Well folks, as I said last week, through the slower colder months I am cutting back to new content on the site on Monday-Friday. But I have had a couple of people say why not do a a review on Saturday of what was posted on the site this week, that’s what this is. As most of you know by now, the Hot Rod Revolution that was supposed to be on this weekend has been cancelled and I never made out of the state of Kansas on Thursday. Friday I took the rare opportunity to just stay home and do nothing, sure I had a ton of stuff to do but it was the first real chance to decompress in a very long time and it was awesome! Today I will attempt to go to the Hobo Happening in Douglass, KS, we’ll see what the weather holds. Hopefully on Monday I’ll have some coverage for you from that event. As always, if you want to get this blog in your email each time it goes live just enter your email address in the box at the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com and I’ll get you hooked up with the direct feed. At the end of each month I will pick one subscriber to win a prize of some sort, usually one of the Royboy products, sometimes a big discount on a large format print, maybe we’ll get some sponsors to step up and pitch in as well. If you have a company that could benefit from being seen by a couple of hundred car nuts a day, send me a message here and we can talk about how to get your ad on the site.
On my way to the Hot Rod Revolution (which was being cancelled as I shot these photos) I stopped by my friends’ Chaotic Customs in Mulvane, KS to see what they were up to. The shop was full of projects and folks working on them. Drew Carlson was nice enough to take a few minutes off of working on a project to show me around the shop and explain what they’d been up to recently since finishing the SEMA build on Mike’s 40 Ford Pickup. The photos below should all be captioned and explain what you’re seeing. I will try to stop in a couple of more times over the next few months for more updates on these projects.
Jack’s 39 Ford Body, Drew Carlson hand fabbed the rear section and replaced all the rusty sections towards the bottom of the body all around.The factory antenna holes were patched up as well as some other holes in the body and of course some rusty spots.Rear shot of the 39, new floors installed. Drew was working on the car as I got there, later in the day I stopped by Jack’s home shop where he was working on getting the frame painted so it could be reassembled and reunited with the body.About an inch was taken out of the meat above the window area of the roof on this pickup. More on it in a few weeks, lots of mods going on here.1940 Chevy Convertible with new floor pans, new suspension and new 4 bar setup in the back.The new floor pans in the 1940 Chevy ConvertibleThe 1940 Chevy’s new front suspension.A new roll pan for the 40 Chevy ConvertibleThe owner of this Vette wanted to update the car a bit. Chaotic is exaggerating some of the factory lines a bit more like what a factory dream car might have been like. Vette purists will hate it but, I dig it big time.The rear bumpers were sucked in to the body and reshaped to fit.Here you can see the peak of the passenger side fender has been raised about an inch. The more aggressive big block hood will be added as well.Here you can see the difference in the front fenders. The raised peak adds style and aggressiveness that should have been there from the factory.A recently completed project at Chaotic, back in for a checkup.Chaotic just finished up Mike’s 40 Ford pickup for SEMA and is now prepping it for the show circuit, starting next week!A Mustang fastback in the shop for some major upgrades. EFI 302, 6 speed Tremec, Mustang II style front suspension, removed shock towers, smoothed and flamed inner fenders, are just some of the mods on this car. More photos in a couple of weeks.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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Next up for the Artist Feature part of the site is Ed Tillrock! Ed’s talent with any artistic medium is staggering to someone like me that struggles with stick figures but when he has a pencil in his hand he’s just downright amazing. Ed produces pencil drawings that you will swear are some sort of Photoshop manipulation of a black and white photo, but I’ve sat and watched the man create these amazing images on blank paper. It’s nothing short of amazing.
Without any further ado…
Q: Do you remember an “ah-ha” moment that made you know that art was going to be an integral part of your life? A: As a kid I wanted to be an architect, but loved to draw! The “ah-ha” moment came in High School in an architecture class. I discovered Architectural Rendering! Art and architecture… A perfect fit for me…. I became a renderer! Did that for over 30 years, until the wheels came off the economy… It turned out to be a good thing for me… About 6 years ago I merged my passions for art and hot rods. I work more now than I ever have, but it’s not work! It’s a labor of love… Drawing with a regular #2 pencil is what I have done my whole life. It was a natural progression for me to scribble hot rods with graphite on illustration board. I love the depth and richness I get with it. I treat my art as if it’s oil on canvas, but it’s all pencil!
