Sunday morning I woke up and went back into the show just as the gates had opened to try to get you some photos of the show without as many spectators in the background.
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There are only 6 Trucks Edition 2014 Calendar for Charity left! Get one now before they’re gone!
2014 is the 3rd year of the new ownership/management of this show and it seems to be getting better and better. The contenders for the Magnificent 7 were amongst the best the show has ever had. Late in the evening I finally started shooting some photos, some of which you saw yesterday, here are some more…
I love Joe’s Caddy.It’s not the traditional style that I enjoy but there’s a certain something that it has that just makes me smile.Matt’s pickup was swamped with people all weekend.Clean.Gotta love a Rivi.
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There are only 6 Trucks Edition 2014 Calendar for Charity left! Get one now before they’re gone!
Saturday of the 2014 Starbird-Devlin show was packed. Packed with cars, packed with spectators, packed with friends. Most of my day was spent hanging out with friends and family. I kept waiting for the crowds to die down so the photos would look better, plainly said, it never happened.
Enjoy the photos 🙂
The kids area was so over packed with awesome. I just hope that all of this encourages some of these youngsters to be car folk. 🙂
As this is posted I’m finishing up my 3 hour stint a the day job on Saturday morning. From here I catch a ride with my Dad and my 3 & 5 year old nephews down to Wichita’s Century II where the Starbird-Devlin show is in full swing. The boys and I will check the show out today then they will come home and then my cameras will come out and I’ll get you some photos of the show. Look for those photos to start showing up here tomorrow Sunday the 19th. Here’s what I posted this week so far:
I’m excited to finally get the 2014 car show season underway! Next weekend I’ll be heading to Ryno Built’s shop to check in on a Merc project that he’s building for a buddy of mine. While we’re there we’ll also build a new transmission crossmember for my Galaxie so that the car can be dropped a couple more inches. So look for a tech article on that, plus the shop visit post from Ryno’s place. From there I’m hoping to hit 2 shops on the way home, 1 private where they’re doing a big time chop and another a pro upholstery shop. Stay tuned for those visits as well. The goal for 2014 is to start doing a lot more car features, more videos, and more of the same coverage that has been viewed over 11.5 million times so far. Buckle up, it’s bound to be a heck of a ride!
For the 2nd year in a row I’ve been asked by my friend and mentor Doug Reed to include my car in the Kustom City display in the Starbird-Devlin Car Show held in Wichita’s Century II Convention Center. To me, it’s an honor. I get to display my car along side some of my favorite kustoms and hang out with some of my favorite people. Today was the move-in for our group, so early this morning I fired up my Galaxie and made the 80 mile drive down to Century II. An early morning drive with some great tunes in my favorite car is an amazing thing for my attitude.
As soon as I pulled in I was greeted by one of my friends from the Kustom City display, I was waved into the building and directed to my parking spot with a bunch of rides that far outclass mine. As last year, some of the cars in the display are immortalized on Dennis McPhail’s Kustom City poster, it’s a real big deal to me to even be in the same display as all of these cars.
After getting the cars into position I spent about an hour hand wiping down the car. In my haste to get to the show and see my kustom family I forgot to stop and hit the car wash. Thankfully I had a fresh bottle of Meguiar’s Quik Detailer in the trunk, I cleaned every damn surface of the exterior with the stuff. 🙂 Then it was off to walk around the show a bit and see who else was already set up or in the process.
Out for a morning drive in my Galaxie 500 with my bug collection.
Here are some of the photos I took while walking around.
Floyd\’s 58 Edsel Wagon kustom. The car features a bunch of great pinstriping and a full kustom interior by Fast AL’s Upholstery amongst more kool touches.
Floyd’s Edsel Wagon. We talked today about me shooting a feature on it for a magazine, I can’t wait!
I keep running into this beautiful Mercury from Nebraska, and I’m not mad about that.Troy Pate’s newly finished hot rod. It was his uncle’s street beast back in the old days and was finished just before the show. I REALLY want a ride 🙂
Michael Behrendt’s 34 Ford Coupe. The car was given to him years ago on the condition that he someday build the car. Nothing on the car is newer than 53 except the 59 Olds steering wheel. The east coast channeling lends to the car’s Norm Grabowski’s Kookie Car-esque profile. I’ve been given a ride in the car and it was a blast!Goren brought this beautiful 48 Merc up from Texas.Chaotic Customs has their normal huge display full of just about everything you need for you hot rod or kustom. The new sign is kool too.Devlin Hot Rods shop is just up the street from Century II and they had some very nice rides in their display. There’s a giant glass wall behind that curtain so look for more photos of these rides later, I’ll shoot them when the sun goes down tomorrow.These are the cars parked in front of me in the Kustom City display. Johnny Hammann’s 58 Chevy (as it was built in 76), Terry Cook’s Chevy, and Jack’s 51 Ford.Looking back down Kustom City. We have 10 cars this year in the display, I’ve been asked to help round up cars for next year and I’m an ambitious fella. Let’s shoot for 20 cars for 2015. If you have a kustom and want to hang out with some awesome people, send me a message here.Hub and Gloria Harness’ beautiful “Cinnamon” One of my favorite kustoms on the planet. They have been so amazingly supportive over the last few years and I’m lucky and honored to know them.
