Before beginning any custom car project, many choices must be made: body style, paint, upholstery, wheels and tires, engines, interior accessories, and more. By the end of the project, many thousands of dollars and hours will have been spent—and hopefully wisely. Before beginning your own custom car or hiring a builder, it pays to develop a vision for your car, how you want it to stand out, and what you want it to express.

In Custom Cars, noted author and moto journalist Alan Mayes explores each element of a custom car build in detail with hundreds of award-winning customs as examples. From postwar classics to more modern cruisers to complete custom builds, Mayes explains the various types of materials and styles available with hundreds of color photos to illustrate the challenges and benefits of each. Spend a little time designing your dream car with Alan Mayes’s Custom Cars and you’re sure to create a real head-turner.

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UK : Custom Cars: Coupes, Sedans, Pickups (Idea Books)
US : Custom Cars: Coupes, Sedans, Pickups (Idea Book)

Just Customz Review

I love this book – Alan Mayes has done it again with another superb book.

This is another book in the Motorbooks’ Idea Book series and follows the same winning formula. The books as the name suggests are aimed solely at providing the reader with inspiration for that next award-winning project. Some of the other titles we have reviewed are Hot Rods: Roadsters, Coupes, Customs and Automotive Custom Interiors Idea Book.

This book is divided into the 10 sections that are listed below;

1. Prewar Cars
2. 1949-1951 Fords & Mercurys
3. 1950s Cars
4. 1960s Cars
5. Show Rods, Trucks, & Late Models
6. Style & Flow
7. Chassis & Drive-trains
8. Front Ends
9. Rear Ends
10. Paint & Chrome

Alan Mayes works as managing editor for Car Culture Deluxe and Ol’ School Rodz during the day and in the introduction he explains his passion for Customised Cars. He also goes on to explain what, for him, makes the perfect custom car such as lowering and the various styles that are available.

The next 10 chapters all follow the same ingredients which are a short piece of descriptive text then lots of glorious pictures of some of the best customised cars around today. Each of the pictures is numbered and beside them is a couple of lines explaining why the picture has been included into this book.

This is an amazing book, in fact I may have to go and read it again….

About The Author

Alan Meyes is the managing director of ‘Old School Rodz and Car Kulture Deluxe, as well as author of Old School Hot Rods and Old School Choppers.

Since the 1960s, George Barris has been one of the world’s most famous car customizers, creating countless one-of-a-kind custom rides out of his North Hollywood shop. Given Barris’ proximity to Tinseltown, it was only natural that when the world’s most famous Hollywood celebrities wanted to have their cars customized, they turned to George. Barris Cars of the Stars features rare images of Barris with his celebrity clients and the custom cars he built for them, along with commentary and stories from the “King of Kustomizers” himself. Featured celebrities include such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, John Travolta, Sammy Davis Jr., Farrah Fawcett, Bo Derek, Ann-Margret, Neil Diamond, the Beach Boys, and many others.

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UK : Barris Celebrity Cars
US : Barris Cars of the Stars

Just Customz Review

You may not instantly recognise the name Barris but you will probably be familiar with some of his creations. When customers want a something unique they turn to George Barris – the King of the Kustomisers. As well as creating bespoke cars for the stars he also is responsible for designing and building cars for television programmes. These include the 1960′s Batmobile, the Munster Coach from the Munsters and KITT from Knight Rider.

This book has a great retro feel to it from the hundreds of glossy hi-resolution pictures of Barris cars to the design of every page. Each star’s car in the book has been given at least 2 pages in which there is a section about the star as well as a short section about the relationship George had with the star. George has created cars for many of the big names spanning 3 decades and this book includes over 60 of them including;

• The Beach Boys
• James Brown
• Bing Crosby
• Bo Derek
• Neil Diamond
• Bob Hope
• Elvis Presley

This is a great book for ‘dipping’ into when you have a spare 5 minutes as the sections are short and easy to read and the pictures are captivating.

About the Author

This book has been written by George Barris and David  Fetherston. David Fetherston has collaborated with George Barris in several books, including the Big Book of Barris and Barris Kustoms of the 1960s.

