Monday on “Friction In The Static” Podcast episode #201 I was interviewed by Tiny. I had a blast, you should go to Set To Stun Productions or search for “Friction In The Static” on itunes, stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again Tiny!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, aRoyboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
Continuing coverage from the 2014 KC World of Wheels. No offense to anyone’s cars but the show this year just wasn’t up to the level that the last few years. Not having the Los Punk Rods club do the pre-1961 section is a huge problem. That part of the show was for the most part lackluster. I’m sorry folks there just needed to be more kool rides. What is shown here is the best of what I saw except for a couple images that didn’t come out.
I’m normally not much of a muscle car guy but I’m liking the craftsmanship on this one.
Pete & Jake’s display always has good stuff.
Your truck is coming along man, keep up the good work.
Today on “Friction In The Static” Podcast episode #201 I am interviewed by Tiny. I had a blast, you should go to Set To Stun Productions or search for “Friction In The Static” on itunes, stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again Tiny!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, aRoyboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
As I type this it’s 4AM on Sunday. I woke up just now and realized I’d passed out last night as the photos were uploading to the site but I’d not yet wrote this post. Luckily for you, my subconscious woke me up :).
I’ve been attending this particular indoor show in KC for a few years now. Some years I feel it’s pretty awesome, sometimes I wonder if it was worth the drive, this year leans more towards the latter. I’m sure that can mostly be attributed to the fact that there are just too many major indoor shows on the same weekend only a few hours apart. However as a good sign, this was the most spectators I’ve ever seen at this show, they were everywhere, and I’m sure you’ll notice that in the photos. Since I was in a hurry to get the show covered and get on down the highway to OK where I currently am, I didn’t have time to wait for the best photo opps for each car. Some just have bystanders in the shots, that’s the unfortunate byproduct of bad timing and a great spectator turnout.
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, aRoyboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
As this post goes live I’ll be just about done at my required 3 hours at my day job. By 10:02 I’ll be east bound headed for Kansas City for the World of Wheels at Bartle Hall. Later in the day it’s south bound headed for Tulsa. I’ve already seen a ton of photos from Tulsa and all of the legendary builders and pinstripers that are there hanging out. I can tell that nothing is going to go to schedule this weekend, too many kool folks to talk to along the way. Stay safe, drive safe, get your car out if you can this weekend and enjoy it! I’ll do my best to post the first of the KC show coverage tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy it! If you do, share it with your friends, that’s how we’ll get this thing big enough that I can afford to do it full time and at that point bring you weekly car/bike features, interviews, videos etc. I have all of the equipment to do all of this stuff, just no time while working 50+ hours a week at the day job. I need all of your help to make that happen and I promise to give you the best Midwestern based hot rod, kustom, vintage bike, gasser, dragster, etc. coverage that I can.
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, aRoyboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
This weekend will be a bit of a bear. There are two major indoor shows going on this weekend in my area, actually there’s 3 but only 2 that I regularly cover. I’m hitting both of them again this year even though they fall on the same weekend. I really wish I was able to hit all 3!
Today (Friday) I will work the normal day job 7a-5p (Winter hours have us out at 5 instead of 6), then I’ll be off to the Paramount Bar to see a band and possibly shoot photos of that performance. The Paramount is the end base for the Mid Decembrrrrr Run each year and this year on Saturday night of the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular weekend it’s also the home of a party thrown by Royboy Productions and Stray Kat Kustoms. At that party is where I’ll be giving away $1000 cash, want to know what that’s about? Click here to find out.
So then around 1am Saturday I’ll head back home, catch a couple of hours of sleep and head back to the day job for our required 3 hours every other Saturday morning. At 10:01am I will run home, pick up my dog and my dad’s dog and take them into the kennel before heading to Kansas City for the first of the two shows. 3 hours on the road puts me downtown in KC for the Autorama World of Wheels at Bartle Hall. 3 or so hours should have me through the whole building, but lately I’ve been spending a ton of time talking with so many of you that I should set aside an extra hour or so. In any case, by around 5pm I should be headed out of the building.
Kansas City is a city full of great places to eat and hang out, I’ll be blasting past all of them headed south at full steam, Oklahoma bound. 256 miles and 4 hours later I’ll get to my buddy’s place and the most comfortable spare bedroom mattress on the planet. Jared and Marie are so awesome to always put me up when I’m in the Tulsa area, they give me that awesome spare room where I sleep better than anywhere else, they feed me and we always have a great time hanging out. Then it will be time to edit the photos from the day and start uploading them to the site and prepare a blog post for Sunday.