The middle of March usually is a slow time for car shows in Kansas, so I had South to Fort Worth Texas to the Texas motor Speedway for the Good Guys Spring Lonestar Nationals.
You can see the photos from my 2013 trip if you click here..
The 2nd show on the weekend of Feb 14-16 is the Darryl Starbird show in Tulsa Oklahoma’s Quiktrip Center. For more info on the show go to Starbird’s site here.
Be sure to keep an eye on the center isle of the building for the Fine Nine award participants and see if you can guess who’s taking home the Go For The Gold award and it’s huge cash prize.
This year there are 2 major indoor car shows on the same weekend of Feb. 14-15. The first one that I will hit is the KC World of Wheels held at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City.
Here are some photos from last year’s show:
I hope to see a bunch of my KC area rod/kustom family out at the KC Autorama!
**** Note: From time to time I want to feature pieces by some of my friends here. Last month I featured Gears And Gals Magazine (here), Steve Giangreco from Gears And Gals has been gracious to loan us this article for all of you out there. Enjoy!****
Matt Espy’s Ford
by Steve Giangreco
I met Matt Espy one day while I was at Tallant’s hot rod shop. Dan Tallant thought I would want to see his car and he asked Matt to drive it into work. Wow! I was so happy he did!
When I got to the shop, parked outside was this aggressive looking Model A Ford sitting low and mean. I walked around the car just taking it in. Every detail of this car is right. There wasn’t anything I could pick out that I would have done different.
The Model A was made available for sale to the public in December of 1927. It was the model that replaced the Model T. In the cars three year run, the Ford Motor Company produced over 3 million units. This made the Model A popular with hot rodders early on. They were lightweight, inexpensive, and plentiful. Over the decades not much has changed. The Ford Model A is still a favorite among hot rodders. While a Ford Model A hot rod is nothing new, they are not all created equal! Many things set them apart, build quality and aesthetics being the two most important. Some look good but can’t run, some run like hell but look like it too! Not Matt’s car. Matt’s car is right on in both categories.
Matt told me that he bought the car at a swap meet in 2004. “I looked at it in the yard until 2008 until my boss Dan and I decided to start building it”, Matt said. They started by taking the car to Dan’s house and laying the body on the floor. They began to mock up the new frame they were going to build for it. He wanted it to sit as low as possible so airbags were a must. The motor and transmission were laid on the ground and they built the frame into the body. They only channeled it about an inch. Matt is 6’3” and needed all the headroom he could get.
They used a 5″ dropped axle and some wishbones which they split from one of Dan’s old 48 Fords. A rear end out of a 55 Chevy was mounted with air ride technologies triangulated 4 link set up with bags. They made all the floors for the car and tranny tunnel. After that, the top was chopped 6 inches. It rolls on red steel wheels with wide white wall tires and cheater slicks in the rear. There are disc brakes up front for stopping power. The interior sports custom pin-striping , Moon gauges, and a Lokar shifter.
For the grille he wanted something that was a little different. He found one from a ’35 Ford on eBay that he liked. As soon as he got it, he cut about 8 inches off of the bottom and fabricated a new one out of round bar. He also made the hood and ornament from scratch.
He frenched in 1959 Cadillac taillights in the rear and painted the car a Mercedes flat gray with silver scallops. Eric Campbell added the finishing touches by doing all the pin-striping.
All of this together makes for one bad ride. This is one Model A that does NOT get lost in the crowd.
**** If you want to see this blog in your email inbox every morning when it goes live, go up to the top right hand corner of the page and enter your email address in the subscribe box. 1 lucky subscriber each month will get selected to win a prize. December was a copy of the Atomic Hot Rods DVD “This Is Long Beach” Subscribe to enter to win!****
For a couple of years now I’ve covered a fairly new show called The Chill held in Park City, KS in the fairgrounds buildings next to the Kansas Coliseum just north of Wichita, KS on I-135. I’ve enjoyed the show each time I’ve been to it, it’s always good to have another event to attend. The show has 1 giant room dedicated to bikes and bike related vendors, and 2 that are filled with cars and car related vendors. The show this year goes down Feb. 28 – Mar. 2, 2014. For more info go here.
If you want to see this blog in your email inbox every time it goes live with a new post, go to the top right hand corner of the page and enter your email address. 1 lucky subscriber will win a prize at the end of each month!
