SHOWTIME: BENT AXLES STREET RODS!

Posted on July 26, 2019July 26, 2019 by MartynL

Car Guy Chronicle’s Jim Palam fights an urge to swerve to the vineyards and instead, uncorks a tasty car show report from Old Town Orcutt, CA. SHOWTIME: BENT AXLES STREET RODS! I’m going to give it to you straight: As I headed North from Solvang to Orcutt, CA on the 101, my thoughts were less about street rods and more about the ribbons of grape vines carpeting the rolling hills East and West of the freeway. It was Saturday, sunny and seventy degrees. Man, I could exit the freeway right now and ...

SHOWTIME: RODS AND ROSES 2019!

Posted on July 5, 2019 by MartynL

Thousands of people attended the 22nd annual hot rod, custom and specialty car show in Carpinteria, CA, including our intrepid photojournalist, Jim Palam, who managed to smell the roses while capturing the essence of the car culture. Summer is the time that car shows are in full-bloom all over America. Experienced Car Guys have an uncanny ability to sniff-out the best local shows by following the residual scent of high-octane fuel – left behind when pedals hit the metal. Ahh, but in seaside Car...

WEST COAST KUSTOMS: CRUISIN’ NATIONALS!

Posted on May 30, 2019May 30, 2019 by MartynL

It’s all about fins and flames at the Fairpark, blogs CGC’s Jim Palam! Let’s call it a mash-up of pinstripes, cuffed-denim, fins and flames – tucked and rolled into a colorful celebration of Kustom Kulture at the Fairpark in Santa Maria, CA. Now in its 38th year, the family-friendly 2019 WEST COAST KUSTOMS: CRUISIN’ NATIONALS! proved once again that interest in and passion for customized American cars continues to sizzle. Thousands of show-goers participated in WCKCN events, including the popul...

SANTA BARBARA: STREETS OF PARADISE!

Posted on May 23, 2019 by MartynL

The 2019 State Street Nationals was all about great cars, puddles and panache, blogs CGC correspondent Jim Palam. It was raining as I motored south on Hwy 101, heading to Santa Barbara and the State Street Nationals Car Show. Promoters had promised over 300 cars this year, the 20th since California car guys starting showing their hot rods, classics, sports and exotics on this famed central artery of the city they call Paradise. I parked at the North end of the 10 block State Street strip design...

2019 QUAIL MOTORCYCLE GATHERING: UNWRAPPED!

Posted on May 13, 2019May 21, 2019 by MartynL

They say four wheels move the body; two wheels move the soul. Now in its 11th year, The Quail Motorcycle Gathering proved once again to be a vital force that attracts passionate motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world, to the emerald lawns of Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel, CA. They come to celebrate the history, the beauty, the power and the future of all things two-wheels. To unwrap the essence of this annual gathering I arrived a day early to explore & learn as the exhibitors ...

SOLVANG DATSUN ROADSTER CLASSIC!

Posted on May 2, 2019May 2, 2019 by MartynL

What started out as a California couple’s honeymoon get-away in their Datsun Roadster 32 years ago has turned into a must-attend annual celebration for Datsun lovers from the U.S. plus Mexico and Canada. ‘Small Cars + Small Town = Big Fun’, says our intrepid correspondent, Jim Palam. Kerry and Jeannie Dehmel had such a good time celebrating their honeymoon in Solvang, CA that each anniversary they would return to Solvang in their Roadster, and each year more and more of their Datsun-owning frie...

SANTA BARBARA DRAGS: THE RACE OF GENTLEMEN (WEST)!

Posted on March 20, 2019March 22, 2019 by MartynL

Revisiting the way it was in 1949 when modified Ford Flatheads and Fours ruled the roost at the Goleta Drags – only updated to include later-model cars and OHV V8s. Our intrepid reporter and consummate carguy, Jim Palam, brings us coverage of TROG (WEST). It took some doing, but after 70 years drag racing returned to its American birthplace – Santa Barbara, CA. It was back in 1949 that the first planned and permitted drag race took place on an access road at what is now Santa Barbara Airport. T...

RM SOTHEBY’S & THE PETERSEN: KUSTOM KULTURE & PRECIOUS METAL!

Posted on December 13, 2018December 16, 2018 by MartynL

A trip to one of the most eclectic auctions this year – RM Sotheby’s at the Petersen Museum – and coming face-to-face with the iconic ‘Rat Fink’, relieves Jim Palam’s decades-old car guy guilt. Here’s his photo-report. It was weighing me down, this Car Guy guilt I’ve been lugging around since I moved to California in 1976. How was it that in all these years I had never visited the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles? I really didn’t have an excuse, so when I received an invitation from RM...

ZIPPY BRITS: CALIFORNIA HEALEY WEEK!

Posted on October 23, 2018October 23, 2018 by MartynL

Zippy Brits beautify Solvang during California Healey Week 2018. British car and bike enthusiast Jim Palam was on the scene. It was just a green dot when I first spotted it moving rapidly towards me, flickering in and out of the Cedar shadows along Highway 246 in Solvang. As the throaty British roadster whooshed by me the driver shot me a big smile and I in-turn shot him a thumb’s-up. “Nice!” I thought, “…an early Healey 100, maybe ’57 or ’58. Man, I wish I had bought one of these beauties w...

WEEKEND GET-AWAY: CAR GUY STYLE!

Posted on September 27, 2018September 27, 2018 by MartynL

You don’t need much to motivate a Car Guy. Just say the words “Car Show” and we’re off packing ice chests, gassing our rides and hitting the long pedals, blogs Jim Palam, our man on the Left Coast.When I realized that there would be two cool shows within 50 miles of each other right here on the Central Coast, I set the alarm and hit the road – for the first of my weekend shows – the VW Veteranentreffen Weekend in Solvang, CA. Truth be told, I could have walked to the VW show, just blocks away f...