Last Monday on “Friction In The Static” Podcast episode #201 I was interviewed by Tiny. I had a blast, you should go to Set To Stun Productions or search for “Friction In The Static” on itunes, stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again Tiny!
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
Monday on “Friction In The Static” Podcast episode #201 I was interviewed by Tiny. I had a blast, you should go to Set To Stun Productions or search for “Friction In The Static” on itunes, stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again Tiny!
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
The West end of the building typically doesn’t have much that interests me. Yes I love most any kinda car but come on, a row of nearly identical muscle cars all with the same restoration, all with their hoods up… yeah I’ll walk on by that. The farther East that you go the more interest I have in the cars in this show typically.
Monday on “Friction In The Static” Podcast episode #201 I was interviewed by Tiny. I had a blast, you should go to Set To Stun Productions or search for “Friction In The Static” on itunes, stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again Tiny!
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
After working 7-10am at the day job, driving 3 hours to Kansas City, shooting the KC World of Wheels and then driving 4 hours to the south side of Tulsa, I was beat. I settled in at my buddy’s house and watched some racing and got to see the awesome advertising that was Chevrolet’s pace car catching fire in front of the whole world. Good job Chevy.
The next morning I went over to the Fairgrounds in Tulsa and hit the 50th Annual Darryl Starbird Rod & Custom Car Show. To my eye the show looked to have a ton more cars than I’ve ever seen in the building before. Especially obvious was the lack of the silly Monster Trucks and the addition of a whole bunch more floor space that was occupied by mostly occupied by the majority of the cars from Darryl’s museum, some previous Fine 9 contestants and the KKOA Village.
Hot Rod and Kustom fans, bear with me. This post won’t have much in it for you. It seems like most of the cars in the show have broken down and the owners were out getting new parts so they just left the hoods up in this most unattractive fashion while they were gone.
My friend Robert’s beautiful 59 Chevrolet. Fresh back from a stay at Hot Rod Garage where the car received a few updates to get her ready for a road trip to the west coast. I wish I could follow along in the Galaxie
In stock or restored forms this body style does very little for me. Like this, I can see it’s appeal, except for having it’s hood and trunk open showing all of it’s naughty bits like a cheap stripper…
You see all those lights in a row on the ceiling? That’s the size of this building and it was 90% used for the car show. That’s a lotta lugnuts.
More good looking cars ruined by having the hoods open. Yeah yeah yeah, judging, trophies, blah blah blah. Want a trophy? Go buy one, it’s way cheaper than building a car.
I’ve never seen a buggy like this. I don’t know why, I live the old Manx bodies but having a bit of the original sheetmetal on looks pretty okay too. Now where’s the map to the Little Sahara?
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
Monday on “Friction In The Static” Podcast episode #201 I was interviewed by Tiny. I had a blast, you should go to Set To Stun Productions or search for “Friction In The Static” on itunes, stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again Tiny!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, aRoyboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
Continuing coverage from the 2014 KC World of Wheels. No offense to anyone’s cars but the show this year just wasn’t up to the level that the last few years. Not having the Los Punk Rods club do the pre-1961 section is a huge problem. That part of the show was for the most part lackluster. I’m sorry folks there just needed to be more kool rides. What is shown here is the best of what I saw except for a couple images that didn’t come out.
I’m normally not much of a muscle car guy but I’m liking the craftsmanship on this one.
Pete & Jake’s display always has good stuff.
Your truck is coming along man, keep up the good work.
Today on “Friction In The Static” Podcast episode #201 I am interviewed by Tiny. I had a blast, you should go to Set To Stun Productions or search for “Friction In The Static” on itunes, stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks again Tiny!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, aRoyboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
As I type this it’s 4AM on Sunday. I woke up just now and realized I’d passed out last night as the photos were uploading to the site but I’d not yet wrote this post. Luckily for you, my subconscious woke me up :).
