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I was just out walking the dog and thinking what would make a nice bank holiday Monday post. The conclusion I came to was some highlights, just some cars that alongside all of the absolutely magical excellence of the event still stood out. It has been an on going theme to be featuring lowriders in this thread from a hot rod and custom show, but it is because I like them so much haha. One in particular was that all out show lowrider, wild wild wild paint, all chrome everything, engraving, over the top madness. This is Chris Roark's "Final Score" a 1958 Chevrolet rag top. You can read all about it here : www.autoevolution.com/news/the-final-score-custom-lowrider-a-divisive-piece-of-rolling-art-145506.html (with pictures that make it look more orange). To add to its lowrider credentials, just before I took those pictures B Real from Cypress Hill walked past me. Obviously there were a lot of rods of outstanding quality there, I kept coming back to this one though, it was stationed next to the America's Most Beautiful Roadster area, so it was sort of a little overshadowed. For me though it was the hot rod I'd want to take home from the event In more untraditional stakes we have a couple of the outside cars, firstly this, which I posted once already, but here are a few more photos: The info in the window claims it is a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 4 door, found a body only then chopped and turned in to a 2 door. Which is interesting as the 8C never came as a four door, however I'm not sure what it would be if it isn't a 6C or an 8C, anyone got any ideas? Or definitive proof it is what it says it is? Whatever its provenance it is a fun thing and great to see a European base car for a rod at an American event. Another European car, and one we didn't expect to see at all was this: A proper Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing, done with custom touches. Sort of evocative of the 60's style of soft custom, or even our very own cafe racer look. It was absolutely a highlight to see. If you have Instagram they are on there as 198_werks , go show them some love for being the best kind of madness. One more European thing for this post (followed by one of my favourite cars of the event overall). This Beetle was extremely nicely done. A no sloper to keep rmad happy. Called 60What, this is a top of the line bug build from Type One Restorations. I guess it has all the ingredients of something that is Cal look (or Resto Cal looK), but somehow it is also something different. Finally this is one of my absolute favourites of the event overall. David and Robin Rush's 1959 Impala "Bespoke", built by Steve Cook Creations. I spent a lot of time looking for silver (or silver-ish) cars to see how they had done their interiors, and what different shades of silver were out there. This was a bit more green than silver, and made me consider repainting the whole of my Sunny, as it just looked so good. You can read more about the car here: www.motortrend.com/events/1959-chevy-impala-wins-slonaker-award-grand-national-roadster-show-2024/Well we're fast crashing towards a conclusion, and my holiday snaps getting shared, so expect some random things I've not covered so far in the next post and some pictures of Mid Century modern goodness in Palm Springs...
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That looks like a great meet!
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Mar 31, 2024 14:21:49 GMT
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This forum is for planning and announcing
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Mar 31, 2024 14:07:22 GMT
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Seems like a suitable day for a resurrection. We'll come back to the halls in my next post I think I should probably show you the outside on the Saturday. It was much much busier than Friday. I think partly because it was now the actual weekend and partly because rain was forecast for Sunday so a lot of people piled in on the Saturday. Let's start of with some general goodness floating around the venue's outside areas A lot of the display areas were individuals, but a few spots seemed to have clubs take over. I don't know if this is because they all arrived together, or if it was because it was reserved. Either way it made for a great mix of cars, with a few themed bits. It was a treat to see Duke's car club Whittier chapter with lowriders on display. This is the oldest Lowrider car club in the world, there is a great write up on them here on the Kustomrama wiki. One of my very particular highlights was this 38 Chevy lowrider bomb, exactly the sort of car I was hoping to see, it did not disappoint. Nearby this 52 Chevy was so good that I barely took any photos of it as I was poking around it too much. A couple of unexpected (but probably shouldn't have been that unexpected) hero cars were there too. I saw the Bellos Kustoms shop truck arrive. It is 100% my perfect custom van, just so good in every way. Another unexpected car was the Mageno Kustoms Hollywood topped Chevy which was with the Iconix Car Club Iconix had some other great cars with them too Around the corner there is a little kind of village area, with cool looking frontage, which made for some nice shots Later in the day this whole area was packed with people and cars I took these photos without realising what I was looking it, just that I really liked it This is a Ford Fairlane CROWN Victoria Skyliner, yes all those words are this car. It has this really cool glass front half of the roof. I think this is a 55 or 56. It is a crazy unusual car, and looked great slammed on white walls (as all cars do) Like the other similar year Chevy this brown car in the village area spoke to me, I feel like there may be one in my future (but then there are so many cars I want and so little time/money) I feel like I've gone on too long already for a single post, so I'll park this here for a bit, I've got some highlights from the outside still to show, and some more from the inside, including picking out some of my very favourite cars from the event. I'll toss a coin and see which post to do next... then you'll get my holiday snaps after In the mean time enjoy a car that makes for a very unusual lowrider