The next morning I’ll be up early to head to the 50th Annual Starbird show in Tulsa. The Quiktrip Center is about 30 minutes away, so that’s an easy part of the journey. The show is a bit bigger this year due to there not being any silly Monster Truck show. That entire area is now filled with killer hot rods and kustoms. I’m assuming 3-4 hours for this show as well, and then it’s out the door and heading home. Another 4 hours and about 250 miles will get me home. Edit and upload those photos to the site and prepare a blog post for Monday.
So in a great big nutshell, that’s the plan for the weekend. The plan is to give you constant car show posts all next week and weekend until I’ve run through both shows. Sorry that I can’t give it all to you at once, but to be 100% honest I need content for that following week. So there you have it folks, that’s what it takes to give you all of the car show coverage that I can shoehorn into a weekend. If you want to support the cause, buy a shirt, buy a hat, buy a photo print of any of these 40,000+ images. I really appreciate it.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
As I write this from my hotel room in Weatherford, OK it’s Wednesday evening February 12th. I’m on the road with my Dad who also works for my employer for the day job. The hotel is right on old Rt. 66 and we got to travel a bit on the old road today. It got me to thinking about being on the road, about looking for adventures, finding good people and experiencing life.
A few years ago while listening to the Ron & Fez show on Satellite Radio I heard Ron talk about Jack Keroauc’s novel “On the Road.” I went out and got a copy and read it cover to cover, finishing it about 20 miles west of where I am right now in a hotel room much like this one on a road trip with my dad much like this one for our day jobs.
Keroauc’s tales in “On the Road” are based on his own travels back and forth across the U.S. mostly in the late 1940’s. If you haven’t read it yet, get yourself a copy and read it. It will feed your wanderlust, you’ve been warned!
As we drove down the Mother Road today, I looked over at my dad and told him “Yeah, I can feel it, I can feel the call of the Road.” He laughed a bit but I could tell that the history of the Mother Road and all of the untold stories of decades worth of travelers intrigue him just as they intrigue me.
Maybe that’s part of what drives me to be gone nearly every weekend to a car show and what is driving me to be transition to a more transient lifestyle. As I’ve mentioned before my goal for this website is to increase daily viewership to the point that I can have the daily advertisers paying my bills to allow me to live in an RV and traveling from city to city, town to town in search of kool stories about hot rods/kustoms to convey to all of you.
Sitting in the diner across the street from our hotel, watching the cars going by I can’t help but imagine it 60 years ago. How great would the old road look with brand new iron from the 50’s rolling up and down both lanes? Yes I’ve seen the movie “Cars” too many times and yes it gets me every time that scene hits. Visually that was a tremendous time for autos and architecture, style was still at the fore front instead of getting things done for the bottom dollar.
Tomorrow we’ll get back on the road towards home. These brief adventures down the now nearly deserted highway only 1\2 mile off of the well traveled interstate always move me, I always get the urge to stay on her, to explore the adventures that I’m sure lay just beyond the next bend or over the next hill. I’ll miss the Mother Road and her allure until the next time we cross paths.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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A couple of years ago I was wanting to shoot a couple of projects to just practice on. One of the ones that showed up was this kool little Honda Cafe Racer that my buddy Brad had recently finished. Yes, this is a departure from my normally narrow focus on hot rods and kustoms but when it’s a kool home made piece like this I can’t help myself.
Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.Brad\’s Honda Cafe Racer, click the image to see the entire gallery.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat& a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
The very first time that I remember seeing a Galaxie was before my classic car obsession started. At that time I was just in a cars in general mode with an emphasis on car stereos. So while attending a show in Omaha, NE I saw a car that was completely alien to me, I mean it really looked like a UFO to my ignorant eyes, but I loved it. That car was a 1963 Galaxie 500 Sports Roof (1963 1/2 Galaxie 500) and it ignited a love affair that burns through to today.
On Friday my facebook feed was full of friends’ photos of the kool stuff that they were buying at the Wichita Model A Club Swap Meet in Park City, KS at the Pavillions next to what used to be called the Kansas Coliseum, the same location of the upcoming Chill car show at the end of the month. Unlucky for me that I couldn’t go until Saturday because there was a ton of good stuff that people were picking up. Not that I was going to pick the items up or that I would have even been able to spot them but it’s good to know that some gold was found on Friday.
