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,

This sleek streamliner was created by mechanical engineer, Norman E. Timbs, back in 1948. The aluminum body was hand-formed by legendary metal man, Emil Diedt, and it was powered by a mid-engine Buick straight eight. The car actually graced the cover of the second issue of the newly-launched magazine, Motor Trend, back in October 1949.

Gary and Diane Cerveny are the proud owners of this baby. They have a number of cars in their collection and their tastes run the gambit from Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts to vintage drag and Indy cars, but they really made a commitment when they took on the restoration of the Timbs Special.

After its glory days in the late 40’s and 50’s, the car had some less auspicious decades including a stint as an attraction out in front of a SoCal restaurant with kids running up the back and sliding down the fenders. It was largely forgotten until what was left of it was auctioned at the Peterson Museum back in 2002 and was bought (almost accidentally) by Gary for about $17,000.

Gary, his son, and his father embarked on the restoration. Altho they had done numerous award-winning restorations in the past, after four years they decided to call in the cavalry and engaged the services of Dave Crouse and Custom Auto in Loveland, CO. Dave and his merry band spent another three years to recreate the masterpiece that is the Timbs Special. All told, over 5,500 hours went in the restoration of this car. It is absolutely stunning.

But wait, there’s more! We paired the TImbs Special up with another fav of mine from Gary & Diane’s collection, a ’55 Hudson Italia.

I’ve always liked these cars, and I’ve only seen one other in my life. However, that represents 33% of all of them known to exist since only six were built, and this particular car is the only one to have had its anemic six cylinder Hudson Jet engine replaced by a 265 cui Corvette crate engine by the dealership back in 1955 prior to it being sold to its first owner.

This car was a last gasp effort, like the Kaiser Darrin and the Nash Healey, to try to spruce up the stodgy image of a struggling car manufacturer. Hudson Jets were shipped to Turin, Italy and the steel bodies and pedestrian interiors were replaced with hand-formed aluminum, rich leather, and a lot of Italian flare.

I got a chance to take both these babies out on the road on a beautiful SoCal day, and I savored every minute. The styling on both of them was just spectacular, and there was so much detail to shoot on each one of them that I finally had to drag Ben away or we’d still be there.

The following day, we shot with Jay Leno again but that’s a whole other story. Next week we’re off to Fairbanks, Alaska for the Midnight Sun Cruise-In. The weather might be a little different up there, but we sure shouldn’t run out of light.

Happy Motoring,

Winnipeg is a real car town. Without a doubt, it is the cruisin’ capital of Manitoba; and perhaps all of western Canada. There are a lot of cars there and the quality is quite high. I attribute that to a combination of factors; very skilled craftsmen and really long winters. I also love going up there because they are such huge fans of the show. I always say, there are no fans like Canadian fans!

I flew in on Saturday and when the plane broke thru the cloud cover during landing, I noticed a lot of standing water everywhere on the ground. They apparently had gotten quite a bit of rain the previous night and earlier that day. I figured that surely it would clear off for Sunday’s cruise-in, but instead it proceeded to dump record amounts of rainfall through the evening and well into the night.

Underpasses throughout the city were flooded, the Red River which runs thru Winnipeg was well beyond its banks, and the flood control system that diverts excess water around the city was at its capacity. All I could think was, “Well this sucks!”

Sunday morning didn’t start out much better. It was grey and chilly and showed little promise for improvement. Peter had a VIP brunch at one of his restaurants, and I was surprised at the number of people that attended with their cars in spite of the weather. These Canucks are tough!

The cruise-in itself was scheduled to run from 4 to 10 pm at another one of Peter’s locations, and I was really keeping my fingers crossed for an improvement in the weather. As luck would have it, almost on cue, the clouds parted at about 4 pm, the sun beamed thru, and the cars began streaming in. It was still only 55 degrees but hey, for Winnipeg, that’s balmy.

