The 2016 Retro Rewind in Dubuque, IA is physically a small event in a fairly small venue, but it’s HUGE on heart. That’s what the Retro Rewind, Vintage Torque Fest and Iron Invasion events are all about in a word, heart. John Wells and company put these events on to raise money for the 501(c)(3) Helping Hannah’s Heart Foundation. PLEASE go check out this foundation, it’s so very important that us in the hot rod and kustom world help out foundations like this that help out good hard working folks going through some of the toughest times in their lives.
In 2012 I received a call from my friend and mentor Doug Reed asking if I’d like to be a part of a display at the 2013 Starbird-Devlin show in Wichita. He was assembling some cars to be a part of a Kustom City display showing off kustoms to the folks that attend the show. For decades Wichita had a rich heritage of kustoms and in recent years the kustoms weren’t exactly featured at the show.
There are a lot of talented builders out there, there are a ton of great shops I get to visit. Hot Rod Garage of Sand Springs, OK stands out as one of the best of that group. Last Friday on my way to Tulsa I stopped and hung out at the HRG for about an hour looking at some of the projects they have going on.
This is one of the most meticulous shops I’ve ever seen. Every car is built right and every car is an example of how to do whatever it is that you’re doing. I was floored at the craftsmanship when I got to see it up close. Father and Son owners the Smith’s were out in the shop getting dirty when I showed up. Their office chairs empty, their hands dirty, building cars. That says a lot to me.
Jim and his son Jason Smith started HRG 17 years ago and have grown to be one of the best around.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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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 2014 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!
When one thinks about hot beds of this lifestyle known as hot rodding, Dubuque, Iowa almost certainly does not come to mind. However, this charming little city on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi has whole heartedly embraced Vintage Torque Fest and has truly made it a part of the city. From the kickoff cruise night in historic downtown until the very last cars roll out of town and head for home, Dubuque has proven to be a great host.
The event, which benefits the Helping Hannah’s Heart foundation, attracted cars from all over the U.S.A. and even Canada! Mother Nature was much more forgiving this year, serving up only a few random sprinkles on Friday and breaking out in full sunshine for Saturday, making for a jam packed scene. The improved weather also allowed for plenty of action on the clay oval, with everything from vintage flat track motorcycles and sprints to everyday hot rods making hot laps to the delight of the throngs of spectators. In between the action there was plenty to do and see. Live music, a nice little swap meet, tons of great lifestyle vendors and last, but not least, the car show itself!
Mark your calendar for next year’s Vintage Torque Fest and do what you can to make it to Iowa and be a part of the action. If you would like to learn more about the reason behind this event, visit www.HelpingHannahsHeart.com
Buy one of these shirts or mugs and help Chrome Pipes & Pinstripes advertise online and pay for hosting fees.
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.
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.
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!
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.
A couple of years ago I came up with the idea to do car features in video form. For some of you that have been following for awhile, you’ve seen these before. For the new folks take a few minutes and hopefully enjoy!
The concept is simple, get the car owner on camera telling the story of the ride. Unfortunately it is a time consuming process and time is what I don’t have much of. So…. there are 2 to date. I am planning on releasing a 3rd one next week (a year after I meant to release it). And hopefully more will follow. Feature videos are the perfect way to capture your memories of your favorite ride to remember for the rest of your life and pass on to future generations.
Part 4 and the final post of the show coverage from the Creme De La Chrome Rocky Mountain Auto Show in Denver Colorado held over Thanksgiving Weekend. This post features a bunch of rides that were on display in the Hot Rod Hill Climb area as well as the Deluxe Speed Shop display. Some of my favorites of the show.
That’s it for my whirlwind trip up to Denver and back on Black Friday. After that last pic I hopped in my daily driver and high tailed it east for 422 miles, had some drinks with friends and family and called it a day. I hope you enjoyed the coverage of the show! More fresh content for you tomorrow morning at 9am Central!
To see the daily Monday through Saturday blog posts in your email inbox as soon as they go live go to the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com and enter your email address. On the last day of each month 1 subscriber will be randomly picked to win a prize, November’s prize was a rb Embroidered Hat. For December I’m working on getting a big bunch of prizes from different websites, including shirts, discounts and whatever else I can round up!
To see the daily Monday through Saturday blog posts in your email inbox as soon as they go live go to the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com and enter your email address. On the last day of each month 1 subscriber will be randomly picked to win a prize, November’s prize was a rb Embroidered Hat. For December I’m working on getting a big bunch of prizes from different websites, including shirts, discounts and whatever else I can round up!
