Freakin' Sweet.....

This is freakin' kool! Just got online tonight to find out the following news:

HUB GIVEAWAY WINNER!
Suede and Chrome Garage
Congratulations Suede and Chrome Garage
You just won yourself an amazing Max Grundy Print!

How kool is that? If you haven't checked out Hub Garage, I strongly urge you to do so! It's a great place to post pics of your ride(s) and meet a lot of other grease monkeys.

Those of you who are avid Suede and Chrome readers know that Ol' Scruffy is a big Max Grundy fan. (check out the link to his website on my sidebar). This print will look pretty wicked hanging in my office with my other car stuff.

Restoring Faith....

Just found out about an AWESOME project going on in Chicago, IL. Project: "Restoring Faith" involves 7 groups of young people. These students come from intercity Chicago, many out of gangs and other tough circumstances. The idea is to allow these young people to restore a 64 Impala they have named "Faith" in 40 days! The group hopes that through the experience of restoring the car, they can also begin to restore their faith.

God Bless you Oscar and Yolanda, this sounds like an incredible project!

For more information and/or to follow the build, check out the Restoring Faith website at: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=393455220

I've often thought it would be VERY cool to put together something like this for the "at-opportunity" students in my district. I'm a principal in a very different setting than the "Restoring Faith project"....small town, rural Ohio. But young people everywhere have very similar issues. There are several kids each year that I wish that I could find the "hook" to keep them engaged in their school work. A LOT of these kids are "hands on" and could benefit from something like this.

I wish I could find the means to finance a project. I've got a lot of great ideas for a whole "youth center". There really isn't a lot for kids to do in this part of the United States. There is an old Carter Lumber building just a few miles from me that has been vacant and for sale for several years. With several metal buildings, this place would be an awesome site for a garage, a youth coffeehouse, and even a skate park. With my connections, the place could provide after school tutoring as well.

Maybe one day Ol' Scruffy will figure out a way to get something like this going. I would love to have an opportunity to get kids interested in hotrodding and give them a cool place to hang out and stay out of trouble at the same time. Maybe one day we can "Restore Hope". :)

Ol' Scruffy's Christmas List...

Well, it's that time of year again. Lately, a lot of folks have been askin' Ol' Scruffy what he would like under the Christmas tree. Well, thought I'd take some time to write out a Christmas list for Ol' Saint Nick....who knows, some of his "elves" might be readin'!

1 set of Astro Supreme wheels: 15 inch 5 x 4 3/4


1 Traffic Light prism



2 x 1 intake manifold, linkage, dual carbs, and chrome air filters

A righteous set of front and rear floor mats from Vinylynn at http://www.crankshaftclothes.com/

A Flake Bomber spray gun and some lil' Roth metalflake. I haven't been able to decide between the SnowCaine or the Bad Azz Blue.

A set of Fenton headers and a dual exhaust kit.

Some other ideas include: a pinstriping kit, 2" lowering block kit, and a subscription to Ol' Skool Rodz magazine.

Well, hope Ol' Santa reads "Suede and Chrome" cuz Scruffy's been a pretty good boy this year! (well....hope he's readin' anyway!)

HOPE ALL YOU KATZ AND KITTENZ HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!

Ratiki: HOUSEOSPEED Shop Truck...

Cowabunga Dudes! I had a chance to spend some more time on the HOUSEOSPEED website this evening. If you have a chance to check it out, find the information about their shop truck. The thing is a VERY sic 1965 Chevrolet Suburban they've dubbed "Ratiki". The truck has a very sweet Southern California, surfin', tiki theme. The coolest part about this truck is the details. The bamboo headliner, and dash are VERY cool. The carved tiki luggage rack and grille insert are truly incredible! The pinstriping that divides the two tone paint job is pretty cool as well. Heck...if you look closely, even the stamped letters in the grille have been "tikified"

This thing is very "Suede and Chrome worthy".

If you check out the site, you can find more information about the actual build. This thing would definitely catch anyone's eye at a cruise in or show!

Check it out at: http://www.1965classiccar.com/

"Every rod-related business needs a shop truck, right? So to help generate interest in House O' Speed, my website featuring hot rod patches and decals, low-brow artwork, rod style jewelry, repro vintage and retro hot rod t-shirts, Rat Fink memorabilia, rat rod kitsch and books covering the likes of Larry Watson, Kenneth "Von Dutch" Howard, The Barris Bros. and Gene Winfield, as well as hot rod design consulting, I set out to build the ultimate shop truck. The result is "Ratiki", my 1965 Chevrolet Suburban, and rolling business card. This truck is the culmination of my love of Southern California style hot rods, tiki/surf culture and sixties-era American metal. The build-up itself, detailed in the chapters above (editors note: see link above), took over three years and required the talents of many Austin-based accomplices noted in the chapter entitled, "build crew" You'll find an extensive parts list there, as well. I'd also like to thank my family and in particular my wife, Debbie, for allowing this project to take up so very much of our lives. I hope you enjoy reading about the trials and tribulations of constructing "Ratiki" as much as we enjoy hauling ass around Austin in her. Here's to dirty horsepower!"

-Cameron Day, Owner, House O' Speed, Bee Cave, Texas

Deadend Magazine

I just ran across a kool site that contains complete back issues of Deadend Magazine. I really like the layout of the site, because it's set up like an actual hardcopy of a mag. Check it out at: http://www.deadendmagazine.com/

Thinking Christmas.....