Q: If you could pick 1 piece of your work that would represent the entire body of your work, which one would you choose? A: Bus Stop
Q:Who or what most inspires your work? A: Tom Fritz’s oil paintings really inspire me. He’s got that passion, hard working effort and he’s a great guy to hang around with. (I hate him!)
Max (World-Wide) Grundy is such an energizing force. He never stops! His passion for his art is unbelievable.
I could also add, Kenny Youngblood, Steve Stanford, Chip, Frank Lloyd Wright, and of course Norman Rockwell….
Q: What’s 1 piece of advice you’d give an artist that’s just starting out today?
A: Learn to draw by hand! Computers are fantastic, but before you can run you need to walk. The basics are important…. And draw every day!!!
Thanks Ed for taking the time to answer the questions and for sharing some of your art with all of us! Folks, go to Ed’s site, buy his art, it’s that simple and makes amazing Christmas gifts.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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The second stop on my trip down to Pistons and Paint (see show coverage here and 1st shop visit here) was at Oklahoma City’s Shoebox Central. Owner Chris has owned shoeboxes as far back as high school, so he knows them inside and out. He has a ton of parts cars out back and shelves and shelves of various parts inside, pulled from parts cars, some N.O.S., some reproductions, all kinds of parts for just about anything else you could need.
Shoebox Central is my number 1 stop for anything shoebox or Merc related. Chris has a great selection of parts on hand and is very cool to work with.
Dashes and inner door frames from various shoeboxes and mercs.Tons of parts on hand to replace missing parts on your ride or ones that are damaged.These corner lights and housings got banged up a lot being right where most accidents happen, this stack will ensure you can always find one.1 clean 1950 Ford 4 Door.1 clean 1950 Ford 4 Door.Projects in the work room for the long winter months when folks aren’t buying as many parts. These projects keep Shoebox Central busy and help keep the doors open when folks are spending their money on Christmas instead of on their rides.Bumper guards galoreBumpers too!Dash pieces for Mercs hanging out waiting to dress up another car.2 1951 Ford Dashes1949 Parts car in the boneyard.
On the way to Pistons and Paint (see coverage here), I stopped in at my buddy Nostalgia Sid’s shop in Guthrie, OK. Nostalgia Sid’s is your source for drop axles for whole bunch of vehicles. If you go to their site here you can get a rundown of what all they do. I happened to show up just in time to watch them heat up and drop an axle.
Nostalgia Sid’s Shop Truck with car front end. Dang kool look if you ask me.
The axle is set up in the jig, water is run through the kingpin area to keep it cool through the process.
Some of the stock of axles waiting for their time in the jig, making your ride lower, cooler and handle better.
The heating process is a simple one. Hit the axle with some BTU’s to get it red hot and let the jig keep it all straight as the axle is stretched to it’s new dimensions.
Heat is re-added through the process to keep the steel pliable.After allowing the axle to cool slightly it’s fitted with a couple of attachments to check it for straightness and ensure it’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be.After the car was side swiped by a hit and run semi on the side of the interstate, this kustom was brought back home and fixed up, and now is awaiting it’s next road adventure.Sid has been collecting for a long time, and his collection includes some very interesting rides.
Unique business card holder.
The collection includes some great items like this advertisement for HaDees Car Heater.
Non-Skid tires.
So if you need a drop axle, you need to head over and check out Nostalgia Sid’s site, tell Sid that Royboy sent ya. Spend a little time on their site with the tech articles and lots of photos here. Enjoy!
See you at a show,
Royboy
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Just because this year is almost over doesn’t mean that we can’t be looking forward to the start of next year! In these parts January has but one major event. The Starbird-Devlin Rod & Customs Charities Car Show. The show goes down this January 17-19th at the Century II in Wichita, KS. Last year’s show was the first time that I displayed my car for an indoor show and I really had a good time, this year I will again be a part of the Kustom City display featuring Wichita area kustoms. I’m honored to get to have my Galaxie with these beautiful cars!
