Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 1
Already collecting bugs, only 2 hours into the trip. Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 1”
Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 1
My 1951 Ford Custom: Resurrection Part 1
My 1951 Ford Custom: Resurrection Part 1
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”
See you at a show,
Travis
Event Coverage: 2013 Marysville AutoFest Part 4
AutoFest Part 4
That’s it for the Marysville AutoFest for 2013, I hope you enjoyed the photos. I’m heading to Springfield, MO this weekend for the Queen City Riot.
I’ll see you at a show,
Travis
Event Coverage: 2013 Marysville AutoFest Part 3
AutoFest Part 3
Maybe next year I can get everyone to shut their hoods during the awards so that I can get better photos…
A whole mess o Mustangs and various other Fords
Bill’s Sledsel… looks for a feature on this ride to be shot soon and we’ll see if it appears here or in a magazine.
Bill’s other ride
See you at a show,
Travis
Event Coverage: 2013 Marysville AutoFest Part 2
AutoFest Part 2
I’m kinda digging the stock lines here.
See you at a show,
Travis
Event Coverage: 2013 Marysville AutoFest Part 1
AutoFest!
Although I’ve been to the AutoFest twice before (2011 and 2012) this was the first time I’d taken my car. Some of my friends were competing in the BBQ contest so we all rolled into town on Friday. I did not take part in the poker run but I saw quite a few cars that did. All of the photos are in the gallery here if you want to see them all.
The cars started showing up early! This was about 7am.
Open to all makes and models this show draws in a nice variety of cars.
My Galaxie
Visually a car show is much better when the hoods and trunks are all shut but since this show does have a couple of teams of judges that come through I understand how some people would rather leave their cars open for the judges.
Biggun
That’s it for part 1
See you at a show,
Travis
Flames: The Good, The Bad and the What Where You Thinking? Part 1 2006-2009
Flame Jobs From 2006-2009
These are some the flames I’ve captured at car shows, this first post is 2006-2009, starting with the very first show of the Royboy Galleries all the way to the end of 2009.
Pinstripe flames
Body colored flames faded into off-color tips
full yellow flames
Another variation on the pinstriped flames
The color of these kinda set them in the 90’s to me, what do you think?
Crazy airbrush flames
Red House painted surf board
Long long flames (always gave me the idea that the vehicle was in motion)
There is a great story behind these flames, but Don tells it best so if you see him at a show, ask him.
Fadeaway yellow to red with body color flames on top.
Basic flames on a shoebox, I like the style where the tips cros each other.
White fade into yellow flamed Cadillac
Flames as an accent
Multi-color seaweed flames
Airbrushed “real-fire” style flames
I’ve dug this flamejob since I first saw it.
Another white fadeaway flame job
After an accident on the streets this one time “rat” was redone to this finished state.
Got wood?
All over flames
Embossed flames on the bottom side of the bed cover match the painted flames on the body
More RedHouse Custom Paint work
Fade-in flames
Classic white into yellow into orange with 2nd layer of body color flames
“Real-Fire” style airbrushed flames coming out of the engine compartment
Long narrow licks on this surfboard
Iconic, long narrow flames with white-yellow-orange fade.
The Yellow to Orange fade flames with the white outlines look great on this Ford pickup
More of the airbrush “real-fire” style
Looks racey doesn’t it?
Historic flames.
Short seaweed style
Body color flames with highlights and outline
Long narrow flames with a seaweed style repetition.
Hot Rod Dan’s flamed Ford
Jetter Flames
Outline Flames
Comment below and tell me your favorite style.
That’s it for part 1, next time we’ll do 2010-2011!
See you at a show,
Royboy
Don’t forget the Royboy Merch!!!! I have keychains, coozies, stickers & hats for sale. Every piece you buy gets me further down the road to bring more show coverage and podcasts to you. See you at a show, Royboy
PS: All Royboy photos on this site are available as prints up to poster sizes. Buying them not only makes your walls cooler it puts gas in the tank to get me to another car show or feature shoot. Please consider buying a print, if you can’t do that, I understand. IF you like this post, share it with your car friends using the social media sharing buttons below or just by sending them the link to this page. Every set of eyeballs on the site helps! Or just hit the Store page and buy something or make a donation!
