Author: Royboy

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Heading to Wichita tomorrow…

Heading to Wichita tomorrow Saturday July 13th for the 2013 Automobilia Moonlight Car Show here’s a slideshow from the last trip I made to the show.

If you are at the show and want some photos of your car look for a big guy in a red hat with a big ‘ol camera.  You can’t miss me.

Sunday it’s off to Winfield and Mulvane for some photo shoots for the Marauders, book a shoot for your club today by using the contact form. Club shoots are a great way to get photos for a club calendar, or just create some great images to promote the club or print and hang on the wall.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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A look ahead: 2013 H.A.M.B. Drags

 2012 H.A.M.B. Drags Weekend 0053-M

5 weeks from now folks from all over the country will be rolling towards Joplin, MO to assemble for the 2013 H.A.M.B. Drags

For the last few years (2012, 2011, 2010) I’ve been heading down to the time capsule that is MO-KAN Dragway in Asbury, MO between Joplin, MO and Pittsburg, KS.

This year the H.A.M.B. Drags are going down on Aug. 17th, many like to get to Joplin early and head and hour or so east on Friday the 16th to check out the huge swap meet. So if you’re going to make the trip to the drags you might as well head over and see if you can snag a deal on that one part you need.
So book your room, plan your time off of work and I’ll see you at the H.A.M.B. DragsRoyboy
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2013 KKOA Hall of Fame Nominees Part 2

2010 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular, Salina, KS

Each year at the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular 2 new members are inducted into the KKOA Hall Of Fame. Since the show is just a few weeks away I thought I’d take the time to introduce you all to this year’s nominees. There are 9 total, here are the 2nd two on the list, see this post for the 1st two. When I have photos of their work I will show it and when I don’t I will link you to where you can see it.

LARRY GROBE, aka: “VooDoo Larry” – VooDoo Larry operates out of Schaumburg, Illinois, and has turned out some of the most original, innovative, unexpected and leading edge Kustoms you’ll ever see.

 2010 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular, Salina, KS
2010 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular, Salina, KS
2010 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular, Salina, KS
Larry will do anything from a ground up restoration, to a custom one-of-a-kind kustom or hotrod, to painting and pinstriping that’ll blow your mind and everything in between. With 30 years of experience under his belt it is easy to see Larry has really perfected his unique craft. His reputation is built on turning out hot rods and kustoms that set new boundaries. His attention to detail, gifted craftsmanship, creativity and ever changing pallet of work are renowned with the Old Skool Kustom culture.
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Larry is the personification of passion – passion for his work and the Kustom Kulture. He is the president and founder of the VooDoo Kings Car Club, a club that over the past 10 years has grown to membership that now extends to 6 different states. Although easily the King of Kool, Larry Grobe is one of the nicest, most down to earth guys you’ll ever meet.


“Speedy” BILL SMITH – The best way to explain Bill Smith is simply imagine “The Godfather of Hotrodding.” To many & most of his fans & customers it’s “Speedy” Bill, owner and still operator of America’ oldest and largest speed shop, Speedway Motors, located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Founded in 1952, Speedway Motors is a hotrodder’s friend, no matter what year hotrod or kustom you’re building. You want a a-dapt-tor kit, to hook a ’49 Caddie motor to a ’59, as Johnny Cash wailed, “Speedy” Bill probably has one sittin’ on the shelf in the massive warehouse of Speedway Motors. What a career Bill and Joyce Smith has built, and their shinning star on the hill is their Museum of American Speed that opened in 1992. Unbelievable is the best way to describe it. “Speedy” Bill Smith. It would be a honer to have him in the KKOA Hall of Fame.

The following are a couple of photos from a tour of the incredible Smith Collection in the museum at Speedway Motors.

 

I highly highly highly recommend a tour of the Smith Collection if you ever get the chance. It’s worth whatever drive it takes you to get there.

See you at a show,

Royboy

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Hope you had a great Indpendence Day!

I’m going to take the day off from showing you car show photos and share some fireworks shots with you. Hope that’s okay, back to the car-centric posts tomorrow!

