Trevor is a real gearhead who loves everything from classic American muscle cars to high-performance exotics. When he's not reading about cars or taking photos at a car show, he's probably out cruising around. He is currently working on restoring a 1980 Chevrolet Monza hatchback.
Cadillac has always been the top tier automotive brand in the General Motors family. They have the biggest cars, the most powerful engines, and the largest price tags. Their symbolism as a product of quality, prestige, and luxury is known throughout the world. This makes them a popular target for hot rodders, low riders, and other customizers.
This particular Cadillac is a 1949 Convertible and was built by Chris Ryan of Ryan’s Rod & Kustom in Ninety Six, South Carolina. I saw it on display at the 2015 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Continue reading →
Gone are the days when building a hot rod meant swapping in a junkyard motor and some bolt-ons to any old jalopy. The collector car market is now dominated by elite restoration shops that completely deconstruct and reassemble the classics of yesterday as modern hot rods. These cars are adorned with precision machined parts, exotic materials like titanium and carbon fiber, and one-off fabricated parts. In many cases, these frame-off resto-mods may take one to three years to build and cost upwards of $150,000 or more!
Hot rodding has become an over-the-top, “mine’s-bigger-than-yours” competition of insane proportions. The latest example of this comes from SpeedKore Performance in Grafton, Wisconsin. Their 1970 Dodge Charger “Tantrum” is one of the wildest custom car builds I have ever seen.
In 1970, the only people working with carbon fiber would have been the aviation industry and NASA. This space-age material is incredibly lightweight and strong. At the time this car rolled off the production line, it would have been unthinkable to have such materials in a passenger car. But that’s exactly what Speedkore have done: carbon fiber hood, front fenders, and bumpers.
There are car builders, and then there are master artisans who work in the medium of steel. The guys at Rob Ida Concepts in Morganville, New Jersey definitely fall into the second group.
At SEMA 2015, they unveiled their latest creation: a wildly customized 1940 Mercury Business Coupe. This car and its skirted front and rear wheels are designed to give it a flowing, Art Deco-inspired look that is very streamlined and modern. The car’s roofline, wheel skirts, and just about every other panel is made from hand-formed steel. This is not merely another chop top ‘Merc, this one is all custom! Continue reading →
For many people, owning a vehicle is not just a way to get from Point A to Point B – a vehicle is a blank canvas upon which to creatively express yourself. Within the world of custom cars, communities have developed around certain platforms and models. From the ’32 Ford and the ’49 Mercury to modern day platforms like the Subaru WRX and Mazda Miata, custom cars are woven into the fabric of our culture.
One platform that is huge among customizers is the family of GMC and Chevrolet full-size trucks built between 1967 and 1972. With a wide variety of both original and aftermarket parts available, these C/K pickups are an excellent starting point for a custom build.
While walking the show floor at SEMA 2015, I passed by the Doug Thorley Headers booth and saw this 1969 K/10 pickup which belongs to Brad & Sara.
I couldn’t find a lot of details on the truck, but I did notice a newer generation LS engine swapped under the hood along with a color-matched intake manifold and valve covers. The whole thing looked very clean in the engine bay with the smoothed firewall. The truck was equipped with Doug Thorley headers, a Painless wiring harness, and an IDIDIT steering column with Dakota Digital gauges.
This K/10 was laying frame thanks to Airlift Performance parts and Viair compressors. At normal ride height, it handles well thanks to its Specialty Suspension components and QA1 shocks. I’ve got no idea about which wheel and tire combo they went with. It was painted a beautiful metallic blue paint job with House of Kolor paints and a light shade of wood in the bed.
Because of the popularity of these trucks, you will find that no two are alike! Every owner has customized theirs in a unique way. I like what Brad and Sara did with this one – nice job on the cool custom truck!
Much has been written about the growing popularity of classic cars as investments. As demand among collectors and baby boomers continues to increase, the values of classic cars are being pushed ever higher at auction events nationwide.
While having a cushion of money in their portfolio is comforting to many retirees, some people look to enjoy the things they dreamed of in their younger days. For many people, a 1960’s muscle car is the physical manifestation of that dream. That’s how The 401k Club got started. From their website:
In 2006 a group of car club buddies decided to lease a warehouse for a place to work on their own vintage cars and Hot Rods. With Dana at the helm The 401K Club was born. Fast forward nine years and what started as merely a place for passionate car enthusiasts to tinker on their own projects, has transformed into a globally recognized Custom Hot Rod Shop with one of the best teams in the business.
At the 2015 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, I saw this 1970 Plymouth Cuda that was built by The 401k Club of Huntington Beach, CA. You have to laugh at the tongue-in-cheek humor of their name!
The car features a Gen3 HEMI V8 swap and a wild vinyl-wrapped body that was done live at the show! The multi-color wrap shines like paint and really pushes the limit of what today’s high-tech vinyl wraps can do.
Unfortunately, I could not find many specifics about the car and there was no sign at the booth to reveal any further details about the build. I will let the pictures do the talking as you check out this resto-modded gem for yourself!
One of my favorite cars at SEMA 2014 was Steve Strope’s gorgeous 1967 Ford Fairlane. The blue and gold color combination was simply stunning. I had a very similar reaction at SEMA 2015 when I came across this 1961 Ford Sunliner at the Custom Auto Sound booth. What can I say: I think I have a thing for Sixties Fords in blue!
The Sunliner was Ford’s convertible cruiser. Based on the Galaxie chassis, it was classified as a full-size car in 1961 and was an intermediate-size car for 1962-64. This Sunliner features twin “afterburner style” round taillamps that are very space age. With its massive 119-inch wheelbase and powerful V8 engine, this car was a real head-turner. Continue reading →
