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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 20:27:16 GMT
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That black Tudor trips my trigger.
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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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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,898
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Mar 22, 2024 19:34:02 GMT
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I find it interesting that they allow "roadsters" to be displayed with the roof up. Phaetons always look pretty cool with them up, and pretty much always super super gawky with them down.
I'm pretty sure a basic So-Cal roadster would be on my lottery win daily driver list. They're one of those deals that I always think are just "nice" in a plain jane use it every day like any other car way, and from what I remember from one I got to drive were much more refined and competent than a proper traditional car.
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Mar 22, 2024 19:44:37 GMT
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buy some cheap vinyl pinstripe and have a play , for £20 you could see if you wanted to do it properly or not
Zipper bodies are we’ll know for their mutated bodies that bring a modern twist to a traditional rod body
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Last Edit: Mar 22, 2024 19:54:25 GMT by redratbike
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morrisoxide
Part of things
It's just a question of style
Posts: 453
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Mar 22, 2024 19:57:21 GMT
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That very car was in the film American Graffiti in a different guise.   More info Here on Kustomrama. |
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braaap
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,650
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Mar 22, 2024 20:31:21 GMT
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WTAF! Was this legend wrapped when the color was changed? |
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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 28, 2024 20:23:46 GMT
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I can totally understand why you like that Mercury, it is gorgeous. Plus points for swapping the standard '51 Merc rear window for a '50 one which looks so much better with a chopped roof. Also the wheels which look like a larger diameter version of the Cadillac "sombrero" hubcap, unless it's just a smaller profile tyre on a stock Caddy wheel cover.
I will have to deduct points for them displaying the car with the bonnet and boot open though. I just think cars like this should be displayed wit everything shut so we can appreciate the flow of the body lines. I do get why they do this because of the "if we can't see it we can't give points for it" judging system but it doesn't necessarily enhance the visual appeal of the car as a whole (IMO).
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Mar 29, 2024 13:32:05 GMT
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On my list possibly for next year this show. Would love to take my 5 year old son along as he is hot wheels crazy and loves the pukka hot rods/gassers/pro-streets collection. Personally I'm hoping for a pro-street resurgence and anything hot-rod/custom/pro-street from the 80'early 90's era with the ZZ-Top-esque flashes and graphics gets my vote. Do have a penchant for the 40's/50's era rods with imperfect paint, like the blue soft top on page 1.
Best get roadtrip planning!
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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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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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morrisoxide
Part of things
It's just a question of style
Posts: 453
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It must have been overwhelming trying to see everything, never mind taking photos with people milling about. I have been to the states and been to small events and they have been nuts.
It does make me wonder what it feel like coming back to ole Blighty and doing UK car shows after massive shows. I suppose we just have different cars and do things differently is the answer.  |
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It does make me wonder what it feel like coming back to ole Blighty and doing UK car shows after massive shows. I suppose we just have different cars and do things differently is the answer. I've been to Volksworld and Wheels Day since coming back and it is certainly different in many ways. Although I suspect some of the cars from Volksworld could hold their own in the GNRS halls. Wheels Day definitely felt more approachable than the stuff even on the outside at GNRS, which I think is perhaps one of the negatives of these top flight events. I don't think anything I ever own could stand shoulder to shoulder with most of the builds there. Although perhaps that is an incorrect assumption. |
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Okay deep breath we're nearly there. At this point on the Saturday we're flagging a little, still jet lagged, and still avoiding the food stalls at the Fairplex, we did one last run around (and one last check if my wallet had been handed in). So here is a random grab bag of the other great stuff in the show we liked     This Hollywood Hot Rods build was absolutely spot on for me   Or if you like your rods a little more race inspired   As mentioned before I was particularly interested in seeing what interiors any of the silver cars had. I'm definitely going for this carpet colour in the Sunny when it is done      A last stroll around the outside as the weather was still pretty nice     Here is an interesting discussion (maybe). When we were wandering around the show we were trying to work out why some cars looked better than others, even though they were broadly the same. We thought maybe details, maybe a slightly different fitment or something else. Then my wife suggested that the quality of the paint was playing a big part in it. Which made these two cars quite fascinating. They have different interiors but are broadly the same. However the first one looks better to me in the flesh.   