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Mercury Kustoms
One of the most iconic kustom platforms has been the 49-51 Mercury since long before I was born. The car just lends itself to a chopped top, a low stance and some skirts. While these are not required for a kool Merc they are seen on more Mercs today than not.
New T-Shirt Design! 1947 Ford Kustom
New T-Shirt Design! 1947 Ford Kustom
More info on the Marysville AutoFest!
Marysville AutoFest June 1st
So last Friday I wrote up a little blog post about the upcoming Marysville, KS AutoFest on June 1. Yesterday I got a call from a friend of mine who is one of the people responsible for putting the show on and he had a ton of info for me about the show. Since it was new to me and I’d been to the show a couple of times I figured I better pass the info along to you.
2013 marks the 23rd year of the AutoFest, last year the show had 297 entrants and they’ve seen a 20 car growth each of the last few years so this year they are expecting to break that 300 car mark. The show is held on the brick street of the business district of Marysville and is held in conjunction with a KCBS sanctioned BBQ contest, that some friends and I will be competing in. AutoFest is open to all makes and models, including bikes, trucks and even tractors, just bring something cool to share with everyone else.
The promoters idea is a K.I.S.S. principle in running a show, they keep it as simple as possible. There are no official classes and your ride is not in any real competition with anyone elses. Each car is judged on it’s own merit and they award bronze, silver & gold awards, almost every car leaves with some sort of an award. They have a ton of specialty awards so that they can spread them around.
There are tons of vendors, including parts, food and even bouncy castles for the kids. Speaking of the kids, the show offers pool passes for the kids if they want to head over to the Marysville pool. The downtown area of Marysville offers lots of shopping opportunities if the ladies want to get away from the cars for a bit.
The show is set up to be as laid back and relaxing as it can be. Just my type of show where it’s as much about the social aspect of kool cars as it is the cars themselves.
See you at a show, (it should be this one!)
Travis
Catch Up Time!
There are a lot of new people following Royboy Productions lately. Thank you for that, seriously from the bottom of my heart thank you for allowing my adventures and photos to be a small part of your car world. For those of you that are new or may have just forgotten, here are some of the kooler things that Royboy has going on.
I had much higher hopes for the output of my video series named Royboy Features (I honestly need a better name for that one). I need to be putting these out about once a month, however I’ve found that a difficult addition to my already busy schedule. Anyways, here are the first two features.
Jack’s 1929 Roadster Survivor Hot Rod from the 50’s
And Jeff Myers’ awesome 63 Galaxie 500 Kustom (sorry about the audio). This ride is for sale and I’m sure you can get it a steal compared to what it would cost to build.
As always I’m selling a couple of posters to help fund my travels and all of the expensive equipment it takes to do the car show coverage.
Poster #1 is of Jack’s Roadster
Poster #2 is of a line of kustoms and hot rods at the Stray Kat 500.
And of course you can visit the store page at Royboy Productions for hats, shirts, etc.
Make sure to subscribe to this blog to keep up on all of my travels and see tons of free car show coverage from across the midwest.
See you at a show,
Travis
Some recent instagram goodness
Event Coverage: 2013 MotorMania Part 2
Part 2!!!
Wow, talk about ruining all of the lines of the car by having everything open… I should have looked to see if the damn gas door was open too.
That’s it for what I saw at the Motor Mania show.
See you at a show, keep our friends in Oklahoma in your thoughts, prayers, mojo, good vibes, postive energy, whatever it is that you believe in. Those folks need any good stuff they can get.
Travis
Event Coverage: 2013 MotorMania
For the 2nd time I made the long drive (okay it was only 30 miles) over to Abilene, KS for their MotorMania show. Most of the cars had their hoods and a few trunks open, which means I don’t really want to shoot photos of them. Here are a few shots of what I saw.
More tomorrow, see you at a show,
Travis
A blast from the past.
Two years ago a bunch of my hooligan hot rod and kustom family got together for a great run through the Flint Hills of south eastern Kansas. I recently went through some of the photos and updated them with a new edit this week. Here’s the blog about that day.