Here are some photos from walking around on Saturday:
When I saw this, I immediately thought that my nephews needed it.When I saw this, I immediately thought that my nephews needed it.Some of my vannin friends will appreciate this.The lesser known show on after Austin City Limits?Wide wide wide. 15×14’sI wheely got tired of seeing how many wheels were for sale.Some kool bikes were available.Both in the motorized and people powered variety.And even more bikes.This little guy seemed determined to check out what powered this pint sized ride.Another that my nephews would love to have.Just in case you think your slicks are cool. They aren’t this cool.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
I’ve noticed over the last few years that at the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular the general crowd tends to be older than I am. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, there’s a mountain of know-how in the legends of kustomizing that show up at the KKOA. However, if I look around at the Lonestar Roundup, Iron Invasion, Viva Las Vegas, or many other shows I see a younger crowd shows up. That’s awesome! We need new blood coming to all of these shows to keep them surviving year after year. So how do I encourage some of those folks to drive out to Salina for the KKOA like they drive to all of these other great shows?
Last year I had the idea that I wanted to give an award to someone under 40 that was showing a car at the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. I thought it would be a way to help promote the show to a younger audience. I called up a bunch of friends and they all donated prizes or big discounts on their services to a prize package that went along with the award. Great half ass idea. The award is only part of it, in order for it really to mean something I needed to promote the whole deal. It needs to be a bigger, crazier idea. It needs to be a reason for someone to drive a few hundred miles.
That’s where this year’s plan comes into being… So how do I encourage someone to attend the show when they may be on the fence about making the trip? Cash! No, not Johnny, cold hard cash. $500 to the winner should help encourage folks. In talking with some show promoter friends they encouraged me to do 2 prizes. 1 that I pick, and 1 that you, the fans, pick. $500 each, $1000 total giveaway. The 2 cash prizes will be given away at a party at the Paramount Bar in Salina, KS here is the party info.
Here’s the plan!
I will get 10 award sponsors to donate $100 each to the prize pot, I actually already have 5 lined up including my $100 with another 1 maybe at this time. In return for their donation what do they get? From now until the last weekend of July they get advertisement both on my blog and on my social media sites. Really a good deal for 100 bones. I’ll be promoting the awards here on the blog and on the H.A.M.B. and I’ll be talking about the event and the sponsors a lot in the coming months.
So who is eligible for this award?
Okay here’s the scoop. I want this award to help encourage new cars and car owners to come to the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. So the eligible vehicles have to be new to the KKOA Leadslead Spectacular, never shown at one before in it’s current condition. I want to encourage younger owners to attend so the owner must be under 35 years of age. The Leadsled Spectacular is not the Muscle Car Spectacular, it’s not the Street Rod Spectacular, it’s not the C10 Chevy pickup Spectacular. This show is supposed to be about kustoms and old school hot rods, notice I did not say rat rods. Nope, this award will only go to cars that have the basic look and feel that you’d find in the little pages type magazines of 1963 and older. So with the exception of something like a 65 Riviera which is widely considered to be a factory kustom the the car generally needs to be a 63 or older body style done in a style that approximates what it could have been done like in 1963 or before.
What’s that mean?
No weird crap for the sake of shock value ratty cars. No muscle cars. No street rods with digital dashes. No Billet Wheels. No Independent front suspension on fenderless cars. Get the idea?
How do you enter?
Basically to enter you need to send in some information, on this page. Those that meet my criteria will be entered in the contest. Registration for the contest starts March 1, 2014 and ends June 14th, 2014.
How do you win?
Like I said, there will be 2 prizes given out. The first one will be selected by the fans on royboyproductions.com All of the entered cars will be featured on one page and fans will be able to vote on that page of the site. Simply put, the most votes between June 15, 2014 and July 14, 2014 will win. More on this to come later. The second way to win is by MY choice. Royboy’s contest, Royboy’s choice on the winner. I’ll pick the car that I think deserves the cash prize and then I’ll look the car over at the show to pick a final winner.
Is this an official part of the KKOA?
Nope. I just like that they throw a pretty good show in my hometown and I want to support the show and get new blood involved in the show.
Does the car have to show up at the show to win?
Yes. You must show up and be a registered entrant of the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular in order to win. The internet voting will be recorded so that if the first place winner is a no show, the 2nd place winner can take home the prize.