Here’s a slide show of the photos from this year’s event.
This is the 4th time I’ve put together the Mid Decembrrrr Run and the 4th variation on the theme. The first run was about 130 miles with stops to tour the McPherson College Auto Restoration program, the very impressive Kansas Motorcycle Museum and a stop at my friend Calvin’s Customs shop in Salina, KS before heading to the Stiefel Theatre to watch that year’s KKOA Leadsled Spectacular DVD from Vintage Torque. Year 2 we did about 150 miles and took the group on a great drive through some scenic country that most had never seen before, and we stopped at the Kansas Auto Racing Museum in Chapman, KS before hitting Calvin’s shop. Year 3 was a long long drive, we left from Calvin’s and headed west on old highway 40 all of the way out to Big Creek Restoration in Ellis, KS where we were treated to some BBQ and a shop tour before turning around and rolling back to Salina. All of these included stops at the Paramount Bar in Salina for drinks and usually some food that we put together to feed the weary travelers.
So the 4th year I’m taking you on a new adventure and adding the movie experience back in. We’ll leave my small home town of Gypsum, KS shortly after 10am, heading east on K4 Highway and then ducking off onto some paved roads that connect some of the smaller towns of the area. The road part of the trip is shorter than past years at about 65 miles but the stop in the middle is a good one! President Dwight D. Eisenhower grew up in Abilene, KS and that’s where his Presidential Library is. We will stop for lunch in Abilene and head to the museum, for about a 2.5 hour stop. This will provide some great indoor time to not only see some great historical pieces but to hang out with folks also on the Run. Please note that the admission to the museum is $10 a head for anyone 6 years old and older, we may get a slight discount as a group but plan for $10 just in case. From there we will head out of Abilene and catch old 40 again and head for Salina. A quick stop to see what Calvin’s Customs is up to then on to the Paramount for some food, drinks and a special screening of the new Atomic Hot Rods Film “This is Long Beach.” We may show the new KKOA DVD while we’re eating as well, I’ve not decided and asked for permission on that part yet. The movie does cost me money to screen, so some donations to that cause would be awesome. In the past couple of years I’ve made arrangements for some food to be served, I’m not sure what I’m doing to that end this year. We may have some snacks at the Paramount and just all go to a brand new Pizzeria after the screening. As we closer to the day we’ll get that figured out. PLEASE NOTE: If you are waiting until that day to get your 2014 Calendar for Charity, DON’T! They are going fast and only 39 remain of the 250 that were produced!
So come along with us and enjoy the ride, drive your cool classic hot rod, kustom, cruiser or whatever if you’d like, drive your daily driver if you must, just join the rod/kustom family on yet another adventure that we call the Mid Decembrrrr Run.
Here is Atomic Hot Rods site, where you can purchase “This is Long Beach” or any of the Atomic Hot Rods Films. I will have some copies of “This Is Long Beach” on hand for you to purchase at the event if you’d like them.
Keep your head warm on the cold winter days! Pre-order a new RB Beanie for just $10 plus shipping. After the pre-order the price returns to $12 plus shipping so get one now!
New shirts, books and more are on the way, just in time for Christmas! Subscribe to this blog in the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com to keep up to date on what’s available and when it’s available.
A while back we were presented with a chance to coordinate a car show in Dubuque.
But we didn’t want to do just another cookie cutter event that shows off the local Camaro club or some tricked out
2012 Mustang….
Our proposal was to bring back a distinct time.
A time before muscle cars dominated.
In effect, take the basic concept of a traditional hot rod show and throw it indoors.
This has been done with great success with Jalopyrama in MD, Grand National Roadster Show, and the World of Wheels extreme areas in Indy, KC, Chicago, and the best one – Detroit.
But even some of those events tend to let beaters in….(like mine)
What we are trying to create is a show that would bring the standard up a bit.
A show that celebrates those that take the time to get a display together the way they did back in the 50’s and 60’s.
A show that combines two of the most iconic symbols of America. Cars and Guitars. The Retro Rewind is not really anything new, but what is different about the event is going to be the sheer volume of
things to do AT the event.
