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WTF Friday: 160mph Compressed Air Dragster

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While looking into a photo of another crazy dragster from the 60’s I stumbled across this ‘compressed air’ dragster built by Honeywell (at the time named Garret and then shortly after AlliedSignal) that was powered by three 35 pound turbine engines that put out 750 pounds of torque a piece and topped out at 70,000 RPM.

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The front suspension is from a Willy’s
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The rear is from a Ford and the drums are Buick units

According to the ever growing list of historians on the H.A.M.B this dragster was initially designed to run entirely on compressed air but after that proved to be a little inefficient — it turns out you need a lot of compressed air to send a car down the strip at a good clip– things were tweaked so it ran on a mixture of air, alcohol and water.

All said and done the car went down the strip in staggering 8.75 seconds at 160 miles per hour and was stopped by nothing more than rear mounted drum brakes.

People interested to the point of investing in the project could do so via the mailer below:

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No word on why exactly it was abondoned or what happened to it but it looks like all kinds of crazy which by now is par for the course in the 60s and 70s.

How’s that saying go? When men were men?

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This appears to be a later rendition of the car lighting em up

Site Updates

Heading out to the Scraped Crusaders meeting spot for the Cruise to Eurokracy in about five minutes so anyone heading to the show this year see you there!

Cruise info can be found here.
Eurokracy Montreal info can be found here.

Guest Coverage: June Jitter Bug 2013

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Going to take a quick break from the CSCS Beach Burnout coverage and light up the main stage for June Jitter Bug, a local Volkswagen show that takes place every year at Fireman’s Park in Niagara Falls.

Like Vanfest June Jitterbug is one of those shows I’ve wanted attend for a few years but can’t swing due to other events or personal commitments.

I have however run guest coverage from it before and this years comes from Mark Armstrong a long time reader and local enthusiast.

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Nice awards at June Jitterbug, something you could hang up in your garage
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Bit of a bug infestation…
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Of course these are bugs most people don’t mind
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According to Mark this was a father son build. Came out amazing both ought to be proud
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I like how this car looks spotless at first glance but then you begin to notice small hints of  age here and there that add to the appeal
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I’ve still never had a PBR… worthy of the hype?
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It’s a Thing thing you wouldn’t understand
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Love the faded door art
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This Type II bus fits right in with all the faded bugs
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Love the plate on this dune bug
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Little bit of his and hers goin’ on here
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Beatuiful ’56 Porsche Speedster
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The awesome orange Ghia that I saw at Stretch & Poke’s Fitted event
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If I were a camping man  (I’m not) I wouldn’t mind one of these
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Google leads me to believe this may be one of very few convertible converted  Scirocco’s
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With the change in ownership I was wondering if this car would vanish but the new owner seems to enjoy bringing it out again and again which is great
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Classic
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Somehow I never noticed the similarity between Tarmacs and Type A’s before
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Dan’s car looks great with it’s new Hot Rod Flatz paint job
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This was a top 25 car at this years Jitterbug, it also happens to belong to the man who took all these photos
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I’ve always liked the treatment on this hood, pretty unique and I’ve never seen it copied
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MK4 rocking super bright Vette wheels
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Another clever plate
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This is pretty awesome simple, yet awesome
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TT on X5 wheels, not bad at all

That’s all for this year hopefully I can make it next!

Event Coverage: 2013 CSCS Beach Burnout

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Last year’s “Beach Burnout” hosted by the Canadian Sport Compact Series  was my first voyage out to Grand Bend and I learned that the six hours (round trip) of driving required to make it all work in one day is less than enjoyable so thinking ahead we made a weekend of it this year.

On Saturday we drove up to Lyndsey’s sisters in Exeter, went to Lucan for a tractor pull, and then woke up at a decent hour Sunday to make our way to the Grand Bend Motorplex.

Given that Sunday was incredibly hot I’m thankful we spent as little time in the 3 as possible because up until Monday  the air conditioning was still inoperable. With the weather being awesome and a beach just down the road the turnout looked to be about double it was last year which made everything busy.