Where’s all of the legal mumbo jumbo?
I hope that we can all act like adults and treat this as what it’s meant to be, a fun way to attract a younger crowd to join the legendary builders that attend the KKOA show in Salina. If you need a lawyer for this deal, you’ve missed the damn point of it all. That being said, the rules are subject to change as I see fit to try to keep it fair and fun for everyone involved.
If your business, car club or car show would like to be a sponsor, email me here for more info.
Sponsors:
Royboy Productions
Stray Kat Kustoms Car Shows- Stray Kat 500 May 2-5, 2014 in Dewey, OK & Starliner Sept. 6, 2014 in Wichita, KS
Another one of the fantastic artists that I’ve been lucky enough to cross paths with and become friends with along my adventures is Dennis McPhail, head honcho at Artist At Large in Wichita, KS. Actually about 13 years ago I worked a block from the shop and I always saw the kool rides sitting outside but for whatever reason I never stopped by and checked them out.
Artist At Large is having an art show at the Go Away Garage at 508 S. Commerce in Wichita, KS (see map here) featuring art from the crew at Artist At Large and friends from all over the place. The event goes down Feb. 28th, drive your kool hot rod or kustom to the garage. For more info contact Artist At Large.
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
This will be the 4th trip down to Austin, TX for me for the Lonestar Roundup. 2011 was the first year I drove the daily driver down solo and met up with a bunch of friends at the show and had a great time. The next year I picked up my buddy Mongo for a sidekick and again we had a great time. Finally in 2013 I drove my Galaxie down to the Roundup, her first major road trip. It was a whole different experience being in the show rather than just spectating at the show.
The Lonestar Roundup (April 4-5, 2014) is a great weekend with the show and tons of un-official events all over Austin with garage krawls, parties, and live music scheduled to keep everyone entertained outside of the show. My first trip down I went to Congress Ave on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the increased number of people at the show makes that nearly impossible now. From locals with their Camaros and other rides that they go and power park on Congress leaving no room for the show goers, to the fact that many non-car folks have become hip to how cool South Congress Ave can be makes the Friday and Saturday nights into huge traffic jams. So my advice is that if you are going, stay away from Congress. There are an amazing amount of great food and entertainment options in Austin that are not on that street, there’s no reason to go be part of the problem.
The Roundup is open to 1963 and older traditionally styled kustoms and hot rods. For the most part that’s what’s there. Last year I was really bummed to see a bunch of off topic cars and crap-tastic rat rods that got in. I don’t know for sure but judging by the mile long line of cars to get into the show I’d be the authorities pressured the show to just get people off the streets and into the show and the filtering process broke down. Parked across from me on Saturday was a mid 80’s mini-truck with badly attached 51 Ford sheet metal around the cab. It did not belong in the show, and still chaps my hide to this day along with all of it’s “look at me, look at me, look at me” brethren. It’s far easier to build a car that gets attention because it’s cool than it is to spend all that time and effort to just get attention just by shock value. This was another one of those events where folks with the rattiest rides were acting like they were all badass at the show, yet this “badass” car was so un-drivable that it was trailered to the show and back and I passed them on the highway.
If you have a kool traditionally styled 1963 or older ride, this show could be a great one for you. If you have a purposely ratty piece of junk, there are plenty of other shows out there that cater to you, go to those.
Here are some slide shows from my visits to the Lonestar Roundup.
For info on registering your ride and to see what’s acceptable and what’s not go here.
I am in no way, shape or form associated with the show and the opinions that I express here are my own and nobody else’s. I’d love to see this show have judges at the gate like the Hunnert Car Pileup did to cull the herd a bit.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Over the course of the last 5 or so years podcasts have started really picking up in popularity. For those that don’t know what they are, they’re essentially radio shows that instead of being broadcasted over the airwaves where they’re subject to FCC rules and the fact that they are sitting on a server somewhere means that you can stream it to your phone, computer, or with an AppleTV box directly to your TV whenever you want to. If you find a new show that you enjoy, you can go back and listen to all of the back episodes at your leisure.
In 2011 my buddy John Wells of Vintage Torque was crashing at my house during the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. We were sitting around the house talking about music and bands and cool cars when he asked if I had ever listened to Friction In The Static.
“What in the hell is that?”
“It’s a podcast you can get from iTunes, this guy named Tiny talking about traditional rods and kustoms.”