We hope this event will be successful because we can team up with several players in the community that would be able to make the
Retro Rewind special. Many out of town kustom car owners will display their cars. We already have commitments from cars in IN, MI, WI, KS, IL, and IA.
Many will want to
come out to break up the winter monotony.
Example:This past Super Bowl Sunday there were 100 gearheads meeting in a parking lot in 14 degree weather while snow was flying.
This meeting was a Facebook event…..no ads. Bare Bones have positive word of mouth on their events they have done in the past, and we think Torque Fest and Iron Invasion do as well.
It is this dedication to the hot rod lifestyle that we will capture at Retro Rewind.
Our message will be spread around the midwest at car shows, antique shows, and CD, vinyl, and guitar shows with the help of several dealers that attend shows from Ohio to Kansas City.
Currently there are NO guitar shows in Iowa! This is an obvious hole that needs to be filled.
Guitar and hot rod fans will want to stay around to see the talent of JB (a big name that we are in current contract negotiations with.)
The proposal is that there would be a discounted price for going to both events – but people could go to either event by
purchasing tickets for the concert that night or just pay for the event the day of the show.
In order to get maximum exposure for the event, ads will be placed in Vintage Guitar, Guitar Player, Ol Skool Rodz,
Rod & Kulture, as well as the usual blitz of propaganda we give out to all the fans around the midwest.
Art Auction – There will be a smaller version of the Vintage Torque Fest art auction held at the Retro Rewind. The thing
that will distinguish this auction from others is the fact that half the proceeds from the auction will go directly to the artist and the other half will
go to Hannah Wells Medical Trust. Invited artists will have the ability to set up and sell their wares. This
will give the public a chance to see their items for sale as well as what the artists may be working on at the show.
7 Sins Section – Performing different feats throughout the day, 7 Sins Sideshow Circus act will amaze the crowd with their
daring stage act. Do NOT try these things at home!
Pin Up Contest – Ten girls will be chosen to get onstage and give the crowd a taste of vintage cheesecake. Get your cameras ready for the poses!
Mileage for invited cars – Retro Rewind invites any historic, kustom, cover car, or vintage show rod to take a part of the festivities. We are trying
to keep the quality of the cars higher since this is exactly what was done at indoor shows in the late 50s and early 60s.
Peoples Choice Award – $500 to the winner! The public will pick the car they think is best. If we can get a sponsor, we will try to make the
second and third place winners happy as well.
Model Display Area – Scott Baldauf will round up the usual suspects to bring out some miniature rods and customs! If you have something you would like displayed – go ahead and bring it!
Motor Matinee – Step inside the Five Flags Theater – adjoined on the east side of the building. This is an 1800’s
opera house that has been updated in the 1980’s to bring in choice acts to the stage. We will be using this theater throughout the day
showing documentaries, vintage racing, and perhaps some highlights from past years Torque Fests.
Bands 3 on the Tree will wow the crowd with their mix of original and swingin favorites Rumble Seat Riot will hit the stage going 90MPH and won’t stop
til everyone has danced their feet off!
Indoor Swap – 8 foot tables will be available for approximately 40 dealers that would like to come to the show to sell their old vinyl, vintage motorcyle or car parts, or used music instruments.
Admission will be $10 and this gets you into BOTH the film festival and the car/cycle show.
Show hours are 9-7
Return to Five Flags Theater at 8pm
opening band open at 830pm
JB at 930pm
We are trying to keep a price point of $18-$20 for the headliner.
AND
we are going to give a discount of $5 for those that come to both events.
We have other announcements we will make later on to make this event even better, but know that this is going to be a
good time, and those looking for a good time in the winter will want to attend.
Scheduled to Appear:
Chuck the Barber
National Motorcycle Museum
Ed Tillrock
Rock N Roll Land
V8 Custom Guitars
Dubuque Tattoo Co.
Flying Weasel Garage
Retro Relics
Todd Jones
Wrenchin’ Wendy Walker
Retro A Go-Go
Hot Rod Honeys
Hetz
Nate Ullrich – Lyfebehindbars.com
Wisconsin Hot Rod Radio
Broken Cherry
Relic
P’Gosh
John Berry
Ol Skool Rodz
Scott Takes – Underground Art Studios
Kansas Demilitarized Zone
Jimmy Flintstone Studios
So there you have it. More info in a month but for now make your plans to be there!
