Kids and Hot Rods – The Youth Crew

If you haven’t figured out what MyRideisMe.com is about, maybe this story will help. In speaking with Kai, also known as falconizer_62, I found out he’s having a few kids from a local church’s youth group help him with (you guessed it) his 62 Falcon Wagon Project.

Kai’s written a few blogs in his garage. Did you know you can do that? He’s quite the craftsman, or maybe as you’ll see, all the credit goes to the kids! I’ll let Kai tell the whole story, but just so you know where his heart is, I’ll give you a piece:

One of my favorite things about building a car or taking on any project of that size is the community that is created around the construction of it. When you work on a project of this magnitude and with as many high school kids that have stepped foot into the garage, every step along the way and stage of the project has significant and specific memories of conversations and people. Many of you probably do not know, but I have bilateral nerve damage in my arms, and lost the use of both my arms for about five years. During this time, I could do nothing, so I ended up helping my wife with the youth group at our church. What a cool experience to get to know other people’s teenagers :-). Most of them actually listen when they’re not yours. However, it was sad to see so much potential in those kids, and not a whole lot of output.

To read the rest of the story, please CLICK HERE to go to falconizer_62’s garage then click on “My Blog” to read it. Thanks Kai!

Open Invitation to All Car Types – Lowriders

Visiting MyRideisMe.com you’ll notice that it’s pretty heavy on Hot Rods. What can I say? That’s what I like most, that’s what I photograph most and hot rod shows are my scene. But… MyRideisMe.com is NOT limited to any one type of car. Not at all. It’s more then a URL, My Ride is Me is the theme of the site. What is it about your car that describes you? It’s always something! You didn’t just HAPPEN to like lifted Jeeps or 1970 Chevelles or 64 Fairlanes. There’s a reason you say, “That’s my ride.”

Lowriders and custom cars: Read more here

Bodywork 101 – Patience to make it flat

You can’t expect to learn bodywork in 1 afternoon, no matter how good the teacher is, but one thing’s for certain: You’ll never learn unless you get in there and try it. This blog and the ones that will follow will show some basic bodywork techniques anyone can do (especially if I can do it!). Since I’m starting from nothing, I hope the pictures and videos will help you get started too.

Just starting, that’s where I am with my 1963 Falcon Wagon build. The body’s really not that bad, but after 45 years on the road, a Sherman tank needs panel work before glossy paint. As I mentioned in the “Holman & Moody Boss 429 – (you should read this)” I headed over to Squeeg’s Kustom to get started learning. I hooked up with Matt Vesay and interrupted his work on a stretched Dearborn Deuce body to get started on the upper splash apron (just above the front bumper) from a custom getting painted. The panel was fiberglass, but that didn’t really matter for what I needed to learn which was anything and everything! I told Matt I didn’t even know how to mix the body filler, so he knew to start from the beginning. As the photos walk you through the progress, you’ll see that patience is key and that even when things look really bad, you can fix it.

Automotive body work: Read More

1965 Tiki Suburban – Perfect Theme Execution

MyRideisMe.com is happy to have 680 members now, including this bad 1965 Chevy Suburban owned by Cameron and Debbie Day from Austin, TX. This is another well done “shop truck” for their hot rod parts business House O Speed. They have created a GREAT garage already even though they just joined. Their garage is a great example of how you can show detailed pics of the interior, engine and exterior of your ride in an organized way. You don’t need to insert pics in an email to show a buddy what you’re up to on your ride, just send them over to your MyRideisMe.com garage and you’re all set!

Cam says, this is Ratiki. It began life as an Arizona based 1965 Chevy Suburban built by my friends and I from the ground up over the span of five years. The concept was Cam’s, that existed as ideas, a few magazine pics and some sketches. Cam then turned to my buddy Brian Stupski from Problem Child Kustoms to render the truck. Brian kindly referred the Day’s over cause he knows I’ve got a weak spot (or maybe a screw loose) for wagons. Somehow, this truck really winds my clock.

Need to know more about this truck? Spend some time checking out 1965classiccar.com. It’s got tons of detailed pics of the build. It’s the kind of site we wish we all had for the build of our rides. (And now you can with My Ride is Me!)

Classic Cars – Read More

Godzilla GTR Armada!

It’s tough to focus; I’ve had something on my mind since this morning. Then it hit me; I can see it now: Grocery shopping, trips to the mall, the neighbor kid’s hair on fire, sippy cups take flight! It’s a new understanding and appreciation of the Earth’s natural forces as clear and clean as Maricopa’s morning air. I layout targets for the New Dimensional Multi-Performance Super-SUV: 0-60 faster than most vintage Z’s and enough power and torque to roast Escalades (forget minivans!) I just set targets for the new Armada GTR. God I love my job!

These are both big, high quality images available at MyRideisMe.com courtesy of Brian Stupski from Problem Child Kustoms Studio.

Click on either pic to go to get the full story and the pics, or Concept car art: CLICK HERE.

The Throttle Kings of Southern California

What do Hot Rods, cool Kustoms, the LA Roadster show and Octopus have in common? The Throttle Kings of Southern California. In 2007 when MyRideisMe.com was barely idling, I hit the LA Roadster show hard with cards and t-shirts to spread the word. That was when I first met Victor Busatamante. Victor listened about my dream of “Myspace for car guys” and offered a beer to celebrate that I was done jabbering. By that time, I had the pitch down, but even I was tired of hearing it. One beer led to another, then Victor and his buddies were making carne asada and fed me well. You don’t meet guys that generous every day. I was grateful for the hospitality so I loaded up the boys with MyRideisMe.com t-shirts.

Fast forward 1 year to 2008. As Saturday at the Roadster Show was winding down, I set out to find Victor and his guys again. Not so hard, just look for the guys having the most fun! A little ways out, I found them. This year was no different then last. Everyone was having a great time, sipping beers and eating what? Oysters and fried octopus? I tried one of those little suckers too. Chewy.

I got the idea to grab a picture of each Throttle King member with their car. For these guys, their rides do tell a story about their personalities. My Ride is Me. With every member nicer then the next, they each told me how they help each other out with their rides and if they’re not working, they traveling together to one of the MANY shows and cruises in the greater Los Angeles area.

It didn’t take long to notice I needed almost every letter in the alphabet to get their names! Bustamante and Kopis Georgakopoulos (Greek if you’re wondering), give you the idea. That’s Kopis’s 51 Pontiac Chieftain.

Besides the cocktails and friendship, I also shot some pictures of Don Simm’s wife Doreen. That was my first chance to try pinup photography.

Doreen is a natural, now if I was a talented photographer… you can read that blog… Click HERE.

I hope to see everyone next year, or maybe at the Primer Nationals in Ventura.

Until then, here’s the Throttle Kings and their cars.

Thanks for everything!

See you next year.

• Victor Bustamante’s 30 Ford Coupe (Visit his garage)
• Kopis Georgakopoulos’ 51 Pontiac Chieftain (Visit his garage)
• Don Simms’ 29 Ford Roadster (Visit his garage)
• Jim Ramirez’s 36 Ford Pickup
• Pete Rodriguez’s 50 Ford 2 door sedan

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