More Hot Rods & Custom Cars In California

by Mike -

What motivates a car lover to spend time and money on a custom car that may not be worth the investment when it is done?

The hot rod and custom car culture is interesting because the builders of these cars will willingly spend much more money to build the car than they are worth to anyone else.

It is their personal artistic expression.

This 1957 Chevy below does not fit into the category of the other cars here it could well be worth more than the owner's investment but I just loved this car.

There is a saying in the hot rod world "why buy a hot rod for $50,000 when you can build one for $150,000?".

More hot rods are here.

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Looks cool, sounds cool.

1952 So-Cal Belly Tanker

by Mike -

Returning American soldiers from World War II wanted to build cars that went fast. This was especially true in Southern California where the Hot Rod culture was created by returning soldiers who had learned new mechanicals skills in the military.

One of these cars stands out. An ingenious Bill Burke thought it was a good idea to take the aluminum fuel tank from P-51 and P-47 airplanes and turn them into land rockets designed to go very fast in a straight line on the dry lake beds of Southern California.

It turned out that the larger tanks from a P-38 were more suitable to hold a Ford V8 engine and a driver.

The classic So-Cal Special shown here is the most famous of these belly tankers. Alex Xydias, the owner of the So-Cal Speed Shop, and Dave DeLangton collaborated on this ingenious race car.

At the Bonneville National Speed Trials in the summer of 1951 the So-Cal Belly Tanker set new records with driver DeLangton. With a few engine changes this creation eventually reached more that 195 MPH in 1952. Read more here.

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Flames On Cars

by Mike -

I have always liked flames on cars but none of my cars have had flames, probably because they do not seem to go with European sports cars.

These cars look so natural with flames.

I suspect these cars go faster with flames.

Surf's up!

Even grandpa likes flames.

The owner of this car below is an Elvis impersonator.

I just like this.

These pictures were taken at the Goodguys show in Pleasanton, California on 27 March 2011.

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Below is the Bizzarrini GT 5300 with flames.

Custom 1940 Ford Like No Other

by Mike -

I have never seen a 1940 Ford custom that looked like this one, it sounded great too.

The 1940 Ford was one of my favorite cars when I was a kid but I have never owned one. As I grew older European sports cars held my attention. This custom Ford is nice too.

The was at the Goodguys Show in Pleasanton, California on Sunday 27 March, 2011.

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