Hot Rods and Kustom Cars
See you at a show,
Heading to Wichita tomorrow Saturday July 13th for the 2013 Automobilia Moonlight Car Show here’s a slideshow from the last trip I made to the show.
LARRY GROBE, aka: “VooDoo Larry” – VooDoo Larry operates out of Schaumburg, Illinois, and has turned out some of the most original, innovative, unexpected and leading edge Kustoms you’ll ever see.
Larry is the personification of passion – passion for his work and the Kustom Kulture. He is the president and founder of the VooDoo Kings Car Club, a club that over the past 10 years has grown to membership that now extends to 6 different states. Although easily the King of Kool, Larry Grobe is one of the nicest, most down to earth guys you’ll ever meet.
“Speedy” BILL SMITH – The best way to explain Bill Smith is simply imagine “The Godfather of Hotrodding.” To many & most of his fans & customers it’s “Speedy” Bill, owner and still operator of America’ oldest and largest speed shop, Speedway Motors, located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Founded in 1952, Speedway Motors is a hotrodder’s friend, no matter what year hotrod or kustom you’re building. You want a a-dapt-tor kit, to hook a ’49 Caddie motor to a ’59, as Johnny Cash wailed, “Speedy” Bill probably has one sittin’ on the shelf in the massive warehouse of Speedway Motors. What a career Bill and Joyce Smith has built, and their shinning star on the hill is their Museum of American Speed that opened in 1992. Unbelievable is the best way to describe it. “Speedy” Bill Smith. It would be a honer to have him in the KKOA Hall of Fame.
The following are a couple of photos from a tour of the incredible Smith Collection in the museum at Speedway Motors.
I highly highly highly recommend a tour of the Smith Collection if you ever get the chance. It’s worth whatever drive it takes you to get there.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Earlier this week I showed you an overview of what I’ve been up to so far for 2013. This will be a look at what’s planned for the rest of the year.
Click on any of the photos to go to a gallery of that show and see if you’d like to attend this year!
July 13th- Next up for my schedule is the Automobilia Moonlight Car Show in Wichita, KS
July 19-20- I’m not able to attend but I wanted to hit Krome N Kandy in Minneapolis, MN
July 25-28 – Then it’s the local show, the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular in Salina, KS (1600+ cars, Run What Ya Brung Drags and tons more)
Aug. 3rd- A week after that there is usually a small show in Lindsborg, KS just down the road from me as well.
Aug. 17th- Then there’s an open week before heading to the H.A.M.B. Drags in Asbury, MO (outside of Joplin)
Then it’s back to Wichita for the Blacktop Nationals Aug. 23-25
Then it’s off to Kansas City for the Greaserama, in it’s new location in Tracy, MO Aug. 31-Sept. 1
Then it’s back to Wichita for one of my favorite shows of the year, the Starliner Sept. 6-7
Sept. 14th I’ll be in Georgetown, CO for the Hot Rod Hill Climb
Sept. 21st- the long running Ol Marais River Run in Ottawa, KS
Sept. 28th- There are 4 shows that I’d like to attend but I will be at the Rumble in Wichita (formerly Rumble in Delano)
Oct. 5th- This is my birthday weekend, there may be a big party or it may stay low key, no word yet.
Oct. 12- My 2nd trip to Woodstock, IL for Iron Invasion
More info on these later!
Oct. 18-19- BluesMasters At The Crossroads
Oct. 20th ZZ Top in Salina, KS
Nov. 2nd – Stray Kat Feed
Nov. 9th – Pistons N Paint in Denton, TX
Nov. 16th- Hobo Happening in Douglass, KS
Dec. 14th- The Mid Decembrrrr Run
Hope you go along for the ride!
See you at a show,
Royboy
Wow. July. Already?!?
I can’t believe the year is half over already, it seems like just a few weeks ago I was picking my car up from Jeff Myers’ Premier Body & Paint in Arkansas City, KS and headed home with my new old school paint.
The show was just too much fun.
February is always a bit busier than January around here. Kansas City hosts the World of Wheels Autorama, Darryl Starbird does his show in Tulsa, and The Chill goes down in Park City, KS.
Going to KC always means seeing my buddies of Los Punk Rods. They are always working on something interesting. KC WOW Show Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Then it’s off to Tulsa for the Starbird show. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
June started off with a trip to Marysville, KS for AutoFest
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Then the Galaxie and I headed off to Springfield, MO for the Queen City Riot
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Father’s Day weekend is always the time to take Dad to the Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure’s Father’s Day Show Part 1, Part 2
Big Brothers Big Sisters held a small 100 car show at the JC Penny’s parking lot in Salina, KS
Winfield Garage Car Show was a lot of fun, hanging out with some great friends at a nice event, we need to make this a 200 car show next year! Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
See you at a show,
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.