2013 was a fun year. In total over 50 new photo galleries were added to the 2013 folder, I haven’t added up the miles yet, or the expenses on hotels and such, but the fun meter was pegged all year long. Here are the most popular photo galleries from 2013 in slideshow form, click on the slide show to see the entire gallery. The total photo views for Royboy Galleries for 2013 was 4,462,950 not counting tomorrow of course. Since moving my photos to their current home on Smugmug just after the 2010 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular the total photo views for the site are now at 11,581,517. That just blows my mind. The majority of those views comes from people looking at my car show coverage threads on the H.A.M.B. but this year a big chunk was also from right here on my own site. The largest single day of the year was 7/29 (just after the KKOA) with 183,318 however most days average under 10,000 photo views.
The top 10 Royboy Productions galleries with the most views for 2013 are:
This was the first time that I showed my Galaxie at the Starbird-Devlin show and with it’s fresh Jeff Myers paint job (the plan is for an update to that paint job just before the show this year).
The 2nd time that I’ve made the trip down to this show at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. I have a lot of friends in North Texas so I suspect that I will return for this event in the future, not sure about 2014 yet though.
I missed the first few H.A.M.B. Drags events but it’s one I go to every year now. It’s great to see so many of my H.A.M.B. friends, get to see them run their cars and it’s turned into a family event for us with friends and family gathering from 4 states to hang out in Joplin.
A cold and rainy forecast kept many away from the Stray Kat 500, but still the car count was HUGE for the weather, with my personal estimates in the 400 range.
The other Stray Kat Kustoms show is the Starliner, and unlike many of the shows this year it wasn’t rainy, it was almost unbearably hot on that tarmac. Not the hottest show we’ve had in the last few years for sure but it was pretty brutal. Still one of the koolest shows on the planet.
Greaserama had a new home this year, some said that they would not attend because of it. They weren’t missed, this was easily the largest Greaserama to date and has room for growth in the new venue.
ANOTHER Texas show, this one a bit farther south. Austin’s Lonestar Roundup keeps getting bigger and bigger, which can cause problems in a city already experiencing growing pains with horrendous traffic and construction zones. The show was huge this year and I had a blast taking my ride to it for the first time. I’ll be back in 2014.
And the most popular photo gallery of Royboy Productions for 2013 was:
If it wasn’t for this show, I might not be doing this today. When the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular came to Salina it breathed a great new life into the show and it’s grown year after year. The last 3 years were incredibly hot with temps over 105 degrees, but this year was different. The rain that in some way was present for most of the year was again a factor but on Sunday this year it was 65 degrees instead of the 109 of the previous year. The show reached a new high of 1,867 entries. I hope in future years we can increase the number of kustoms and hot rods!
Valentine’s Day is for lovers, in 2014 Valentine’s Day weekend is for car lovers with 2 big indoor shows in the region. The one that I’m going to talk about here is Darryl Starbird’s show in Tulsa, OK. The show has for years included a monster truck show and the price tag seems to go up and up but I go back every year. Why? Because they continue to draw some great cars and with the 2014 edition being the 50th annual event, I’m sure there will be a ton of great rides on display. Go here for the show flyer for more info.
It’s time for a new book! I’ve gone through and picked out my 120 favorite Instagram photos from the Royboy Productions Instagram feed and I’ve put them in this new book called “2013 Squared” The book is available as a hardback, softback or as a pdf version for your tablet or smartphone. Here’s a 15 page preview!
It may seem odd to some to already be looking forward to the start of the 2014 show season but the truth is, it’s literally 1 month away here in the Midwest! On January 11th in the Five Flags Arena in Dubuque Iowa the Retro Rewind goes down in conjunction with the Fuel Injected Film Festival.
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
Here’s a list of links to all of the posts for this week. First up was the coverage from the Creme de la Chrome Rocky Mountain Auto Show in Denver, CO, then a shop visit at Jeff Myers’ Premier Body & Paint. Make sure to Subscribe at the top right hand corner of this page to get these stories sent to your email inbox every time they go live! In the upcoming weeks I’ll be featuring some reviews of some indie magazines that are out there, some feature articles on some great cars and announcements about upcoming shows. Sprinkle in some end of the year type posts and some new books, shirts and more that are being added to the Royboy store and I’ve got a lot of content coming your way to keep you going through these cold winter months. Right now we’re only about a month out from the first show of the 2014 schedule, I hope to make it there in my Galaxie but she may be getting some work done, so we’ll see. I hope to see a bunch of you next Saturday at the Mid Decembrrrr Run!
Part 4 and the final post of the show coverage from the Creme De La Chrome Rocky Mountain Auto Show in Denver Colorado held over Thanksgiving Weekend. This post features a bunch of rides that were on display in the Hot Rod Hill Climb area as well as the Deluxe Speed Shop display. Some of my favorites of the show.
