We attended the 1st annual (as far as I can tell) WeSERV Veteran’s car show in Glendale AZ this weekend, and I have to say, the turnout was better than expected for a show I had never heard of before! Lots of classics, some lowriders, and a little bit of modern stuff throughout. Enjoy the video of the full walkthrough of every car in attendence, and here’s hoping for another great event next year.
We took a long walk around the grounds at the Mecum auction in Glendale, AZ this year and made sure to capture every one of the 2,000 vehicles in attendance on video. It was my first year attending a Mecum auction and it didn’t disappoint- the auction reportedly generated over $56 million in sales. The top seller of the event was a 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing that went for $1,815,000. You can view the original listing Mecum’s site here.
While classic European cars aren’t really my thing, I can still certainly appreciate it for what it is. There were also some high-dollar classic Chevys sold as well, with a C3 Corvette and couple of Yenko Camaros all fetching over $300k. See if you can spot them in the video and be sure to leave a comment with a timestamp of your favorites from the show in the almost two hour full tour video we put together for the event.
All in all, it was a great showing and I am most definitely planning on returning for 2024!
Meticulously designed by Kevin Webb and assembled by Hot Rod & Custom Garage this 1971 C-10 is tribute to Kevin’s father. Already an award-winning truck this vehicle was entered in consideration for the 2022 SEMA “Battle of the Builders”.
Featuring a Vintage Air system, Dakota Digital dash cluster, CPP suspension and Ridler wheels what really drew me to this truck was the instantly recognizable TPI intake manifold sitting on top the small-block powered pickup.
As a Chevrolet fan nearing his 40’s, there was a time when I remember the TPI as the hot thing. Sure, shortly after there was the LT1, however it’s design was exotic by comparison. It’s non-traditional distributor location and reverse-cooling that required some creative welding skills that were beyond the everyman. The TPI could bolt to any SBC from the 265 to the 400 and would instantly modernize its appearance with it’s namesake tuned port runners and fuel injection system.
There are now so many options for fuel injection for the small block Chevy on the market. That’s also ignoring the fact that even seeing a tradition first generation small block Chevy is becoming more of a rarity these days. That makes this TPI setup in this custom built 1970s pickup truck a nostalgic charmer.
Whether you were able to make it out to Scottsdale for the show this year or not, here is a chance view every car (and truck) in attendance on Friday, March 17th, 2023 on your own time. Enjoy the video and let us know what your favorites were from the event. Feel free to leave a comment with the timestamp of your ride if you were able to make it out!
What’s been going on with Lotus for the last couple decades?
Okay, that might be a little bit of a loaded question. I’m a little too young to have been able to fully appreciate the era when the Esprit was a hot-ticket item so maybe I’m lacking a little too much context to have a grasp of Lotus’ place in the world at that time. All I have to go off of is the more recent weirdness coming from them since the time I’ve been aware of their offerings, and as time goes on, one thing is becoming clear to me:
Lotus is Unreal. I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic way, I mean Lotus has essentially followed in the footsteps of the PC game of the late 90s. Much like the Unreal franchise, Lotus certainly made a name for themselves early on in their existence with excellent quality releases and superior technological prowess. Over time, however; Unreal: The Game has become less relevant in the gaming space every year as Epic Games, their developer, (yes- the Fortnite company) has focused less effort on on Unreal, the game and much, much more on developing and advancing the Unreal Engine for licensing by other developers. This was a smart move, and these days you probably can’t go a full (non-camping in the wilderness) day without accidentally viewing or interacting with some form of media riding on the shoulders of Epic Games’ 3D game engine.
It’s not hard to notice a lot of parallels between that and what it seems like Lotus has been up to as of late. The Lotus models that stand out to me are actually pretty underwhelming compared to how many Lotus-adjacent vehicles exist. This isn’t news to anyone, but even the first Tesla model produced was a thinly-veiled electrified Lotus Elise. It doesn’t stop there, everyone from Hennessey, to Infiniti, to Rinspeed and even Vauxhall, among many others have toyed with a Lotus-based version of whatever they were working on at the time, and to me anyways, they all sort of overshadow what Lotus themselves have been putting out, which up until very recently resembled more of a Miata-meets-go-kart than a true high-end sports car. This leads us to the Radford Type 62-2 we spotted at SEMA 2022.
Sure, it may be based on the Exige, but the Radford looks a lot more super and a lot less 3/4 scale Great Value Porsche 918. The power has also been increased from 430 to 500hp which, let’s face it, is now the bare minimum to even get anyone’s attention these days. Although Lotus has always been all over the place with their services, performing suspension tuning for tons of other makes, running F1 teams, and even building road racing bicycles, I feel that given the proliferation of Lotus-based cars, and the sheer variety of offerings they have allowed to exist, I think it’s say to say that Lotus has settled into what they do best as of late. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Nobody besides a few hardcore fans may be playing Unreal Tournament anymore, but everyone and their cousin has seen a Star War or two made with the help of Unreal Engine without even realizing it. And that’s exactly how Lotus, and the Radford Type 62-2 feel to me.
Via Hylton Automotive, this vintage Chevrolet is referred to as “The Every Man’s Build” constructed from a vehicle donation to Hylton High School of Woodbridge, VA in 2019. What can a high school every man construct? No less than a hotrodded, frame-up restoration.
The distinct lime green and white paint scheme draws your eye to what Hylton is calling a work-in-progress. I’m not sure who the brainchild is of this build but their is no denying their taste in building a cool and budget-friendly custom.
The tri-power intake on the original 216 inline 6, feeding an engine that exits through a split-manifold into a planned dual exhaust. With barely more than 200 cubes being fedby three carbs on a log manifold I can assure you it will not be the fastest car at the SEMA show but it makes up for that with loads of charisma.
Hylton mentions their sponsors as well and since these companies are supporting these up-and-comers I feel that we should give kudos to Steele Rubber Products, LKQ, Chevs of the 40s, Tenneco, Advance Auto Parts, Scat, AFR, Spark, Carquest, Safelite, Hot Rodders of Tomorrow, Procar and Coker Tire.
This Chevy embodies the original hot rod ethos and encapsulates a time where you did what you could with what you had. The DIY aesthetic lives on and is created in the hearts, minds and hands of the next generation of builders. Keep building Hylton High.
