We drove up to Indy the night before thru some pretty heavy thunderstorms, but it had cleared off by the time we got there and we got to witness one of the hallmarks of this culture; draggin’. That’s not drag racing. It’s draggin’, as in dropping the vehicle’s body on the ground and draggin’ it down the street. Those sparks you see are created by metal-on-pavement, and it’s quite a crowd pleaser.

Altho the weekend weather forecast had been pretty favorable, when I pulled back the curtain in my hotel room at about 6:30 Saturday morning, I was greeted by thick gray clouds and steady rainfall that looked like it had been going on for some time. Never a good sign.

Slamology is in its 8th year, and it’s held at the Marion County fairgrounds. Normally this would be a good thing, but I had visions of these low-down machines trying to negotiate a muddy show field or worse yet, nothing at the show field!

We hung out at the hotel until about 9:00 am in hopes of improved weather, but when that didn’t materialize we figured we’d better get over there and shoot whatever we could. It was pretty sparse when we got there but to my amazement, there was a steady trickle of cars coming in, and there was some pretty interesting, and occasionally outlandish, stuff.

I could tell this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park tho. Between a new band every 30 minutes and the preponderance of insane thumper car stereo systems, audio was definitely a challenge. At some point tho you have to say, “Hey, that’s the scene.” and just roll with it. Which is exactly what we did.

The show ran the complete gambit from mild to wild; although there was a lot more wild. On the mild end, there was a very cool ’59 Merc Monterey. I can’t recall ever seeing one of these. This one was a two-door post, no options car. We’re talking three-on-the-tree, radio delete. I loved it tho. It was completely original (except for the airbags), still sporting its original paint. The owner brought it specifically because he thought I’d dig it, and he was right!

Another interesting ride was this ’84 Ford Bronco II. It was dropped about as far as you could without digging a basement, but what I really liked about it was that it was sporting a mid 50’s F-100 front end and a Ford flathead engine?!? I just thought that was so cool, and it may have been the only flathead I saw all day. This was actually the second incarnation for this Bronco at the hands of this owner, with the previous one being just as cool but completely different. Wonder what he’s got in mind for round three?

I also dug John Jackson’s dropped ’64 Corvair Corvan. John is a freelance automotive photographer and spends most of his time travelling the country shooting cars and car shows. Other than the metal flake vinyl seats and the lowering, this van was a stock Corvan and he’d driven it up nonstop from Houston, TX just for Slamology. That’s dedication; and nominally insane.

Since nobody’s really making a mini truck anymore, Slamologists have had to turn to bigger trucks like this 2005 Chevy Colorado to continue their modification mania. This was an example of how much you could change the appearance of a vehicle with reasonably few modifications. This was pretty much a stock pickup that had been seriously lowered, given trick wheels, a cowl induction hood, and some pretty nice paint & graphics. It was being transformed on a budget with the engine being the next thing on the list, but this truck was also the owner’s daily driver and it needs to get him back and forth to his job so he can continue to finance the transformation.

Rounding out the day was a killer ’61 Impala bubbletop. It was a color similar to Evening Orchid which was used on the ’65 Impala’s, but this version had a lot more orchid and less evening. This car was immaculately done and it came onto the show field low and slow; gliding not more than a couple inches off the ground. However when I found it later, I realized that it had full hydraulics and it was sitting there in an incredibly contorted position, but one that I must say showed off its chromed out undercarriage quite nicely. I’m not sure that the owner was all that impressed with my attempt to imitate the car’s stance tho.

Slamology was a really interesting show. While the vehicles may have been somewhat different than most shows out there, I’d have to say that the people really weren’t. They were still folks that really loved cars and the car hobby. They just practiced it a little differently than the mainstream. This may be a bit of a fringe element, but there are some really creative and talented people in it. I say, don’t fear the fringe! Attend one of these shows and take the introductory course; Slamology 101.

Happy Motoring,

We went down a day early so we could also take in a few of the sights in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter.

The temperature was 102 degrees that day, and I found myself strangely drawn to the signs heralding “Huge Ass Beers”. I can also say with certitude that was not false advertising!