That’s it for my whirlwind trip up to Denver and back on Black Friday. After that last pic I hopped in my daily driver and high tailed it east for 422 miles, had some drinks with friends and family and called it a day. I hope you enjoyed the coverage of the show! More fresh content for you tomorrow morning at 9am Central!
To see the daily Monday through Saturday blog posts in your email inbox as soon as they go live go to the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com and enter your email address. On the last day of each month 1 subscriber will be randomly picked to win a prize, November’s prize was a rb Embroidered Hat. For December I’m working on getting a big bunch of prizes from different websites, including shirts, discounts and whatever else I can round up!
To see the daily Monday through Saturday blog posts in your email inbox as soon as they go live go to the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com and enter your email address. On the last day of each month 1 subscriber will be randomly picked to win a prize, November’s prize was a rb Embroidered Hat. For December I’m working on getting a big bunch of prizes from different websites, including shirts, discounts and whatever else I can round up!
Here’s another post stuffed with 40 photos from the Rocky Mountain Auto Show. The show featured all kinds of cars and like I said in post 1, most of them were new to me so I’m sharing them even if they don’t fit in the more traditional/old school style. There is a post coming that is chock full of vintage hot rods that were at the Hot Rod Hill Climb so stay tuned, to make sure you don’t miss it, subscribe by entering your email address in the top right hand corner of this page. Again thanks to Dan Greenberg for allowing me to borrow this lens, go check out his photography and buy something!
Enough of my gabbing let’s get to the photos!
Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.
Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.Click any photo to go to the entire gallery.
More to come tomorrow, don’t forget to subscribe in the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com to get this blog delivered in your email inbox every time it goes live. 1 lucky subscriber at the end of each month will win a prize package, you have to be on the list to be eligible.
See you at a show,
Royboy
CALENDAR UPDATE!!!!
As of right now only 20 copies remain of the Trucks Edition, all others are sold out!
For a couple of years I’ve been hearing about the Rock Mountain Auto Show in Denver, CO over Thanksgiving weekend, 2013 was finally the time to make it up and check the show out. One of the voices telling me of the show was my friend photographer Dan Greenberg, and once I saw that my friends from the Hot Rod Hill Climb were going to do a display featuring a bunch of the cars that ran the hill climb this year, I was all in.
Waking up at 5:30 am I rolled out for the 6 hour drive west on I-70 for the Colorado Convention Center on the south west side of Denver’s downtown. As soon as I arrived I ran into a bunch of friends from across the midwest, including Dan who had a lens for me to experiment with. I’ve been considering buying a certain lens and he had an older version of it and was kind enough to let me test his out. Thanks Dan! Here’s the first batch of photos from the event, click on any of them to go to the entire gallery. This show had a lot of quality cars that aren’t of the traditional or old school flavor but they were new to me and hopefully new to you so I’m including them in the coverage.
To see the daily Monday through Saturday blog posts in your email inbox as soon as they go live go to the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com and enter your email address. On the last day of each month 1 subscriber will be randomly picked to win a prize, November’s prize was a rb Embroidered Hat. For December I’m working on getting a big bunch of prizes from different websites, including shirts, discounts and whatever else I can round up!
Part 2 of the coverage of the 2013 Hobo Happening, see part 1 here.
Street Rodding American Style shooting a truck for an upcoming show.
Don’t forget to check in tomorrow for a list of some of the my favorite kustom kulture artists and links to where to find their stuff for sale. Art makes a great gift and you don’t have to go fight crowds to get it!
Due to a forecast of some nasty weather the Hot Rod Revolution was cancelled this weekend. I had made it about 2 hours south of my home when I got the word to turn around. As luck would have it there was a show in the region this weekend and not having a trip to Texas meant I could attend it. The Hobo Happening is a great small town event in Douglass, KS held each November and as is usually the case, it was a cold one this year. Highs were around 35 degrees and the winds were dropping that wind chill down to tingly temps. That kept the car count lower than last year’s 50 degree day but there were still a bunch of nice rides from as far away as Nebraska.
Part 1 of the coverage of the 2013 Hobo Happening, see part 2 here.
1 more post from the Hobo Happening tomorrow, and Wednesday look for a post listing links to all kinds of great artists that all have great stuff for sale that would make killer Christmas gifts, don’t go get trampled at a department store for some crappy made product that your loved one won’t even use a year from now, support kulture artists and get some great art in the process! Don’t forget to subscribe at the top right hand corner of the site and I’ll keep giving you daily dose of kool hot rods and kustoms.
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.
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!
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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in the trunk, I cleaned every damn surface of the exterior with the stuff. 🙂 Then it was off to walk around the show a bit and see who else was already set up or in the process.