Please Note: For the month of December and maybe January I will be backing the blog posts up to 5 days a week. There just is not enough going on in my schedule to fill up 7 days a week and I want to focus on creating a new t shirt, book and a couple of other items. Subscribe at the top right hand corner of the site to get the blog delivered every time it goes live!
“Welcome back ! This week I’ve gotten into the Hall Of Fame Legends Archives to pull out a story you’ve probably missed: It’s Fritz Schenck with his tale of a very cool, custom-built, show car…”The Roswell Rod” !
FRITZ SCHENCK (Spritz By Fritz), is in the vanguard of the new breed of builders/customizers. You’ve probably seen THE ROSWELL ROD, and some of his other cars, clones, restorations, bikes, or, paint jobs, featured in Rod & Custom, Street Rodder, Custom Rodder, etc.
2011 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular Saturday
Well, a few years ago, Fritz and I sat down, relaxed, and talked about his cars, then-current & future, plus his views on “creating art” through Rolling Sculpture.
Fritz is a cool guy with lots of talent. To “hear all about it” just CLICK-ON-HERE , listen, and…Enjoy !
BTW: Have a GREAT weekend, and Cruise Travis’ super-cool Site while you’re here…check-out the available Merch, there’s bound to be something you need ! Or, hey, pick-up something to give to one of your buddies !!
5th and final post of my 2013 Pistons and Paint coverage. I’ve saved a few images back and I’ll write up a piece to accompany them for an article for a magazine, stay tuned for that. Click on any of the photos to purchase it as a print and help put more gas in the Royboy-mobile to get me to another car show!
Part 4, only 1 left after this one! Quite a few of these cars I get to see in Austin at the Roundup but this show is about 1/3 the size. I’ll be completely honest here, I like the smaller shows. When you start to get over 1000 cars you really loose the intimacy of the show, there’s just too much to see, too little time to spend with friends because you’re always pulled to go visit other friends. This show had officially 494 cars, enough to fill out your day but not so much that it felt overwhelming. The cars, the people, the bands, all added up to a very enjoyable day.
Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!
Don’t forget to get your 2014 Calendar for Charity order in ASAP! They’re already going fast, once they’re gone they’re gone!
Remaining stock: 2 Stray Kat Kustoms, 2 Hot Rod, 5 Kustoms, 16 Greaserama, and 28 Trucks
Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!Like this photo? Click it to go to the page where you can order a print. Every print helps get my cameras to another show!
Continuing the coverage of the 2013 Pistons and Paint. I’m going to save my brain a bit and not type too much here for story as I am trying to see if I can get an article on the show published. If you see any photo that you like, buy a print, it’ll put a little gas in my tank to get me down the road to the next show (literally) so I can bring more coverage to you!
Before any of the car stuff, the day this post goes live is Veteran’s Day 2013. Thank you to all current and former Veterans for your hard work and sacrifice. Early this year one of you that was close to me passed, on an extremely cold day in a snow packed cemetery, 2 incredible young men came out and sent him off in a way that still makes me tear up to today. He flew in WWII and was a flight instructor, in a war that was well into the history books decades before these soldiers were born but the respect and dedication that they had to see that he was honored properly was inspiring. The cold, the snow, the fact that they never met the man who’s service was over almost 70 years ago, none of these meant that they would give any less than their all. Thank you to all of you that have served and God bless you and your families.
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My first Pistons & Paint weekend is about over. 🙁 Well, as I type this it’s 11:35pm on Sunday night, so the weekend is over in just a few minutes. I hope you enjoy the Pistons and Paint coverage as much as I enjoyed the weekend! Click on any of these photos to go to the full gallery and purchase a print! Help get the Royboy cameras to another event by getting some prints for your walls!
More to come throughout the week, subscribe at the top right corner of the page to get the daily Royboy blog posts delivered to your email as soon as they hit the site!
See you at a show,
Royboy
Don’t forget to get your 2014 Calendar for Charity order in ASAP! They’re already going fast, once they’re gone they’re gone!
