Leroy Thompson Salt Flat Racer

Thanks to Oli from Supermade (one of the OG buddies of Build Threads) for posting up this sweet bike on his blog the other day. Once I saw it, I jumped straight on my email to ask him if he had any more info about it. This would have to be one of the best bikes I’ve ever seen, according to my own personal taste of course. I’m not a fan of glitzy choppers with stretched out frames that make you look like you need to lie flat on your face to ride them.

Built by Leroy Thompson Choppers for the 2009 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building, I was disappointed to hear that it only achieved 24th place. Never mind though, it doesn’t dampen the fact that it’s a revelation to me in regards to style and appearance. It makes me want to build a car using a similar approach. So many ideas, not enough time or money. You can read more about it on the AMD blog by clicking here.

This bike is pure quality, it’s modern yet oldschool at the same time, and I love all of the details, like the tall Halibrand style wheels, the lack of a steamroller rear tyre, how the bright red frame contrasts against the neutral colours of the rest of the bike, the yellow spark leads, the stickers on the stubby rear fender, and the overall stance of the bike…did I mention I like this bike? I have to thank Oli again, not only for posting the pic in the first place, but for going out of his way to find more information on the bike when I asked him about it. Make sure you check out his blog, it’s full of no-nonsense automotive goodness, especially if you’re a VW fan, do it!

Click here for more pics of this beast (no build pics unfortunately).

Re-inventing the wheel

Remember the remote-mount turbo MKIII Jetta build?  Well the owner is taking the customisation game to a whole new level by scratch-building his own set of one-off wheel centers. Thanks to Ray from RAW WORKS for reminding me about this one.

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1994 Chevy Dually Custom

It’s funny how things work out. After reading an article on Speedhunters, I was briefly skimming over the comments at the bottom of the article, when I noticed someone talking about a suicide-rod being built for drifting duties. I googled the persons screen-name and found they had an account on Zilvia, so I promptly headed over there and pm’d them asking for more details in the hope of getting some pics & info for you guys.

As fate would have it, the project had been put on the back-burner. Fortunately for us, the team behind that car has something else in the build.

Presenting, Industrialized Metal, a 1994 Chevy Dually custom truck.

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Vintage Build Threads

One thing that has remained consistent since cars first came into production is that guys simply can’t keep themselves from cutting them up and showing off their work. Before blogs and forums, there was black & white photos and car magazines. Rikster from Rik Hoving Kustoms posted up an amazing thread on The H.A.M.B. full of scans detailing the work done by Valley Customs in the late 40’s to early 60’s. Luckily for us, not only did he post pictures of finished cars, but also some rare in-the-build shots. If anyone tells you that modifying cars is just a phase or a fad, show them these pictures.

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