George Lucas during the filming of the movie "American Graffiti"

For some more stills from the movie American Graffiti: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2006/11/great-movie-american-graffitti-cars.html#links

Duece of Spades movie review

It's a good movie, and incredible that it's the first for the (writer, director, producer, set director, music, editor) do it all - Faith Granger

I'd give it a 2 stars out of 4, editing and storyline could have been improved and cut down a bit. Remember, it's a good movie, and I'm not a professional movie critic, I do this for free.

The sets, costumes, cars, realistic dialog, and humor are beyond reproach. In fact, compliments on the dialog not being censored, actually... kudos to Faith fro not censoring any damn thing. You can tell I mean it, I swore. No ratings board bullshit, just real people talking like we do.

Serious praise for the sets, 1950s without error, nothing distracting or out of place, so if you'd like a look at the way it was, bingo, she nailed it. The production value is high, terrific

Funniest scene, the main character is determined to convince his love interest that she should get in his car, and tries every single day to give her a ride to school (they are both teens, it's cool) and without any dialog it's damn funny, this has to be directed to the actors and directors credit. Like Pixar, a short or scene does not rely on dialog to keep the audience riveted.

Karl and Veda Orr, keepers of the hot rod faith and spreading the word with their hot rod publication while the guys were fighting in WW2

Veda set the Full Fendered Roadster record at 104.40 mph and later upped that to 114.24 in 1937. She ran 131-plus mph at the wheel of the Taylor-Blair modified and became the first woman to race in the SCTA.

Veda published the SCTA News, and later started her own newsletter as a means of communicating with other racers; however, it wasn't long after its inception that WWII began and many of the racers found themselves in the military and on their way overseas. To keep spirits up, Veda distributed her publication to more than 750 service men all around the world for free and personally corresponded with hundreds as well.

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/features/0802sr_veda_orrs_1932_ford_roadster/index.html

Karl was a fortunate guy to land a wife this good looking, a magazine phenomenon, and a land speed racer.

Damn good looking

The above photo is fixed thanks to Don http://prova275.tumblr.com/ ! Much appreciated!

Best cause for donating parts and time? Making a 32 roadster to tour, raise awareness, and auction to provide scholarships to kids of fallen soldiers

The IronMen Foundation has pledged its efforts to raise funds for these scholarships. Their first effort is to build a hot rod and auction it. They call it the Metal of Honor.

The IronMen Foundation http://ironmenfoundation.org/ was founded in 2007 to Provide Scholarships to the Children of Slain and Disabled Soldiers. We are simply a group of American Patriots, from all walks of life, doing something significant to support American Heroes' Families.

"We invited businesses in the Hot Rod industry to partner with us to build an automobile in which we could:
1.Capture the Attention of the American People;
2.Dramatize the Educational Dilemma of the Children of our American Heroes;
3.Tour a Car made from the Excellent Products of our Donor Partners—the Manufacturers who make the best products in the Hot Rod industry;
4.Create a desire to own this car;
5.Raise as Much Money for Scholarships as Possible in an Auction.

Our Board of Directors all serve voluntarily. We invite our friends, fellow church members, acquaintances, hot rod lovers, business owners, civic leaders, military personnel, government officials and celebrities to join us in this cause.

http://ironmenfoundation.org/ has this 1932 Ford Roadster, honoring our Fallen Heroes, is being built by The IronMen Foundation. It will tour America throughout 2011 on its way to the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, AZ in January 2012. All proceeds from the auction will fund scholarships for the children of slain and disabled soldiers.

Built from brand new parts generously donated by American companies, it is being built in Island Lake, IL totally by the hands of IronMen Foundation volunteers. Stunning, in shades of green, the car honors the men and women who have stood in harm’s way to defend our freedoms. It will be on tour throughout 2011 at car shows, civic events and military installations. You will be able to follow the tour’s progress by visiting our Tour Schedule page. Details will be posted as the schedule dates are finalized "

Valspar paint is lobbying Ford to get the duece into the Ford exhibit area at SEMA in 2011. Damn good idea, lets hope the Ford honchos make it happen.

Thanks to Chuck Caswell for telling me about this noble cause! It's what is great about SEMA, you meet such great people!

World Premier of a hot rod movie, Deuce of Spades, Sun Nov 14th, Fillmore in Ventura county

http://www.deuceofspadesmovie.com/

Bringing the 50's back for a huge 50's bash to celebrate the world premiere of the highly anticipated hot rod period film "Deuce of Spades"
Featuring guest stars Gene Winfield and Bill Hines

Event includes: hot rod run to the event location - red carpet world premiere held at the oldest running theater int he country

Hot rods and classic cars show in main street in front of the theater

Meal served on authentic 1950 train (depicted in the film) at historical train station

Bands from the film performing doo-wop, 50's rock and rockabilly

Swing dancing demonstrations by world top dancers - open swing dancing for all

World renowned hot rod artist Tom Fritz painting exhibit - and more

All this in a setting right out of the fifties!

