1934 Chevrolet Phantom Sedan "The Instigator" (source : Mothers Cool Rides)

This is 1934 Chevrolet Phanton was built by Rutterz Rodz and was a Ridler award “Great 8″ finalist.

The engine has been replaced with a 509 cubic inch all-aluminium ZL1 V8 with a Vintage Hiborn intake that passes through the hood. As you can see from the pictures of the engine it has been fitted with custom valve covers and been painted to match the body of the car. The power is transferred to those massive 24 inch Boyd Coddington Billet rear wheels through a Turbo Hydromatic 350 transmission and a Winters 3.91 differential.

The body has been heavily modified and completely hand-fabricated from the windshield forward. The grille was specially made to fit the narrowed ’34 Chevrolet grille shell. The front headlights have been fitted onto custom mounts attached to the front suspension and feature hidden turn signals. As you can imagine the majority of the modifications at the rear were required to fit those huge rear wheels.


Inside the car is finished to the same high-standard as the exterior with red and black leather trim. The dashboard also has a monitor that is connected to a rear mounted camera and a very high quality audio system.

1934 Chevrolet Phantom Sedan "The Instigator"

1934 Chevrolet Phantom Sedan "The Instigator"

The car has been finished in three shades of DuPont Hues paint which are “Blackened” for the upper section, “Scarlet Fever” for the lower and finally “Key Lime Green for the pinstripe.

1934 Chevrolet Phantom Sedan "The Instigator" (source : Mothers Cool Rides)

1934 Chevrolet Phantom Sedan "The Instigator"

1934 Chevrolet Phantom Sedan "The Instigator"

Walter Ballard

Walter Ballard is the son of former stock car owner, Vic Ballard. He was born on the 12th of January, 1933 in the city of Foley in Alabama. His family moved to Houston, Texas when he was seventeen years old and it was here that he first saw A. J. Foyt (before he became famous) driving at Playland Park and Walter became fascinated with the sport.

After two years in the army Walter returned to Houston and he began racing. At first he tried drag racing before going on to stock cars. Walter was smitten, he won several Super Modified races during the 1960’s, read about champions such as Richard Petty and Bobby Alison and dreamed a dream. Walter wanted to make that dream come true, so in 1971 he sold his thriving repair business, bought a Grand National (now Sprint Cup) car and moved the family to North Carolina so that he could race against the people he had only read about.

Walter made his first start in the NASCAR Grand National Series in 1966. He made his debut in the Rebel 400 at Darlington Raceway driving his 1964 #30 Ford. He started in twenty ninth position and came in with a finish of twentieth position. Having made his debut he did not return to the Grand National Series until 1971 when he ran an almost full season in a #48 Ford Chevrolet car owned by his father with primary sponsorship from James Hylton. His first event was at the Daytona International Speedway when he took part in the Daytona 500, starting in 28th and finishing in 23rd.

His first career Top 5 came in May at the South Boston Speedway, Virginia when he finished in fourth position, quickly followed by his second career Top 10 at Kingsport Speedway, Kingsport, Tennessee when he came in at seventh two weeks later. May 1971 saw Walter gain a further two Top5’s, third, his career best at Meyer Speedway in his home town of Houston, Texas and fifth at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Greenville, South Carolina in the Greenville 200. In all Walter gained eleven Top 10’s and captured the prestigious 1971 “Rookie of the Year” honours and finished tenth in the final point standings. “I was just going to be up here a year,” says Ballard, “But I messed around and finished 10th in the points and won rookie of the year. That was totally unexpected because I was 38. I didn’t know you could win rookie of the year at 38. I thought that was for youngsters.”