That sold me on it. I went and subscribed, and to be honest, I didn’t listen to many at first. I had a rather full schedule of XM Radio that I listened to each day and I just didn’t have time to add more content to my daily consumption. Later that year I started getting into the episodes and found myself hooked. Since then there’s barely been a week that’s gone by that I haven’t listened to the show. First off, I’m going to warn you that this is uncensored and no holds barred audio, if you’re offended by language, don’t listen.
Also on the podcast network now are some other shows like “Hack With Ambition,” “Hero Co Radio Show,” and “Adult Supervision Required.” The Set To Stun Productions network is also producing video content and working on a kustom kulture TV show without all of the needless crap faux drama of your typical tv show.
Here’s a video on a badass Mercury pickup.
Go, listen, subscribe.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Sometimes I get caught up in the traveling cycle and I forget to go visit a friend’s local shop to see what’s up. Calvin Customs is a customizing shop that is in the heart of Salina on Santa Fe Ave located in a former dealership from the 50’s & 60’s. Except for this last year when there was a scheduling conflict owner Calvin Calp has been gracious enough to open the doors to the shop for the entire crew on the Mid Decembrrrr Run so usually I have at least 1 shop visit post a year based on that. Lately I just have not been by there enough.
Calvin’s ground up build the “Tubester” is a shop show piece with 100% full custom build, he has plans to change up the frame in the near future so look for it to reintroduced to the public. Behind the Tubester is a factory fresh restoration project waiting for some fresh NOS parts.This tilt front end 59 Ford Pickup project has been in the owner’s possession since about 1961. There’s been a lot done over the years to this truck and more custom touches are on the way.2-1-14 Calvin Customs Shop VisitThe tail gate has had it’s operation switched to open up from the side as Calvin is demonstrating here.
Another customer is working on this panel with a 7″ chop and a ton of custom mods on the way.Waiting it’s turn in a future project is this Jag independent rear end.Some updating being done on this Mustang.2-1-14 Calvin Customs Shop Visit
Thanks again Calvin for meeting me down at the shop on a Saturday to show me around. Everyone go bookmark Calvin Customs as their site should be updated soon to show some new projects, don’t forget to come to the party at Calvin’s shop on Friday night of the big KKOA Leadsled Spectacular weekend.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
2013 was the first time that I headed down to Denton, TX’s Northstar Dragway for the Texas Thaw. The combination vintage drag races and car show was 6 years old in 2013 and had one of it’s biggest turnouts to date. The 2014 Texas Thaw goes down on March 1, again at the NorthStar Dragway right along I-35 outside of Denton, TX. For all of the info on the show go to the official website here or here on facebook.
Last year Mother Nature was not kind to car shows in the area. That started with The Chill held at the Pavillions at Park City, KS with a big snow storm a few days before the show. Load in day for the Chill still had up to 6″ still on the ground, and you could tell with a low turnout car wise. Hopefully this year the weather will cooperate and the Chill will be full like it normally is.
I’ve been attending the Chill for a couple of years, The unique 3 building arrangement of the facility allows for the show to look like a couple of different shows. The first room that you walk into is filled with motorcycles, a stage and some vendors. Then it’s on to a room that typically is cars and vendors and finally a room that’s mostly cars. Being inside at the end of February is a good thing in Kansas. 🙂
Apparently, I can’t read a map very well. You see, Dewey, OK is not really on the way from Joplin, MO to Salina, KS by any logical means, yet I seem to keep finding myself there on that particular journey. Dewey is Stray Kat Kustoms central, and I enjoy spending some time with my Stray Kat brethren there. One of them is Aaron Lawrence, the AL in Fast AL’s Upholstery. Aaron has been really skyrocketing lately as an upholsterer, and it’s been fun to watch a buddy really find his stride and just kick butt. Every time that I get myself down to Dewey I find one or two new rides in Aaron’s shop getting full on kustom interiors. He just finished the beautiful 58 Edsel Wagon that I showed you last week as part of the 2014 Starbird-Devlin show coverage and he already has 2 more under construction.
So I pulled out the iPhone and shot some quick images as we sat around and talked. Aaron is in the middle of an expansion on his shop so that he can move some of the operation to a separate room. The new space will add and office and an indoor space to hang out as well moving some of the dirtier work out of the same space that the cars are in. This should save some cleaning time on the cars and less moving cars in and out as they are being worked on. I’m looking forward to seeing the future for Fast AL’s, every car I see just keeps getting better and better.