We were looking at the potential of another 100+ degree day on Sunday, which can make shooting pretty brutal, but fortunately a light rain blew thru, dropping the temperature into the low 90’s. Not exactly chilly, but certainly more bearable.

There were about 600 cars in attendance, and the rain certainly didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. Hey, this is New Orleans, and a shower at a car show is a long way from what these folks consider adversity! Their sense of humor was in fine form too as I was greeted early on by a group sporting handlebar mustaches in honor of our attendance. If I’d had a little shoe polish for mine, I could have fit right in.

Another thing that takes a little getting used to is that everybody down there calls you, “Baby”. At first when all these women were calling me Baby, I thought, “Hey, I kinda like this!”, but when I realized that all the guys did it too, its appeal diminished a bit.

But have I mentioned there were cars there?

One that stood out to me was a ‘65 Plymouth Satellite convertible whose new owner had just completed his second tour of duty in Iraq. You don’t see these very often, and this wasn’t an over-the-top restoration; just a really nice driver. And that’s why he bought it, and that’s what he does with it. I hope he enjoys his cruisin’. He’s certainly earned it!

There was a pretty cool ’29 Model AA fire truck that was used up until 1953 by the fire department in nearby Bucktown.

As well as a really nice old school ’55 Chevy Gasser. This was owned by a guy who had been in local law enforcement for over 30 years and hence the name, Lawman.

There was a wide array of T-birds in attendance, but the one that caught my attention was this ’72 mega-bird. You don’t see these very often either. This thing was the size of a Lincoln Continental, and it was largely original. It had the 460 cui engine which it probably needed to haul all that weight around. Perhaps not one of the sexiest Birds ever built, but I bet it’s like driving the living room.

Rounding out the shoot was a nice little ‘36 hot rod Chevy truck. It was an eye-catching peach color with teal contrast, not to mention its heavily chromed, blown engine.

Everybody had a great time at the show, and I’m sure I’ll be working my cholesterol back down for the next couple months after all that deep fried seafood. The next stop is an event called, Slamology, in Indianapolis, and I expect that to be a whole different kettle of fish, so to speak.

Happy Motoring,

One of the stars of the show was Tim Kerrigan’s ’62 Impala SS 409; beautifully resto-modded and sporting a two-tone red & faint yellow paint scheme. Tim is the President of Red Line Oil and the particular red he used is a DuPont color called Redline Red. Go figure. The paint theme was carried thru in the interior with the gauge faces being the same faint yellow used on the exterior.

Another fav of mine was a ’54 Chevy custom. I thought the car was pretty slick, but I especially got a kick out of its owner. He was a real character who did a Rodney Dangerfield that was second only to Dangerfield himself. The car had a Shock Top draft pull for a gearshift knob, and he claimed that he had to drain an entire keg at a local watering hole to get it. I got together with him there after the show to help in case he might need another one.

In the hardcore performance category, there was a serious ’69 Barracuda with the rare “Slickback” vinyl top option. The vinyl top was particularly interesting since this was a 10 sec drag car. However, this car could also be outfitted in “street dress” and since the owner was a California Highway Patrol officer, I suspect it was pretty well behaved when it wasn’t on the strip.

One of the weirdest vehicles at the show was a ’60 Jeep Forward Control, which I’d never even heard of. Forward Control was Jeep’s name for a cab-over-engine design. These could be configured differently depending on the application, and this one had spent most of its life as a wrecker in Colorado. You’d never know it tho because it was beautifully restored, and its nine-foot bed was straight as an arrow.

Rounding out the shoot was a really interesting ’68 442. What made it so unique were its interior and exterior colors. The body color was called “ivory”, but it definitely had a hint of green in it, and this was matched with a green vinyl top. The interior was perfect and while it was called “willow gold”, it had a lot of green in it too. The original 400 engine had been upgraded to a 455 out of a Tornado. The green rally wheels from a later model 442 might have been a little over the top (and I’m a green guy!). But you’re not likely to see another one like it, and this baby was sweet.

Next week we’ll be in PA finishing up the last shoot for the 2011 season. I think. It’s all sort of a blur to me. Might be lingering effects from all that Shock Top.

Happy Motoring,

West Point is a town of about 3,600 people situated roughly midway between Omaha and Sioux Falls, SD but somehow they manage to pull in 700+ really nice cars to the brick streets of the downtown for this one day show.