I’ve been attending this particular indoor show in KC for a few years now. Some years I feel it’s pretty awesome, sometimes I wonder if it was worth the drive, this year leans more towards the latter. I’m sure that can mostly be attributed to the fact that there are just too many major indoor shows on the same weekend only a few hours apart. However as a good sign, this was the most spectators I’ve ever seen at this show, they were everywhere, and I’m sure you’ll notice that in the photos. Since I was in a hurry to get the show covered and get on down the highway to OK where I currently am, I didn’t have time to wait for the best photo opps for each car. Some just have bystanders in the shots, that’s the unfortunate byproduct of bad timing and a great spectator turnout.
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, aRoyboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
Thank you to the first 2 sponsors of my site, quite frankly the only 2 that I’ve asked to sponsor the site so far. If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
I’ve noticed over the last few years that at the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular the general crowd tends to be older than I am. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, there’s a mountain of know-how in the legends of kustomizing that show up at the KKOA. However, if I look around at the Lonestar Roundup, Iron Invasion, Viva Las Vegas, or many other shows I see a younger crowd shows up. That’s awesome! We need new blood coming to all of these shows to keep them surviving year after year. So how do I encourage some of those folks to drive out to Salina for the KKOA like they drive to all of these other great shows?
Last year I had the idea that I wanted to give an award to someone under 40 that was showing a car at the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. I thought it would be a way to help promote the show to a younger audience. I called up a bunch of friends and they all donated prizes or big discounts on their services to a prize package that went along with the award. Great half ass idea. The award is only part of it, in order for it really to mean something I needed to promote the whole deal. It needs to be a bigger, crazier idea. It needs to be a reason for someone to drive a few hundred miles.
That’s where this year’s plan comes into being… So how do I encourage someone to attend the show when they may be on the fence about making the trip? Cash! No, not Johnny, cold hard cash. $500 to the winner should help encourage folks. In talking with some show promoter friends they encouraged me to do 2 prizes. 1 that I pick, and 1 that you, the fans, pick. $500 each, $1000 total giveaway. The 2 cash prizes will be given away at a party at the Paramount Bar in Salina, KS here is the party info.
Here’s the plan!
I will get 10 award sponsors to donate $100 each to the prize pot, I actually already have 5 lined up including my $100 with another 1 maybe at this time. In return for their donation what do they get? From now until the last weekend of July they get advertisement both on my blog and on my social media sites. Really a good deal for 100 bones. I’ll be promoting the awards here on the blog and on the H.A.M.B. and I’ll be talking about the event and the sponsors a lot in the coming months.
So who is eligible for this award?
Okay here’s the scoop. I want this award to help encourage new cars and car owners to come to the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. So the eligible vehicles have to be new to the KKOA Leadslead Spectacular, never shown at one before in it’s current condition. I want to encourage younger owners to attend so the owner must be under 35 years of age. The Leadsled Spectacular is not the Muscle Car Spectacular, it’s not the Street Rod Spectacular, it’s not the C10 Chevy pickup Spectacular. This show is supposed to be about kustoms and old school hot rods, notice I did not say rat rods. Nope, this award will only go to cars that have the basic look and feel that you’d find in the little pages type magazines of 1963 and older. So with the exception of something like a 65 Riviera which is widely considered to be a factory kustom the the car generally needs to be a 63 or older body style done in a style that approximates what it could have been done like in 1963 or before.
What’s that mean?
No weird crap for the sake of shock value ratty cars. No muscle cars. No street rods with digital dashes. No Billet Wheels. No Independent front suspension on fenderless cars. Get the idea?
How do you enter?
Basically to enter you need to send in some information, on this page. Those that meet my criteria will be entered in the contest. Registration for the contest starts March 1, 2014 and ends June 14th, 2014.
How do you win?
Like I said, there will be 2 prizes given out. The first one will be selected by the fans on royboyproductions.com All of the entered cars will be featured on one page and fans will be able to vote on that page of the site. Simply put, the most votes between June 15, 2014 and July 14, 2014 will win. More on this to come later. The second way to win is by MY choice. Royboy’s contest, Royboy’s choice on the winner. I’ll pick the car that I think deserves the cash prize and then I’ll look the car over at the show to pick a final winner.