For the last few years some good friends of mine have invited me out to a relative’s farm where we can really blow some stuff up on Independence Day. Usually we spend the day in the pool or on the deck enjoying drinks and stories then move out to the farm for a grilled feast and more good times with great people.
As I’ve shown for the last couple of years I’ve experimented with some long exposure photos. Here are some from the last couple of years:

  This year I did some long exposures for the bigger fireworks as well.
My favorite shot of this year.
These kind of remind me of wheat.
I hope that you enjoyed these. If you’d like to experiment with long exposure photography you need 2 things, a steady place for your camera (either a tripod or just a steady place to set it but I highly recommend a tripod), and a camera that allows you to adjust shutter speed to a few seconds. Set your camera up for the composition that you’d like and then experiment with a long exposure of a few seconds to see how much light it lets in and different apertures and ISO. Remember that a lower f-stop (aperture) will let in more light but will also have a more shallow depth of field and that a higher ISO will make grainy “noise” more likely. I’ll be doing some more long exposure low light shots this year at a few events that go later into the evenings.

If you have any questions on specifics of how to do these shots, feel free to contact me directly.

See you at a show,

Royboy

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A Look Ahead for the rest of 2013

Earlier this week I showed you an overview of what I’ve been up to so far for 2013. This will be a look at what’s planned for the rest of the year.

Click on any of the photos to go to a gallery of that show and see if you’d like to attend this year!

July 13th- Next up for my schedule is the Automobilia Moonlight Car Show in Wichita, KS

July 19-20- I’m not able to attend but I wanted to hit Krome N Kandy in Minneapolis, MN

July 25-28 – Then it’s the local show, the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular in Salina, KS (1600+ cars, Run What Ya Brung Drags and tons more)

Aug. 3rd- A week after that there is usually a small show in Lindsborg, KS just down the road from me as well.

Aug. 17th- Then there’s an open week before heading to the H.A.M.B. Drags in Asbury, MO (outside of Joplin)

Then it’s back to Wichita for the Blacktop Nationals Aug. 23-25

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Then it’s off to Kansas City for the Greaserama, in it’s new location in Tracy, MO Aug. 31-Sept. 1

Then it’s back to Wichita for one of my favorite shows of the year, the Starliner Sept. 6-7

Sept. 14th I’ll be in Georgetown, CO for the Hot Rod Hill Climb

Sept. 21st- the long running Ol Marais River Run in Ottawa, KS

Sept. 28th- There are 4 shows that I’d like to attend but I will be at the Rumble in Wichita (formerly Rumble in Delano)

Oct. 5th- This is my birthday weekend, there may be a big party or it may stay low key, no word yet.

Oct. 12- My 2nd trip to Woodstock, IL for Iron Invasion

More info on these later!
Oct. 18-19- BluesMasters At The Crossroads

Oct. 20th ZZ Top in Salina, KS

Nov. 2nd – Stray Kat Feed

Nov. 9th – Pistons N Paint in Denton, TX

Nov. 16th- Hobo Happening in Douglass, KS

Dec. 14th- The Mid Decembrrrr Run

Hope you go along for the ride!

See you at a show,

Royboy

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Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day from Royboy Productions!

Here are some red, white and blue rides all from the Starliner show held in Wichita, KS this Sept. 6-7. As mentioned on this week’s Episode 170 of Friction In The Static Podcast.

I hope you all have a very happy and safe Independence Day.

See you at a show,
Royboy

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2013 KKOA Hall of Fame Nominees Part 1

 

2013 KKOA Hall of Fame Nominees Part 1

Continue reading “2013 KKOA Hall of Fame Nominees Part 1”

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A Look Back at 2013 So Far

Wow. July. Already?!?

January 2013

I can’t believe the year is half over already, it seems like just a few weeks ago I was picking my car up from Jeff Myers’ Premier Body & Paint in Arkansas City, KS and headed home with my new old school paint.