The strip, the show and shine,  and the track where today’s coverage begins.

Drifting

The CSCS team has been making a number of revisions to the drifting portion of the event to make it much more enjoyable and competitive for everyone involved. The introduced new judges, a new announcers, and a more refined judging system.

All of this definitely helped because the finals were some of the most evenly matched tandems I’ve ever seen at a CSCS event.

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Jover was out agaiin ripping his f20 ae86. I’ve yet to get a great shot of this car which is something I hope to do before the season is out
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This was the first time I had seen the Automatrix (boosted?) Miata at a CSCS event, he didn’t make the finals but I did manage to get this nice shot
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One of the new additions to CSCS drifting are defined clipping points. Here are two drivers getting as close as possible
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Dylan got his LS powered Nissa out for this round… can’t wait to see how it does once he’s got it all dialed in
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Full out at full lock
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S14 on entry to the first corner
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Same corner, similar car, different angle
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I should really know who this is by now…
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Being so bright Brad’s car is one of the easiest too shoot…
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…the same can be said for Anthony’s Centerline Motorsports car
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Both ended up making it into the top 4
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A miss shift in his chase run meant Anthony had to go all out in his lead lap against Marin. In the end Marin came out on top and moved on
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This put Brad and Anthony head to head for 3/4 with Brad taking the 3 spot
As expected Riley was out sending it in his KA Hardbody  and made it to the finals
As expected Riley was out sending it in his KA Hardbody and made it to the final two tandem
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After a close battle Marin triumphed and took home the day
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Brad Celebrating his third place finish

Time Attack

The time attack drivers once again proved to be some of the best in the region as records were broken once again around the Time Attack course. People were looping the tight technical Grand Bend course in well under a minute.

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Don’t often get to see a Corvette out ripping in a field made up almost entirely of Imports
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My two favorite CSCS time attack cars during practice
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This s14 took home street RWD at Cayuga and was looking just as fast in Grand Bend
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E46 M3 taking full advantage of those tires
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The Stage 4 Celica is another car I love to watch rip around the track, don’t see many of them and this one is quick
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I beleive this Type R was running in the Street FWD class
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James Houghton was running in unlimed FWD and looking to best the record he set last year of 55.059
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In unlimited AWD Mike McGinnis sent his newly painted florescent green Subaru around the track in stellar times
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Real pleasure to watch this car run

Look out for some show and shine and paddock coverage later this week!

Theme Tuesdays: RIP Jae Bueno

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It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of lowriders and the lowriding culture and one of the people who documented that best is Jae Bueno.

Based in LA Jae had access to the best of the best when it came to lowriding (and everything else automotive) and his work was showcased online via Fatlace, and his own site, and a couple times he even appeared over on The Chronicles. His work has also been part of  numerous art exhibits as well.

One of the coolest parts about Jae’s work is that he and his wife worked together for most of his projects and as someone who brings their wife to most events it was pretty cool to see a husband and wife team making a living doing what they love.

Earlier today I found out today that Jae lost his battle with cancer so I’ve decided to pay a little respect to him and his work  with this weeks Theme Tuesday.

His work speaks for itself so I will let it do just that.

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Rest in peace Jae.

WTF Friday: Jerky Boy

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Throughout an average week I get a lot of messages from people wanting me to plug one thing or another via the various Stance Is Everything social channels.

Generally these messages read something like this: “Hey I’ve got this cool photo/fanpage/contest/product could you share it for me? I’m trying to get the name out”.

This time the message read: “Hey I’m building a Jerky truck out of a 1994 Daihatsu Hijet Deck Van what do you think?”

Wait you are doing what….with what?

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As it turns out Doug, the owner of jerky.com, is looking to turn his RHD micro bus into –and I quote– a bad-ass jerky slinging truck.

Why does a jerk company need a truck? Well traditionally when jerky vendors roll up to a venue to hock their wares they have to deal with set-up and tear down of a booth which as anyone who has ever set-up a booth before will tell you isn’t exactly a whole lot of fun.