And here are the photos:
Original
New Edit
It was more fun than I can accurately convey, I highly recommend that you get together with your friends and go out and enjoy your ride!
Don’t forget that it costs a lot for the gas and hotels to bring you all of the car show coverage, if you want to help out, consider buying a print on http://royboyproductions.smugmug.com/ or maybe one of the embroidered hats, shoebox shirt, model A shirt, Poster #1, Poster #2 or something from the Zazzle store below.
See you at a show,
Travis
Drive it! Cars are meant to be driven.
I love when I see an awesome car at a show and pass it on the way home, driving and not on a trailer. I understand that not all cars would be good drivers but would make kool show vehicles, for most, you should drive them if at all possible!!!
I know I share a lot of photos of The Toad, but its a fantastic car. Aaaaand Doug drives the Toad all the time.
I’ve seen the Weavers all over the region in this ride, never once saw it on a trailer.
Mickey’s Merc loves the open road.
The stuff legends are made of. Hammann’s 58 has been unchanged since ’76 and has been driven everywhere.
I think Jeb said he’s at about 230,000 miles on Nadine.
Alex Gambino drives the craaaap out of this car, just like all of the Beatniks that I’ve met.
Johnny Torres is a member of the Beatniks as wekk,
Driven from CA to Austin for the LSRU
Nick is no stranger to the backside of the windshield in this ride.
Ryno has put a ton of miles on the Unibody.
Driven from Amarillo, TX to Bartlesville, OK in the rain no less
Kevin’s 64 rolls wherever he wants to go.
The point of this is to say, look some of these are DAMN nice rides that most would think lead a pampered life, but their owners built them to drive. Get out there and drive your cars, get on the open road, enjoy the 2 lane blacktops the way that they were meant to be enjoyed. Inspire someone else to build something kool and come join ya!
See you at a show,
Travis
Upcoming Event: Queen City Riot
Coming up June 8th in Springfield, MO it’s the Queen City Riot!
Follow on facebook for show info
See you at the show,
Travis
Guest Blog: Dan’s Hot Rod Photo goes to Vintage Torque Fest
Guest Blog! Dan’s Hot Rod Photo goes to Detroit!
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. Since I can’t be everywhere at once, Dan was nice enough to share some of his images from the 2013 Vintage Torque Fest 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!
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The modern “car show” has, in many ways, become stale. The large, corporate run shows lack any real feel. Power parking, lawn chairs and crybaby dolls have become the norm.
The independent, regional hot rod shows that have sprung up in the last decade or so turn that trend on its ear and Vintage Torque Fest is at the front of the pack. Show creator and master promoter John Wells has managed to take what started as a vehicle to raise money for the charity organization that he and his wife Kim created (www.HelpingHannahsHeart.org) and turn it into a full blown festival of all things hot rod related.
There is more action packed into this two day event than one could ever expect to find at a large, corporate event. Aside from hundreds of traditional hot rods and customs we find a near constant stream of live music from rockabilly, surf and garage bands. There is, of course, the obligatory pinup contest, though this one is much classier than many I have seen. Speed freaks can get their groove on watching vintage jalopies race around the dirt oval and hot rodders even have the opportunity to take their pride and joy out for a few hot laps. Unfortunately, heavy rains kept track action at bay this year save for a few folks who stuck around the day after the show to get some seat time. This didn’t stop some guys however, as impromptu mini bike races sprung up on a far end of the fairgrounds, followed in short order by the big boys racing vintage flat track motorcycles around the makeshift circuit. As I said, nonstop action!
The excitement reaches a fever pitch with the charity art auction. Culture artists from around the world contribute themed pieces each year to be sold off to the highest bidder. The work is stunning and is worthy of display in any gallery. Besides the art in the auction, there are the numerous artists and vendors selling all types of hot rod and lifestyle merchandise.
If this sounds like it is right up your alley then I encourage you to first check out www.HelpingHannahsHeart.org and see what this organization is all about. Then, look up www.VintageTorqueFest.com and see what you are missing and, finally, make plans to be in Dubuque, Iowa this time next year and catch the nonstop action that is Vintage Torque Fest.