Of course on that very trip home the generator finally gave up the ghost. I’d been nursing it for awhile and it was just time to finally do the upgrade, read all about the nightmare that turned into here.
The first event of the year was about 2 weeks after I picked up the car from Jeff, and I was going to be showing the Galaxie for the first time at an indoor show. The legendary Starbird show in Wichita, now the Starbird-Devlin show, but still pretty damn cool for someone that has been going to that show for 30 years. The show was a lot of fun, parking my car with some of the legendary Fundamentals cars was a huge honor. See the show coverage here Part 1, Part 2, Part 3  and Part 4

The show was just too much fun.

February 2013

February is always a bit busier than January around here. Kansas City hosts the World of Wheels Autorama, Darryl Starbird does his show in Tulsa, and The Chill goes down in Park City, KS.

Going to KC always means seeing my buddies of Los Punk Rods. They are always working on something interesting. KC WOW Show Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Then it’s off to Tulsa for the Starbird show. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Then it’s time for The Chill in Park City, KS Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

 

 March 2013

March is always a bit slow in the area here. This year I went down to The Chill in Denton, TX, it was worth the trip and I plan on going again and again. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Then a couple of weeks later it was time to head back to Texas for the Goodguys Spring Lonestar Nationals Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

April 2013

The first trip of April is typically the Lonestar Roundup in Austin, TX. This was the first time the Galaxie went and it was awesome! Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Art Shots

A couple of weeks later we gathered for the HAMBBQ

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The next day I took advantage of a chance to go hang in the pits for the #20 Matt Kenseth car for the  NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
Then it was off to Mulvane, KS to Chaotic Customs for their Open House. Chaotic has been responsible for helping me sort out some of the mechanical issues that were out of my mechanic knowledge or out of my time frame. Thanks! Part 1, Part 2
 

 May 2013

The first Friday in May is always Stray Kat 500 time in Dewey, OK. It rained, it sleeted, it may have snowed a touch but it was still perfect. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,  Part 6

Then it was over to Abilene, KS for Motor Mania.

June 2013

June started off with a trip to Marysville, KS for AutoFest
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Then the Galaxie and I headed off to Springfield, MO for the Queen City Riot
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Father’s Day weekend is always the time to take Dad to the Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure’s Father’s Day Show Part 1, Part 2

Big Brothers Big Sisters held a small 100 car show at the JC Penny’s parking lot in Salina, KS

Winfield Garage Car Show was a lot of fun, hanging out with some great friends at a nice event, we need to make this a 200 car show next year! Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Thanks for going along with me for the ride so far, there’s still a ton of events left to go for this year so get yourself out to one and say hi. If you want some custom photos of your car, give me a yell using the contact link above.

See you at a show,

Royboy
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Auto Shop, Inc. of Beatrice, NE Customer Appreciation Party

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A couple of  years ago I just happened across a show on my way home from another event. That show was the Marysville AutoFest. At that show I see this super low, bagged black Edsel that was under construction, fast forward to the next year’s show and it’s all done and awesome. The owner and I become friends and he tells me that he couldn’t have finished the car without Auto Shop, Inc. in Beatrice, NE.

A few months ago the owner of that Edsel, my buddy Bill, tells me that I should come up to Beatrice, NE for the customer appreciation party at Auto Shop, where a lot of the custom body mods on his Edsel were done. Sounds like a good excuse to hop in the Galaxie and go for a drive to me…

Auto Shop has all manner of projects going on, from muscle cars to old school restorations on 20’s vehicles on up.


So for anyone in the area needing quality work done, give Auto Shop, in Beatrice NE a call at 402-223-4546, what I saw on this shop visit was great craftmanship and a whole bunch of satisfied customers, two things that tell me a lot about a shop.
See you at a show,
Travis
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Upcoming Event: Automobilia Moonlight Show

Each year I try to make this show, but last year was the first one where I was happy with my photos from it. The show attracts all manner of rides from the region and a huge amount of people. Getting there early for photos was the only way to go.