One of the first vehicles to come rolling in on the morning of the show was a completely restored ’51 Oliver 77 tractor. (Hey, it’s Nebraska!) I ran out and flagged the guy down because this was the tractor I had grown up on. Ours was actually a ’53 Super 77, but they were virtually identical, except that ours never looked as good as this one. From a styling standpoint, these are really cool tractors (if you’re into tractors, that is). Strangely enough, the Oliver was followed by a ’47 John Deere B which was the other tractor we had on the farm. You can see that the woman driving the JD is operating the hand clutch with her right hand. Man did these take me back!

As for my gloves in this picture, I wasn’t doing my best Mickey Mouse impersonation; I was freezing! It was so cold that the cameraman was having trouble operating the camera so he ducked into a dollar store and scored a 3-pack of these goofy gloves. I took him up on it when he offered me a pair.

The weather got better as the day went on but not by much. I’m not sure it ever made it up to 50 degrees with overcast skies and a constant fine mist that you could barely see with your eye, but that was attracted to the camera lens as if it was a mist magnet. Considering the previous two days had been even worse tho with heavy rains, I wasn’t really complaining.

The weather sure didn’t deter folks from bringing out some really interesting cars, like this chopped ’49 Merc wagon. Of course Merc never really made this car, but they should have. The front end was ’49 Merc, but the rest of the body was ’56 Ford wagon and the roof was from a ’57 Ford wagon. There were pieces from about six or seven other makes, models, and years in this build, and the Merc yellow from ’49 with subtle pinstriping made this an incredibly slick car.

There was also the nicest ’64 Griffith I had ever seen in attendance. These cars were built in Long Island and utilized TVR fiberglass bodies from England. They weighed almost nothing and were typically powered by 289 Fords making them little screamers. This one had been upgraded to a built 302 which I’m sure made it a screamer plus!

In the “what-were-they-thinking?!?” category was a ’74 blown pro-street CJ5 Jeep. Still running an AMC engine but now pumping out over 1100 hp, I suspect that its wheelie bars come in handy at times.

A car that I almost walked by at first was the Camaro above; not because it wasn’t a really nice car, but because I initially mistook it for a new Camaro. This baby was actually a ’67 and was one of the most elaborate resto-mods I have ever seen. It goes by the name, Scar, for all the cuts that were made in the body in the process of its transformation.

There was also a single-cylinder 1908 Reo that had been in the same family since 1918. I’m always fascinated by the engineering in these early automobiles. The engine was under the seat and with a couple spins of the side crank, she fired right up.

I had been asked to make a “Dennis Gage pick” at the show, and I was so taken by that little Reo and its story that I made it my pick. This event is also known as The Home of the Monster Trophies, and the one that went to the owners of the Reo may have been the biggest one there. It was actually taller than the woman who received it, and boy was she thrilled!

We’re always looking for a quirky way to close the show, and we found it in a Galaxy body shell that was mounted to a Roller Hoop rotisserie. Look closely; that’s me behind the wheel, and it gave a whole new meaning to taking a car for a spin.

Happy Motoring,

This area has been a vacation destination since the people started taking vacations in this country, and it still has some vestiges of an earlier time like really elaborate miniature golf establishments that are a complete throwback to the 50’s.

The 10-day weather forecast leading up to the show had shown four days of fairly crappy weather, a beautiful Saturday (which was the day we were planning to shoot), and then several more days of crappy weather. I was more than a bit skeptical of the nice Saturday when we flew into Albany on Friday, and you could see from the air that the entire area was covered with a fairly thick, unbroken cloud layer. This is usually a bad sign but to my amazement, the forecast turned out to be spot on, and we had an absolutely stunning day to shoot.

The event itself is held on the grounds of the Fort William Henry Resort, which has also been around for quite some time. It’s situated roughly at one end of the strip that is the town of Lake George and has a gorgeous view of the lake and the low mountains that surround it. And when you pack a little over 1550 show cars onto the 18 acre property, it looks even better!