Aaron has been fast at work forming the wood frame portions of the new seat.The trunk, top and door panels will all receive the Fast AL’s Upholstery treatment as well.From what I was able to gather it will receive a full interior as well. It’s easy to see why Aaron is expanding the size of the shop. The ability to have a room to do the dirtier work in and not get the cars covered in the debris of building an interior will help Aaron out tremendously.This Chevelle received a new top the day before I arrived.Putting the car up on stands gets it at a reasonable height for working on the interior.Aaron’s Layla has now been pulled into the shop to to start upgrading the interior before Lonestar Roundup. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
So yesterday I posted about the new transmission cross-member that my buddy Ryno at Ryno Built did for me. While I was there I snapped some photos of some of the other rides that are at Ryno Built. His truck was the 62 Unibody Ford that I was lucky enough to shoot for the cover of the Feb. 2014 issue of Classic Trucks Magazine. Since selling the truck to it’s new east coast home he’s been busy working on a Mercury project for a client from Texas, and driving a cool Chevy wagon that he bought from that same client.
Ryno has these two vehicles for future customer projects or for sale. If you’re interested lookup Ryno Built on Facebook.Ryno’s current major build is this Mercury. The original plan was just to get the car bagged and stance down, but it’s now taken on a life of it’s own as a frame off build. The wagon in the background has been a recent addition to Ryno’s garage after selling the Unibody that was featured on the Feb. 2014 Classic Trucks Magazine coverage.The 3 carb setup is just for looks for now, a new 350 crate now sits atop a bagged suspension with a Mustang II and custom rear suspension setup.With the ability to lay frame without being channeled this car sits as low as it can. Ryno upgraded the bags for this ride from the bags that came with the kit that the owner had purchased to some that would require less air pressure to attain right height with a better ride quality. That’s the knowledge that you get when you go to someone who’s been doing it for years. Most would have used the bags that came with the kit and would have complained about the ride quality not knowing that there were other options.The Merc’s owner also owns this 59 Ford Fairlane Galaxie. It has recently been upgraded with these new TruSpoke wheels and some thin white wall tires. Some upgrades to the air ride system will have this ride ready to go again.The view looking out of Ryno’s garage door. A pretty mean looking group.While we worked on my Galaxie the daylight slipped away and the temps in the shop dropped. The Merc just looked cool sitting out there, just waiting to get back in and get more love.
Thanks for following along folks, tomorrow’s post will feature a shop visit from my drive home where I stopped at Fast AL’s Upholstery.
I’ve known for awhile that the transmission cross-member that was in my 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 was hanging too low. It was dragging too much and on big bumps on the highway it would slam the pavement, no bueno. So when I was talking to my buddy Ryno at Ryno Built about it he said to come down to his shop in the Joplin area and he’d get a new one fabbed up.
When we got the car up on the lift it was obvious that things were more dire than I thought. The existing cross-member had completely broken into two pieces. One more big bump could have lost it completely, that could lead to any manner of catastrophic consequences. I’ve seen driveshafts come out and nearly slam into the car I was in behind the drive shaft’s prior vehicle. A couple of inches difference and that drive shaft would have come through the windshield. I cannot imagine if my car broke and caused something like that to happen. Best case scenario the failure would leave me stranded on the side of the road, worst case scenario could be deadly. Just another note to encourage you to make sure your ride is mechanically sound not just for your safety but for the safety of those around you.
Here’s what we found when we got the car up on the lift. one side of the transmission cross-member had completely broken. 10 ga. welded to ½” plate and 0 penetration on the welds. That’s not rust on the floor pan that’s trans fluid. Another issue I have to fix.Lucky for me I didn’t take one more trip with the car the way it was. 1 side of the existing transmission cross-member was completely separated.Ryno plasma cutting the existing transmission cross-member off of the frame. The AOD is much longer than the Cruis-o-matic so using the factory frame mounts would have made the mount larger and harder to build.Ryno getting rid of the remnants of the old cross-member.
Then it was time to grind off the remainder of the old mount.