Is this an official part of the KKOA?
Nope. I just like that they throw a pretty good show in my hometown and I want to support the show and get new blood involved in the show.
Does the car have to show up at the show to win?
Yes. You must show up and be a registered entrant of the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular in order to win. The internet voting will be recorded so that if the first place winner is a no show, the 2nd place winner can take home the prize.
Where’s all of the legal mumbo jumbo?
I hope that we can all act like adults and treat this as what it’s meant to be, a fun way to attract a younger crowd to join the legendary builders that attend the KKOA show in Salina. If you need a lawyer for this deal, you’ve missed the damn point of it all. That being said, the rules are subject to change as I see fit to try to keep it fair and fun for everyone involved.
If your business, car club or car show would like to be a sponsor, email me here for more info.
Sponsors:
Royboy Productions
Stray Kat Kustoms Car Shows- Stray Kat 500 May 2-5, 2014 in Dewey, OK & Starliner Sept. 6, 2014 in Wichita, KS
This will be the 4th trip down to Austin, TX for me for the Lonestar Roundup. 2011 was the first year I drove the daily driver down solo and met up with a bunch of friends at the show and had a great time. The next year I picked up my buddy Mongo for a sidekick and again we had a great time. Finally in 2013 I drove my Galaxie down to the Roundup, her first major road trip. It was a whole different experience being in the show rather than just spectating at the show.
The Lonestar Roundup (April 4-5, 2014) is a great weekend with the show and tons of un-official events all over Austin with garage krawls, parties, and live music scheduled to keep everyone entertained outside of the show. My first trip down I went to Congress Ave on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the increased number of people at the show makes that nearly impossible now. From locals with their Camaros and other rides that they go and power park on Congress leaving no room for the show goers, to the fact that many non-car folks have become hip to how cool South Congress Ave can be makes the Friday and Saturday nights into huge traffic jams. So my advice is that if you are going, stay away from Congress. There are an amazing amount of great food and entertainment options in Austin that are not on that street, there’s no reason to go be part of the problem.
The Roundup is open to 1963 and older traditionally styled kustoms and hot rods. For the most part that’s what’s there. Last year I was really bummed to see a bunch of off topic cars and crap-tastic rat rods that got in. I don’t know for sure but judging by the mile long line of cars to get into the show I’d be the authorities pressured the show to just get people off the streets and into the show and the filtering process broke down. Parked across from me on Saturday was a mid 80’s mini-truck with badly attached 51 Ford sheet metal around the cab. It did not belong in the show, and still chaps my hide to this day along with all of it’s “look at me, look at me, look at me” brethren. It’s far easier to build a car that gets attention because it’s cool than it is to spend all that time and effort to just get attention just by shock value. This was another one of those events where folks with the rattiest rides were acting like they were all badass at the show, yet this “badass” car was so un-drivable that it was trailered to the show and back and I passed them on the highway.
If you have a kool traditionally styled 1963 or older ride, this show could be a great one for you. If you have a purposely ratty piece of junk, there are plenty of other shows out there that cater to you, go to those.
Here are some slide shows from my visits to the Lonestar Roundup.
For info on registering your ride and to see what’s acceptable and what’s not go here.
I am in no way, shape or form associated with the show and the opinions that I express here are my own and nobody else’s. I’d love to see this show have judges at the gate like the Hunnert Car Pileup did to cull the herd a bit.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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February Subscriber Giveaway!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
If you want to this blog in your email inbox each time the blog goes live, go on up to the top right hand corner of the website and enter your email address. The last day of each month I randomly pick 1 subscriber to win a prize package. This month’s prize is a pinstriped piece from Pinstriping By Lizzie, a Royboy Knit Winter Hat & a shirt from Hot Rod Hill Climb!