Event Coverage: 2013 Stray Kat 500 Part 6
Stray Kat 500 Coverage
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
Jerry and Cynthia’s 1936 Ford (I just shot a feature on it for a magazine, this is one incredible ride!)
Good to finally meet ya Dick!
StrayKatKustoms’ Merc
Harry & Louise are road warriors
This was a new-to-me kustom
StrayKatKustoms’ new daily driver, his own old 60 Chevy
Dan Greenburg shooting Shawn Mundy’s wild pickup
Doc Parson’s T (I have another version of this that I’m working on)
Dr. Dave out for a cruise 
JD grabbing a snapshot.
Jennifer James of 232 Studios capturing the Toad
That darned Duke got nabbed
Krobe being Krobe
Hiya Dan Greenburg!
Fast AL’s Upholstery’s award
Awards!
Uh what?
Congrats Kevin!
A pair of kats.
My Galaxie (she needs to come down 2 more inches I’m thinking)
Headed home
Great clouds, with this strange fireball in the sky behind them.
The Sun finally came out 50 miles from home
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
Thanks for following along in my adventures, see you at a show,
Travis
Event Coverage: Stray Kat 500 Part 5
Stray Kat 500 Coverage
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
Laid out bug
This has been for sale for a long time, the price is right at $12,500, wish I had it.
See ya Neal, thanks for hanging out with us!
One hot shoebox. Wocka wocka
Glad to see ya, hopefully next time I can see the hubby as well.
The other Monkey-mobile
The man of honor doing his thang
A bunch of stripers decided to spruce up TwoTall’s door.
Nice Merc
Aaron of Fast AL’s Upholstery and W.L. Martin (local long time kustomizer)
Fresh art
Exactly
Mickey’s other ride, soon to be the daily driver.
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
That’s it for Saturday’s photos. Sunday photos tomorrow!
See you at a show,
Travis
Event Coverage: 2013 Stray Kat 500 Part 4
Stray Kat 500 Coverage
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
Love this Merc.
Dr. Dave’s Merc and Bret’s pickup
A barn find, I sure hope he leaves it exactly like it is.
Jeb and Clint brought these two out to play. I believe that Jeb said his “Nadine” (seen on the left) has about 240,000 miles on her.
StrayKatKustoms (Mickey) and 49Toad (Doug Reed) having a talk while walking down the middle of the street.
Pinup Contest Time! Jennifer James of 232 Studios did a great job getting 12 lovely ladies lined up for the Miss Kitty Title. Click on the images to see them all in my galleries, I’ll only show a couple here due to the 20 image limit per post.
Then it was off to the warmth of the VFW so we could honor Ron Myers with the Inspiration Award. Thanks Ron for your decades (and I mean a crapload of them) of time and effort into striping everything that you can get lines on.
Mickey and Mr. C saying some words about our favorite curmudgeon.
He’s trying to look like he doesn’t want out of the spotlight.
A whole bunch of kool kats shipped this panel back and forth across the country to get a chance to pull some lines in honor of Ron. This piece is kool!
Enough mushy stuff back to the steel!
I just shot this for an article in a magazine, Jerry’s 36 is too kool.
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
Event Coverage: 2013 Stray Kat 500 Part 3
Stray Kat 500 Coverage
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
Saturday Morning!
Neal stopping to say hi to Duke on the way in.
Dick’s Chevy looking good (another version of this one will be up tonight)
The Toad looking right at home in the moisture.
Nice looking shoebox rolling down the street.
Krobe’s Chevy (another photo with an updated version on the way)
Daddyo54 and Sam drove the 58 (formerly McPhail’s) up from Denison, TX.
Doc Parsons and his lovely lady pulling into the show.
Sweet Nadine
This is the raw photo:
This is the edited version:
Raw:
Edit:
Jeff Myers’ 63 Galaxie Boxtop Kustom
Hot Rod Dan and LP
Harry & Louise rolled in her killer Chevy Kustom
This one was new to me, and took home an award on Sunday
Just right
Ryno’s Unibody Ford
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
That’s it for this post, see you at a show,
Travis
Event Coverage: 2013 Stray Kat 500 Part 2
Stray Kat 500 Coverage
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
Later on Friday we went to TwoTall Okie’s shop and Rod’s shop in Dewey for the feed. Thanks to all involved for a chance to hang out and for the free food!