Before it was all said and done, there were several hundred cars in attendance, and there was some really great stuff. Of course there were a few Canadian-only vehicles like Monarchs (which are largely rebadged Mercs), Meteors (which are largely rebadged Fords), Beaumonts (which are Canadian Pontiacs but they look an awful lot like Chevelles), and Mercury pickups.

There were a few cars that really caught my eye tho. I’m a sucker for wagons, and this ’65 Belvedere with a Super Stock engine was pretty slick.

As was this satin black retro-rodded ’58 Mercedes sedan.

And of course if there’s a Stude anywhere nearby, like this way cool turquoise President, I’m gonna find it!

There was even a WWII era, Canadian-issue, military Harley 45; complete with front mount machinegun holster.

I also got to hang with Paul Williamson (aka Willy) who is an automotive journalist for one of the Winnipeg newspapers and also a budding television personality himself with a program, Willy’s Garage, about the local car scene.

I signed a bazillion autographs and posed for countless pictures with cruisers and their rides. These folks just flat out wore me out, but I had a great time. Like I said, there are no fans like Canadian fans! Beauty, eh?

Happy Motoring,

SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) is the trade association that represents the automotive aftermarket. It is made up of 7,500 member companies; most of which are small businesses. In fact, the annual SEMA show in Las Vegas is the largest gathering of small businesses in the US. And while the individual companies may be small, the automotive aftermarket in total accounts for $32 billion in sales annually.

I’ve been on the Board of Directors of SEMA for the past seven years and will finally be terming out in July. There was a board meeting in DC in conjunction with the Rally, but the main purpose for being there was to keep this industry and this hobby top-of-mind on Capitol Hill.

I had meetings with the two senators from Indiana, Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh, as well as the congressman from my district, Brad Ellsworth, to discuss issues that affect our industry like health care costs for small businesses and tax credits on capital expenditures and R&D.

This may seem like sort of boring stuff, but there is a direct correlation between the strength of the car hobby and the health of the aftermarket. The hobby is as strong as it is today at least in part because of growth of the automotive aftermarket. Twenty years ago we couldn’t do the restorations, the rods and the mods we can these days because the parts simply weren’t available. However, the demand was there, and leave it to American entrepreneurs to create products (and entire businesses) to meet that demand. Actually they fuel each other; the hobby is strong because the aftermarket is strong and vice versa.

SEMA has a Washington office that is dedicated to keeping legislation “hobby friendly”. Many of you (or perhaps your car clubs) are members of the SEMA Action Network (SAN); a grassroots network that stays on top of local issues and that can be rapidly mobilized when we need to make our collective voice heard in Washington.

As it turns out, there are a lot of car guys (and gals) in congress. There is even an official automotive caucus that currently has 91 members, and I believe about four more were recruited over the course of the DC Rally. In fact it was with the help of this caucus in concert with the folks in SEMA’s Washington office that the Senate recently passed a resolution designating July 9, 2010 as National Collector Car Appreciation Day. And in a time almost completely devoid of bipartisanship, this passed on a unanimous vote!

These are contentious times politically and it’s hard to get agreement on anything in Washington right now, but fortunately we can all agree that collector cars are cool. Maybe we’re not so different after all.

Now get those collector cars out on the road on July 9!

Happy Motoring,

Farley’s a bit of an outpost tho, and there really wasn’t a good place to fly into so we decided to make it a road trip. It was going to be about 500 miles from E’ville to Farley, and there were supposed to be some pre-event festivities starting at 5:00 pm Friday so Ben & I got on the road mid morning in hopes of getting to the church on time.

It was pretty smooth (and flat) sailing most of the way thru central Illinois until we got up to Rockford and turned west at which point we were faced with a wall of black clouds which was frequently illuminated by bolts of lightning raining down all around us.

And speaking of rain, it wasn’t long before it started to do that in earnest, and continued till we were about 20 miles outside of Farley (which had received somewhere between two and three inches). We were running a bit behind schedule, but it didn’t matter because the planned cruise to the farm where Field of Dreams had been filmed was wisely cancelled. Fortunately tho, the weather forecast for the next day was nearly perfect, and I was just keeping my fingers crossed that the cars that did show up for this event wouldn’t sink out of sight in the showfield.

