Tag: hot rod

The Orbitron

I’ve posted a video once before about Ed “Big Daddy” Roth which I urge you to watch (if you haven’t seen it already), especially before reading the build I’m about to show you. I’m not here to give you a history lesson, but I think it’d be pretty cool for the younger guys who might not be into the older stuff to get yourself up to scratch with the early days of custom car culture and familiarise yourself with names like Roth, Barris, and Winfield.

So anyway, the story goes that one of Roth’s crazy creations from 1964, the Orbitron, was recently found in an almost abandoned state in Mexico with it’s iconic triple-light nose chopped off. Apparently it had changed hands a few times after it left the spotlight before being used as carnival transportation and finally finding it’s resting place outside an adult book shop. A car restorer found the car and negotiated the sale from it’s current owner, bringing the car back to SoCal to be restored to it’s former glory by the guys in the know.

I’ve barely touched on the story so please make sure you hit the link at the bottom of the article to get the full lowdown, there’s a lot of information on the site and I hope you find the time to read through it. Kudos to all involved for saving this bizarre bubble-top beauty from what might have been it’s ultimate demise.

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’31 Ford Model A

It’s been a while since the last hot rod build, so I think it’s time we sink our teeth into some vintage American iron. I can’t help but be extremely jealous when I see such talented folk create a car with their bare hands from such a depleted starting point. Scooter, the talented fabricator behind the build, certainly knows how to piece together a good ‘rod and document with very nice photography. Make sure you keep your eye out for some text links posted on the first page of the thread, which will take you to some other (earlier) threads of the build process.

Thanks to Pingar for the submission.

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Kaiser Drag’n Build

I’m guessing most of you already read Speedhunters, but in case you haven’t checked it lately, I’m going to be doing some guest blogs this month since March is “Builds/Previews Month”. Firstly I’d like to thank Rod Chong for giving me the opportunity, it’s most appreciated and I can’t express my gratitude enough.

I’m going to post up the builds here too, so here’s the first one that just got published in the last 24hrs or so. You can see the story on Speedhunters by clicking here.

The first build I want to show you is known as the “Kaiser Drag’n build”. It’s a 1951 Kaiser Manhattan owned and built by Keith who resides in Tempe, Arizona.

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Tales of the Rat Fink

Speedhunters have just done a nice writeup on Ed “Big Daddy” Roth as a part of their “Misfits and Mavericks Month”. Whilst reading through the comments at the end of the story, I noticed someone posted up a non-descriptive Youtube link related to the subject. When I clicked the link I was greeted with a full length movie/documentary over 1hr in length. If you’ve got the time, I highly recommend watching this piece. Not only does it focus on Ed’s crazy creations, but it also touches on the history of hot rodding and how it boomed into a successful commercial industry, something I find very interesting. 1950’s California sure would have been a fun place to be growing up as a young gear-head.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gys-6znFEC8

Bonneville Speedweek 2009

If you’ve been keeping up to date with all of the different automotive events happening around the world, then you’d know that Bonneville Speedweek has been and gone. Our friends over at My Ride Is Me have uploaded over 500 images to their gallery. Click the image to head over and enjoy the coverage.

Aluminium Hand Built Hot Rod

Here’s one for the metal-heads. The story behind this hand built masterpiece starts with a piece of artwork, and finishes the same way. The drawing pictured below was purchased at a car show, then a few months later the decision was made to build the car in real life out of aluminum. I know I sound repetitive when I utter words such as “craftsmanship”, “quality” and “second to none”, but this build really is all that and more. The pictures speak for themselves.

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