I’m a sucker for Caddys
All the way from WI I believe for this 60 El Camino, we crossed paths again at Iron Invasion later in the year as well.
This wasn’t the first or the last time seeing this great little hot rod pickup last year. I really dig it.
A row of alligators.
This 49 Ford Coupe was new to me.
John Sinfellow’s gasser is just too kool of a barn find.
I should have come back and shot this again in the dark.
Those are some of my favorites from the show from 2012. The 2013 show goes down in Downtown Wichita on July 13th.
See you at a show,
Travis
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A Look Ahead: 2013 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular

As I type this we’re about a month out from the 2013 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. The KKOA in Salina is one of my favorite shows on my schedule, not just because it’s only 20 miles from my house either.

The show goes down in Oakdale Park in Salina, KS July 25-28, 2013. For all of the info on the show go to the KKOA website. Click any of the photos to see the full gallery from 2012.

Doug Reed and his Toad rolling into the show.
Kustoms in motion.
True road warriors, one from CA one from WI, both drive their rides everywhere.

As I mentioned here, I will be giving an award away at this year’s KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. The criteria for the award are as follows: be younger than me (38) and bring a finished or in progress traditionally styled kustom, hot rod or gasser that I find kool. Yup, it’s totally up to me, i do accept bribes of steak dinners and booze but they will not have any effect on the outcome 🙂
The award will be accompanied by a prize pack including gift certificates and discounts from:
RJay’s Speed Shop
Devilles Barbershop
Premier Body & Paint (Jeff Myers’ shop) Give Jeff a call at (620) 441-0820
Kool Rides
Murpho’s Rod & Custom
more to come soon!

Thanks to all of the incredible sponsors who are stepping up to help make this award something special. The goal is to promote the younger generation and encourage the winner to keep building kool rides.

In the coming weeks we’ll look at the past KKOA Leadsled Spectacular’s, and we’ll look at the nominees to the Hall of Fame as well, stay tuned.

See you at a show,
Travis
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Event Coverage: Winfield Garage Car Show Part 3

And yes that is ride height. Not my thing but well built and powered by a slant 6, something about it kept me sneaking a peek at it.

You don’t see many of this model Mercury around
Jeff’s Stude again
Larry James’ beautiful Caddy

That’s it for the 2013 Winfield Garage Car Show from my point of view. You need to attend next year, its’ a great little show with a whole bunch of great people at it, only $15 to enter your car and I had a fantastic time.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

See you at a show,

Travis

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Event Coverage: Winfield Garage Car Show Part 2

More shots from the Winfield Garage Car Show in Winfield, KS

I shot this entire show so that I could do HDR and play with other aspects of the image, it takes a lot longer to prepare the photos but you’ll see in this post how much more flexibility it gives me when editing.

Here’s an example of a normal shot from a car show.

Here’s with a slight bit of manipulation
HDR shots
Steve’s Tiki Taxi
Kevin’s 64 Galaxie
Jeff Myers’ Kustom Stude Pickup
Voodoo Jim’s Corn Cobb Coupe
Mickey’s 60 Chevy
Butch’s 56 Gasser

Jack’s 51 Ford
Should I shoot this truck for a feature?
Part 3 tomorrow! What photo was your favorite? Comment below!
See you at a show,
Travis
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Event Coverage: Winfield Garage Car Show Part 1

For the 2nd time I was able to attend the Winfield Garage Car Show in Winfield, KS, this being the first time with my car.

The morning started early rolling out of my home town before 7am.

I didn’t have time to snap any photos of the crew that I rolled into the show with, but there were some beauties in our row of hot rods & kustoms as we headed towards the show.

Original Image

HDR version with lens correction
It’s for sale…

That’s it for the first post, more to come tomorrow,
See you at a show,
Travis
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Royboy’s Weekend Update!

Premier Paint & Body 4-23-11

On Thursday this week I announced that I’ll be giving an award away at the 2013 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. Included in that announcement was the initial list of sponsors that are kind enough to add to the prize pack that will accompany the award. Continue reading “Royboy’s Weekend Update!”

