indoor show in the industry in terms of stature. The Ridler is given out here (although 2 years in a row I couldn’t disagree more with who it went to), and it’s the home of the big 3!
Detroit’s recent downturn has been talked about, yes the downtown area was a bit less populated than I expected for a city of this size but I can say this unequivocally, I loved my time in Detroit! The show was fantastic, I had more friends in the house than almost any other show I go to and the cars, well… just check out the rest of the photos to see.
Continue reading “2015 Detroit Autorama Part 1: Coverage Brought To You By The Stray Kat 500”
Awhile back I got an email from Christopher Stratman offering to help out with some coverage from the 2015 Milwaukee World of Wheels. Of course I’m always happy to show off another show in the midwest so I told him to shoot me some shots of the show and I’d gladly post them! I’m in Detroit for the Autorama this weekend, stay tuned tomorrow for photos from the Mama Tried bike show and then on Monday the Autorama coverage starts! All photos on this post by Christopher Stratman.
This week Royboy tells the tale of the Park City Chill, rants against photo theives and has a talk with pinup photographer Liz Huckleby of pinupbyliz.com
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Today’s the last day of posts for the 2015 Park City Chill coverage. I want to say a personal thanks to Soft Strip for sponsoring this coverage!
Today is more from the 3rd building of the show, still plenty of cool stuff to see, I hope you enjoy it!
More from the 3rd building of the Park City Chill. Tons of great cars on display in this building.
As you could see in the first post yesterday, the first building you come into is mostly bikes. I realize as I write this that we skipped a section, which must have been where my friends the McGregors had their bikes. Sorry guys! The 2nd building starts the 4 wheel display area. There seemed to be a lot of open space in the 2nd building but like I mentioned yesterday the weather could have been a determining factor to that.
The 3rd building had the majority of the 4 wheel vehicles. This is where you can see the rich drag racing heritage of the Wichita area on display. Enjoy!
I’ve been attending the Park City Chill in Park City (duh), KS for a few years now. For some reason the show keeps getting dealt a bad hand weather wise. The plan for the weekend was to hit the Chill on Friday night as snow was forecasted for the rest of the weekend. Weather permitting I would then head to Omaha for the World of Wheels on Saturday, the weather did not end up permitting.
Friday evening as we headed down to the show we hit light snow but it had been coming down all afternoon. The show attendance was pretty low for the time I was there on Friday night and I’m sure that had to do with the weather. The Chill isn’t just a hot rod and kustom car show, in fact it isn’t that type of show at all. The Chill is a bike and car show, and truck and whatever else you want bring with an engine in it show. So there was a lot to see and take in, let’s get on with the coverage!