The increasingly popular Discovery Channel series American Hot Rod stars legendary builder Boyd Coddington. In each episode, Coddington pushes his staff to create the stunning hot rods he designs. Featuring photography from the shows set, this book offers a detailed how-to guide for hot rod builders. It covers planning and budgeting, and a wealth of color photos shows all the steps involved in creating a hot rod.


Buy from Amazon

Uk : American Hot Rod: How to Build a Hot Rod (American Hotrod)
US : American Hot Rod: How To Build a Hot Rod with Boyd Coddington

Just Customz Review

Like most of the visitors to the Just Customz website I have been a big fan of the late Boyd Coddington’s work and eagerly watched each of the episodes of the American Hot Rod series to see what jaw-dropping car they would be working on next. In the introduction Boyd explains why he believes the Hot Rod scene is alive and well and puts it down to a form of escape from the drudgery of modern life.

The first chapter of the book is about selecting a suitable project to undertake and covers a lot of points that are often over-looked. An example is for those wanting to build a car to be able to take families out in since the earlier cars tend to be narrower than their later counter parts. It also covers the build plan, parts sourcing and importantly how much space you’ll need to build it.

The next chapter is entitled Chassis although it actually encompasses all aspects of the running gear as well including the chassis, brakes, engine and suspension. The chapter talks about each of the relevant options that are available to the Hot Rod build such as suspension types etc.

Following the creation of the chassis and running gear the book describes the process of fitting the body to the chassis and selecting the correct placement for the miriad parts that must be assembled to make the car operational.

The next 2 chapters are dedicated to preparing the body and painting it. It covers many of the more traditional modifications such as filing the roof, removing the cowls and chopping the roof.

The last chapters are about the final assembly and creating that custom interior.

The book is written in a very readable format and illustrated with hundreds of high-resolution glossy pictures of both Boyd’s creations and the work required to create them. Each chapter has an ‘Out in the garage’ section which gives pictures and step-by-step instructions on how to perform the work described in the chapter.

This book is all you’d expect from the title and is full of information, pictures and tips from one of the world leaders on the Hot Rod scene.

About Boyd Coddington

Boyd Coddington has built some of the seminal hot rods of the past three decades. His clean, elemental designs have been hailed as an American art form, and have brought him accolades as a builder and designer. Coddington owns a 50,000-square-foot shop in La Habra, Boyd Coddington garage. The shop is the set for Discovery Channel’s series American Hot Rod, which captures Coddington and crew at work on the daily drama of hot rod building.

Carl Michael Edwards was born August 15, 1979 in Columbia, MO and competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series for Roush Fenway Racing.

It has took Edwards 6 years to move from the Camping World Truck series to the Elite Sprint cup series during which time he has won Nationwide Series Championship and had numerous other wins as well.

In the first 10 years of Edwards career he has created some  impressive statistics;

• - two NASCAR-sanctioned track championships
• - three Rookie-of-the-Year honors
• - over 75 feature wins while racing on a variety of tracks

Racing is in Edwards blood and he is the son of another successful racing driver, Carl Edwards, Sr, who has been racing modified stock cars and USAC midgets for over 40 years. Carl Edwards started his career at the age of 13  racing 4 cylinder cars around Missouri and Illinois. Through 1994 to 1996 Carl collected numerous awards.

In 1997 Edwards started to compete in the NASCAR Dirt Modified division going on to win Rookie-of-the-Year honors in 1998 in the modified division at Capital Speedway in Holt Summit, Mo.

Next Edwards moved onto the Pro-Modified division in 2000 winning 13 races, becoming rookie of the year and capturing the Capital Speedway Track Championship. Not content with this he went on to compete in three Sportsman division races and won all three races.

In 2003 Carl joined the Roush Fenway Racing and drove the No. 99 Superchips Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The first season that he raced in saw lead to him winning three times, having one pole, 13 top-five finishes, 15 top-10 finishes and the Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year award. Edwards success continued in 2004 where he won the opening race at Daytona, then went on to win at Kansas and Bristol.

The 2006 season started slowly with Carl Edwards running a full schedule however Carl soon rebounded and eventually finished 12th overall in the Cup point standings.