In the 1972 season Walter increased his final point standing and was ranked sixth, with a further seven Top 10 finished to add to his career total. He continued to race full time with his team until the end of the 1975 season with some success before running a limited schedule in 1976. Walter ran in just three events in 1977, ending the season in October at North Wilkesboro Speedway where he finished in sixteenth position after making a start in twelfth position. This turned out to be his last race as Walter was scheduled to drive in the Nashville 420 at Nashville Speedway, in Tennessee in July 1978 but he failed to start, having suffered a heart attach in the pit. Walter started up his own successful business, repairing cars in 1979 where he was joined by his sons, Daniel, “Stoney” (Stanley) and Clint. He may have suffered a heart attack and been involved in a near fatal accident when riding his Harley but he still has a dream and that dream is to run in the Indianapolis. “I believe everyone, when they wake up in the morning should have a dream that they want to fulfill,” he says. “I still have that dream. I still want to run Indianapolis. That is where my hero, A.J. Foyt, made his name. “I sold the car. I figure I can always get a race car. I still have the engine. I still want to go up there and try to qualify. I know I am getting close to 70. And I may never make it, but … the dream is still there.” While there is life, there is hope and where there is hope there are dreams.

References:

http://fantasyracingcheatsheet.com/nascar/drivers/walter-ballard/2800

http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/never_too_old_to_dream.html

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

Heavens To Mercatroid

This 1950s Mercury was built by Larry Kramer custom cars which is based in Ohio. The car which has been called “Heavens to Mercatroid” was build over 20 years ago and restored again about 10 years later and looks as fresh today as it did when it was first constructed.

The engine has been replaced with a 388 cubic inch V8 from a Chevrolet that has Tri-Power induction with matching air-filters that compliment the rocker covers. The power from the engine is the transferred to the road through a 700R4 transmission.

As you can see from the pictures the Mercury is very low which is achieved through the use of air suspension that has been installed on each corner.

Heavens To Mercatroid

Heavens To Mercatroid

Inside the car features all the modern conveniences that you would expect from a car of this quality with the driver being kept cool thanks to the Vintage Air conditioning. It also has electric windows, hood, trunk and antenna. The door handles have been shaved off in order to preserve those smooth lines and are also electrically operated.

Heavens To Mercatroid

Heavens To Mercatroid

1954 Chrisman Bonneville Coupe

This is a 1954 Coupe that was restored back to the condition it was in during its glory days by Art Chrisman. The coupe features a 331 cubic inch Chrysler V8 with hemispherical cylinder heads which is connected to a modified 1940′s ford manual transmission. The front suspension is from a 1938 Ford and has a transverse leaf spring configuration with drum brakes only at the rear.

The car was actually built originally by Art and Lloyd Chrisman who were hot rodding pioneers that learned many of the skills necessary from their father and worked with him at Chrisman & Sons Garage.

They were very successful at drag racing and famously achieved speeds of 140 and 180 mph over a quarter of a mile and set a record with the car you see here. This made the car one of the most recognizable cars to all enthusiasts of the time and was even featured on the front of Hot Rod magazine who called it “The Most Fantastic Coupe”.

1954 Chrisman Bonneville Coupe

1954 Chrisman Bonneville Coupe

From the outside this car resembles a modified 1930 Model A Coupe but the brothers did a fantastic amount of work to make the car ready for its racing life. The most significant changes were the 3 1/2 inch space frame and they also created a single unit at the rear for the engine and transmission components so they could be easily replaced. The front suspension features a leaf-spring that was salvaged from a 1938 Ford with a pair of hydraulic shock absorbers. However the rear axle was mounted directly onto the tubular chassis and had a Halibrand center section allowing the gear ratios to be changed when required.

1954 Chrisman Bonneville Coupe

1954 Chrisman Bonneville Coupe

1954 Chrisman Bonneville Coupe

1954 Chrisman Bonneville Coupe

1954 Chrisman Bonneville Coupe

Return to Kingdon, 2011

These pictures were taken by itsrogers49 at the 6th Return to Kingdon event held at Kingdon Airport in California. The event is a 2 day event featuring music, drag racing, a car show and much more.

The Kingdon Airport was originally built as a training facility in the early forties but it was converted to the Kingdon Drag Strip in the fifties. This was an idea championed by a local police officer to keep illegal street racing off the streets and provide a safer environment. In the seventies it was converted back to an operational airport and is still used today for general aviation and training.