One car that was hard to miss was a slammed ’63 Galaxy convertible that was electric blue with rainbow flake and a near-blinding white interior. It was a bit of a twist on the low rider thing which tends to lean more toward the full body Chevys of the same era, and in the bright sunlight it was almost a beacon. The car still had its original 289 engine which was also sort of surprising because most folks would have opted for the 390 in such a big, heavily optioned car.

And while I consider all T-buckets to be fairly insane, there was one in attendance that I would probably move to the head of that class. Built back in the 70’s, this baby was powered by a big block Chevy with three; count ‘em, three! quads. These were married to the engine with an ultra rare Weiand manifold, also from back in the day. Chromed out and polished to the max, with an orange/red interior that absolutely screamed. My guess, that’s also what passengers do when taken for a ride in this monster.

I came across a ’77 Pontiac CanAm which I had almost forgotten existed. They made fewer than 1400 of these, in part because they had problems with the tooling for the rear spoiler. The car also utilized the dash from the Grand Prix of that same year, but when the spoiler tooling broke, they decided to stop production of the CanAm and save the dashes for the better-selling Grand Prix. All CanAms were white with orange and red striping on the hood that turned it into a giant Pontiac arrowhead. They had the 6.6L engine and shaker scoop, interior door panels unique to the car, and the aforementioned Grand Prix dash. Overall, pretty late 70’s funky, but definitely unique.

One owner had done a really tasteful mild custom on a ’53 Vette. Most of the badging and other hardware had been removed but otherwise, the body was unmodified. The interior had been cleaned up too but was also still recognizable as period Vette. The paint was his own blend of an orange metal flake, and the whole car had sort of a Dreamcicle feel. It looked absolutely delicious. All the owner had started with was a body with no engine or running gear, he did the majority of the work himself, and I believe it was his first build. It was more than beginner’s luck tho; this guy was clearly talented.

Rounding out the cars that I highlighted was a ‘74 AMC Matador X. This was a completely original car, and it’s another one you don’t see every day. AMC’s are sort of the Rodney Dangerfield of automobiles having never gotten the respect they deserve, but I’ve always liked them. They certainly took some styling risks, not all of which worked out all that well, but the Matador X is a pretty interesting car that has lines you won’t see in any other American car of that era.

In addition to the great car show, the Adirondack Nats also boasts two nights of cruisin’ the strip in Lake George. The entire cruise was packed with spectators, and they were treated to a rolling car show that went on for three hours each night.

We had a great time, saw some killer cars and met some really good people. Our thanks to all the folks in the Albany Rods & Kustoms club who put on the Adirondack Nationals, the Fort William Henry Resort, and especially to Rick & Donna Brayman, the ARK members who led the charge for a couple years to get us there. Boy am I glad they did!

Happy Motoring,

No worries tho, this little town on the Ontario/Quebec border about halfway between Ottawa and Montreal puts on a heck of a show and packed about 700 cars into just about every nook and cranny the town had. It’ll make an episode that all Canadians can be proud of!

The day was a bit chilly, but we were certainly given a warm reception. And they fixed us up with a couple of the coolest golf carts I’ve ever seen to get around in.

One of the challenges tho was that there were probably more French-speaking people in attendance than English-speaking folks. I would have loved to interview a guy who had built one of the most unique motorcycles I have ever seen, but he spoke virtually no English.

We had to settle for exchanging “thumbs up”, and I’m confident the message got thru.

One of the weirdest things I saw was a camper built on a ’65 Pontiac Parisian convertible. This thing was hilarious but amazingly well thought out and functional. It had apparently been across Canada a number of times and was still going strong. Now that’s camping in style!

And speaking of campers, there was also a 1980 VW Vanagon with the pop-up camper option. This interior was completely stock with stove, refrigerator, and sink, and it looked like it would be a blast to travel in. I would probably have bought it on the spot, but the owner said his four young kids would kill him if he ever sold it.

There was a ’62 Dodge wagon with a dual quad 413 Max Wedge under the hood that looked really slick. The ’62 Dodge was not a particularly good looking car (and some descriptions of it are considerably less kind), but as a wagon, this car looked pretty cool. I’m sure it’s plenty quick too.

Probably the most exotic car there was a ’71 Monteverdi 375L. This is an Italian-designed, Swiss-built, 440 Chrysler-powered grand touring car. I just love these cars, and only a handful of them were built. This owner found his in London. The only other guys I know that have these are Jay Leno and Bob Lutz, the Swiss-born former Chrysler and GM executive.