Ron Myers hanging with Mike and Jerry at TwoTalls
Doc’s T, Jerry’s 36 and Krobe’s Coupe hanging out in front of the shop.
Dick’s Chevy looked great!
Mike’s Chevy Truck
Kevin’s 64 Galaxie
Here’s an example of some of the editing that I sometimes do. Let me know if you’d like one of these photographs with something extra done to it. Here’s the original
And here’s the edited version
Bill’s 63 Galaxie Convertible
Krobe’s Coupe and Aaron of Fast A.L.’s Upholstery’s Ford.
Dustin’s Merc
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
Next up Saturday in the rain!
See you at a show,
Travis
Event Coverage: 2013 Stray Kat 500 Part 1
Stray Kat 500 Coverage
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
While the weather wasn’t wonderful, it takes more than that to ruin the Stray Kat 500. The trip started off for my dad and I on Thursday afternoon. My Galaxie was still at Chaotic Customs after getting a long standing vibration issue fixed so the first leg of the trip was riding shotgun in my Dad’s 57 Chevy Wagon on the way to CC in Mulvane, KS.
After the stop at Chaotic we rolled down to Premier Body & Paint in Arkansas City, KS to see what Jeff Myers was up to, then it was off to Dewey, OK the home of the Stray Kat 500! After paralleling the rain for a couple of hours we were headed right into it. Sorry about the blurry shot.
The next morning at the hotel I noticed my Galaxie had a familiar friend hanging out next to her. Doc Parson’s incredible T.
Friday morning we went to the host hotel of the SK500, no I wasn’t staying there due to them messing up my reservations but that’s a whole different story. Here’s my Galaxie with Bill Moore’s convertible and much lower 63… I have some work to do on mine now I guess 🙂
This kustom Lincoln was one of my favorites from the show. Driven from Amarillo to Dewey a trip of over 400 miles with a good portion in the rain, this car was one of many that hit the 500 for the firs time.
I can’t hit a show without running into a member of the Spiwak family, and that’s a good thing.
The Stears are also at nearly every event that I attend, and most of them in this road warrior Ford.
I love this 40.
And my family friend Robert’s brand new to his family 40.
The flames and louvered hood just work on this Ford.
Mickey (straykatkustoms) Merc is always a sight for sore eyes. Love this car.
From the engine to the stance and the insert with matching tonneau, this truck was puuuuuurfect (as Stray Kat Kustoms would say).
The Mundy family brought a couple of killer rides to the show, this one a freshly finished 58 Pontiac wagon.
Can’t have a Stray Kat event without Mongo.
There were lots of kool pickups at the event.
Some old friends showed up while I was out back scoping the parking lot.
Kool oozes from the parking lots of all of the Bartlesville area hotels on Stray Kat 500 weekend.
Dustin had his decklid off to add more louvers (he’s a louver addict), so Mongo thought it would turn Dustin’s Merc into a handy couch. Perfect!
Remember what I said about the parking lots? I rest my case.
That’s it for this first post, next up a couple of shot from the Friday evening hang out/free feed at TwoTall Okie’s shop. Click on any of these photos to see the entire gallery. If you’d like one as a print, just use the “Buy” button there and I will go through the photo and touch it up to look it’s best before it’s printed and shipped to you.
Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Full Gallery
See you at a show,
Travis
Limited Edition Poster #2 is now shipping!
As promised the pre-ordered Limited Edition Poster #2 copies went out today! There will be a handfull more delivered at the Stray Kat 500 in Dewey, OK this weekend as well. The rest… well they can be yours!
Only 50 copies of this 11×17 poster will ever be produced, they are hand numbered and autographed (like that last part means anything 😉 ). There are still a handful of Poster #1 available but they may be gone by the end of the weekend so order before Friday for your best shot at getting one.
See you at a show,
Travis