2013 was the first time that I headed down to Denton, TX’s Northstar Dragway for the Texas Thaw. The combination vintage drag races and car show was 6 years old in 2013 and had one of it’s biggest turnouts to date. The 2014 Texas Thaw goes down on March 1, again at the NorthStar Dragway right along I-35 outside of Denton, TX. For all of the info on the show go to the official website here or here on facebook.
Apparently, I can’t read a map very well. You see, Dewey, OK is not really on the way from Joplin, MO to Salina, KS by any logical means, yet I seem to keep finding myself there on that particular journey. Dewey is Stray Kat Kustoms central, and I enjoy spending some time with my Stray Kat brethren there. One of them is Aaron Lawrence, the AL in Fast AL’s Upholstery. Aaron has been really skyrocketing lately as an upholsterer, and it’s been fun to watch a buddy really find his stride and just kick butt. Every time that I get myself down to Dewey I find one or two new rides in Aaron’s shop getting full on kustom interiors. He just finished the beautiful 58 Edsel Wagon that I showed you last week as part of the 2014 Starbird-Devlin show coverage and he already has 2 more under construction.
So I pulled out the iPhone and shot some quick images as we sat around and talked. Aaron is in the middle of an expansion on his shop so that he can move some of the operation to a separate room. The new space will add and office and an indoor space to hang out as well moving some of the dirtier work out of the same space that the cars are in. This should save some cleaning time on the cars and less moving cars in and out as they are being worked on. I’m looking forward to seeing the future for Fast AL’s, every car I see just keeps getting better and better.
Aaron has been fast at work forming the wood frame portions of the new seat.The trunk, top and door panels will all receive the Fast AL’s Upholstery treatment as well.From what I was able to gather it will receive a full interior as well. It’s easy to see why Aaron is expanding the size of the shop. The ability to have a room to do the dirtier work in and not get the cars covered in the debris of building an interior will help Aaron out tremendously.This Chevelle received a new top the day before I arrived.Putting the car up on stands gets it at a reasonable height for working on the interior.Aaron’s Layla has now been pulled into the shop to to start upgrading the interior before Lonestar Roundup. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
As I type this, it’s 10:45 on Thursday night, less than 12 hours until this post goes live. About 8 hours until I have to be at my day job… and I as started this post I honestly had no idea what I should write. Today, Thursday Jan. 23, 2014 is the largest traffic day that this blog has ever had. After a slow winter where I struggled to find you good fresh content, finally I got to get out to my first show of 2014 and I can see that you appreciate the fresh content. Over 700 views today with a previous record of 560 for the blog, what did I do to deserve that? Thanks folks, when I see that you dig what I’m doing enough to check it out that much, it’s all worth it.
The Future
Here we are at the end of January, before I know it I’ll be up to my eyeballs in car shows and I won’t remember how boring this winter was. February has 3 events that I’m planning on attending, should be putting about 1100 miles on the car. I am hoping to spend an afternoon with a family I know in Wichita that is full of gearheads with a killer collection of rides. The following weekend the plan is to head down and check out the Model A Club Swap Meet. I typically don’t buy much but there’s always that one thing that you see someone else got that you need and had the cash for. So I go… and I never seem to find it in time.
After that it’s a big windshield time weekend. First heading to Bartle Hall in KC to cover the World of Wheels Autorama for you. Later that afternoon I make the trip from KC to Tulsa to an old buddy’s spare room. Sunday early I’ll head to the Quiktrip Center and the Darryl Starbird Car Show. This is the 50th edition of the show and it promises to be a good one. Finally we have a weekend where I don’t have anything planned…yet. Either it will get filled with a couple of shop visits or shooting some features, either way the weekend will be used to create some fresh content for you folks to enjoy.