Before we were able to do this interview tho, I had to scale a streetlight pole to silence a chain that was swinging in the breeze and making a clanking sound that our mics were picking up like crazy. 30 years of technical rock climbing experience came in handy here, and I’m sure it was entertaining to onlookers.

And what would a Canadian show be without a Canadian car? The one I went for was this pro-street ’62 Pontiac Acadian. It is basically a Chevy Nova with a different grill, tail lights, and badging. And in this case, a considerably beefier engine.

And in the category of Ford performance, there was this ’86 SVO Mustang. This particular car was one of eight actual Competition Prep cars that were shipped to Canada. These cars had an intercooled, turbocharged 2.3 L engine, double deck rear spoiler, and numerous interior appointments unique to the Comp Prep SVO’s. The engine was amazingly quiet, but it’s also apparently pretty fast.

Next stop will be upstate New York for the Adirondack Nationals in Lake George. The only language barrier I envision there is possibly the occasional Jersey accent. I think I can manage that.

Happy Motoring,

My second thought/concern tho was whether there’d be enough diversity in the cars to make an interesting episode especially since they all share such similar lines. I decided to give it a go anyway and was pleasantly surprised that there was plenty to pick from.

The Datsun 240Z came to the US in 1970, and it was the beginning of putting Japanese performance on the map. They were slick, sleek, affordable, and lots of fun to drive. For most folks, this was the first Japanese sports car they’d ever seen. If you lived on the west coast, you may have been familiar with their predecessors the Datsun 1600 and 2000 roadsters, but not many of these made it very far east. The 240Z however was marketed coast-to-coast.

The Nissan headquarters made a great backdrop for the show and since Franklin is just outside Nashville, the club had also engaged one of the many great local bands to provide the music for the day rather than going the typical DJ route. The band was The Dirty Curties, an all-female group which struck me as appropriate since the Z-cars and the roadsters before them went by the model name, Fairlady, in Japan. The band was great and Datsun was wise to rename the cars for the US market.

Although it was a Z-car gathering with several hundred of them in attendance, there was actually one 2000 roadster there which really stood out. This car was gorgeous tho and would have even stood out in a sea of other Datsun roadsters.

At first glance, this ’67 2000 was stock appearing except for the paint which was an eye-popping orange metallic. But upon closer examination, it was slightly lowered and under the hood it sported a really unique all-aluminum SR20 DTE engine out of an ’01 Nissan Sylvia; a model we don’t even have in the US. 16-valve with variable valve timing and turbo charged from the factory, this baby develops about 250 hp. I suspect it’s a rocketship to drive.

These roadsters are often dinged for being a bit of a knockoff of the MGB from a styling standpoint, but Datsun owners are quick to point out that the ’63 1600 actually came out three or four months before the launch of the MGB. So have that with your tea and crumpets!

But after all, it was a Z-car gathering so let’s get to some Z’s. The most extreme would have to be a Bob Sharp Racing wide body 280ZX powered by a twin-turbo 700 hp V8 Nissan engine. Paul Newman had raced this car back in the day and although it wasn’t all that competitive, it sounded downright angry when it fired up.

There were also a couple other interesting variations on a theme. One was a ’72 Scarab. These were V8-conversion cars created by a company called Scarab Engineering in Campbell, California which sold a few factory converted cars and a far greater number of conversion kits thru the 70’s and 80’s. In addition to the small block Chevy V8, this particular Scarab had flared fenders and a whale tale giving it a particularly aggressive look.

Another Z-mod car also started life as a ’72 240 but was transformed in the mid 80’s for the showcar circuit and sported a number of BSR body mods including a wide body kit and G nose, and then was finished in a very cool paint scheme. It had been restored to its showcar state by its current owner, who also happens to be a Nissan master tech.

Just so you know, there was also tons of bone stock Z’s at the show too, ranging from the earliest 240’s all the way up to the latest greatest 370’s. One that caught my eye was a really clean 1980 10th Anniversary 280Z. Altho these cars had packed on a few pounds since their 240 youth and now had clunkier US-regulation bumpers, they were still decidedly Z’s and still very cool. Only a couple thousand were made in the gold & black anniversary paint scheme and another 500 in an even-more-rare red & black combo. The t-top and gold leather interior combined with everything else to make this a very sharp car.