We headed out to the speedway first thing in the morning hoping for the best but anticipating the worst. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see 40 or 50 cars already there and a steady stream of them rolling in.

Everybody was looking for high ground and that was in pretty short supply, but this is not a particularly finicky crowd. Actually, that’s one of the things I like about the traditional hot rod scene. These folks don’t get all unjazzed if their cars get a little muddy. In fact, the rattier ones wear it like a badge of honor.

The vast majority of these cars were also driven to this event; many from three or four hours away and some thru the apocalyptic storms of the previous day. I respect that!

Before it was all said and done, more than 400 cars (and an extremely colorful crowd) showed up to Torquefest, which I think is pretty impressive for a first year event.

I get a kick out of the how creative and innovative the builders of these cars are. There was plenty to shoot, and we were scrambling to take it all in.

There was some really crazy stuff there too. I think the wildest thing was a ’47 Willys truck powered by an air-cooled, turbo charged Deutz diesel engine out of an excavator; and this guy had driven it about 200 miles from Chicago!

It had been really windy all day which posed some audio challenges for shooting, but it helped dry things off enough that by 4:00 they started letting cars do some laps on the dirt track (which is fortunate since that had been billed as the feature event of this show). And it was definitely a crowd pleaser! The stands were packed as everything from rat rods to fire-breathing Caddys took to the track and drifted thru the turns, kicking up huge rooster tails of dust.

What a wild time!

On a side note, I actually grew up not too far from Farley in northern Illinois and an added treat for me was that a couple high school buddies of mine, Roger Townsend and Harvey Kramer, came over to see me. Roger is a photographer and he shot some killer pics at Torquefest. You can check them out as well as some of his other work at www.tigerwhip.net.

I’m really glad we did this show and even tho it looked pretty grim early on, it all worked out in the end. Honestly tho, with as bad as things were Friday, I wouldn’t have bet that anybody would’ve showed. Guess it just proves that at least with this crowd, if you build it, they will come.

Happy Motoring,

Guy only lives three hours from me but we rarely see each other. It seems our schedules never coincide and we both have a lot going on. Life tends to be that way. However, this was something I’ve wanted to do for a long time so we decided to just pick a weekend, commit to it, and do this thing; rain or shine. That was the only way it was ever going to happen.

I’ve got two big, fairly modern touring bikes in my collection; the ’98 Trophy and a ’93 BMW R1100RS, and it looked like we were going to get lucky with the weather because the forecast was for a cool (highs in the 60’s) but clear weekend. So Guy drove down to E’ville Saturday morning and we suited up and were on the road about noon.

The plan was to ride over to Sainte Genevieve, MO, a really cool little town situated on the Mississippi River that dates back to 1735. The trip over was to be primarily via Interstate (about 200 miles) so as to give Guy a chance to get used to a bike he’d never ridden before. This would also prepare him for the return trip on Sunday which was more like 300 miles on two-lane back roads (with lots of twisties) thru southern Illinois.

Saturday’s ride was fast and fun. I love vintage machines, but there’s a lot to be said for full fairings and lots of horsepower. We got to Ste. Gen in late afternoon, parked the bikes, and strolled the streets in search of a beer and a place to eat dinner later. We found both in the Anvil Restaurant and Saloon.

Sunday was a crisp, cool morning and we began our journey home by taking the Sainte Genevieve ferry across the Mississippi River. This saved about 40 miles travel to the nearest bridge, plus I just think ferries are cool.

We rolled for about 200 miles, stopping only once for gas, on beautiful roads with almost no traffic. We were getting a bit hungry tho and dining options along this route didn’t abound. As luck would have it, we cruised into Elizabethtown, IL (population 348) right about noon and came upon Ma & Pa Reed’s Family Restaurant. There were a number of cars parked out front which is usually a good sign, so we put down the stands on the bikes and went inside. What we found there was one of the best buffets I have ever experienced.