Each year I try to make this show, but last year was the first one where I was happy with my photos from it. The show attracts all manner of rides from the region and a huge amount of people. Getting there early for photos was the only way to go.
That’s it for the 2013 Winfield Garage Car Show from my point of view. You need to attend next year, its’ a great little show with a whole bunch of great people at it, only $15 to enter your car and I had a fantastic time.
See you at a show,
Travis
Here’s an example of a normal shot from a car show.
For the 2nd time I was able to attend the Winfield Garage Car Show in Winfield, KS, this being the first time with my car.
The morning started early rolling out of my home town before 7am.
I didn’t have time to snap any photos of the crew that I rolled into the show with, but there were some beauties in our row of hot rods & kustoms as we headed towards the show.
On Thursday this week I announced that I’ll be giving an award away at the 2013 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular. Included in that announcement was the initial list of sponsors that are kind enough to add to the prize pack that will accompany the award. Continue reading “Royboy’s Weekend Update!”
As far as I know this was a first time event. Over 100 rides showed up to this free car show held in the South parking lot of Salina’s Central Mall next to JC Pennys. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina put the show on and with the exception of needing a bit more room for the photos to look good, but that’s me being picky :).
In the week since the last post about my 51 I’ve driven the 63 Galaxie 13 hours round trip to Springfield, MO for the Queen City Riot and I’ve done a small amount of work on the 51. To see more about the Queen City Riot show coverage see the gallery here or the blog posts Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
All that I got done on the 51 this week was installing a new fuel pump and verifying that it was in fact working. Installing the pump shouldn’t have taken nearly as long as I took, but it’s on now. Just a hint, if the engine is still in the car, it’s easier to take off the pump and the housing that it’s attached to than to remove the pump from that housing, unless you have a special 1/2″ shorty wrench or super thin walled sockets. So after some cursing, some head scratching and using an old Cragar S/S wheel with tire as a platform to stand on, I got the pumps swapped out.
Next step was to get the pump plumbed. Dammit. On both the inlet and outlet the new pump had larger connectors than the existing lines that the car had. A trip to Salina (20 miles each way) and 3 different stores (the 2 auto parts stores didn’t have them) and I came up with a set of new hose barbs and some new hoses. I replaced the existing rubber lines with the new hoses, primed the carb, hooked up the battery and turned the key.
She sputtered for a second or two, ran out of the gas in the carb and died. The fuel bowl was still empty on the fued pump too. So I cranked it a few times to see if the pump was able to draw any fuel up from the tank. Bone dry. After a few more attempts the battery was dieing and I was tired anyways so I called it a night. The plan for the next day would be to charge the battery, and see if the fuel pump could pull gas out of a water bottle directly next to it.
The next day I ran out to my Dad’s to borrow a gas can, the 5 mile trip was better than the 20 miles to town, and to pick up my battery charger that he’d bought for me years ago. Since I’ve recently decided to actually start working on my cars in my garage it would be good to have it home. I hooked up the battery charger and went into the house for some lunch. Upon my return I filled the water bottle with gas and stuck the fuel pump feed hose into it and tried the ignition again. Again the car only sputtered for a few seconds but I could see the fuel pump was pulling gas out of the bottle. Yay! that means that the pushrod between the cam and fuel pump might work.
Next up will be to see if I can get the car to run on that bottle of gas in the engine compartment. If so, then I need to replace the soft line at the fuel tank and try to use the air compressor to blow air through the hard line to make sure it’s not clogged shut. After that I’ll reconnect my new soft fuel lines at the tank and lightly use the compressor to put air into the tank to try to force the fuel up the line towards the pump. If the engine is capable of running and that line is full of fuel, we might be able to get her to move under her own power.
The tank is visibly newer than the straps that hold it into the car but I still will snake a camera down the filler pipe to see what the inside of the tank looks like. If need be I have a tank sealer kit waiting standby.
So, that’s where it stands for now, I hope to report next week that she is moving under her own power, see you at a show,
Travis
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Sunday
It was wet as I left for home.
Spent some time on Rt. 66 on the way to Dewey, OK
On the way home I stopped by Fast A.L.’s Upholstery in Dewey, OK and hung out for a bit. Krobe brought his “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.
Bug Collecting for the car crowd.
Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 4”
Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 3”
Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot Part 2”
Already collecting bugs, only 2 hours into the trip. Continue reading “Event Coverage: 2013 Queen City Riot 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.
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.
See you at a show,
Travis
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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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.
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.