Here’s another post stuffed with 40 photos from the Rocky Mountain Auto Show. The show featured all kinds of cars and like I said in post 1, most of them were new to me so I’m sharing them even if they don’t fit in the more traditional/old school style. There is a post coming that is chock full of vintage hot rods that were at the Hot Rod Hill Climb so stay tuned, to make sure you don’t miss it, subscribe by entering your email address in the top right hand corner of this page. Again thanks to Dan Greenberg for allowing me to borrow this lens, go check out his photography and buy something!
More to come tomorrow, don’t forget to subscribe in the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com to get this blog delivered in your email inbox every time it goes live. 1 lucky subscriber at the end of each month will win a prize package, you have to be on the list to be eligible.
See you at a show,
Royboy
CALENDAR UPDATE!!!!
As of right now only 20 copies remain of the Trucks Edition, all others are sold out!
For a couple of years I’ve been hearing about the Rock Mountain Auto Show in Denver, CO over Thanksgiving weekend, 2013 was finally the time to make it up and check the show out. One of the voices telling me of the show was my friend photographer Dan Greenberg, and once I saw that my friends from the Hot Rod Hill Climb were going to do a display featuring a bunch of the cars that ran the hill climb this year, I was all in.
Waking up at 5:30 am I rolled out for the 6 hour drive west on I-70 for the Colorado Convention Center on the south west side of Denver’s downtown. As soon as I arrived I ran into a bunch of friends from across the midwest, including Dan who had a lens for me to experiment with. I’ve been considering buying a certain lens and he had an older version of it and was kind enough to let me test his out. Thanks Dan! Here’s the first batch of photos from the event, click on any of them to go to the entire gallery. This show had a lot of quality cars that aren’t of the traditional or old school flavor but they were new to me and hopefully new to you so I’m including them in the coverage.
To see the daily Monday through Saturday blog posts in your email inbox as soon as they go live go to the top right hand corner of royboyproductions.com and enter your email address. On the last day of each month 1 subscriber will be randomly picked to win a prize, November’s prize was a rb Embroidered Hat. For December I’m working on getting a big bunch of prizes from different websites, including shirts, discounts and whatever else I can round up!
The month of September has been a busy one. With an event every weekend and most of those weekends with multiple option of events to attend, it’s definitely been a good time. October is shaping up much the same way. I thought I’d give you a list of the events that I’m going to attend and some that I can’t, hopefully I will have friends turning in coverage from the ones that I cannot make so that you and I can enjoy the photos. Without further ado, here is the schedule.
One of my many talented friends doing upholstery for a living. Johnny is having an open house at his shop in Hutchinson, KS on Friday night before the big Saturday show in downtown Hutch.
Salina, KS – NOT A CAR SHOW – This one is not a car show, has nothing to do with cars, but is a mainstay on my schedule. I have worked as a stage hand and later as an assistant engineer for the BluesMasters at the Crossroads at Blue Heaven Studios since 2000. If you are a fan of blues music this is the place to be Friday and Saturday nights.
Oct. 26th
Sand Springs, OK – Hot Rod Garage is a well known high end hot rod and custom shop in the Tulsa area. The 26th is their open house and I’ve heard that there will be 12 front engine dragsters on display among a bunch of customer cars and more. Definitely looking forward to heading down to this event for the first time.
November
November will continue the busy schedule with an event every weekend, I may even do one on Thanksgiving weekend if I can make enough money to cover the gas to Denver and back after going to Oklahoma once and Texas twice!
The beautiful blue Kansas sky and the big trees of Forest Park combined to make lots and lots of harsh shadows. If I had more time at the show I would have used an off camera flash to fill in a bit, but I had 3 hours to cover a park with about 2000 cars in it… So yeah I didn’t do that 🙂
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Sooooo Nice
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I stopped in to see the guys from Affordable Street Rods, this beautiful roadster is theirs and is just plain awesome.
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I love the stance of this shoebox. If any of you know the owner I’d like to find out how this stance was achieved. I have 3″ drop springs for the front of mine and 3″ drop springs for the rear, but I’m sure I need to get down farther than that.
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I see the Spiwak’s about everywhere I go and it’s never a bad thing.
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A touch too much.
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I’m not normally a Camaro guy but this one was very nice.
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I’ve always liked this 40
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Fresh back from the Hot Rod Hill Climb
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Nice scallops
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That’s a heck of a stretch job!
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My favorite ride of the show. This is a true survivor hot rod that was a dirt track racer before it was turned into this show rod in the 60’s
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It’s neighbor wasn’t too shabby either!
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Look at all of those identical hoods open. You can bet your behind I walked right by that whole area. Who needs to stop and look at 6 identical cars except for their paint colors?
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Bryce, lookie here my friend.
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You cannot go wrong with a Rivi
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A very nice Anglia
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Gentry’s GMC Cabover is evolving every time I see it. I’m not sure it could lay out last time I saw it.
