the crazy cruisers

They got some bitchin' rides, you can be sure to meet them at car shows all across Europe and they're a bunch of really nice guys... the Crazy Cruisers from Geneva. They just updated their website with a lot of pics from the years 2007-2008, they introduce some new members from Italy and let us catch a glimpse of some of their latest projects. Now go and check it out.

hollywood hot rods

It was on one of the first days of our california trip... We'd just been to Pasadena, checking out the famous Rose Bowl stadium and had some mighty fine beer downtown at Barney's Beanery, when we felt like seeing some car stuff. So, we walked over to Johnson Motors, checked out some books and swag, before driving down to Hollywood Hot Rods. The whole crew was busy working on several projects. One of the cars was the black widow, a 1:1 "monogram model" that needed some finishing work to be done before GNRS 2009. In spite of the tons of work waiting, Bobby, one of their employees, guided us around the shop and let us take pics. Thank you guys! Wanna see some of the stuff they're doing? Just check it out.

gnrs 2009: kool kustoms

Do you like customs? I do. I do a lot, and for custom afficionados like we are, GNRS had it all. From mild to wild, from early Westergard style to the freshest flavors, from graceful 40s taildraggers to extravagant 50s coupes. Here's just a small selection of the stuff I liked most. But check it out for yourself in the LOWTECH gallery from the 60th annual Grand National Roadster Show.

the grand daddy of them all

Yep, that's how they call the Grand National Roadster Show. And in fact, it is probably the longest running indoor car show worldwide as it celebrated its 60th birthday in 2009. For me, it was the first time at that show and the display of cars was quite impressive, or let's say overwhelming. I'm not the biggest fan of indoor events, as they're kinda static by nature. But the quality of the cars was just mindblowing. And a personal highlight for me was to see so many famous custom cars and hot rods I only knew from books or mags, as the Barris built Ala Kart. In order to celebrate the 60 years, they had one building that was packed with cars that made history at the GNRS during the show's first six decades... so, by playing a bit with photoshop and putting a little too much yellow in it, it almost looks like the two pics were taken in the late 1950s... Well, almost.

back on the track

Howdy... um, well sorry for the lack of updates the last weeks as this wasn't my initial intention (see previous posts...). But due to the lack of internet connections while cruising down Big Sur and having too much fun in San Diego, I didn't find any time to post some new stuff. This is gonna change now, as I'm currently digging through the 2000+ photos I took during our california trip. And I came up with some pretty cool stuff. In the meantime, I got some teasers for you from the Grand National Roadster show... See ya soon.

california dreamin' (part 2)

Hey guys, the journey continues... We're currently staying at the Capri Motel in San Francisco, a cool old motor lodge from the 1950s. But it's already our last night here as we're gonna head south tomorrow, checking out Santa Cruz before driving down Big Sur. Today we visited Roy Brizio in South San Francisco, we're we stumbled across these two beautiful 1932 coupes...





Here's a pic from our visit at the Petersen Museum in LA, a few days ago, the AMBR winner from 1950, if I remember correctly

california dreamin'

One of my lifetime dreams is to explore the roots of hot rodding. And as my girlfriend and I wanted to spend some holidays together, we decided to combine these two things. So, here we are in Southern California. During these days, I'll try to keep you updated with some cool stuff we come across (and there's load of 'em...) like the above picture from our shop tour at Hollywood Hot Rods. Of course, I took some pics that I'll show you after our return back home. So, stay tuned for some more teaser pics in the next couple of weeks. Oh by the way, see you at the Grand National Roadster Show...