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Last Edit: Mar 31, 2024 14:10:32 GMT by HoTWire
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Mar 30, 2024 14:53:33 GMT
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Today is the day that we pack mugs and stickers in boxes
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Mar 28, 2024 18:55:33 GMT
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Ah yeah, I remember now, I did get a great build badge for my Corona. May I have that back please David? Done
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Mar 28, 2024 18:46:24 GMT
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Apologies for not updating this week, suddenly busy! As penance I shall now show you one of my very favourite cars of the show. This Mercury built by Cambra Speed Shop: cambraspeedshop.com/We came back to this car repeatedly. The paint is so deep it seems to have shadows within it, I don't know enough about paint to even be able to articulate why or how this looks like it does. You can read all about the build here : cambraspeedshop.com/projects/meet-goldfinger-1951-mercury-custom/I'll be back over the weekend for more inside and outside photos, with some more of my top picks.
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Mar 26, 2024 20:12:30 GMT
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Evening went sideways, GNRS update tomorrow (it's a goodun though)
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Mar 26, 2024 13:38:01 GMT
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Hey Folks! Another week, another weekly chat, your place for stuff that may not warrant a full thread or stuff that is just going on right now that you want to share. Hectic weekend overall followed by a busy Monday = no GNRS update or Weekly Chat thread until today. Apologies. I'm currently doing the great British car enthusiast thing of staring at weather for venues. Wheels Day at Newbury has changed every time I've looked at it, currently sunshine and showers. Given that it rained at GNRS and Volksworld, I very much hope that this isn't the mark of my car shows for the year. I very much have a vested interest in at least a couple of them being warm and dry! I'm still working on what was the February update for RR, got the listings looking a bit more how I'd like them too, just need to get the mobile to play ball. I've been utilising a change in the image uploader a lot in my GNRS thread, so I'm happy that is good to go live when I've settled the mobile listing issue. I have noticed a couple of times I've clicked to post a thread when I meant to click to add an image, so I need to do something there with the visual hierarchy of all that. Volksworld thread this week. Anyone got plans for easter weekend? I'm Wheels Day and maybe Haynes Museum on Sunday. Also keeping an eye on Elmia Custom Car Show in Sweden as I intend to be there next year with the Kaido Previous Thread: forum.retro-rides.org/thread/226746/chat-thread-begun-wc-18
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Mar 22, 2024 21:59:07 GMT
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Mar 22, 2024 19:00:48 GMT
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Right, Roadsters, but first this. Towards the end of Friday (before I lost my wallet) I headed to the main entrance and picked up my press pass, which I am still assuming was an accident (genuinely, I applied after the deadline (which may also have been a nice excuse not to offer me press, but I wasn't expecting it to be fair)). Now my wife and I had cool little green lanyard things that we could wave around and pretend we mattered. Once I realised I'd lost my wallet and done the rounds of the site we were pretty tired, it was probably around lunch time and I'm going to be very honest here, nothing on site looked that appealing. I was expecting some good taco trucks and some proper street food, but it was all hot dogs and fairly unappetising burger things. The venue holds sports events and stuff, so I'm assuming the catering is part of the venue hire, or maybe I've just got spoiled with the quality food on offer at Retro Rides events and now expect better. A quick stop at the show's main info desk to leave my details in case the wallet turned up and then we were back in the car and fighting our way across LA. We had an early dinner (still jetlagged) at Patrick's Roadhouse before heading to the hotel and attempting to stay awake past 7pm. Which I think we failed at. SATURDAY!! Armed with our newly found knowledge of where to park and our ability to get in the site early, and the power of waking up at 5am, we were on site early doors (and $20 lighter thanks to more expensive parking). At 9am sharp we were through the gate, and heading here: We'd been through the hall the previous day, but now we got the