Not quite done getting rid of the old one, almost done.Ryno cutting some tubing that we thought we needed before a later re-design when I changed my mind.Welding in the new cross-member.At each end of the cross-member Ryno added 3/16″ plate gussets under the cross-member. Here he’s adding some holes at my request to make it look cooler.Before a coat of paint you can see the driver’s side of the mount. The parking brake cable is attached to a tab that we added. We used a rectangle tubing to provide as much clearance under the cross-member as possible. There is room for a 2 ½” Dia. exhaust pipe to fit and still not hang below the frame.The passenger side is pretty much the same without the parking brake cable mount. Here you can see the factory mount waaaay up forward on the frame.The fluid everywhere is killing me, I have to figure out the leak and clean up the mess. Here’s the new cross-member and the new mount that we installed. The existing exhaust needs replaced soon so buy some photos so I can afford it!
If you need custom fabrication done for your ride, get ahold of Ryno Built and he can get your car on the road again!
This week was mostly about the Starbird-Devlin show in Wichita, KS and included the biggest traffic day that this site has ever had. Pretty good week all in all.
As I type this, it’s 10:45 on Thursday night, less than 12 hours until this post goes live. About 8 hours until I have to be at my day job… and I as started this post I honestly had no idea what I should write. Today, Thursday Jan. 23, 2014 is the largest traffic day that this blog has ever had. After a slow winter where I struggled to find you good fresh content, finally I got to get out to my first show of 2014 and I can see that you appreciate the fresh content. Over 700 views today with a previous record of 560 for the blog, what did I do to deserve that? Thanks folks, when I see that you dig what I’m doing enough to check it out that much, it’s all worth it.
The Future
Here we are at the end of January, before I know it I’ll be up to my eyeballs in car shows and I won’t remember how boring this winter was. February has 3 events that I’m planning on attending, should be putting about 1100 miles on the car. I am hoping to spend an afternoon with a family I know in Wichita that is full of gearheads with a killer collection of rides. The following weekend the plan is to head down and check out the Model A Club Swap Meet. I typically don’t buy much but there’s always that one thing that you see someone else got that you need and had the cash for. So I go… and I never seem to find it in time.
After that it’s a big windshield time weekend. First heading to Bartle Hall in KC to cover the World of Wheels Autorama for you. Later that afternoon I make the trip from KC to Tulsa to an old buddy’s spare room. Sunday early I’ll head to the Quiktrip Center and the Darryl Starbird Car Show. This is the 50th edition of the show and it promises to be a good one. Finally we have a weekend where I don’t have anything planned…yet. Either it will get filled with a couple of shop visits or shooting some features, either way the weekend will be used to create some fresh content for you folks to enjoy.
For the month of March I should be at about 1400 miles, it adds up quickly! Magazine articles can help offset the travel costs but those don’t pay until month and months later, if at all. Another way to offset that is for get paid by you folks to shoot your rides when I’m on the road. If you have a car that you’d like me to shoot, let me know here and we’ll figure out a time and place, I’m very affordable. 🙂
The first weekend of March I’ll be off for another double header weekend. First up will be the Texas Thaw drags and car show held at the Northstar Dragway in Denton, TX. That evening I’ll make my way up to Wichita to catch a hotel for the night. Sunday morning will be off to the Chill in Park City before returning home to edit photos and get them up on the site. Then there’s an open weekend that I hope to head to KC and catch up with some friends and shoot their shop and hopefully feature a couple of their cars.
After that it’s off to Texas again for the Goodguys Spring Lonestar Nationals at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. A 12 hour drive for a 5 or 6 hour stay at the show. Hopefully I find something that I can shoot a feature on for the site while I’m there. The two following weeks are open as of now but I will be looking for cars to shoot those weekends. That’s a basic rundown of what’s going on between now and when I leave for the Lonestar Roundup at the begin of April.
Why?
Why the hell do I do this? After putting in more than 50 hours a week at a day job why do I spend all of my extra money traveling all over the midwest to shoot car show coverage, edit it, pay to host it online and then just give it all away to you for free? I’m nuts. Well that’s what most think. I’m hoping that I can create enough kool content to keep you coming back every day, and maybe kool enough that you’ll share it with your friends and they’ll come check it out too. If we get enough viewers here then maybe the future sponsors can cover all of that gas money, all of the hotel money, all of the show entry fees, all of the website costs. That would be a dream come true. Well, that would be partly a dream come true.
The real dream, the one that haunts me at my day job, the one that keeps me from concentrating on much of anything else is doing this full time. Selling my house and everything that won’t fit in an RV which is big enough to pull my Galaxie in a trailer. Spending each week traveling from one show to the next, stopping at pro and private shops along the way, shooting shop visits, tech articles, and features as much as possible to keep you folks full up on the best content possible. Maybe I am nuts. Or maybe that’s how this thing goes to the next level.