In 2008 Carl was one of the top contenders in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series and gave a consistent performance throughout. During the Chase he won 3 of the last 4 races narrowly losing the final race to Jimmie Johnson. In 2008 he was also awarded the Richard Petty Driver of the Year Award and the Tag Heuer Top Racecar Driver of the Year Award.

You can read about more NASCAR racing drivers at JustCustomz.com.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Edwards

http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/cedwards00/cup/index.html

http://www.carledwards.com/

Kasey Kahne was born April 10, 1980 in Enumclaw, Washington and left when he was 17 to pursue his passion in sprint car racing in the mid-west. After 6 seasons Kasey soon became one of the big names in NASCAR racing.

Before competing in the NASCAR races he use to race with the help of his father at the age of just 14 in micro-midget races near his home-town. After just 2 years he won his first competition capturing the Hannigan (Wash.) Speedway Mini-Sprints championship and the Northwest Mini-Sprints championship.

Between 1998 and 2002 Kahne continue to nurture his ability by competing in World of Outlaws, All-Star Circuit of Champions, Gumout Racing Series and Northern Sprint Tour winged sprint car series. By 2001 Kahne success in these races had come to the attention of the NASCAR community and he was given the opportunity as a part-time driver for Busch Series ride for the 2002 season.

In the first year Kasey achieved a top-10 finish at Michigan International Speedway in August then in the following year he had his first Busch Series win and scored four top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.

It wasn’t long before Kasey’s winning success attracted the attention of Ray Evernham who gave Kasey a full-time position on his team. That year the 2004 Rookie of the Year recorded 13 top-five finishes and completed the season 13th in the point standings, missing the Chase for the Cup by a mere 28 points.

In 2008 Kasey saw 2 more victories in addition to winning the Sprint All-Star Race. Just before the 2009 season began Gillett Evernham Motorsports was absorbed into Petty Enterprises which then went on to become know as Richard Petty Motorsports. The change was very advantageous to Kasey and allowed him to work with the legendary Richard Petty and saw 2009 as Kasey’s best season since the 2006 breakout season.

When Kasey is not racing he enjoys spending time with family and friends, working on his sprint cars at Kasey Kahne Racing (KKR) or raising money for charity. Each year Kahne raises money through special events for chronically ill children and their families.

You can read about more NASCAR racing drivers at JustCustomz.com.

References

http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/kkahne00/cup/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasey_Kahne

http://www.kaseykahne.com/

Mark Martin was born on 9th January 1959 in Batesville AR but now lives in Davtona Florida with his wife and 5 children.

Martin started his career as a teenager racing on the dirt tracks in Arkansas. In 1974 he raced in a car built and sponsored by his father. Following his success he joined the ASA racing series and went on to win rookie of the year. He finished his ASA racing career after winning 22 races and 4 championships.

In 1987 Mark decided to give racing in NASCAR a try by racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. After winning in a race in Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware he was spotted by NASCAR race car owner Jack Roush. In 1988 Roush and Martin started a 19 year relationship that would see Martin driving the #6 car.

In the 19 years of racing Marck Martin he has had 40 career NASCAR Cup wins and second in the Sprint Cup Series point standings five times. Unfortunately in all the 19 years of racing for Roush he was unable to capture the championship.

In October 6, 2006 it was announced that Martin would split his time with the Busch Series driver Regan Smith in the Ginn Racing #01 U.S. Army Chevrolet in 2007. This was due to limits imposed by NASCAR which meant that Roush racing could not have a team present for all 20 races he wanted to run in 2007.

In 2007 Martin became the only part-time driver in history to not win the opening race and lead the points standings. In July 25, 2007 Dale Earnhardt announced that he had acquired Ginn Racing and Mark Martin joined him as a driver for DEI starting at the 2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard sharing the #01 car with Regan Smith.

The next year on July 4, 2008 Martin and Hendrick Motorsports announced that Martin would replace Casey Mears in the #5 car for the 2009 season.

You can read about more NASCAR racing drivers at JustCustomz.com.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Martin
http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/mmartin00/cup/index.html
http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/sprint/drivers/4