chance to do it when it was basically empty. First through the door was this, Tom Prufer's "Cop Shop Coupe" a car inspired by a drawing You can read a great article about the car here : www.motortrend.com/news/0109sr-cop-shop-coupe/Turn around 90 degrees from that picture and you've got this The famous Uncertain T, recently pulled out of long term storage by Dave Shutten. Which has a nice video here: I took the opportunity to tell Dave Shutten and Shige Suganuma from Mooneyes that I loved all that they did as they were standing nearby, I did this without really introducing myself properly and then promptly ran away. So that was all round a great success. However I ran away to take a photo of this: So that seemed reasonable really. I'm going to come back to stuff in this hall later on in what I think will be my personal highlights post, but I promised Roadsters, so you are going to get them. America's most beautiful ones to be precise. There are three more beyond those, one I don't have a shot of available because it is going in Diskustom Magazine, but I do have the info board Next up is the winner Beth Myers' 32 Ford Phaeton And finally my person pick Ken Reister '32 Ford Phaeton There was something about it that really stood out to me in a room full of incredible cars. I mean all of these cars looked amazing, they are the best of the best of the best. There is so much more to examine in this hall, including one of my very favourite cars of the event, so let's leave it there so you can dwell on America's Most Beautiful Roadster contenders and winner. I'll be back with more over the weekend, the best (as usual) is still to come.
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Last Edit: Mar 23, 2024 13:20:05 GMT by HoTWire
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Mar 21, 2024 20:22:08 GMT
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Perhaps Your wallet got pickpocket'ed? Thanks for sharing Your trip btw. No attempts to use the cards, I didn't cancel them until the end of play on Saturday. I think I crouched down to get a shot and it slipped out my pocket (my trousers were more stylish than practical).
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Mar 21, 2024 18:35:55 GMT
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House keeping: I should have linked some of the cars from the Pro Street thing to help spread some knowledge, if anyone wants to pick any out and add some links in reply that would be great, I'm going to share this little article about the J2000 and what it did to the scene : www.motortrend.com/features/pro-streets-most-famous-car/In the words of the late George Michael, let's go outside. In between the display halls of GNRS the grounds are littered with line ups of fantastic cars. These are part of the dubiously named "Grand Daddy Drive In", which is the sort of public turn up and play aspect to the show. It was much busier on the Saturday than it was on the Friday, so you'll have wait a bit to see what goodness that bought in. Right now though Friday is our focus and even now the areas are chocked full of goodness. So Cal Speed Shop had a stall inside selling merch and things, outside was this little line up: There were a few more unusual custom cars floating around too, not least of which is this Roller. Which is owned by a hot rodding legend, but I can't remember who, maybe John D'Agostino, maybe Rick Dore? Anyway it is super cool to see, as we've talk here before about these things as a base for customising. Even more unusual was this, which I'm going to put more pictures up of in a later post, but you can enjoy (or not) right now How about a bit of that 80's/90's flavour of Street Rod Or maybe something a bit more traditional A lovely sled lurking I've been on a bit of a custom kick recently, that intersection between bomb lowriders and custom cars to be more precise, and I was super happy to get to see a few up close. Actually changed what is at the top of my list for this style of cars if I ever get the chance to build one. In my head I file these under Deadend Magazine cars, as it seems to be their sweet spot for features. I was super excited to see their trade stand. If you've ever seen a link that says "photos taken moments before disaster", that photo belongs in that link. Seconds after this photo I went to buy a tshirt, and that's when I found I'd lost my wallet. We then retraced our steps through the show from the last time I had it and just couldn't find it anywhere. My wallet lives in California now. At least it wasn't my phone (my previous phone ended up living in the back of a taxi in Tokyo). Whilst outside lets do a whistle stop of a couple of the cars on the trade stands If ever I was to get involved in stocking detailing supplies in the RR store, I think I'd try and get a Griots Garage distribution. The owner has one of the best modified cars in the whole world (the Iso Rivolta from SEMA 2019) and then they had this proper cool van on their stand at GNRS Us Vs Them have a very cool pickup, that paint is super good I'm not sure who these were with to be honest, some modern rodding styling though Swill Co Speed Shop had this pair of beauties Which got me wondering if that white pinstripe round the panel would work on my Porsche 996, and if I'm bold enough or foolish enough to do it. Someone better than me at photoshop could maybe give it a go and report back Let's leave todays entry with this inside the hall, which is where we'll venture for tomorrows post (and some actual roadsters) Just a reminder that 2024 is the year of the minitruck.
