WEST COAST KUSTOMS CRUISIN’ NATIONALS

Posted on January 11, 2022January 11, 2022 by MartynL

Classics and customs flaunt fins and flames at Santa Maria Fairpark for 40th annual WEST COAST KUSTOMS CRUISIN' NATIONALS, one of the premier California carguy shows. Despite a 2021 Covid-19 rescheduling of its popular Cruisin' Nationals from May to October – and then a pending storm moving in on the Santa Maria Fairpark location – the resilient folks at West Coast Kustoms still managed to rev-up West Coast car enthusiasts and host their 40th Annual show with a flamboyant flash of fins, flames...

OUTLAW: PORSCHE DOUBLE AA SPORTS 911

Posted on January 8, 2022January 8, 2022 by MartynL

With its wide-body RSR attitude, seriously upgraded suspension and supercharged 3.6 engine, Archie Urciuoli’s OUTLAW: PORSCHE DOUBLE AA SPORTS 911 rules the road! Retired sports car racer Archie Urciuoli’s last four competition cars – Ford Mark IV, Mark I GT40, Porsche 956 and Lola T70 Spyder – represented some of the sports’ most iconic and fastest examples of purpose-built racecars. He competed (and finished) in the Le Mans Classic in the GT40 and ran 200 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats i...

BOWTIE BILL & HIS V-8 VEGA!

Posted on December 17, 2021December 17, 2021 by MartynL

Mike Austin follows up Hemmings Muscle Machines weekly newsletter’s coverage of the late Bill Kolb, Jr’s impressive Ford-centric career. He reminds enthusiasts that he was also involved for a short period of time pushing the Bowtie brand at a Chevrolet dealership - BOWTIE BILL & HIS V-8 VEGA! A week or so ago we posted a tribute to Bill Kolb, Jr., best known for his history with Ford Motor Company, drag racing Fords, building and marketing specialty vehicles, and as dealer-principal of two ...

ORIGINAL ’32 FORD V-8 COUPE!

Posted on December 13, 2021December 13, 2021 by MartynL

No one car celebrates hot-rodding more than the ’32 Ford. And this preserved, not restored, classic Deuce coupe powered by its original Buick V-8 deserves to be the ‘poster’ car for hot rod history. ‘Best Preserved’ is how Rod & Custom historian Pat Ganahl describes this ORIGINAL ’32 FORD V-8 COUPE! There’s no better word for it. I looked in the Thesaurus. Of all the hot rods I’ve seen – and that’s a lot – I’ve never seen any better preserved in its original condition than this one....

REMEMBERING BILL KOLB, JR., 1941-2021

Posted on December 8, 2021December 8, 2021 by MartynL

Longtime friend Bill Kolb is probably best remembered in the enthusiast community as the 1960s poster boy for Ford’s Total Performance and Win On Sunday; Sell On Monday marketing concepts. His close friends often called him, “Mr. Monday! We bonded after I did a story on him and his Lightweight 427 Galaxie in 1963 and we've been friends since. Remembering Bill Kolb, Jr., 1941-2021. Bill Kolb, Jr. passed away quietly at home in Carefree, AZ, on Friday, December 3, 2021, comforted by his ...

Velocity: Invitational Motorsports Festival

Posted on December 2, 2021December 3, 2021 by MartynL

There are times when even a serious car guy needs a little nudge to get up early and head out in the dark to cover a motorsports event. So, we're happy to report that our Jim Palam saw the light, set his alarm and got the story for us! Here's his coverage of the Velocity: Invitational Motorsports Festival, where legendary cars, drivers and fans soaked up the sun and racing fuel at Laguna Seca! Velocity is a vector quantity that refers to "the rate at which an object changes its position...

COMPACT MUSCLE COMPARO: ‘69 CHRYSLER VS. GM.

Posted on November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 by MartynL

Musclecar guru, Diego Rosenberg, shows that GM and Mopar high-performance specialty compacts are similar on paper only in COMPACT MUSCLE COMPARO: ‘69 CHRYSLER VS. GM. “There is more than one way to skin a cat.” You’ve probably heard this folksy proverb before, and it holds weight in the automotive world. During the high-performance sweepstakes of the 1960s, manufacturers developed their own approaches to go from Point A to Point B—often 1320 feet at a time. With 375 horsepower, the ...

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: CENTRAL COAST WHEELING WEEKEND

Posted on October 27, 2021October 28, 2021 by MartynL

Who doesn't love a special deal? Perhaps it's CGC’s Jim Palam's years in advertising that was behind his idea to give our readers two-reports-in-one, combining two of the Central Coast's popular car shows – The Solvang Fall Classic & The Montecito Motor Classic – into one feature. It’s a great idea, so here's CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: CENTRAL COAST WHEELING WEEKEND. Covid changed the 2020 Car Show scene significantly – pretty much eliminating many if not all of the popular gatherings not only in...

RARE & WELL-DONE: SHELBY G.T. 500 MUSTANG TRIFECTA!

Posted on October 8, 2021October 8, 2021 by MartynL

For the first time ever, three of the rarest, most significant Shelby G.T. 500 Mustangs will be in the same place at the same time: RARE & WELL-DONE: SHELBY G.T. 500 MUSTANG TRIFECTA! In August 1966, Carroll Shelby placed a special order with Ford for three G.T. 500s, powered by the new dual-quad 428 cubic-inch (7-Liter) Special Interceptor engine. All three were painted Candy Apple Red and fully optioned with air-conditioning, California emissions, AM radio, and “Deluxe” Mag Star w...

’21 RPM NATIONALS: FLATHEAD DRAGS, SHOW & SWAP MEET

Posted on October 5, 2021October 5, 2021 by MartynL

We asked Car Guy Chronicles' Jim Palam to travel back to the Halcyon Days of Flathead hot rods and drag racing. He didn't need a time machine – just a tank of gas, an alarm clock set for 4 am, and directions to Santa Margarita Ranch in Central California for the ’21 RPM NATIONALS: FLATHEAD DRAGS, SHOW & SWAP MEET. I started sticking my head into dimly lit garages and greasy engine compartments when I was 14 years old. My older brother Tommy – AKA Tommy Tuner - who at 16 was already ...