Well, we've had a couple of days of light snow already here in the east-central Indiana, west-central Ohio area. I was at the grocery with my wife the other day and they were already piping the Christmas "elevator music" through the store sound system. After the last few weeks I've had, Ol' Scruffy is looking forward to the holidays.

Daddy Katz has a Christmas event coming up on December 13th. Since I missed his Halloween event, I'm sure hoping I can get to this one. Thought I'd add a few festive additions of my own to this blog to help the rest of ya get in the Christmas mood. I've added a few Brian Setzer Christmas songs to my Playlist, why don't ya pour yourself a cup of eggnog, click on a few, and sit back and look through the Suede and Chrome archives. (oops....guess that's hard to do, since the media player restarts everytime you jump from one page to the next.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS KATS AND KITTENS !!

House of Speed

Hey Kats and Kittens! I ran across a great website that has LOADS of kool stuff for your kustom lifestyle. Everything from clothing, magazines, jewelry, decals, and shift knobs. Heck they even have some sweeet kustom baby blankets for your little hot rodder! Check it out for yourself at:

http://www.houseospeed.com/servlet/StoreFront

Look At That Cadillac, Look At That!

aaah yes....The Cadillac....good ol' American iron! My first recollection of such an "animal" wasin the early '70s. We lived in a little community in "Peppermint Village" (no kidding!). Our neighbor had a BIG, Black late 60's Cadillac. I can remember riding in the backseat and being amazed at how BIG it was. I think it was the first time I had ever seen power windows! The car seemed exceptionally huge because I was a very small boy at the time and I think dad owned a VW bug at the time! Too funny!

Well, wake up in the morning, brush my teeth and comb my hair

Well, I wake up in the morning, I brush my teeth and comb my hair

There's a big black cadillac parked on the street over there

Well it's the finest lookin' car, that ever rolled of the line

Any other car would just be wasting your time

Ooh one fine day I'm gonna make a cadillac mine

I gotta get a cadillac

Look at that cadillac, look at that

Look at that cadillac, look at that

Rolling down the avenue, I'm gonna get me a cadillac too

If it's the last thing I do

Well I got a job, down at the liquor store

Well I got me a job down at the liquor store

Oooh I ain't lazy but I don't wanna work no more

When I get my paycheck I put it right in the bank

I'm putting all my money straight right in the bank

Well I'm halfway to get my big black cadillac tank

I gotta get a cadillac

Look at that cadillac, look at that

Look at that cadillac, look at that

Rolling down the avenue, I'm gonna get me a cadillac too

If it's the last thing I do

Sittin' in a bar knockin' 'm back

Up pulls a big black cadillac

Out steps a kitten, stand back cats

Away I go in that cadillac

Look at that cadillac, look at that

Look at that cadillac, look at that

Rolling down the avenue, I'm gonna get me a cadillac too

If it's the last thing I do

I gotta get a cadillac

Look at that cadillac, look at that

Look at that cadillac, look at that

Rock and rolling down the avenue, I'm gonna get me a cadillac too

If it's the last thing I do

This is a VERY young Brian Setzer (Stray Cats). I'm guessing early '80s? Too funny.

Sleepwalk.....

This is probably one of my absolute favorite songs of all time. This cover really shows the Brian Setzer's talents. I found this youtube clip this morning. Apparently, Brian appeared in a TNN special with Ricky Skaggs and Marty Staurt.

I've had a pretty tough week. We lost an INCREDIBLE special education teacher unexpectedly this week. Cheryl was the most selfless, giving teacher I've ever met. She would have given her last dime and last minute to help a student in need....and she often did. Her caring spirit and legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of those who knew her and through the students she has helped succeed over the years.

Something about this tune is really soothing to the soul....enjoy.

Playlist Autoplay Fixed and Shay A remembered

Never let it be said that Ol' Scruffy doesn't listen to his readers. "Just a Car Guy" emailed me a complaint that he didn't like the autoplay feature on my media player. He said it was annoying that everytime he jumped from one post to another, the autoplay restarted.

Well, if you notice, I've changed the color of my media player to "red" and shut off the autoplay for a while.

I've posted a few old photographs that I found today while surfin' through my picture files. Pictured are my 3 oldest children in their "pre-teen" years. When they were younger, they loved for me to borrow my buddy's Shay A.

Shay A's were a fiberglass Model A reproduction car that was sold through Ford dealerships in the late '70s and early '80s. The cars were built on a Pinto chassis with a 4 banger under the hood. The car is actually very fun to drive. My kids loved taking turns riding in the rumble seat. Fortunately for me, my friend enjoyed letting me drive it, so we borrowed it whenever we had a chance. In fact, I even took it to a few area car shows.

The gas pump in the pictures is my first attempt at restoring such an item. The thing looks pretty good in these photographs, as they were taken shortly after I had finished it and placed it in front of the garage. To look at it today, Mother Nature has given it a faded patina. I've thought about taking it back apart and refinishing it again...but I kinda like the "aged" look it has taken on.

A couple of years ago, my buddy took this car down to his winter home in Florida. He's also got a '57 Chevy down there. Fortunately for me (and my kids), I bought Ol' Blue so we can still enjoy a summer drive in "vintage" fashion.

Believe It Or Not....A Few More From the Corvette Expo

This is the last post of pictures taken at the 2008 Corvette Expo in Tennessee. Thanks again to Jim and Cindy of Custom Metal Finishing-Indiana for the photographs!!!