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That’s it folks, that’s what I saw in my whirlwind 2013 Ol Marais River Run trip. I only had time for 1 pass around the park, so if I missed your ride, I apologize.
One of my favorite’s from the Greaserama was also in Ottawa.
Beautiful truck, the suicide hood being open is less visually offensive than if it was a regular style.
My dad’s 59 Thunderbird and our extended “family’s” cars behind it.
Frank’s beautiful 56 Chevy took home an award for best Home Built I believe. Congrats Frank! I know you’ve put a lot of time and effort into your ride!
Rick’s 57 has every option that you might want for a kool road trip cruiser and will look good while doing it.
Roger Ward’s car has looked this good for a long long time and gets driven.
From the coverage I’ve seen, I really messed up not going to the Hot Rod Hill Climb. Looks like a really kool event! The rains and devastating flooding on the eastern side of the Rockies could not keep the folks from getting up to Georgetown, CO for the event on Sept. 14th. This was the 60th Anniversary of the 1953 Hot Rod Hill Climb and from the looks of it, it was awesome!
Just under a month away from the Iron Invasion! Oct. 12th in Woodstock, IL will be the 2nd Iron Invasion show, the first was a really good time, the 2nd should be even better!
Okay so we’re a couple of days short of a month, oh well. Still plenty of time to get ready. The plan for the weekend of October 12th was supposed to be my 2nd trip up to Woodstock, IL for the 2nd Annual Iron Invasion. My plans have changed though. I still think that Iron Invasion is an amazing show and I’d love to be there, but I had an offer that I didn’t want to pass up.
That show is the Old Geezers Car Show in Lamar, MO. I’ve been told that the show will be about 100 cars parked around an old town square. Most of them will be kool old school kustom style, right up my alley. So I’m headed to Lamar, MO to hang with the Kustom family.
Proof that HDR doesn’t have to be wild, this is the style I prefer for most shots, just making the photo look more like what your eye sees (with a little extra something).
Then there are times when I pump up the volume a bit.
That’s it for the regular coverage of the show, tomorrow I’ll feature some that I’ve spent a little more time on. Since I was shooting this show for magazine show coverage I didn’t spend much time working on artsy photos, it was more about getting the needed photos for the article.
I’ve been seeing this truck for years, I really should do a feature on it on the site.
Good to see you and the family Don, see ya in Wichita this weekend!
Jeremy Barrett’s pickup.
When you can’t find a v12, two v6’s will do the trick!
Interesting hard top chop. I never made it over to investigate further, but I wish I would have.
Can’t wait to see this one done!
The flush mount skirts, the lake pipes, the spots, it’s all working for me.
See I told you if I got down low you couldn’t tell that the other half of the car wasn’t shammied… oops.
I keep seeing this car this summer but I haven’t had a chance to BS with the owner yet.
Jebby’s “Nadine” and the tail end of my Galaxie. Nadine looks damn good for 200k+ miles.
Neal was nice enough to give me a lift in when I walked out to the entrance to give my dad a wristband. I can’t wait to see the next evolution of this kool truck.
Random Crowd Shot
I’ve been seeing this truck for years at the Greaserama. Looks like a ball of fun.
For part 2 we’re still on Saturday. The show was big big big this year, I don’t feel that there would have been any way to get all of the cars and especially all of the spectator cars into the area of the old venue. It was pretty impressive to head up on the north hill of the fairgrounds to see all that the 2013 Greaserama was.
Functional kustom Like this photo?
Channeled Tall T, I like!
Clean
My ride, thanks to Jeff Myers at Premier Body & Paint in Arkansas City, KS for the kustom 60’s style paint and Clint Rowe for the pinstriping.
Looking good man!
An iconic recipe for kool
inally got to see my friends from Oliver Built Garage for the first time this year, I need to make more trips up to Iowa.
Dick’s ride again, with the hood shut as all kustoms should be 😉
I love these two rides.
It’s always good to see my good friends Dan and Sharyl Stears, see ya again next weekend in Wichita!
One of my good friends Todd C. Jones, amazing guy and artist. Look for a feature on him coming soon!
I was hiding from the rain under a canopy, my camera doesn’t like getting wet.
Man, what a great weekend! The Greaserama moved this year from it’s long time venue to a new one that was outside of KC, many denounced the move but the crowd that showed up on Saturday proved that change can be good. I’m writing an article for a magazine on the show so I’ll save most of my words of the event for that, here the photos will do the talking.
From time to time in my car show coverage, I like to spend a little extra editing time on a shot. Most of these end up in this gallery. Here are a few of my favorites, these would look great printed on metallic paper in 12×18 or larger on your wall. Especially the HDR shots, they really pop on the metallic paper. Just click on the photo, pick your size and paper style and boom you are good to go!