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If your truck is your booth however you just have to pull up and open the doors and bam your ready to sell meat to the masses.

If said truck is also a Daihatsu then it’s got the distinct advantage of being able to easily fit wherever a booth normally would and stand out at all times. Doug’s plans for the JDM imported van are outlined below.

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Earmarked to do all the custom work is Bruce Wiegand who’s built a variety of vehicles over the years (at least one of which was featured in DUB magazine) along with a couple movie cars.

Hopefully if the kickstarter goes through and Doug does get to work on the vehicle he won’t go  too ‘Pimp My Ride’ on it and does it up something like so:

Just pretend the back of this has a jerky booth
Just pretend the back of this has some sort of Jerky counter

If this sounds like the kind of thing you’d be interested in tossing a couple bucks towards check out their kickstarter. If it all goes down everyone gets some Jerky, including bacon and pineapple(!?) varieties.

Site Updates

This weekend I will be at CSCS Beach Burnout. In Grand Bend. Come check it out!

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In other news I’m coming to realize I may have tossed in the towel again on an event calendar :/

Flashback Friday

Here’s a look to last years Beach Burnout which was the first time it had been at Grand Bend.







Check out all of the Grand Bend Coverage here.

Event Coverage: 2013 Niagara Tuner & Truck Expo – Part 2.

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Back to conclude the coverage from the 2013 Niagra Tuner And Truck Expo. As I mentioned yesterday once mother nature got her act together everything worked out pretty nicely for this years show.

It’s really quite impressive how much this show has grown in a short three years and people have even started to call it the replacement to the much loved Scraped By The Lake.

I never got a chance to attend Scrape in it’s infancy but I’m told that show started off very similar to TNT.  It may be putting the cart a bit ahead of the horse in hoping this show grows to that level but the potential is certainly there especially when you consider the variety, vendor support, and following it already has.

Only good things can be on the horizon.

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A picture perfect example of the variety, can’t think of many other shows were you would find a fitted MR-2 parked beside a 502 powered Camaro
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I can only imagine how well this moves
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Dogs are scared of big blocks
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Love the classic raked stance and what look to be up sized rally wheels
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Brad’s MR-2 as he rolled in
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Erik cranked his coils down a bit since the last time I saw his Saab
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So glad Tom opted to colour match his hood
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I’ve on and off followed the build of this car on Stance|Works, the gold accents were a bit of a surprise
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Early in the day I heard this incredibly loud whistling noise and decided to seek it out…
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…turns out it was coming from this Pontiac
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Apparently this gentleman heard there was a car show and just showed up, he didn’t know it was a tuner/truck event so he just sat around looking like a boss
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Francesco Rizzuto’s EL getting a little wet
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The M Weapon e36 was part of the Pas Magazine Tuner Battlegrounds Live competition, not sure if that still went down considering one of the competitors crashed on the way
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I didn’t even know angel eyes existed for this gen…
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Big thanks to Josh for parking beside me and reppin’ the site, he took home best Mazda 3
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Trevor went home with second place with his speed 3
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Couple Toronto Mazda 3 memebers
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First time I’ve seen Shea’s car in person with the new set-up. Looks very clean now especially with less stickers
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Interesting Miata from So Fresh Automotive  given the paint choice I might have considered moulding the kit
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Blake’s RX-7 looks so good on his new Work VS-KF wheels that I didn’t even notice the models in the back until it came to editing…
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Regardless there’s lots of ass shots in this coverage, vehicular or otherwise
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Grass needed to be cut anyway
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Jon’s looking to get a wide body on this car, should be crazy when it’s all said and done
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A pair of Acuras with stunning paint
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John Wakely’s car which I believe is running now…
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Legacy / ivape delivery truck
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Super aggressive GLI
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Pretty sure this is the only set of Watercooled IND wheels I’ve seen in person
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Vagkraft is August 18th this year
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Perhaps next year I’ll try and make something cool for the Best Stance Award…
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Short intermission for a Goat.

