Hot Rod Flatz

Hot Rod Flatz

Want to paint your rod but unsure of the color? May I suggest you check out Hot Rod Flatz website. This place sells a pre-flattened ready to spray low-gloss color with the desired 30-degree satin primer appearance. There's no guessing with how much flattener to add; it's already added for you. Just mix at the 4-parts color to 1 part hardener to 1 part reducer ratio and you're ready to spray. Our new urethane system is easier to mix and spray, with much greater durability and chemical resistance. Our gallon kit produces 1 1/2 gallons of sprayable material.

Hot Rod Flatz is a fast drying two component chemical resistant urethane finish that provides excellent adhesion to properly prepared steel, aluminum, fiberglass and OEM finishes. Hot Rod Flatz also contains UV inhibitors to protect your finish from fading and chalking like traditional primers. Now you don't have to be limited to just primer for your flat look. With 36 traditional to wild Hot Rod solid colors and 20 metallic and pearl colors to choose from, customize your ride with Hot Rod Flatz.

Check out the link above for your flat color needs. I'm sure you'll find the color you've been dreamin' of!

Ms Metal - Custom Equipment

Ms Metal - Custom Equipment

Looking for something to add to a "unique" look in your car's interior. Check out Ms. Metal's site. She has some cool custom turn signal arms made from old wrenches. Check them out by linking on the link above. She also has some cool tee-shirts!

What is it worth?

Went down the road to my neighbor's house today to check out and test drive the Caprice Wagon. It's a 1992 and has 215,000 miles on it. The car actually drives well. The owner has all the paperwork for the work she has had done on it in the last year. Regular maintenance, two new front tires, new exhaust system, etc.

The car is pretty straight, I did notice some bubbling on the driver's side rear fender. The interior is pretty clean for the age as well.

I tried to put the 3rd row seat up to check out the available room, but was unable to figure it out. It was too cold to mess around with it for too long. The owner said she has $1500 on it, but would consider other offers. I'm not sure if we would gain any additional interior room in this over our Chevrolet Venture. I took 4 of the 6 kids with me today to test drive the car. I would have liked to see how everyone and 3 car seats would fit.

Caprice Wagon

I had been after a neighbor to sell me his 1991-1996 Chevrolet Caprice wagon for several years. He always told me it was one of his favorite cars to drive (this from a man who owned 3 vintage Mustangs!). At any rate, every time I asked him, he would laugh and tell me again how much he liked it and the story of how he had searched everywhere for one in as good as shape as his was.

Well, my neighbor passed away last year, and his wife had an auction. She sold all his vintage Mustangs and an old "K" car, but kept the wagon. I had sort of forgotten about the car until I got a phone call today. My wife had seen that my neighbor's widow had the wagon sitting out for sale in her driveway. To my amazement, my wife had taken it upon herself to call about the car BEFORE she even talked to me. The lady was returning her call.

Bottom line, she is asking $1500.00, but would consider other offers. It was raining pretty hard today, and I was in the middle of a "painting" project (kitchen is getting a fresh color) so I didn't get over to look at it. I'm thinking I might go over tomorrow and check it out. Last time I looked it over, it was in great conditon, however I'm guessing as most of those wagons have...this thing probably has boo-coo miles on it. Never the less, I've always liked the looks of the 1991-96 wagons, especially when they have been customized. It doesn't really take much to make them even cooler. I googled a search tonight and came up with the Internet photographs shown throughout this posting.

I am REALLY liking the paint scheme that is like a vintage Chevrolet Nomad. I'm wondering what it would cost to get a similar paint scheme on the neighbor's car. By the looks of these photographs, a lower stance, some low profile rims and tires, and an Impala SS grille and the car wouldn't even need a different paint job!

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Golden Rule...

1949 Chevy fleetline kustom built along time ago, some updates, driven daily until the snow falls.
BODY:color is Zenith gold satin with stripes from MR. FINLEY, chopped 4.5 - 5", 54 windshield cut down, vent windows, straight post, shaved drip rails and door handles, hood is welded up - extended - rounded corners, kustom grill made of the old hood edge with I think old spots for marking/turns, olds frenched headlights, the trunk has had the most work done - all the work is still visible from the underside very very kool, packard tail lights, quarters and skirts have had alot done as well - one off skirts - heavy guage and fit very nice, quarters were widened when the skirts were being made, very rust free, car was in southern Kansas untill last year then stored when it snows up here.
INTERIOR: 55' chevy dash with newer dakota digital insert, 59' olds wheel, center console with switches for headlights, A/C blower ect.. newer cd player (ran out of tapes to play), fronts seats are Gremlin yes Gremlin, the rear is a Riviera with the speaker grill in the middle, windows go up and down, wipers are electric, all guages work,
DRIVELINE: 250 chevy six, progressive 2-barrel, HEI ignition, split manifold with STRAIGHT PIPES!! one of the best sounds ever!!! HAS WON SEVERAL"RAP CONTESTS", 3-speed to a 60's nova rear with a good gear for highway. 26mpg doing 60-70 on a 1000 mile trip.
SUSPENSION: 3" spindle drop, 4"posies rear leaves, 3" blocks, 200psi air shocks, nice ride and you can drop the axle to the frame for the tail dragger look,
WHEELS/TIRES: Original wheels in excellent shape, newer 6.70's (original size) they tuck up there perfectly no rub, comes with original caps NOT with the caddy caps pictured!!
THE GOLDEN RULE (do onto others as you want done on to yourself) why not?
The car was built many years ago and has been enjoyed everyone of them, never parked and forgot about like so many. She has been from coast to coast, in many magazines, and used as a summertime daily driver. Even has rear seatbelts for the carseat.