It’s going to be a busy couple of months but when you folks pull me aside to tell me thanks for all of the effort, it’s worth it. When I see a Royboy hat or beanie or shirt from across a show, and I have no idea who it is that’s wearing it. It’s worth it. When someone attends a show for the first time or gets their car done so they can get to a certain show that I’ve featured and they tell me that it’s my coverage that made them do it. It’s worth it.
For those that saw me at the Starbird-Devlin show that I’ve been covering all week long and wanted to know where to get one of my Model A Hot Rod Stencil Shirts I put up a new page here for you to order them. There are a few sizes in stock now from my last order, for those that are not in stock put your order in now to get one. I can’t afford to have a bunch printed and just sit in my trunk for 8 months so if you want one, you’d better get one ordered.
Stay tuned next week for some news on the Royboy New Blood Award that I’ll be giving away at the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular this summer.
For those that don’t know you can catch all kinda good links from my Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ and a bunch of kool stuff on Tumblr and Instagram.
John recently got this bad ride back in his collection. I could tell how proud he was to have it back. I hope to do a feature on his collection soon.Here are John’s 2 entries in the show. I can’t decide which I’d rather drive, but my heart says take the yellow one. I know it has a big block 🙂Alongside John’s cars is Butch’s 56. This car has been all over the last few years and Butch has sure done his best to find all of her weak links.Mike’s Front Engine DragsterI need to catch up with the owner of this car. It’s damn cool!One of a few highly finished Camaros at the show.There have been a few new to me orange hot rods around lately. I wouldn’t have thought it was a great idea but it works! Another great looking ride that needs a feature on this site!Just pure beauty.A couple more photos of Floyd’s killer Edsel Wagon.Stray Kat Proud. Ron Myers pinstriping on Floyd’s Wagon’s surfboard.More Ron Myers pinstriping in the door jambs and some of Aaron’s work from Fast AL’s Upholstery.Hot Rod Garage’s build of this 57 Chevy took home the Magnificent 7 Award at the end of the weekend.Not much I can say about this gorgeous drop top. It’s pretty damn nice.Another shot of Troy Pate’s killer new rod.One of Norm Grabowski’s unique shift knobs in Troy’s display.Eugene Vik brought his kustom shoebox down from Minnesota to show off for us.Another shot of Eugene’s shoebox.Tammy Titus’ beautiful VetteTammy Titus’ beautiful VettePrimary Club members rides. The McGregors have a lot of kool in their garages.Jeb McGregor’s coupe 38DD. This rod is all about attitude, Jeb said he might be re-doing it soon as more of a 50’s style hot rod. so I’m paying attention to see what he’s up to.Matt Smith’s kool pickup will be in front of my lens again soon… 🙂Joe McGregor’s Caddy has been one that’s caught my eye for a few year years now. Most times when this car is on the road on the way to a show, it’s usually full of people. Fill it up with folks and fuel and go enjoy a car show weekend.This pickup started life as a sedan.One of the smoothest shoeboxes around.Chaotic Customs has a big crew and the girls decided that they needed their own kool ride to take to the shows. So this Thunderbird was built, kustom paint, flame throwers, and some kustom body mods make this Chaotic ride stand out.Some great panels in the Chaotic Customs display.
I was wearing one of my Model A Hot Rod Stencil T-Shirts this weekend and had a ton of people ask me where they could get one. Here you go! I have a few in stock now and I’m taking pre-orders for the next batch. The long and the short of it is that I can’t spend my cash buying these shirts to have them sit in stock, that cash has to go into the traveling account to get me on the road to a few more shows. If you want one, get one ordered! Every shirt you pre-order will allow me to get down the road farther on the way to the next show! Click here to go to the order page.
Goren’s 48 Merc. He took home a couple of awards on Sunday.Micheal’s Coupe was also an award winner.Micheal’s ride as with anything that he owns is all about the details. He was one of the founding members of the legendary Fundamentals club.Corey Conyers made it a point to bring me over to see this beauty that he’s been working on. I hope to be able to shoot it soon.Another shot of Corey’s latest creation.
.” I went out and got a copy and read it cover to cover, finishing it about 20 miles west of where I am right now in a hotel room much like this one on a road trip with my dad much like this one for our day jobs.
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