Billy’s Integra

One car I spent a lot of time walking around at the Truck and Tuner Expo was Billy’s Integra , with s14 front fenders, s15 headlights, prelude tails and a custom wide body this car was designed to pull people in for a closer look.

The shape of the rear quarters throws me a little bit but the craftsmanship is absolutely incredible, hats off to Frankie Valenti for 20hz Audio fame for the body work.

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Damn good panel gaps for a conversion
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Notice how the quarters finish factory not just in a giant hunk of bondo like many widebodies
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The intercooler feeds a boosted B series motor
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As expected the interior was also done to the 9s
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One final glance at a distance to give an idea of the entire look

Event Coverage: 2013 Niagara Tuner & Truck Expo – Part 1.

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After being unable to make the Nine-O-Five Rides Tuner and Truck Expo in 2012 I was glad the event organizers reached out with an invitation to attend and sponsor this years event.

Leading up to the show the forecast was fairly bleek and in most cases a 90% chance of thunder showers would be the kiss of death for an event. However after two succesfull years of operation people were willing to brave the rain for the 2013 TNT Expo in hopes that the lake would blow the storm elsewhere.

After a few morning showers the sky did indeed clear up and those who made the trek to Fireman’s park were rewarded with an awesome show with surprisingly great weather.

Having never been to Fireman’s park before I must say its an awesome setting for a show and allows for great photos.

A welcome change from the more standard parking lot venues.

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It’s been a long time since I’ve personally attended a show with a decent amount of trucks… too long really
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The rain showers actually opened up a lot of spectator free photo oppurtunities
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The bed work on this c10 was superb
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I’d be lying if I said a 6.0 was what I expected to see under the cowl hood of this Nova
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It was also nearly tucking lug at all four corners
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This F150 was part of the same crew known as “2nd Glance”
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The two together
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Another 2nd Glance vehicle was the bodied s10 from yesterday’s limbo contest
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Brandon’s awesome GMC
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James engine bay almost accuratly depicts the weather
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@officiallytylerjones
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Got to talk to the owner of this truck briefly nice guy
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Another virtually people free shot thanks to a mid morning shower
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Clark’s s10
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Brighter shot from later in the day
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Jeff took home a well deserved best paint award
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Todd I believe took home best conversion
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Lade Low
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Can’t remember the last time I saw a gate mural, dug this one
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The limbo winner in the weeds
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Niteline Customs getting in on the loudest exhaust contest
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Gary’s truck actually ended up being louder than the truck above….
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Some of you may have seen it in Wasaga the day before
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Another look just how big the Niteline Dodge’s were…
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Niteline also brought out this Ford (F-100?) work in progress
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It will be interesting to see how they tie in the modern dash and centre console when it’s complete
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The original frame has been gutted for this tube setup
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They also brought this out which took home a couple awards
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If I’m not mistaken this beast was also one of theirs. It actually chucked the accessory belt off during the loudest exhaust contest
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Caught this shot between revs

Check back tomorrow for the last instalment which will be mostly made up of euros and imports.

Theme Tuesdays: 2013 Niagara Truck & Tuner Expo Vehicle Limbo

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Going to switch things up a little and combine this weeks Theme Tuesday with some of the forthcoming event coverage.

This years Truck & Tuner Expo presented by Nine-0-Five Rides was awesome and one of the highlights was the vehicle limbo.

Since I’ve got a lot of coverage from this years event that I want to get up as soon as possible doing a limbo Theme Tuesday seemed like an obvious choice.