Our next stop will be West Yellowstone, MT for the Yellowstone Rod Run, and I’m counting on some cooler weather after these last couple shoots in the heat and humidity of the Midwest. And to all my Nissan friends at this year’s Z-Con; Arigato!

Happy Motoring,

Last weekend the state was also the setting for the Northwest Motorfest; Idaho’s largest car show. It’s held on the grounds of the Idaho Expo in Boise, and you don’t have to be there long before you learn that it’s pronounced, Boic-e, not Boyz-e; thank you very much!

In addition to the typical car show stuff, this event also had numerous side attractions; things like holeshot and burnout contests.

I’m not sure, but I think the meteorological term for the cloud that is rising from behind this Chev is cumulorubberus.

It also had things more specific to the Northwest, like V8 chainsaw demonstrations. Now, that’s just crazy!

Throw in the Wall of Death and rock crawling demos, and this was a veritable three-ring circus.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Idaho since I lived at the other end of the state up in Moscow for nearly 5 years and went to grad school at the University of Idaho. Go Vandals! And I’m always looking for an excuse to get back out there.

Southern Idaho is more arid than the northern part of the state and when you look at the smoothly rolling hills that make up much of the terrain around Boise, you can tell that it was once the floor of a massive lake 15,000 or so years ago.

And did I mention it was hot? We shot the show on Saturday, and it was 98 degrees with a bright blue sky. Yeah, I know it’s a “dry heat”, but that’s still really hot! Fortunately there were more than enough cool cars around to keep the whole thing manageable.

This was the 8th year for the Northwest Motorfest, and it’s a really great event. As I mentioned, there’s a lot going on over the course of the weekend, but at the core of it all is a car show that drew nearly 900 cars.

There was everything at this show from the most refined, like this ’54 Buick Skylark, to the most extreme, like this blown ’29 Nash rat rod.

Honestly, I had always felt the ’54 Skylark was a bit clunkier looking than the ’53 Skylark. They had added stuff in ’54 that “heavied” the car up, and it never worked for me. But then I ran across this killer ’54 convertible in Lido green with the white inner fender wells that just blew me away. This rare stock color combo softened everything and really worked on this car.

The rat rod looked like something out of an Ed Roth nightmare; and I’ll bet Ed’s “normal” dreams were already pretty weird. It started out as a ’29 Nash (I think?). There was some pretty interesting frame and drivetrain engineering, and the absurdly-blown big block Ford truck engine was a nice touch. I think it was the “Super Single” rear tires that got me tho. I had never heard of these, but they are apparently the equivalent of semi truck duals in a single tire; and that’s big.

There was a great ’61 Plymouth Fury mild custom that the owner had found stuffed away in a garage two doors down from his house and bought for a couple grand. All it needed was some minor body work and a repaint. He went with a lime green metal flake with a silver large metal flake top. This really set off the wild lines on this car. Still sporting the original interior and 318 engine, this baby is driven everywhere.

A car that I hadn’t seen for a long time was this ’66 Merc Monterey. I had forgotten how long and straight these cars were. This thing is the size of a Suburban. Really cool integration of the taillights and signal lights in the styling, and a stately yet aggressive stance. Ah, Merc; I miss you already! Altho it had been de-badged, the door handles shaved, and a functional Boss 429 hood scoop added, I would say this car was more “personalized” than “customized”. It still had a lot of its already-cool-from-the-factory original design DNA. I really liked this car.

It was hard to miss this ‘37 street-legal drag Topolino. Think about it tho; none of those words seem like they should go together. The Fiat Topolino is a tiny little car, and its name means “little mouse” in Italian, but this baby was more like Mighty Mouse. A custom frame and a crate 350 with zoomie exhaust made it look like it would be a blast to drive. But you better like your passenger, because you are going to be really close to them!

It takes every minute we have at a show to get enough footage to make an episode, but we still have to eat. I usually live on beef jerky during a shoot because it’s quick, packed with protein, and can withstand the elements. Ben, the producer/shooter, on the other hand needs real food to survive. Wuss. Something about lugging around a 20 pound camera all day in near 100 degree heat. Yada yada.

