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.
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.
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.
A 37 Ford in Fast A.L.’s Upholstery for a full kustom interior.
Already collecting bugs, only 2 hours into the trip.
Clear weather as I rolled east for Springfield, MO.
Saturday morning I got to the show early so I could have plenty of time to see all of the cars roll in. This sedan was cleaaaaan.
Doug was kind enough to make some room for the Royboy shirts, posters and hats in his booth. Thanks Doug!
Right next door was the RJay’s Speed Shop booth.
I took a break from the show to head into the VFW where the show was held. This ham & cheese omelet came with hash browns & biscuits & gravy for $5. I was full.
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So then it was back out to the show.
Bret’s 40 Ford.
More to come of it later
Anyone know what engine this is off of the top of their heads? I can’t put a name to that “face”
Here are some from the Vendors area
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That’s it for this first post, more tomorrow or click on any of these photos to see the entire gallery.
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A while back someone asked me if I had a way to search for a specific kind of car on my website. I don’t. It would take a tremendous effort to go back now and label each of the 36,000 images as to what the cars are. So I decided to try to find a work around. The solution for now is having Vehicle Specific Galleries. The goal here is to gather up images of similar cars so you can quickly and easily see many different ways that each body style can be done. The hope is that you might find inspiration in these photos and go build something of your own to enjoy.
Right now I just have 3 up: Ford Shoeboxes (1949-1951 Fords)
The last 2 are not 100% up to date, I try to go and add a few each night until I’m done but they have a good start.
I hope to have more in the near future but it does take a significant amount of time to collect these images together so bear with me. If there are any specific models that you would like to see collected as a gallery let me know by using the email form at the top of this blog or by commenting below.
Jim’s Olds is coming together nicely after sitting for a long time.
The Stears’ Ford all the way from Kansas City
Don’s Buick again 🙂
The Mistretta Family rides in style.
One of the many full on kustom builds going on at Chaotic Customs. This started life as a 1953 Chevrolet, it’s being transformed into an Old after a chop and swapping on an Olds front clip.
April 27, 2013
Chaotic Customs
246 Industrial Ave.
Mulvane, KS
For the 2nd year in a row I attended the Chaotic Customs Open House on Saturday April 27th. Here are some of the photos of the cars that showed up. A good time was easy to have with this many kool people. You need to make it next year.
Jack’s 40 Ford
Jack’s 40 Ford
Chris and Karma Carlson’s 1960 Pontiac “Stella”
Some new wall art in the shop.
Jack’s 51 Ford is done!
Mike’s 40 Ford Pickup is chopped, channeled, sectioned, lengthened, just about every ‘ed you can do to a vehicle. and it’s still a long way from done. Look for it’s debut at SEMA this year.
Don’s beautiful Buick
The 34 Ford that Chaotic took to SEMA and displayed at Barrett-Jackson in the last year.
Now to be honest, I can’t make it as I’ll be in Austin for the Lonestar Roundup, but if you can get to Salina you should be there! I’ve been able to attend twice in 2010 and 2012, check the slideshows below to see some of the show through my eyes.
2010
2012
If you can make it, go! Enjoy the show, take some photos to share with folks that couldn’t and if you have a good time make sure people know you did, that’s how we grow these shows, that’s how we grow this hobby/lifestyle.
Guest Blog! My buddy Dan Podobinski is a photographer based out of Indiana, he attends a lot of the same type of shows that I do. Â Since I can’t be everywhere at once, Dan was nice enough to share some of his images from the 2013 Detroit Autorama with all of you through the blog here. Okay class now all together say “Thank You Dan!” You may have seen some of his work recently in Car Kulture Deluxe Magazine, or on the HAMB. You need to go follow his page on Facebook here and buy some prints of his great photographs! And now on with the show! ______________________________________________________________________________
’13 Detroit Autorama…
The Best of the Basement…
By Dan Podobinski
Detroit Autorama, the very words are enough to excite many a hot rodder, filling them with anticipation of what wondrous creations wait within the walls of Cobo Hall. This is especially true when it comes to the Autorama Extreme, an area dedicated to traditionally styled hot rods and customs as well as the amazing art that is inspired by them. It only seems appropriate that this part of the show is located in the lower level of Cobo Hall, away from the glitz and glamour of the indoor show circuit. This is where the real, honest hot rods are. Not that these cars are not nicely finished or held in high regard by their owners. They are, but these cars are driven, often hard and without mercy. With all of this in mind I present to you my very own “Best of the Basement” from the ’13 Detroit Autorama…
1. Larry Tucker’s 1934 Ford Pickup. In typical Jason Graham style it is an exercise in extremes. It’s delicate wire wheels and subtle brown paint stand in stark contrast to its 6-carbed, blown 454 Chevy.
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2. Brian Wisniewski’s 1950 Chevy coupe came from New Jersey to join the fray. It’s fully dressed 6-cylinder , chrome reverse wheels and killer paint gave it the “look.”
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3. Gene Winfield’s old 1935 Ford shop truck, now beautifully restored and residing with Gary Hatfield in Canton, Texas is an obvious choice.
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4. Jim Richmond’s glorious tribute to the historic Pierson Bros. coupe is another obvious choice for inclusion on my list.
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5. Chad Folkema’s fantastic A coupe on ’32 rails has been a favorite of mine since I saw it in its unfinished state at the Relix Riot show a couple years back. The flathead Lincoln V-12 and outstanding fit & finish make it a stunner.
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6. Dave Gray is the lucky owner of the newly finished “Chemical City Coupe” 1932 Ford five window. With Buick Nailhead power and details galore, the Jokerr Fabrication built menace is pure evil on wheels.