Once again I'm wishing I had some extra $$ sitting around. This ride is currently for sale on eBay this week. The car has some really interesting features. Flat, metalflake gold paint, shaved chrome, custom truck lid, custom grille, and custom tail lights are just a few. The interior is pretty wicked as well. Custom seats, wide whitewall tires and exterior pinstriping make this thing scream hot rod. This thing really wants to come to Indiana! (currently $15,099.00 !!!!) Yikes!

More Pictures from Goodguy Nationals @ IRP 2001

This truck appeared on the cover of Classic Trucks after we saw this one at Indy.

O.k...so I did have an "eye" for traditional rods 6 years ago.

This old Ford was a favorite of my sons.

Old Chevys with wide-whites are VERY cool!

This is a nice looking Willys

Another Chevy for Dad's inspection!

Told you wagons could be cool!

Another panoramic view.

If memory serves me, I asked the owner of this car what the official name of this color was...the answer was "Retina Burn"!

Having some difficulty with my computer tonight. For some reason, every time the phone rings, I get kicked off of my wireless. Doesn't make sense and it is really annoying!







At any rate, thought I'd get back on here and try to upload some more pictures from the Goodguys Nats that I found in some old files. The last couple of years, everyone has been working, taking classes, or too busy to head down to Indianapolis. Hopefully this year will be different. It would be nice to think that one of these days, I will be able to drive my own rod to the event. For now I'll keep dreaming.

Goodguy Nationals at IRP 2001

Wicked...Sic...Bad...however you say it...this one rocks!

The vendors always have a great showing at this event.

Dad always checks out how others have customized 46, 47, and 48 Chevys

Even 6 years ago, my son was "into" Monster Trucks!

Lots of people come just to enjoy the drag racing.

The infield of one of the smaller tracks at IRP is always filled.

If memory serves me right, this area was reserved for the "best of the best".

I wonder which one will wear out first?

Trailer Queen? Probably. Cool? Definitely!

Tinky-winky, Grimace and Barney haven't done anything for purple, but it works well here!

This Corvair had a V8 UPFRONT! How cool is that?!?!

My son seemed to like this one.

Nostalgic drag racing always adds to the day at IRP!

ANY Corvette is a COOL Corvette!

This one would be even cool with the whitewalls OUT!

A very nice example of an early Ford. Problem is...I doubt there is anything that old on this one.

I would like to just have one or the other...this guy has it all!

Wish I had added captions 6 years ago! This was a limited edition Prowler.

This tudor sedan was simple and classy.

Trucks are cool too!

This is a shot of the V8 in the Corvair.

Lots of cars on a BEAUTIFUL day!

O.K....is it wrong to like Old Chevy Stationwagons?!?!?

Dad checking out a late 40's Chevy.

Another pictures of the V8 Corvair....SWEET!

I believe these pictures were taken during the summer of 2001. We went to Indianapolis Raceway Park (Now renamed O'Reilly Raceway Park) 2 or 3 times over the course of a few years. I think we went to 2 Goodguy Nationals and a Super Chevy Show there. At any rate, these pictures were taken during a Goodguy event.

It's interesting to look back through the digital folders of photographs I have taken over the years, seems my tastes have been evolving. I can remember all of the pastel cars of the 80's. Back then, I enjoyed older cars, but it was the street machines and the muscle cars that I remember liking the most.

It appears that during the late 90's, I started appreciating the more vintage automobiles. Cars from the 50's, 40's, 30's and even 20's became more interesting.


Lately, I still enjoy about anything, but I'm not as interested in the HIGH dollar, trailer queens that seemed to fill up most of the space at car shows in the 80's and 90's. I've enjoyed the "movement" of the hobby toward a more traditional, lower-budget hot rod. This change in my thinking has problem developed from my desire to build and/or own something that I can DRIVE. I want to share my interest in the same way my father passed his interest of cars to me. I think I get as much, if not more, enjoyment out of the planning, packing, driving to and from, and the spending time with my dad and son (kids), as I do actually looking at the cars at shows.