For the month of March I should be at about 1400 miles, it adds up quickly! Magazine articles can help offset the travel costs but those don’t pay until month and months later, if at all. Another way to offset that is for get paid by you folks to shoot your rides when I’m on the road. If you have a car that you’d like me to shoot, let me know here and we’ll figure out a time and place, I’m very affordable. 🙂
The first weekend of March I’ll be off for another double header weekend. First up will be the Texas Thaw drags and car show held at the Northstar Dragway in Denton, TX. That evening I’ll make my way up to Wichita to catch a hotel for the night. Sunday morning will be off to the Chill in Park City before returning home to edit photos and get them up on the site. Then there’s an open weekend that I hope to head to KC and catch up with some friends and shoot their shop and hopefully feature a couple of their cars.
After that it’s off to Texas again for the Goodguys Spring Lonestar Nationals at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. A 12 hour drive for a 5 or 6 hour stay at the show. Hopefully I find something that I can shoot a feature on for the site while I’m there. The two following weeks are open as of now but I will be looking for cars to shoot those weekends. That’s a basic rundown of what’s going on between now and when I leave for the Lonestar Roundup at the begin of April.
Why?
Why the hell do I do this? After putting in more than 50 hours a week at a day job why do I spend all of my extra money traveling all over the midwest to shoot car show coverage, edit it, pay to host it online and then just give it all away to you for free? I’m nuts. Well that’s what most think. I’m hoping that I can create enough kool content to keep you coming back every day, and maybe kool enough that you’ll share it with your friends and they’ll come check it out too. If we get enough viewers here then maybe the future sponsors can cover all of that gas money, all of the hotel money, all of the show entry fees, all of the website costs. That would be a dream come true. Well, that would be partly a dream come true.
The real dream, the one that haunts me at my day job, the one that keeps me from concentrating on much of anything else is doing this full time. Selling my house and everything that won’t fit in an RV which is big enough to pull my Galaxie in a trailer. Spending each week traveling from one show to the next, stopping at pro and private shops along the way, shooting shop visits, tech articles, and features as much as possible to keep you folks full up on the best content possible. Maybe I am nuts. Or maybe that’s how this thing goes to the next level.
It’s going to be a busy couple of months but when you folks pull me aside to tell me thanks for all of the effort, it’s worth it. When I see a Royboy hat or beanie or shirt from across a show, and I have no idea who it is that’s wearing it. It’s worth it. When someone attends a show for the first time or gets their car done so they can get to a certain show that I’ve featured and they tell me that it’s my coverage that made them do it. It’s worth it.
For those that saw me at the Starbird-Devlin show that I’ve been covering all week long and wanted to know where to get one of my Model A Hot Rod Stencil Shirts I put up a new page here for you to order them. There are a few sizes in stock now from my last order, for those that are not in stock put your order in now to get one. I can’t afford to have a bunch printed and just sit in my trunk for 8 months so if you want one, you’d better get one ordered.
Stay tuned next week for some news on the Royboy New Blood Award that I’ll be giving away at the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular this summer.
For those that don’t know you can catch all kinda good links from my Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ and a bunch of kool stuff on Tumblr and Instagram.