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7. Everybody in the hobby knows the name George Poteet and his Bonneville inspired 3-window Ford is a thing of beauty…stance courtesy of the boys at the Rolling Bones shop.
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8. Jeff Watkin’s 1956 Buick Special is another looker. The satin black is offset by the wild, 60’s style red flake with all kinds of neat tricks buried in it.
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9. Steve Gilmore’s 1963 Ford Unibody pickup is the kind of clean, simple daily driver we all dream of owning.
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10. Mark & Ryan Rogerson’s 1955 Chevy is as pure a 60’s style street bruiser as you will find. A very stout, high winding small block backed by a Muncie 4-speed and a Pontiac rearend sporting 4:88 gears ensure that the stoplight to stoplight action will be a thrill!
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11. Kerry Sitar’s 331 Hemi powered A on ’32 rails is just mean, and that’s enough.
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12. My last pick, though not in the basement, would have fit right in. This wild, 60’s show rod styled 1934 Ford 5-window coupe belongs to Beau Boeckmann of North Hills, California.  Take a moment to bask in what was the excess of 1960’s show rods!
If you’re building a hot rod or street rod you need parts. You can go to the junk yard or swap meet, get dirty, maybe find something maybe not, maybe have to fix it if you do find it, or you can order new stuff. If you are in a time crunch ordering parts can be a life saver. Have a look at my friends over at RJay’s Speed Shop.
For the month of March, RJays is having a 10% sale on all front end components from RJays Parts, Pete & Jakes, Superbell, Heidts & more!
Here’s the Fine Nine winner, the Atomitron by John Saltsman, driven out from CA for the show. I love to see kustoms driven especially when competing for such a prestigious award.
Also driven out from CA was Keith Dean’s 40 Mercury
Another of Shawn Mundy’s Fine Nine qualified 35 Ford Pickup.
Essentially I started this kustom and hot rod photographic adventure in 2006. That’s the first photos that I have from my old Sony Digital camera with the small CD discs. I remember that first day in Lawrence, KS filling the camera up with about 180 photos and resorting to my phone’s camera to cover the rest of the show. Those photos were less than inspiring… from both cameras. The show was the 2006 Kruzin’ In The Heartland held in Lawrence, KS.
I’d seen the ad for the show in Ol Skool Rodz I believe, my uncle Paul (povertyflats to many of you) and my father and I headed up early on Saturday morning to see the show. It was supposed to be hot that day and we were leaving by about noon, but there were only a couple hundred cars max so it wasn’t hard to get all the way through the show in that time.
I had never really seen a hot rod like this, I was used to street rods, this was something new to me, many of these rides looked attainable. Most of the street rods were kind of about how big the billet wheels were, or how much it cost to have this or that machined, these weren’t about that game at all.
The first time I really stopped to look at a FED. I was amazed that the driver was resting his important parts on a part of the car that seemed somewhat fragile kind of like sitting on a grenade and then pulling the pin. Â
I’ve seen this one around a few times, as I remember it was pretty fast in Salina a couple of years later, then it got kept out of Hunnert a year or two after that for wheels that were too new or something along those lines (those wheels are not on it in this photo).
Don’t shoot into the sun!
I did that a lot that day
Dad in his somewhat goofy hat on the right.
I shot a lot more engines and interiors that day than I do now, maybe I should take the time to do more of those shots, some of you might appreciate that.
Hey I know that car! Krobe’s other ride! See an article about his 30 Model A Coupe tomorrow here on this blog, use the subscribe feature on the right to make sure you don’t miss it.
This ride would drastically change over the next few years. Built by Bright Built Hot Rods in Salina, KS. After an unfortunate accident with a Subaru, it would become much different.
Hmmmm this one looks familiar too… right Eric?
My first photo of The Tiki Taxi, now Steve has become a good friend.
I wonder now how different my life would have been for those next few years if I’d actually met a few of my hoodlum friends that day instead of seeing their cars and meeting them 6 years later.
Any way that it happened, I’m glad to be able to look back and see my friends were there all along, we just hadn’t crossed paths yet. Get out to a show this year, take a kid and get them involved, meet the people, scope the cars, enjoy it all.
So as I sit here typing we’re a couple of hours away from the 3rd Annual Mid Decembrrrr Run. Folks from hundreds of miles away are now on their way to Salina, KS to meet up and go on a long drive in our classic cars. It’s been a really good time so far, hopefully this year is too!
This will be it as far as 2012 goes for me and my cameras. It’s been a fantastic year, went new places, met new people and had a great time throughout it all. For 2012 there are 33 galleries with 7,987 photos so far, whew, my shutter finger is tired! To see them all go here:Â http://royboyproductions.smugmug.com/Cars/2012
Some of my favorites are
Fuel Altered “Black Mariah” doing a smoky burnout at the 2012 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular, see more from that weekend here.
About a year ago I joined Instagram, it’s been a fun way to give new life to some old photos and spread the word about what it is that I do here. http://instagram.com/royboyprods is where you can find those photos if you are not already on Instagram.
Have a great weekend, I’m off with a bunch of my rod/kustom friends for a road trip. Merry Christmas and I’ll see you at a show,
The first stop for my Saturday Sept. 22nd was at the Last Run in Arkansas City, KS. I’ve heard about this show for over a decade, it was time to finally check it out. Enjoy the slideshow and click any photo to go to the full gallery.
For the last few years each Labor Day weekend have been a double header in Kansas City. The Goodguys Midwest Nationals take over the Kansas Speedway and the Los Punk Rods Greaserama invades the Boulevard Drive In for a weekend of good times, cool cars & great people.
Here’s the coverage from 2011’s Greaserama,
And here’s the coverage of the 2011 Goodguys Midwestern Nationals,
Look for new galleries on Monday from the 2012 shows!
 
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