traditional hot rods vs. cal look vw

To most people, the 1932 Ford Roadster is the quintessential hot rod. As I am both into cal look VWs and traditional rods and kustoms as well, I often observe similarities between those two "worlds". I think that a traditional Cal Look bug has several aspects in common with a '32 Ford. For example, when it comes to building one of them in traditional style, you really have to find your own path between tradition and your own ideas and personal taste. There are many attempts (some successful, many not) to build that perfect car. There are lots of cal look bugs that really capture "the look". May it be the combination of stance, details, selection of parts and performance or whatever. Same for the '32 Deuce. Lots of them were built during the last six or seven decades. And it keeps getting harder to build a car that really stands out from the crowd (or from the cars already built) but still captures the traditional spirit. This is why I like those cars so much, both of them. You have to get deeply involved, learn from the past, use your own imagination and you'll build something unique that respects the tradition. It's all about attention to details and a constant strive for perfection. Well, just some thoughts on a snowy friday. :-)

surfinchrome: 1929 ford model a build-up

There's a new rod in town. Basel resident Deniz just acquired this cool 1929 Ford model A roadster project and promised to document the build-up on his new blog surfinchrome. The car was imported from the states and was built on a pair of '32 frame rails. Brakes are finned Buick drums on Lincoln backing plates, the rear end is going to be a Ford 9". Good luck and happy building!

crazy cruisers' winter sale

Do you need a serious christmas present or do you just want to cruise in style next summer? The Crazy Cruisers are selling some of their rides. Among them there are two awesome kustoms, built by Momo with swiss quality and traditional kustom ideas in mind: Silvie's 1951 Chevy Fleetline and his own bagged '65 Impala Coupe are currently up for sale.

'55 chevy gasser

Here are some more pics from my recent trip to Scandinavia. Besides visiting old junkyards and driving thousands of kilometres, we spend one weekend at Gardermoen raceway, Oslo's local drag strip. One of my favourite cars was this 1955 chevy two door post gasser. According to its current owner, it was built during the sixties in California and left untouched until today. Apart from the radials... imho a set of period bias plys would really make this car. Cool anyway.

cruising culture reloaded

Ever since I can remember, there's a lack of cruising culture in Switzerland. I don't know why, but maybe it's a result of the general point of view that any drive in a car has to start at A and end at B. Most of the swiss people don't see any sense in driving from A to A. And even enjoying it doing so. Anyway, some friends and I decided to do something about this and did some serious downtown cruising in the city of Basel.

photoshop kustom: '40 ford coupe

Some may say I got too much time on my hands, but once I got started on modifying the stock 1940 Ford Coupe as presented by the HAMB art challenge I just couldn't stop. My version of the vintage '40 Ford is a Westergard inspired car with many of the traditional kustom touches. So, it's lowered, chopped, nosed, decked, shaved. And after that it was driven to the salt flats of Bonneville.

the kcw shoebox

The guys from Kustom Coach Werks are heavily into modified vintage volkswagens. Fortunately, their aircooled tradition didn't keep them from doing a great job on this slick shoebox by fitting an airride system among other modifications.