I’m sure glad that I came down to Denton, TX this weekend for Pistons And Paint! About 500 cars showed up and I was able to meet new people, see new cars, and spend time with close friends along the way.
Today’s post will be some cell phone photos of the event, while I do a couple of shoots here in TX before heading back home to prepare more for you tomorrow.
For years I’d had to shamefully admit that no I hadn’t been to Pistons & Paint in Denton, TX every time I’d been asked. This year I change that. So for the 46th Royboy gallery in the 2013 folder I headed down to Texas for the PnP.
Friday Nov. 8th 5:30 am Ugh, 5:30 in the AM… as in morning. Yuck. Already a half an hour behind my meaningless and self imposed schedule. But the bed was so comfy… just 10 more minutes of sleep… No. I have to get up, I have to get on the road. It’s time to kick this mule.
6:10 am I’m in the daily driver and headed south. The GPS is on, not so much because I need it but the app I use does allow other folks to warn you of potential speed traps. I might as well use it if it helps. There is just the faintest of hints of the impending sunrise on the horizon to my left as I blast south on what can be deer infested two lane country blacktops.
Heading out at 5:45 for Pistons And Paint
7:15am Okay so now I’m 15 minutes behind schedule, must have made up some time on those back roads. Now it’s time for breakfast with the Wichita guys. A group of car guys that I know gathers for breakfast at the same diner 6 days a week. It’s always a good time to join them, so I do just that. The guys liked the calendars that I showed them and they bought a bunch, even some strangers across the joint buy a couple.
8:30am Back on the road headed south to Nostalgia Sid’s in Guthrie, OK for a shop visit. Sid shows me around, I take some photos, learn more about that in an upcoming article right here.
11:40 am Nostalgia Sid’s Shop visit is over and now I’m off to Shoebox Central for a visit. More pics and a story again, coming soon!
1:00pm Heading south again this time headed for Atlas Speed & Custom in Denison, TX
4:00pm Hanging out with some old friends who have gathered at Atlas. More pics and a story from there soon as well.
We ended up gathering up a bunch of folks at a fried chicken place called Babe’s in the evening for dinner, it was pretty awesome.
More from the show tomorrow, see you at a show,
Royboy
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Hi ! Glad you stopped by Travis’ Site ! Don’t forget he’s got some neat Merch that you can pick-up…and some of it might just make a good gift for a “fellow gearhead” like yourself !
This week we’ll check-out BO HUFF’s Tastee-Freeze-Kool ’56 Chevy 210: “The Hustler” ! This is one sweet ride, and an homage to an old friend of Bo’s.
In this very introspective Interview. Bo shares his thoughts on lowering your car, and takes a look at how he’s paid his dues through the year’s…and has become one of the most respected builder’s to ever light up a torch.
BO HUFF IS A “LIFER”: a man who knew what he wanted to do, figured out how to do it right, and , now is recognized World Wide for his contributions to the R&C Industry.
To hear his story about the beautiful ’56 Tri-Five that he’s put together, SIMPLY CLICK-ON-HERE and your on your way !
And, a big “Thank You” to all who take the time to visit here at Travis’ super-cool Site ! See you next week !!
Shop Visit: Ryno Built and the Sharer 50 Merc “Sweet Memories”
After the Stray Kat Feed my dad and I loaded up in the F250 and headed 2 hours east to Ryno Built to take a peek at a frame that he’s been working on for my buddy Jeff from Texas. The plan is to get the frame finished up, painted and then move on to body work including a chop. The frame came in with a Street Rod Engineering Mustang II subframe already installed but Ryno finished it out and smoothed out some of the welds, etc.
Here’s some photos of the Chassis with the new Coker wide whites and chrome wheels, notice the exhaust and fuel line/brake line tunnels made in the x-frame so that the frame lays flat.
I took all of the calendars with me to Dewey as I usually have a bunch of folks that pre-order them and then pick them up in Dewey. This year A LOT of people bought on the spot in Dewey. This weekend alone 48 sold, in the previous 3 weeks of online pre-sales 72 were sold, so this was a huge 1 day jump. As of right now there are 11 Kustoms editions left, 19 Hot Rods, 28 Trucks, 7 Stray Kat Kustoms and 28 Greaserama. That’s it, when they are gone, they are gone! The pre-orders started shipping yesterday with another batch going out today. Shipping costs are more than I predicted but I will cover the envelopes/boxes/labels out of my pocket to make sure as much of the money goes to the charities as possible.