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Event Coverage: BBBS Car Show in Salina, KS

As far as I know this was a first time event. Over 100 rides showed up to this free car show held in the South parking lot of Salina’s Central Mall next to JC Pennys. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina put the show on and with the exception of needing a bit more room for the photos to look good, but that’s me being picky :).


 
See you at a show,
Travis
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Upcoming Event: Winfield Garage Car Show

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This Sunday June 23rd is the Winfield Garage Car Show in Winfield, KS. I went a couple of years ago and I’m finally returning this weekend.

Here are some photos from my last stop by the Winfield Garage Car Show.
Hope to see you there!

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See you at a show,

Travis

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Event Coverage: 2013 Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure Father’s Day Show Pt.2

 

Wouldn’t they have looked better with the hoods and trunks shut?

See you at a show,

Travis

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Event Coverage: 2013 Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure Father’s Day Show Pt.1

John’s Vette

Pac-man lineup

See you at a show,
Travis

 

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My 1951 Ford Custom: Resurrection Part 2

Part 1 | Part 2

In the week since the last post about my 51 I’ve driven the 63 Galaxie 13 hours round trip to Springfield, MO for the Queen City Riot and I’ve done a small amount of work on the 51. To see more about the Queen City Riot show coverage see the gallery here or the blog posts Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

All that I got done on the 51 this week was installing a new fuel pump and verifying that it was in fact working. Installing the pump shouldn’t have taken nearly as long as I took, but it’s on now. Just a hint, if the engine is still in the car, it’s easier to take off the pump and the housing that it’s attached to than to remove the pump from that housing, unless you have a special 1/2″ shorty wrench or super thin walled sockets. So after some cursing, some head scratching and using an old Cragar S/S wheel with tire as a platform to stand on, I got the pumps swapped out.

Next step was to get the pump plumbed. Dammit. On both the inlet and outlet the new pump had larger connectors than the existing lines that the car had. A trip to Salina (20 miles each way) and 3 different stores (the 2 auto parts stores didn’t have them) and I came up with a set of new hose barbs and some new hoses. I replaced the existing rubber lines with the new hoses, primed the carb, hooked up the battery and turned the key.

She sputtered for a second or two, ran out of the gas in the carb and died. The fuel bowl was still empty on the fued pump too. So I cranked it a few times to see if the pump was able to draw any fuel up from the tank. Bone dry. After a few more attempts the battery was dieing and I was tired anyways so I called it a night. The plan for the next day would be to charge the battery, and see if the fuel pump could pull gas out of a water bottle directly next to it.

The next day I ran out to my Dad’s to borrow a gas can, the 5 mile trip was better than the 20 miles to town, and to pick up my battery charger that he’d bought for me years ago. Since I’ve recently decided to actually start working on my cars in my garage it would be good to have it home. I hooked up the battery charger and went into the house for some lunch. Upon my return I filled the water bottle with gas and stuck the fuel pump feed hose into it and tried the ignition again. Again the car only sputtered for a few seconds but I could see the fuel pump was pulling gas out of the bottle. Yay! that means that the pushrod between the cam and fuel pump might work.

Next up will be to see if I can get the car to run on that bottle of gas in the engine compartment. If so, then I need to replace the soft line at the fuel tank and try to use the air compressor to blow air through the hard line to make sure it’s not clogged shut. After that I’ll reconnect my new soft fuel lines at the tank and lightly use the compressor to put air into the tank to try to force the fuel up the line towards the pump. If the engine is capable of running and that line is full of fuel, we might be able to get her to move under her own power.

The tank is visibly newer than the straps that hold it into the car but I still will snake a camera down the filler pipe to see what the inside of the tank looks like. If need be I have a tank sealer kit waiting standby.

So, that’s where it stands for now, I hope to report next week that she is moving under her own power, see you at a show,

Travis

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Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Wish the hood was shut.
Worst hood ornament ever? 🙂

 
Sunday


It was wet as I left for home.