There was everything imaginable (all home cooked of course), but the highlight was fresh catfish pulled right from the Ohio River which was within sight of the restaurant. The warm blackberry cobbler was pretty tasty too. Needless to say, we stayed way too long and ate way too much.

We finally left and rode on a little ways to Garden of the Gods; a 3,300 acre wilderness area consisting of old growth forest and some of the strangest rock formations you’ll see anywhere. It sure doesn’t look like Illinois. We took a brief hike around Observation Trail to shoot some pics and walk off some of that cobbler.

Soon tho, it was back on the bikes and we rode to Cave In Rock were we took another ferry, this time across the Ohio River, over to Kentucky. We still had a lot of ground to cover so we were on the throttle all the way back to Evansville since Guy still had to drive back up to Indy that evening.

It really couldn’t have been a better weekend and probably the last one that I won’t be working for several months. I got to spend time with my brother, ride motorcycles, see cool things, and eat great food. And none of this would have happened if we both hadn’t put other things aside and just made it a priority. If there’s a moral to this story it’s, don’t let life get in the way of the things that are really important. Ride on!

Happy Motoring,

The Abarth was a tiny two-seat sports/race car powered by an 1100 cc Fiat engine. That may not seem like much of a power plant, but considering the car wasn’t much bigger than a go-cart, it did just fine. Probably the most interesting thing about this car is that is was an asymmetric body design which did give it a distinctive and somewhat odd look.

The Siata looked a little like an early AC Cobra, but predated that car by almost a decade. It was very Italian and very beautiful. This baby was powered by a very unique 2-liter, 70 degree Fiat V8. This is a very rare engine and you don’t want to have to find parts for it!

Fred was a great guy, his cars were beautiful, and he let me drive the heck out of both of them. What more could you ask for?

We were only back from Calgary for a couple days before we were off to the Big Island of Hawaii for Cruisin’ Paradise. Bob McClurg, my good friend, automotive journalist, and now resident of Hilo, Hawaii turned me onto this event, and I’m really glad he did! It only takes place every three years, and this was the third one. (You do the math.) It’s a 10-day happening with runs and activities all over the island, culminating in a big car show in Hilo on the 4th of July.

It was unbelievable, and I clearly made a big mistake by not going over for the whole thing. I did my typical swoop-in/swoop-out thing and only came in for the last three days, with one of those largely being a jet lag recovery day. What was I thinking?!?

At any rate, I did manage to spend one day cruisin’ with Herb Leite, the host club prez, in his ’30 Ford coupe as we led a group to the stunning Waipio Valley and the memorial park at Laupahoehoe which was the site of the devastating 1946 tsunami. We also stopped by a really cool 50’s themed café in the middle of nowhere for lunch. Believe me, I didn’t see that one comin’. Bottom line tho, there are few places on earth more beautiful than Hawaii and what a way to see it!

Hilo is on the wet side of the island and it had rained almost every day that week, but the weather for the car show on the 4th was absolutely perfect. There were in the neighborhood of 350 cars at the show with 24 of them having been shipped over from the mainland and about that many more having come over from the other islands. Now that’s a commitment!

Honestly, I was expecting a lot of run-of-the-mill cars, but was really surprised at the uniqueness, diversity, and quality of the cars in attendance. One of my personal favs was Norm Gonzales’ ’54 Chevy custom. This baby was built from a brand new car back in ’54 and has been in numerous hot rod mags over the years dating back to ’58. Norm’s owned the car for 50 years and this was the second time he had shipped it over from SoCal for Cruisin’ Paradise. I think he likes the event.

The whole experience was topped off by a killer 4th of July fireworks show over Hilo bay which I was able to watch from the balcony of my hotel room. Life is good!

This is going to make a fantastic episode, and I’m already making plans to go back in 2012. And next time, I’m going for the whole thing!

We were only back in E’ville long enough to repack our suitcases before we headed back north of the border, this time to British Columbia, eh? We went up to check out a couple of Chip Foose designed hot rod pickups owned by Don Voth; a ’37 Husdon Terraplane and a ’49 GMC.