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One of very few bagged Darts. May be the only one actually…
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Thanks to the body drop this Nova was able to hang with the newer cars with more conservative roof lines
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This Golf lasted a couple rounds
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Wasn’t sure how low this car could roll as the Watercooled IND wheels were very aggressive but he was able to ride virtually aired out
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On the car side of things I was rooting for Brad in his gorgeous MR-2
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He was beat out by this Miata full of guys….I’m sure there’s a joke here somewhere
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For the trucks this convertible ranger had little issue making it through early on
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Being such a big truck things were a little tougher for this Dodge
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Steplock was holding it down for the full-size trucks
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Todd showin’ off the work he and the guys at Compound Chassis fab put in to get his truck low
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This s10 managed to hang in there a lot longer than I thought
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I’d wager on pavement he probably could have lasted a hair longer still
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This photo was well liked on facebook… give Melissa’s Fan Page like here
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In the end it was a battle between this s10….
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….and this Mazda
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Being an s10 guy I was rooting for this
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…however he eventually got beat out
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Making this Mazda the lowest truck of the day
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When things were all said and done I looked down at Olive to see she was doing her best to get low also

More events should have these it’s a lot of fun and a good way to pass the time aside from just sitting around, more Truck and Tuner Expo coverage should be up tomorrow.

Pour Some Out

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Lost a good one yesterday on the way to Truck & Tuner Expo. There’s some misinformation and rumours floating around regarding it’s demise but the long and short of it is heavy rain, inexperience, and high horse power were involved.

Such a shame because I quite liked the car and it was incredibly clean. The colour it was painted always made it an interesting challenge to shoot as well. There’s a lot more purple in it than the photos below really illustrate.

These photos are when the original owner (and builder) had the car on Work Rezax wheels.

These more recent ones are when the new owner took over and added the more aggressive 9.5/10.5 -6 VS-XX wheels.

Here’s the car a few minutes after the incident occurred.

rip

Looking at the photo it’s a miracle no one was seriously hurt.

For those curious full specs on the car are available here.

Car Crazy Canada’s Best Round Table

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With voting for the 2013 Car Crazy Canada’s Best competition coming to a close this Sunday the Meguiar’s crew and myself thought it would be interesting to have a bit of a round table discussion about who we think is going to Vegas for SEMA 2013.

I’ve always liked the idea of round table articles and I’m very happy that each of these people took some time out of their busy day to sit down and write a few words.

Terry Denomme

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you think will win this year?
I’ve been lucky enough to see a handful of these cars firsthand while attending shows in the past few years. We’ve even featured (or plan to) some of them so it’s hard to pick just one. There are a few standouts for me however that I think should win.

I remember seeing Ron Vance’s blown big block ’64 Pro Street Corvette at the Calgary World of Wheels a few years ago and thought it was just gorgeous and bad ass at the same time. Beautiful build.

Vote for Ron Vannee

Dennis Verrrier’s 1935 Northern Star Chevy Roadster is a masterpiece (and a cover car from Volume 5, Issue 5 back in 2010.) This car was a Great 8 Ridler car in 2001 so it’s my sentimental favourite as only two Canadian cars since then have earned a Great 8 honour, (Three Canadian owned cars have won the Ridler).

Vote for Dennis Verrier

It started as an all-steel genuine ’35 Chevy coupe and was masterfully transformed into a custom roadster by Maurice Cahill of St. Pierre, MB and chassis fabricator Bill Bourbonnai now of Kelowna, BC. Just stunning and worthy of the title of Canada’s best.

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles would you like to own ?
I love wagons so Paul Roy’s Manitoba-based 1954 Plymouth wagon would be fun to own and cruise in but I think for sheer seat of the pants fun I’d love to own Rick Lojko’s 1969 Camaro (Cambridge, ON) because its twin-turbo BBC means there’s 1,000+HP on tap if (editors note: he means when!) you want it.

Vote for Paul Roy

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you find the most interesting or unique from a build point of view?
Well, I’d have to go back to Dennis Verrier’s ’35 Chevy Roadster…the body mods are numerous..including 2” taken from rear quarters, 4” added to length of doors and ½” width, which were also rounded and given the suicide treatment.

The front fenders no longer really resemble ’35 Chevy fenders as they were lengthened 4.5” and now more resemble the sweep of a 33/34 Ford. The rear fenders were bobbed and custom running boards were fabricated…the list goes on and on.