Spent some time on Rt. 66 on the way to Dewey, OK

On the way home I stopped by Fast A.L.'s Upholstery in Dewey, OK and hung out for a bit. Krobe brought his
On the way home I stopped by Fast A.L.’s Upholstery in Dewey, OK and hung out for a bit. Krobe brought his “ol Blue” over.” alt=”On the way home I stopped by Fast A.L.’s Upholstery in Dewey, OK and hung out for a bit. Krobe brought his “ol Blue” over.

On the way home I stopped by Fast A.L.'s Upholstery in Dewey, OK and hung out for a bit. Aaron's Ford is just about back on the road again.
Aaron’s Ford is just about back on the road again.

Aaron's ride waiting her turn, lots of new mods have been done to the car, just needs a little time to button them all up  and smooth some stuff out.
Aaron’s ride waiting her turn, lots of new mods have been done to the car, just needs a little time to button them all up  and smooth some stuff out.

A 37 Ford in Fast A.L.'s Upholstery for a full kustom interior.
A 37 Ford in Fast A.L.’s Upholstery for a full kustom interior.

bug killing field
Bug Collecting for the car crowd.

See you at a show,
Travis

Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 4”

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Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 3

Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 3

Some of RJay's Speed Shop Display
Some of RJay’s Speed Shop Display

Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 3”

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Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 2

Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 2

  A really nicely done 50 Ford Woodie

Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 2”

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Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 1

Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 1

 Already collecting bugs, only 2 hours into the trip.

Already collecting bugs, only 2 hours into the trip. Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 1”

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My 1951 Ford Custom: Resurrection Part 1

My 1951 Ford Custom: Resurrection Part 1

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On Memorial Day 2012 my father, my nephew Gannon and I went to Kanopolis Lake about 40 miles west of Salina, KS with the truck and trailer to pick up my 1951 Ford Custom 2 Door Sedan. I’m hoping to do as much of this car as possible myself, and I’m no mechanic. This will be a challenge but I hope to show a bunch of you that you can tackle these jobs involved in bringing an old car back to life if you break them down into small jobs.

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From the outside the car looks to be all there. While it wont start and the previous owner said that he drove it from Salina to the lake home, he said it was missing on a couple of cylinders by the time that he got to the lake.

After a quick hose down I see that the weather stripping is not doing it’s job, so I pull back the carpet where the water had dripped to see what was underneath and I find a flattened out Folgers Coffee can as a floor patch. No biggie the floors can be replaced.

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The paint looks decent for the most part, probably a 70’s era re-spray, the trunk was in the sun for 8 years so it’s rather oxidized and faded. After a year, I finally got a space cleaned out in my garage at home and I drug the car home so that I could start to tinker with her and see if I could bring the ol flathead back to life. The factory front grille was removed to go on my buddy Jack’s 51 Ford Kustom that he’s just finished with the help of Chaotic Customs, Fast A.L.’s Upholstery and others, and it will be replaced with a 54 Pontiac grille that I have.

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Wanting to do things myself as much as possible but knowing when to call in an expert, I had a friend rebuild the factory carb, if I had done that myself it would be months before I did it. So now with a new carb and a freshly charged battery I try to start the old girl. No go. Not getting a drop of fuel out of the fuel pump even though the bowl on the pump is full. A trip to O’Reillys and a new fuel pump is on the way. So next up is to swap the fuel pump and try her again.

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Once the car is running and I can take it for the occasional drive up and down the block it’s time to save up for a wiring harness. The 60 year old cloth covered wiring is in bad need of replacement. In the mean time I have a set of Ford Aerostar springs for the front which will bring the front end down about 3 inches and give the car a better ride quality, for the rear my buddy Jack has given me a set of blocks to get the altitude right.

Power washing the gunk off the bottom of the car

Another upgrade that I hope to do soon is installing a 77 Ford Maverick rear end, from everything that I’ve read it’s a near perfect fit and a much higher quality rear end with a better suited gear than the factory setup. The 3 speed with OD should mate well with the new rear gears. Before I can install that I need to get a lesson in how to rebuild brakes so I can finish the Maverick rear end before it goes under the car.

First “drive”

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See you at a show,
Travis