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Last Edit: Mar 21, 2024 18:39:16 GMT by HoTWire
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Mar 21, 2024 13:36:42 GMT
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It’s something that isn’t really my thing , until reading through & looking at your pics , then it seems it is kinda my thing . Always good to broaden your interest’s & this has definitely done that for me There is more coming up too, whilst everything we've gone through so far has been great, we've not even got to the "good" stuff yet, both in terms of what the show highlights and my personal favourites Only problem with broadening interest is the increasing list of cars you'd like to own.
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Mar 21, 2024 13:35:02 GMT
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I'm always torn between Coupe and Roadster, but living in Wales, probably better to have a proper roof, So I could use it more As you can imagine we'll be coming on to some tasty roadsters later on this or a 5 window would do me I reckon, Yeah that is very sweet, UK car, but can't remember the owners name.
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Mar 21, 2024 11:14:36 GMT
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Oooh nice trip! I would have been in heaven in the Pro Street hall. The Dobbertin Nova is one of those cars which spoke to me as a kid. Astounding. So much more frustrated I didn't get to go this year now! I did think that there were people on this very forum that would have loved to have been in that hall. It was super busy every time we went in (thus the paucity of photos). It was a great display, I suspect there were people that would have gone in to the VW display the other year and not had any connection to those cars, but enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed the Pro Street stuff. I notice as they do these special halls they seem to fold in more stuff in to the other halls the following year. I think the lowrider volume has gone up. So maybe some of these will be making an appearance again. atomman I think it may be a zeigesity thing (but could be age haha), I've definitely got a hankering for this stuff. A fully fendered mild chopped 32 coupe, or Tudor would be it for me, think this, but with a roof (for the coupe option):
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Mar 20, 2024 18:56:04 GMT
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Pro Street. Or Legends of Pro Street was the big theme for their themed hall this year. Previously they've done Lowriders and lowrider culture, they did a VW hall last year and I think it is now set that they have a new theme each year for this particular hall. Unlike Lowriders and VWs I've got not particular history with Pro Street cars, and whilst I imagine some people would have been stoked to see some of these cars, I mainly took them at face value. Pretty cool street legal drag machines. I did particularly enjoy those that gave a bit of context, with their old features and awards being displayed This was a particularly nice one for me, I believe it is a more modern build 'in the style of'. Had a brief conversation with the owner online, it is built to be driven and does get used a bunch Another modern build that had made the hall, I suspect due to Pro Streets influence on Pro Touring? (I dunno if thats a thing, but it seems like it might make sense) The Ruffian Mustang looked all kinds of good. Now at the other end of the spectrum, but only fifty yards away in a different hall is the Suede Palace. A show within a show really. All trad rods and customs, a hall that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the Low Flyers club in the UK, but that is a whole different thread. The ideal place for you to pick up a very cool jacket as it happens. Sadly I'm not committed enough to the style to make it make sense. One of the highlights in here for us was a race nosed 27 Ford, as it happens this was built by Nostalgia Ranch. A hot rod shop out of San Diego run by Jay Dean, a Brit now living the Californian dream. Who is also brother of Simon Emery, of Paintbox fame. Clearly building awesome stuff runs in the family. Bedlam Car Club were also present with a couple of suitable rides There were a few trad rods scattered around the hall outside too. Which means I'm going to post this car as a nice transition to the next post (probably tomorrow), which will be outside and trade stalls on the Friday.
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Mar 20, 2024 18:36:20 GMT
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you mentioned crowds at the volksworld show ? i went Saturday and it was not busy at all , was there from 10:30 till 4 ish , i think the M25 closure was to blame Will get to that in the thread when I do it
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I'll be there, is actually closer to me now, hopefully avoid the 4 hours journey home I had last time (M3 and A303 were literally solid all the way home... was madness)
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Good to see you at VolksWorld, didn’t want to disturb conversations Very enjoyable day out, my favourite was this Should have joined us in conversation ... I think the second time we saw you, we were debating the Limebug T34 and the colour choices for exterior/interior.
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