Maybe it is just that red interior setting off the black paint, but even so, it looked just more some how. Hey what's that?... a cal looker, in California?  Just the one though, and a nice rag top next to it. With that we headed to the car park, with streams of people still arriving and the show getting crowded, it seemed like the right move. Our last spot of the day was this, posted up at the edge of the car park. Perfect  If you are only here for GNRS you can stop here, holiday snaps in next post. I will say this about Grand National Roadster Show, it is without doubt the best static/indoor car show I've ever been to. I'm sure Detroit Autorama is similarly awesome, but I've not done that (yet). I was blown away with the quality, the lay out, the access to cars. The outside space was equally inspirational. Given the choice between going to SEMA again or GNRS, I'm picking GNRS. Add it to your bucket list. |
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Last Edit: Apr 2, 2024 17:22:26 GMT by HoTWire
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Now I promised you a bit of a road trip, and this was a holiday of two halves, pulling out of GNRS (and past a loooong queue of cars heading in), we hit the 10 for a while then headed up the 62 to Pioneertown for lunch at Pappy and Harriets.  and if you go there too you may even be able to find this  Suitably full we headed down to Palm Springs for our suitably Midcentury Modern accommodation.  I did manage a couple of car spots too, firstly this little rod was parked on the high street in Palm Springs proper  This van was parked outside one of the vintage shops out in the desert  Really we were here for the architecture and the overall vibe. It did not disappoint. We went on a four hour guided tour around the various neighbourhoods and stand out houses of Palm Springs. It was a great way to get a feel for the areas, history and the important names to know. Later we went back and re-did some of the route, getting some shots that were not out the side of a minibus.    (I don't like to do too much "if you know you know" type vague posting, but for that image... numbers are important) Sunday weather was threatening torrential downpours when we got back from the tour, but made the mountains look proper dramatic.  Hey our hotel looked great at night too  Almost everything in Palm Springs is stylish, this was a breakfast spot at the Ace Hotel that we went to a couple of times whilst we were there  Other than that is was time spent in the desert, which I love to be in, all the photos are broadly the same to be honest so I'll drop this one here and your an imagine the rest  There was some sound advice nearby though  And the whole area takes a very sinister turn if you go off down a little road that heads up and up and up in to the clouds  We headed in to Joshua Tree town itself for some food and to see the World Famous Crochet Museum    Whilst we were there, we found another couple of vehicles, definitely the sort of thing I expected to see in the desert   It is not the place I expected to be honest. I was expecting red necks, I got hippies. Which kind of makes sense when I thought about it after, it is a very free place to escape to. The other thing we noticed was they sure do love to stick stickers on things in the desert    Whilst driving around (and you have to drive EVERYWHERE, it is like a 5 minute drive or a half hour walk... America is a weird place some times), I spotted a car dealership. So I had to stop and get some photos, sadly nothing particularly grabbing my attention, but some cool rides none the less.     I had two pilgrimages to make, and we managed to do both on our last full day in Palm Springs Firstly:  Another if you know, you know (sorry, obnoxious, but I will not be explaining myself) Secondly:  Then it was time to head back to LA  With a quick stop to see if these clouds were little and fluffy  One more night in LA, where I got to take this photo from the hotel  A trip to Joan Didion's house followed by Laurel Canyon then up and over Mulholland Drive, to the Getty Museum. Hot Tip right here. The Getty is prebook only, so if you've not prebooked you have to leave and not go in to the museum you had been looking forward to see. Don't worry it doesn't say this on their website. Anyway it is fine, the Palm Springs Art Museum was genuinely awesome and I recommend it to anyone... well anyone that isn't a philistine. Which means the last two pictures we got from the US of A before heading to the plane were these   And that is what I did on my holidays. |
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,898
Club RR Member Number: 174
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I'm not gonna sleep now, 2nd one was easy but can't think what the first one is.
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I'm not gonna sleep now, 2nd one was easy but can't think what the first one is. It is also music based. Just the very opposite kind of music... |
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Jun 16, 2024 11:48:03 GMT
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Holy thread resurrection Batman. My wallet lives in California now. Turns out it really does. I got an email a few weeks back from the Fairplex Lost and Found saying they had my wallet (my business cards were inside) and I had three weeks to come and pick it up. I explained I'm in the UK and there was no way that was happening, they said they couldn't post it. I don't know anyone that lives near enough to Pomona for it to make sense picking up (since I've replaced all my cards and stuff), so now it lives at the Pomona police station, I guess until it gets destroyed. |
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Jun 17, 2024 16:23:57 GMT
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PM sent
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