I also think the custom work that went in to Harry Teepel’s 1950 Buick Roadmaster is unreal and especially love the hood beneath the hood look..but that’s only the beginning. Two well thought out cars built by very talented builders.

Vote for Harry Teepel

About Terry Denomme
Terry Denomme
Publisher/Editor
CANADIAN HOT RODS MAGAZINE

Danny Braga

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you think will win this year?
All of these vehicles are impressive with their own distinct character. It’s a difficult choice. However we see Rick Lojko’ Camaro out of Toronto to be very impressive with the potential to win.

Vote for Rick Lojko

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles would you like to own ?
All of them. No. No. That’s greedy of us to say. We must admit we can draw up a sweet laundry list of vehicles to own from these Canada’s Best finalists.

We can narrow it down to two – Perry Jamart’s ‘56 Chevy pickup from Calgary and Rick Lojko’s Camaro from Toronto.

Vote for Parry Jamart

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you find the most interesting or unique from a build point of view?
It would be Rick Lojko’s Camaro out of Toronto. What Rick has achieved under the hood is breathtaking – 2200HP and 2100 ft/lbs of pure excitement.

About Danny Braga/Street Concepts
StreetConcepts is an integrated media company whose knee deep in the automotive industry and Automotive Lifestyle since 1998. We have strategically built the StreetConcepts brand that has attracted, both young and old, automotive lovers on a global scale from our home base in Toronto to the US, Sweden, Columbia and Australia.

Frank Maguire

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you think will win this year?
I think Perry Jamart and his 1956 Chevy 3100 will be the overall winner come Canada Day. I think Perry’s build has a very broad appeal; the style of Perry’s 3100 not only appeals to young car enthusiasts, but at the same time I can see the older guys really being wowed at the craftsmanship and the dedication that has gone into his truck.

When Meguiar’s revealed the “sweet six” earlier this week. I was shocked that Rick Lojko, and Ron Vanee were not among the top 6 in votes. However, I say this every year, anyone can win this contest. It’s all about knowing how to promote yourself.

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles would you like to own ?
Without a doubt, I would take Rick Lojko’s 69′ Z28 Camaro RS, as the one responsible for gathering this year’s multimedia content for Meguiar’s I had the pleasure of photographing and filming every single finalist vehicle, and when I saw Rick’s Camaro. It was love at first sight, and that’s because the hood was open.

One look at that 2200HP/2100 FT/lbs TQ power plant and I was mesmerized! This car was a mechanical masterpiece!

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you find the most interesting or unique from a build point of view?
I would have to say that would be Scott Fitzsimmon’s 1937 Ford Pickup. The ethos on this truck is so freaking cool! The truck was once owned by legendary rocker Ronnie Hawkins; the truck originally came from Arkansas where it was used by a watermelon farmer back in the day. I thought that was a pretty cool back story.

Vote for Scott Fitzsimmons

The other vehicle that jumped out at me, is Perry’s Jamart’s 56′ Chevy 3100; I fell in love with classic trucks last year when I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Jim McLauglin’s 3100 when he won the 2012 Canada’s Best Car Crazy Competition.

Perry’s 3100 in contrast is vastly different from Jim’s, much more appealing to someone my age. It’s bagged, has a beautiful finish and is highly modified. I don’t think there is one thing on that truck that remained stock. I love modified vehicles so this one really stood out for me.

Frank Maguire
President of Race Day Media – Digital Marketing Communications and Multimedia Production

RDM has worked hand in hand with Meguiar’s Canada for the past 4 years. Lead promotional marketing communications and multimedia production for the Canada’s Best Car Crazy Competition since it’s introduction to the Canadian automotive scene back in 2010.

Matt Desormeaux

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you think will win this year?
It is hard to figure that out, it all depends on how hard people work on getting votes, but also on how hard they worked on their ride. If I was to pick a ride for a possible finalist it would be hard as all the vehicles are worthy, but Perry Jamart’s Chevrolet 3100 Series definitely stands out in my mind.