I also had a friend from Texas ask about doing a special edition calendar for his group to sell, if that happens and if they are open for any of you to buy a copy I will let you know so that you can see them and have a chance at those. If you would like a special edition calendar made of any 24 of the photos in the over 40,000 photo library of Royboy Productions, let me know. For 100 Calendars it’s only $700 plus shipping to your door. You can sell them at $10 and raise money for a charity, or whatever cause you’d like. Send me a message here for more info.
See you at a show.
Royboy
Use the Subscribe box at the top right corner of the page to receive the latest posts via email each day
Don’t forget to get your 2014 Calendar for Charity order in ASAP! They’re already going fast, once they’re gone they’re gone!
The first time I went to the Feed it was just about the last event of the year, this time I have 5 events after the Feed including my own Mid Decembrrrr Run. This coming weekend is the first of 2 trips to Texas this month, plus one to Denver on Thanksgiving weekend.
The Stray Kat Feed this year attracted its normal group from as far away as Arkansas and us from central Kansas, a bunch showed up from Tulsa that I don’t remember seeing before.
Saturday started early after a late night partying then making calendars until 5am. All of the calendars got finished and I got 2 hours of sleep before it was time to load up and head for Dewey for the Stray Kat Feed. Now as I write this (Sunday evening) I’m still exhausted but it was so very worth it!
Every year on the first weekend of November a bunch of folks gather in Dewey, OK the home of the Stray Kat 500 for the Stray Kat Feed. The street is blocked off and we shove as many hot rods and kustoms into the blocked off street as we can and enjoy a potluck style lunch. It’s a great way to gather one last time for the year with the rest of the rod/kustom family and get some quality time together before the weather turns cold.
Here are some cell phone photos from the day, more from the big camera will come tomorrow after I get home. Hope you have had a great weekend!
Okay folks, this is a complete experiment. This is a repost of an article that I did for the Galaxie Club of America Gazette a few years back. If you want more tech articles like this comment below or contact me here to let me know!
Upgrade Your Audio
A few years ago I decided to replace the horribly installed speakers in the rear deck of my Galaxie. The person who’d put them in had used pennies for washers among other sins of installation plus the speakers weren’t all that good. It was time to install some new ones and get rid of the ugly aftermarket speaker grills that were perched on the rear deck. Now I must say this, I am no pro installer, you’ll notice that when you see how straight my cuts are…
As you can see in Picture 1, a previous owner had decided to cut out the factory rear deck wood and vinyl to install a pair of 6×9 speakers. I have to say I HATE to see speaker grills in the rear deck area of a car, 9 times out of 10 they are ugly and out of place. The older (maybe factory) center 6×9 grill is pretty ugly as well, so let’s fix that! The goal for this part of the install was to see if I could put these speakers in without leaving any permanent changes to the car.
In Picture 2 you can see the factory rear deck metal, I have removed the rear seat bottom and back so that I could remove the upholstery that covers the rear deck. I won’t go into detail on how to get the panel out since each model of car is different. Lucky for me, Ford left 4 large openings plus the center 6×9 mount. Since stereo sound works best in the car when you have the most separation between left and right speakers, I am going to install the rear speakers in the far outside openings.
Picture 3 & 4 shows a tool that I have had for years…. And I have no idea what it’s called. It’s an adjustable curve that you can pick up at Hobby Lobby. I use it to copy complex shapes in the car. Here you can see it wrapped around the inside of one of the openings in the rear deck of the Galaxie. Simply fit the curve to the shape you desire to copy, then lay it on a piece of 1/8th masonite and trace the shape. This tool comes in very handy when making cardboard templates for patch panels when doing body work as well.