We lucked out on the weather again and had a beautiful day for shooting. Chip’s work always just blows me away, and this time was no exception. He’s a “less is more” guy when it comes to design and his creations are nothing short of art. His stuff always runs too, and Don was gracious enough to let me behind the wheel of both of them. A good time was had by all and it’ll make another great episode for 2010.

Most recently, we were up in Hickory Corners, MI for Mopar’s at the Red Barns. This show is in its 21st year, and it’s a bit a Mopar Mecca for the upper Midwest. It’s held on the beautiful and rambling grounds of the Gilmore Car Museum which, as the show’s name might indicate, has a lot of red barns around. (all packed full of amazing cars themselves BTW). But filling up the spaces between those barns on that mixed-weather Saturday were about 350 wild and wooly Mopars of all description.

Probably the wildest thing I saw that day was a ’69 “MopTop” notch-back Barracuda; F3 Green with yellow floral vinyl top and interior. Completely bizarre! The owner brought it specifically because he thought it might catch my eye. He called that one right.

We didn’t shoot this past week because I had a SEMA Board of Directors meeting in Pasadena, and I wrote this on the flight out. I head to Kansas City this weekend and then will be shooting a couple one-off Oldsmobiles in Galena, IL the following week.

Uh, I think that’s it.

Happy Motoring,

This was the 21st year for this show, and while it’s not all that big (about 250 cars) it really brings in some fantastic vehicles. I think my favorite was a ’53 Studebaker Commander coupe that had been made into a convertible.

Now, it’s no secret that I’m a Stude guy, but I don’t think there’s anybody that wouldn’t consider this car drop dead gorgeous.

The day started out bright and sunny, but as clouds started to roll in over the mountains, it was clear that we were going to be playing beat-the-clock to get this show shot before the weather changed. The rain held off till about two o’clock, but then it really came down for about a half hour.

At a lot of shows, this is when everyone scrambles for their cars and heads for home, but to my surprise, I don’t think a single car left Main Street. Most folks had to come a long way to get to this show, and they weren’t about to let a little rain dampen their spirits. After a while the rain let up, the sun came back out, and the festivities went on. This really was a great show, and it’s going to make a killer episode.

As long as I had come all that way tho, I figured I may as well hang around for a few more days so after we wrapped, the producer and I embarked on a three-day backpack trip up into the Wallows. This is a range I spent a lot of time in when I lived out in that area in the late 70’s, and I’m pretty familiar with it. Ben, on the other hand, had never done anything like this, and I may have forgotten to mention that our packs would weigh about 45 pounds apiece.

The weather was a mix of sun and downpours all three days, but it all worked out. The view from the tent was pretty spectacular although we encountered a fair amount of snow at the higher elevations.

The whole trip was about 20 miles round, and we were both feeling fairly beat up when we got back down.

We flew back to E’ville and were only there one day before we headed up to Indy to shoot the Road Rocket Rumble. This is a great traditional hot rod show that was celebrating its 10th year. It draws several hundred cars and really crams a lot into four days. There were no fewer than 10 rock-a-billy bands performing through the weekend along with seminars, a Burlesque show, pin-up contest, flame throwing, and burnouts. It’s incredibly cool and all the more amazing when you realize that the club that puts it on, the Indy Road Rockets, has all of nine members.

There was everything there from rat rods to a car that was reminiscent of Big Daddy Ed Roth’s space age Beatnik Bandit; not to mention an extremely “colorful” crowd. We had an absolute blast!

Another couple days at home, and I’m now on my way to Calgary, Alberta to do a feature on a very large and diverse collection there. The owner has a little bit of everything, but I’m thinking we’re going to focus on a couple of his unique sports/race cars from the 50’s. After that we’ll be home for two days before heading off for Hilo, Hawaii to shoot Cruisin’ Paradise. Hey, somebody’s got to do it!

It’s actually pretty hard for me to keep track of all the dates and places this time of year. All I know right now is; if it’s Tuesday, it must be Calgary.

Happy Motoring,