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles would you like to own ?
The vehicle that I would pick for myself to own would be, Paul Roy’s Plymouth Plaza Wagon 1954. The endless looks and versatility of this wagon, make it a head turner and (it has) a ton of room for packing.

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Vote for Paul Roy

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you find the most interesting or unique from a build point of view?
I find everyone’s car unique. The 1954 Plymouth Plaza Wagon, is unique due to its rarity and its smooth and simple color scheme on the outside but the interior is decked out and screams attention.

About Matt Desormeaux
Matt is the previous winner the Car Crazy Canada’s Best contest, taking home the prize in 2011 with his RX-7 pictured below

Arthur Chiang

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you think will win this year?
Christian Vigneault’s Mustang Shelby Super Snake. Winning a vote is as much about the campaign and being able to leverage social media as it is having a vehicle with broad appeal.

I believe the Super Snake will resonate with the widest demographic and earn the win with it’s aggressive body work coupled with huge factory power in a year that we should all be celebrating the works of the great Carroll Shelby.

Vote for Christian Vigneault

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles would you like to own ?

My pick is Rick Lojko’s Chevrolet RS Z28 Camaro 1969. The looks is timeless, with the right mix of Vintage Muscle car aesthetic and all the modern tech to make an extremely potent street machine. The wheels are a perfect modern compliment to the menacing classic Z28 RS body.

Under the hood you have a mix of beautiful details and more power than you could ever need. Interior is subtle at first glance with a few modern updates to the classic interior.

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you find the most interesting or unique from a build point of view?

Joe Siep’s Chevrolet C10 1967 strikes me as a total one off custom creation. The mantra here is pick a chassis you love, pick a drivetrain with the power you crave and make it work both mechanically and visually.

Vote for Joe Seip

The whole build looks minimalist and modern from the interior to the engine bay, and I bet even without the supercharger this thing would have hauled.

About Arthur

Competitor (Auto Slalom, Time Attack, Drag Racing, Rally Cross, TSD Rally, Performance Rally)
Car Show Judge (ImportFest, Fitted, Battle of the Car Clubs, etc.)


Some Industry Accomplishments:
Scion Tuner Challenge Finalist, Team TDS
Sema IAS Award Winner
HIN Multiple Award Winner
CSCS Multiple Best of Show Winner
Importfest Multiple Award Winner

Dave Thomas

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you think will win this year?
I’d like to see Perry Jamart’s 56 Chevy 3100 walk away with the crown this year. With a hopped up 427 under the hood, Air Ride Tech suspension, and a 4 link IRS suspension setup I’d wager this truck can get up and go a lot better than people are willing to give it credit for.

It’s really the complete package and I think the fact that it’s currently sitting in the top six is a testament to how well put together it is.

Vote for Perry Jamart here

Also just look at that paint! It’ proves you don’t need to go too wild, just pick a solid colour than dances just right under the right lighting.

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles would you like to own ?

Jean-Francois Croteau’s 32 Ford, It’s got that period correct look to it that will never go out of style. While my long term goal is to some day build a classic truck if I could have my cake and eat it too I’d have a truck (perhaps like Perry’s) and a 32 like Jean-Franciois.

Vote for Jean-Francois Croteau

Which of the Canada’s Best finalist vehicles do you find the most interesting or unique from a build point of view?
The most unique build I saw while the competitors were getting finalized was Harry Prokop’s Ford Anglia and I was really disappointed to hear that he couldn’t participate in the contest .

Out of the current list of finalist Paul Roy’s Plaza Wagon stands out as one of the most unique. It’s certainly not the type of thing you come across often at shows and would probably look pretty good if he threw some bags under it and let it lay frame.

Runner up for most unique would be  Dave Frost’s Ranger. It’s the lone mini truck of the bunch and it’s a generation of Ranger that most people completely overlook or completely forget about.

Vote for Dave Frost

About Dave Thomas
The man who inserted all of the typos into this post.
(My ‘real’ bio can be found here).

Good luck to all of the competitors and be sure to get your vote in at Canadasbest.ca before 11:59:59 p.m. EDT this Sunday June 16th.