This year’s event helped to support the National Guard’s canned food drive.

Return to Kingdon, 2011 (Source : Kingdon on Flickr)

Return to Kingdon, 2011 (Source : Kingdon on Flickr)

Return to Kingdon, 2011 (Source : Kingdon on Flickr)

Return to Kingdon, 2011 (Source : Kingdon on Flickr)

Return to Kingdon, 2011 (Source : Kingdon on Flickr)

Return to Kingdon, 2011 (Source : Kingdon on Flickr)

Here is some amazing footage of the jet-powered drag racers that featured at this year’s event.

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In

Here are some pictures that I found on Flickr that belonging to primespot1 and were taken at the 2011 Langely Good-Times Cruise-In on the 10th September.

The event has gone from strength to strength starting in 1997 with a very respectable 430 registered vehicles to 1,532 vehicles in 2002 through to the massive event you see today in these pictures.

The proceeds from the event went towards the Langley Stroke Recovery, Valley Therapeutic Equestrian Assoc. and Langley Memorial Hospital Auxiliary which are all local charities.

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In (Source primespot1 on Flickr)

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In (Source primespot1 on Flickr)

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In (Source primespot1 on Flickr)

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In (Source primespot1 on Flickr)

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In (Source primespot1 on Flickr)

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In (Source primespot1 on Flickr)

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In (Source primespot1 on Flickr)

Langley Good-Times Cruise-In (Source primespot1 on Flickr)

This video shows the high caliber of all the entries this year, it looked very popular with the public too!

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

This is a beautifully modified 1955 Ford Thunderbird that recently appeared on a Russo and Steele Auction site. The previous owner had restored 12 T-Birds of various ages and decided that it was time to create something unique with hot rod feel to it.

As you can see by the picture the car has been finished to a very high standard and the body is all steel one sourced from California. The car was taken of the chassis then completely stripped down and shot-blasted before reassembly took place and the car was sprayed in that mouth watering Sinful Cinnamon DuPont Hot Hues paint.

The front suspension was lowered using D-C Enterprises dropped spindles and disc brakes and the rear now has a TCI four link set up with a modified rear axle. In order to get that all-important ground-hugging stance it now has Air Ride Technologies suspension at each corner.

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

The engine is a 345 hp LS-1 engine fitted to a 4L60E transmission and has a modified computer to increase the output performance. The power is delivered to the road through a set of Helo Renegade wheels wrapped in BFG G-Force tires.

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

Inside the car that Sinful Cinnamon paintwork continues and is complemented by that sumptuous leather interior that was created by Little Sid’s Custom Upholstery. The custom built console houses the heat/air conditioning controls and a 4600 Pioneer Stereo that powers 4 Fosgate speakers. The seats were sourced from a Mitsubishi and reupholstered to suit the rest of the car.

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

The cool digital dashboard was smoothed and filled to give that contemporary appearance and the instruments were supplied by Dakota Digital.

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

1955 Ford Thunderbird LS1

1955 Chevy Bel Air

This is Jimmie Smith’s 1955 Chevy Bel Air that was build by Mike Cochran at Kreative Images in Wilsonville, Oregon. The inspiration to build this car came from Jimmie’s Father who had been attending shows with Jimmie but they never had a cool ride to arrive in. His father was 81 at the time it was built and said to him “Hey, I’m running out of time. If we’re going to have a special car, you need to get with it!”.

The build took 3 years to complete the car was painstaking taken apart and put together again with immense attention to detail. The majority of the modifications are very subtle but there are a lot of them. The underside of the car including the frame and floor were finished to the same high-quality as the actual body itself with the frame being de-burred, sanded, filled and finally finished in a high-gloss PPG paint.

1955 Chevy Bel Air

1955 Chevy Bel Air

Under the bonnet the firewall was also given the same treatment and was also smoothed and reshaped to give the necessary clearance for the 405bhp Corvette engine that was supplied by Street and Performance which has been fitted with dress-up components and a Lingenfelter fuel injection system. This was then fitted to a 4L60E transmission that delivered the power to a 9" rear end.