One of the challenges on the road in general, and particularly at a car show, tho is finding something at least marginally healthy to eat. And as we strolled Food Row in the early afternoon in search of sustenance, it wasn’t looking nutritionally pretty, but then suddenly, right at the intersection of Corndog and Funnel Cake, there he was; Chris “Saladman” Olson.

Saladman has been a fixture at events in the area for ten years, and he whipped us up a couple huge crab Louis’ that were to die for. Trust me, the beef jerky will keep till the next shoot; in fact, probably till the next season.

The day was capped off with the Capitol City Cruise. The city had dedicated several blocks of downtown Boise to cruisers only, and several hundred cars took the opportunity to roll past the state capitol building for a couple hours in the early evening under beautiful skies. Life is good.

The show went on again Sunday, but Ben & I blew out of town at 6:30 in the morning bound for E’ville. This week we’ve been in the office finishing the remaining new episodes for the 2010 season and also working on a new project. Next week I’m off to Pasadena for my final SEMA Board of Directors meeting. I’m finally terming out after 7 years on the SEMA Board. I’ll also be attending the SEMA Cares car show while I’m out there on Saturday, July 25. This is a fundraiser for SEMA’s two charities; Childhelp and Victory Junction Gang.

The following weekend tho I’ll be back in the production saddle when we shoot the Z-Car Convention at the Nissan Headquarters in Franklin, TN. I’ve been brushing up on handy Japanese phrases and believe it or not, “dou itashimashite” (which is pronounced an awful lot like “Don’t touch the mustache”) means, “You’re welcome”. I think that phrase is going to come in handy for me in both Japanese and English.

Happy Motoring,

It was commissioned in 1949 by the city’s Merchant’s Association to kick off the Christmas shopping season and shortly thereafter Roanoke was nicknamed “The Star City of the South”. It’s a really nice town and the view of it from Mill Mountain is pretty cool.

This was the 9th year for the event, and it is held right downtown on Jefferson Street which is one of the main streets. It was originally created as a fundraiser to build a permanent automotive exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, and to date they have raised over a quarter of a million dollars. Currently the stars of this museum are a pair of massive steam locomotives, the Norfolk and Western Class A-1218 and the streamlined Class J-611; the most modern steam locomotives ever built.

Both of these babies were actually designed and built right in Roanoke in N & W’s own shops, so it’s appropriate to have them back where they came from.

Motor Madness kicked off with a cruise Friday night on Williamson Road which was basically Roanoke’s Woodward Avenue back in the day. Ironically, the city outlawed cruising on Williamson Road in the late 70’s as a way to try to control car-crazed young hoodlums. Now that we’re all car-crazed old hoodlums tho, the city has had a change of heart and once again embraces the tradition.

Probably close to a thousand cars hit the streets that night to the delight of the tens of thousands of spectators that lined both sides of the three-mile cruise strip. A good time was had by all.

The weather was perfect for the day of the show, albeit a bit toasty. The event had its best turnout ever with about 500 cars in attendance. The downtown setting was great, and there were some really interesting vehicles.

One of my favs was an extremely radical Salt Flats Bug.

This baby had an 8 inch chop, Indy car inspired front suspension, and a 2.8 liter V6 and drivetrain out of a Cavalier. The Cavalier is a front wheel drive car, but the whole set up was installed in back to drive the rear wheels of this bad-to-the-bone bug.

A ’52 Nash with its funky roll-back top and a killer ’63 M37 B1 military version of the Dodge Powerwagon also caught my eye.

I came across a rat rod that was made from (among other things) a ’59 Pontiac. Probably the coolest thing was that this car was built by an 18 year old, and mostly from found parts. I think this kid’s got a future in this hobby!

Rounding out the list was a car that belonged to Robert Bennett, one of the co-founders of the show. Robert collects movie cars, and he had brought the ’59 Caddy Ambulance that was from the first Ghostbusters, complete with all the ECE (Ectoplasma Containment Equipment). This thing was hilarious.