John recently got this bad ride back in his collection. I could tell how proud he was to have it back. I hope to do a feature on his collection soon.Here are John’s 2 entries in the show. I can’t decide which I’d rather drive, but my heart says take the yellow one. I know it has a big block 🙂Alongside John’s cars is Butch’s 56. This car has been all over the last few years and Butch has sure done his best to find all of her weak links.Mike’s Front Engine DragsterI need to catch up with the owner of this car. It’s damn cool!One of a few highly finished Camaros at the show.There have been a few new to me orange hot rods around lately. I wouldn’t have thought it was a great idea but it works! Another great looking ride that needs a feature on this site!Just pure beauty.A couple more photos of Floyd’s killer Edsel Wagon.Stray Kat Proud. Ron Myers pinstriping on Floyd’s Wagon’s surfboard.More Ron Myers pinstriping in the door jambs and some of Aaron’s work from Fast AL’s Upholstery.Hot Rod Garage’s build of this 57 Chevy took home the Magnificent 7 Award at the end of the weekend.Not much I can say about this gorgeous drop top. It’s pretty damn nice.Another shot of Troy Pate’s killer new rod.One of Norm Grabowski’s unique shift knobs in Troy’s display.Eugene Vik brought his kustom shoebox down from Minnesota to show off for us.Another shot of Eugene’s shoebox.Tammy Titus’ beautiful VetteTammy Titus’ beautiful VettePrimary Club members rides. The McGregors have a lot of kool in their garages.Jeb McGregor’s coupe 38DD. This rod is all about attitude, Jeb said he might be re-doing it soon as more of a 50’s style hot rod. so I’m paying attention to see what he’s up to.Matt Smith’s kool pickup will be in front of my lens again soon… 🙂Joe McGregor’s Caddy has been one that’s caught my eye for a few year years now. Most times when this car is on the road on the way to a show, it’s usually full of people. Fill it up with folks and fuel and go enjoy a car show weekend.This pickup started life as a sedan.One of the smoothest shoeboxes around.Chaotic Customs has a big crew and the girls decided that they needed their own kool ride to take to the shows. So this Thunderbird was built, kustom paint, flame throwers, and some kustom body mods make this Chaotic ride stand out.Some great panels in the Chaotic Customs display.
I was wearing one of my Model A Hot Rod Stencil T-Shirts this weekend and had a ton of people ask me where they could get one. Here you go! I have a few in stock now and I’m taking pre-orders for the next batch. The long and the short of it is that I can’t spend my cash buying these shirts to have them sit in stock, that cash has to go into the traveling account to get me on the road to a few more shows. If you want one, get one ordered! Every shirt you pre-order will allow me to get down the road farther on the way to the next show! Click here to go to the order page.
Goren’s 48 Merc. He took home a couple of awards on Sunday.Micheal’s Coupe was also an award winner.Micheal’s ride as with anything that he owns is all about the details. He was one of the founding members of the legendary Fundamentals club.Corey Conyers made it a point to bring me over to see this beauty that he’s been working on. I hope to be able to shoot it soon.Another shot of Corey’s latest creation.
There will be some duplicate cars here as I made multiple laps around the show with different lenses at different times.
Mike’s Front Engine Dragster, I’m looking forward to getting some shots of it running this year.Mike’s Camaro is an interesting mix of old and new.Sweet El Camino!A pair of highboys.Variations on the highboy theme.One of the Magnificent 7 Finalists5 window 34Interesting tail light treatment with the 54 Chevy tail lights canted at an angle.Don’s Big Beautiful Buick. I hope to be be able to shoot it for a feature soon.
My friend and mentor Doug Reed’s 49 Oldsmobile The Toad.Hub and Gloria Harness’ beautiful 1960 Olds Invicta named “Cinnamon” One of my favorite kustoms.Hub and Gloria Harness’ beautiful 1960 Olds Invicta named “Cinnamon” One of my favorite kustoms.Hub and Gloria Harness’ beautiful 1960 Olds Invicta named “Cinnamon” One of my favorite kustoms.Rocky Burris’ Wild Winged Kustom TruckJack’s 51 Ford KustomThe Cook’s kool mild kustom Chevy.Johnny Hammann’s 58 Chevy has been pretty much unchanged since January 1976.Larry James’ awesome Caddy. I have shot this for a feature, hopefully soon we can get together and get the story written so I can share it with all of you.
There are only 6 Trucks Edition 2014 Calendar for Charity left! Get one now before they’re gone!
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 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!
Often when you find a great looking ride on the streets or at a car show, you find that the owner is typically a bit older and has had decades worth of rides to practice on before getting to this great one. It’s rare to find a young owner with a great car, and to find one that’s 22 and built it himself almost never happens. So when I first saw Austin Grabowski roll into the Starliner car show at Wichita’s Kansas Aviation Museum, I admit it, I assumed it was a car that had been passed down to him. That first impression was dead wrong.
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.