1955 Chevy Bel Air

1955 Chevy Bel Air

Inside the car is a set of bespoke classic instrument gauges and a center console that is used to hold the various additions such as the stereo and air conditioning controls. The seats have been replaced with Lincoln electric seats covered in Leather and Ultrasuede to complement the theme that runs throughout the interior.

Ken Bouchard

Like so many race car drivers Kenneth “Ken” Bouchard was brought up in the racing industry where his father, Bob, owned and prepared race cars in the Modified Division. His cars were entered into every major track in New England, even setting a record of forty six victories in a single season, a record that still stands today.

Ken was born on the 6th of April 1955 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and by the time he was thirteen he owned his first stock car in preparation for when he would be old enough to drive. Impatient with waiting for his sixteenth birthday to come Ken lied about his age when he was fifteen, telling the officials that he was sixteen. When he reached sixteen he started driving the family car, just like his brother, Ron, had. In his first year of racing Ken won four events and was given the “Rookie of the Year” honours at Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts. From there he moved up to the NASCAR Modified Division. He showed how great a driver he was by winning victories at every track that the division competed on and during his Late Model and Modified career Ken gained over 190 feature victories and earned over one million dollars in winnings.

Time to step up in 1984 he bought a superspeedway car from Harry Gant and made his debut in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series. In 1985 he began racing in the Busch Series in the South and raced in his modified car in the North, gaining a further eleven NASCAR Modified wins. Running in thirteen Busch Grand National races in 1986 he finished in the Top 10 three times. Ken made his debut in to the Winston Cup (now the Sprint Cup) in 1987 in the Miller American 400 at Michigan and continued to race in both the Grand National and Modified events.

1988 saw the opportunity for Ken to run a full schedule in the Winston Cup when he was hired as driver by team owner, Bob Whitcomb who was impressed by Ken’s experience and career statistics. He did not disappoint him; he had some good finishes and also gained the coveted 1988 “Rookie of the Year” honours, beating off rivals, Ernie Irvan and Brad Noffsinger. Ken’s brother, Ron, also won the “Rookie of the Year” honours in 1981 making them the first brothers to gain the Rookie honours in NASCAR’s premiere division, and that was a special accomplishment for Ken. “That’s something that will go down in the NASCAR record books that no one will ever be able to erase,” Bouchard said. “It really means a lot to me, but it means even more to my parents and friends back home.” Ken was released the following year and didn’t return to the Winston Cup Series until 1993 when he ran three races in the #85 Ford. His last race in the Winston Cup Series was in 1994 in the Hooters 500, driving his #67 Ford which died after 280 laps because of engine problems. He finished in 29th position. He did try at several Winston Cup events but failed to qualify. Since then Ken competed in five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events. He was voted one of NASCAR Modifieds 50 greatest drivers of All-Time. Ken has since started an enterprise called “Drive to Victory Lane Racing School” based at Thompson International Speedway where his intention is to enable fans of all ages and size to have the opportunity to experience the thrill and excitement of racing. Ken’s daughter, Olivia is his pride and joy. She is a great athlete and plays lacrosse for Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She is also an accomplished horsewoman and he loves to watch her ride in horse shows. He also enjoys an occasional game of golf for relaxation.

References:

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

http://www.motorsportsnewengland.com/Driver_Profiles/Driver_Profle_5_Bouchard.htm

http://nmarxdtp.tripod.com/bouchard.htm

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)

These are pictures from this year’s Greaserama, held on 3rd/4th September, that were taken by Meetzorp on Flickr. Greaserama was started in 2001 as an informal car show that coincided with a 2 day punk, surf and rockabilly show in Kansas City.

The show was started with the aim of being a grass-roots type affair without the large budget commonly associated with other popular shows. The show has been very successful and is now in its 10th year attracting some great looking rides as you can see below.

If you like these pictures then you can see more by heading over to the photo set on Flickr and there is more information available on the Greaserama home page that you can visit by clicking here.

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)

Greaserama 2011 (source : Meetzorp on Flickr)