Star City Motor Madness is an event worth going to, and I think it’s going to make a great episode. Tomorrow, we’re off to Boise, Idaho for the 8th annual Northwest Motorfest. This is Idaho’s largest car show, and it should be good time. I thought it was pretty hot in Roanoke, but Boise’s forecast for the weekend is calling for highs of 98 degrees. It’s a dry heat out there tho. Right?

Happy Motoring,

It was three airplanes and about 16 hours total travel time before we finally got to the Bear Lodge; our base of operations for the next few days.

I had built an extra day into the schedule for a change to recover from the inevitable jet lag. The car show itself wasn’t till Saturday, and although there was an organized cruise to a salmon bake Friday evening, we basically had Friday to kill. Since this event was being hosted by the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, I figured walk-thru would be a good way to spend the morning.

Fairbanks really isn’t a very big town, about 40,000 people, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the museum, but I could not have been more wrong. This place absolutely blew me away. The museum was the vision of owner Tim Cerny and his wife Barb. The collection has several one-of-one and only-one-left cars as well as several Alaska-specific vehicles (which were extremely weird).

It is also probably the best lit and laid-out museum I have ever seen. I wasn’t there long before I started thinking that there might be an episode here too.

The weather on Friday was a bit iffy, but it cleared off by late afternoon in time for the cruise over to a salmon bake across town. It was held in Fairbank’s Pioneer Park and although somewhat touristy, it was extremely tasty. I got to lead the group of about 20 rods and classics in a 1910 Stanley Steamer. All that time I’ve spent with Leno and his steamers paid off, and I was able to get us there without incident.

The cruise-in the following day was held on the grounds of the Wedgewood Resort and the day was perfect. I should also mention that there was a lot of it. This time of year the sun really doesn’t set up there. The closest thing you get to night is a sort of twilight period that lasts for about an hour between 2:00 and 3:00 am and otherwise, it’s just day. I was pretty disoriented (even more so than usual) the whole time I was up there.

All totaled, about 180 cars made it to the cruise-in on Saturday. Most were from Fairbanks and the surrounding area, but several had come up from Anchorage. There was also a couple that happened by the show who had driven their Argentine-built 1965 Kaiser Estanceria (basically a Willys Jeep) all the way from Argentina over a period of three years and were just beginning their trip back home. And here I thought I was going to get the “long haul” award.

The cruise-in officially wrapped about 3:00 pm at which time about 40 cars queued up to head out on a 35 mile cruise around the area with stops to view the pipeline and at the University of Alaska. I was out front on most of this one too driving a ’27 boat-tail Stutz Blackhawk from the museum. Man, what a car!

The evening culminated with a dinner at the museum for the show participants. There was a surprise visit from the governor of Alaska, Sean Parnell (not the one that quit), who warmly welcomed me to the state. I presented the show’s awards, but the real entertainment for the evening was provided by Alaska legend, Mr. Whitekeys. This guy is absolutely hilarious and he put on a manic, hour-long one-man show. Now that James Brown is gone, I think Mr. Whitekeys has gotta be the hardest workin’ man in show business.

The next day was Sunday and it poured rain most of the day so we figured we may as well shoot the museum. As it turns out, we shot all day and came back for a good part of the following day to get it all done. It had stopped raining so we also got a chance to take a few more of the museum cars out and get some driving footage on Monday. What a blast!

Monday was also the summer solstice and at 11:00 pm we went up in the 1953 Cessna 180 float plane pictured above to get some aerial shots of the area and to fly over the Midnight Sun baseball game. This was the 105th annual game and it is touted as being the only baseball game played at midnight without lights. It was a strange feeling when I realized that it was 1:00 am and I was still wearing shades!

We weren’t scheduled to fly out till 5:15 pm on Tuesday so Ben & I took off on a road trip headed in the direction of Denali. We only got about halfway there before we ran short on time and had to turn back toward Fairbanks, but the scenery alone was worth the price of admission. We also had time to stop in for a regional brew at an Alaskan institution, Skinny Dick’s Half Way Inn. I mean really, with a name like that, how could you pass it up?

Another three planes and about 17 hours this time and we were back in E’ville. For all of 36 hours, that is. We leave on Friday morning for Roanoke, VA to shoot the Star City Motor Madness. I look forward to it being dark at night.

Happy Motoring,