All participants to dress fifties style that day please. Event starts at non and ends at 8pm. Location: historic downtown Fillmore in Ventura County

Ticket price of only $35 dollars includes everything!! Get VIP parking for your car for an additional $15

Tickets go on sale 10/28 and will sell out very fast.

Keep a close eye on the website where they will become available for purchase
http://www.deuceofspadesmovie.com/

Old (1930's) race car transporter, and really old (1922) race car transporter

Photo taken in 1922, hard rubber tire Scammel hauling Sunbeam racecar... bumpy ride on old country cobblestones

Not sure which site I borrowed the top photo from, probably http://5window.tumbler.com/
, the bottom one was http://www.retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=readersrides&action=display&thread=84662&page=1

Rare duece type 18 with a custom coach-built cabriolet body

The car varies from the American-made convertible sedan styles; the top has no side rails to slide on.

The car was originally purchased by a high-profile German official. In 1938 or 1939, the car was hidden, actually walled up in a basement in Austria, to prevent military confiscation. In 1947, the car was shipped to England. It arrived stateside in 1964, as the possession of a Wisconsin antique dealer. From there, it was sold to the current owner in Jacksonville.

The bodywork is from Deutsch of Koln, the chassis assembled by the Ford Werks A.G. Koln. Unusual features abound such as an underhood siren, dual flag shafts, a Bosch driving light and spotlight, and trafficators. This is the only known example by this coachbuilder and one of five German-built convertibles known.

Former Staff Car for the Third Reich. Owner was a non-Nazi and hid the car from confiscation by the German Army.

The car has all of its original parts, with the exception of the engine (now correct) that was lost during long ago restoration. There are currently only seven of this body type known in the World.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=397594&page=61

barn find duece

This 1932 Ford coupe was bought in 1951 and parked in this garage in 1959. The owner, now 77 years old (so he was born exactly in 1932, looks at coincidence) gave up trying to restore the car one day and decided - thankfully - sell it. That was the first person to come in this garage since 1959, exactly 50 years later.

Check out Nik's blog for the whole story, and lots of other cool car stuff! http://carrosantigos.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/mais-um-deuce-coupe-50-anos-depois/

the USA At Last hot rod from "Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation"

Anyone know what the story is about this roadster?

your paint is incredibly good to reflect the next car this perfectly

cool things found at Greyhandgang.com

What do you think, an airport runway snow melter?

Buckminster Fuller and a Dymaxion

Cuban taxi's.... aren't they awesome! Looks like a 55 Ford and a 53 Chev. I'd take a ride in these over a modern taxi, damn right I would

I'm not sure, but it looks like the trans-arctic vehicle

A street car used to build artificial reefs

The Vereycken Diwheel 1947 and you can read more about it http://douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/TRANSPORT/diwheel/diwheel.htm

The Munsters coach it looks like, it is on Santa Monica Blvd, and it's 1964

An Autogyro over New York

a photo of the Blitzen Benz I haven't seen before

looks like El Mirage

What an Americana moment, the purple car is a Studebaker Commander I think

via: http://www.greyhandgang.com/

"The Road to Bonneville" DVD ! Cool !

Watched it, thouroughly enjoyed it! The Rolling Bones "Wicked Sisters" on a road trip from New York state to Bonneville, and we get to watch and enjoy instead of roadside repair the headgasket that blew.... now I'm all for a bonding experience that you get to relive forever as a great story of how you had to wrench on the roadside with only a flashlight to illuminate the process, but it's pretty cool to just watch from the couch as a couple of hot rodders cruise cross country to hot rod racing mecca, Bonneville.

All the drama and time limit builds on reality TV frustrate, this documentary doesn't!

It's cool just to catch a look at a couple hot rodders driving dueces, and delivering their B'ville ready race '32 to tech inspection. I was surprised at what it takes to pass tech, so the movie is informative on that aspect, as well as who and what Rolling Bones is without having to read the magazine articles (you know I just look at the pictures right?!) Another film by AtomicHotRods is Devil at Your Feet, and I'll fill you in on that in a later post, so check back!

The soundtrack is music from Electric Frankenstein http://www.electricfrankenstein.com/ and in the extra's on the DVD you can just close your eyes, turn up the volume and enjoy a flathead rapping away

Order one here: http://www.amazon.com/Road-Bonneville-Brian-Darwas/dp/B001HL31BG

Also, DVD's can be purchased and a trailer can be viewed online at:
www.AtomicHotRods.com or by mail, $24.95 + $4.50 for shipping (Foreign/ Non-U.S. orders add an additional $2.50 to cover shipping)
Payable in U.S. Funds to:
Brian Darwas - P.O. Box 467 - New York, NY 10461

Film Credits:
- Director: Brian Darwas
- Shot, Edited, and Produced by: Brian Darwas
- Executive Producer: Jennifer Carchietta
- Starring: The Rolling Bones, Ken Schmidt and Keith Cornell

If you think I've posted one of these dueces before, so did I, but it was another they must have built for a customer: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/11/cool-stuff-that-caught-my-attention-at.html