My idea to build the mounts was to use the small ledge in each opening to my advantage. I built a 1/8th masonite plate that fit into the indented part of the metal, then put another masonite plate under the rear deck and used small bolts to cinch the two pieces together tightly to hold them in place in the rear deck. The speakers will be mounted into the bottom panels. Picture 5 shows the rough shape of the panels with holes for the speaker in each panel. I have also drilled holes for the bolts in the panels at this point. The panel in front is the one that goes on top of the rear deck metal, the square-ish one behind goes below the metal and gets the speaker mounted to it. Next I painted them black so that the wood would not show through the final upholstery. I also used speed nuts to attach the speakers to the bottom panel so that I could remove the speakers from the panel without having to unbolt the panels from the rear deck.
Picture 6 shows the rough fitting. Everything is assembled and loose in the rear deck for adjustment. It should be noted at this point that if you have holes in the upholstery panel over any of the center 3 openings that you should cover the openings so that the sound waves that come from the rear side of the speakers do not come through into the passenger compartment. The rear side of the speaker produces a sound wave that will partially cancel out the sound from the front side so this is very important. I will be building a subwoofer setup that will fill these openings so it is not an issue in my case. Since the subwoofer setup will not be ready until down the road I covered the backside of the speakers with foam baskets to keep the back wave contained.
Picture 7 shows the finished project. The beginning idea of getting rid of the ugly holes and speaker grill and ending up with a clean looking rear deck has been accomplished.
The speakers sound much better and have been providing years of enjoyment now.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Use the Subscribe box at the top right corner of the page to receive the latest posts via email each day
Don’t forget to get your 2014 Calendar for Charity order in ASAP! They’re already going fast, once they’re gone they’re gone!
In 3 weeks (and 2 days) we’ve sold 76 Calendars, awesome!
The printing bill has been paid, more supplies have been paid for and delivered, total outlay is about $1033.41. So far we have taken in about $785 in calendar sales + shipping.
I have used that money plus $248 of my own to cover the printing costs and I will cover the shipping costs out of my own pocket until enough calendars are sold to pay that back. With 8 weeks left in the year we have to average 22 calendars a week and so far we’ve averaged 23 a week. This is where sales usually drop off a bit. Please share the links to the calendars to friends that have bought them in the past or you think would enjoy them, that extra sharing does really help get the word out.
Now the story gets interesting. As I sat down Wednesday evening Oct. 30th to start to assemble the freshly printed calendars I found that they had been printed incorrectly. In order to bind the calendars at the top the pages have to be printed so that the front and the back of the pages have the same orientation of top to bottom. These did not! 250 copies of wasted paper! As of the writing of this post (4am Central time) I have not heard back from the print shop but I left messages at 7pm on 2 voice mail accounts and 1 email. ***Update at 8:30am: The print shop is reprinting them all to be correct and hopefully I’ll be punching and binding 250 copies this weekend. *** Rest assured they will get printed and they will go out as promised.
The Hot Rods, Kustoms and Stray Kat Kustoms Editions are tied for best sellers so far with 22 sold each but I expect the Stray Kat Edition to take a commanding lead this weekend. If you want one you’d better reserve your copy now by ordering today. There will be NO reprints, it’s not cost-effective unless we’re doing a large batch.
Thanks folks for pushing this blog to 18,995 views since Aug. 15, 2013!!! October was the biggest month to date as well! Thanks so much for following my adventures look for feature articles, artist features and more to come!
See you at a show.
Royboy
Use the Subscribe box at the top right corner of the page to receive the latest posts via email each day.
Thanks to RJay’s Speed Shop, the first official sponsor of royboyproductions.com The owner of RJay’s is a friend & will treat you right!
Final installment of photos from the Hot Rod Garage Open House. You can find their facebook page here. I made a few passes through the event as there were a bunch of folks coming and going so there are some photos here that are repeats of vehicles from slightly different perspectives. Click on any photo to go to the entire photo gallery. When you see one you’d like to have as a print, just click the photo, then in the gallery click “add to cart.”
The cacklefest was a nice addition to an Open House, I was inside using the facilities when one of the cars fired up a wall away from me, it was impressive how much of the stuff in the room was rattling from that car sitting 8ft away. The shop has a bunch of high end projects on hand, it was really impressive to see them both the finished rides and the under construction ones.
An 88 year old racer drives this Vette, and judging from the look on his face when he was loading it on the trailer and decided to burp it for the crowd, he enjoys it.
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