Now that the big gravel parking lot next to the space used to hold the Street Car Nationals has been fully resurfaced, we might as well think of it as the show’s annex, such is the selection of cars that you can run across. About an hour before the show was due to end I [...]
Although it’s something that I’d love to be able to do, there is literally no way you could shoot every single car at the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals before the event closes at 3pm. So this year – like every year – it was all about being selective and concentrating on the cars that exhibited [...]
If you missed a certain American flair in the previous Spotlight-O-Rama from the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals, then this selection I’ve put together should balance things out quite nicely. What better way to get things pointing in the right direction than by taking a look at a couple of traditional hot rods – the rawest [...]
No matter how many times I attend the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals, I never quite get over the visual impact the event creates on the streets of Tokyo’s Odaiba neighborhood. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t into customs or hot rods, the sight that these cars collectively create is simply breathtaking. Throw in an ever-expanding [...]
Ok, I’m going to be completely straight with you. Before this shoot, I didn’t know a huge amount about gasser cars. So this was an incredibly cool experience. It also transpired pretty quickly that this wasn’t actually a gasser – simply a car that has elements of the style. Actually this car has lots of [...]
Choosing cars to spotlight is tricky business, and at a show where most of the cars have already been in HOT ROD Magazine the difficulty increases exponentially. There were just so many good cars at the HOT ROD Homecoming that picking out the ones we wanted to show was tough. For that reason I started [...]
So there I was, an Italian photojournalist in Yokohama’s Chinatown district, shooting an American hot rod, built and owned by a Japanese guy. I just had to smile. True passion obviously has no borders, nor do actual styles. And seeing how well Japan manages to integrate tradition, modernity and western culture – the choice of [...]
While I will allow my fellow Speedhunters to show us the wonders of the world wide Hot Rod and Customs scene during our “USA” theme this week, my approach will purely concentrate on the Japanese take of it all. Ever since joining Speedhunters back in 2009 I have began nurturing quite the love for this [...]
It’s time to head full tilt into our USA theme now here on Speedhunters: three days of Americana from around the world. I’ll kick off proceedings with a recent visit to a hot rod garage, something that perhaps epitomises the American automotive way. It had all looked perfectly normal – as I walked into the garage [...]
When it comes to automotive history in the Golden State, you probably think first of Southern California. After all, it’s considered the place where hot rodding, custom car building, and drag racing were born. As you look closer though, you’ll begin to see that Northern California’s contributions to these scenes are equally as important. In [...]
Don’t you just love it when things just work out without much planning? That’s what happened to me the other weekend, when, after covering the Nostalgic 2 Days event at the Pacifico Exhibition Center in Yokohama, I heard the Chop Sticks Car Club would be meeting up for one of their awesome cruises. So, after [...]
What is it that makes car swap meets so great? Is it the chance to find old and rare parts? The chance to discover a new project car? The old fashioned bargaining? Maybe it’s just the simple fact that everything you thing is for sale? Whatever the case, I absolutely love getting the chance to [...]
For all the great stuff I got to experience in Japan this time, one event I wasn’t able to make was the Hot Rod Razzle Dazzle in Yokohama. While I sit here and kick myself for not staying a few extra days and going for myself, my friend Hiroaki Kageyama from The KAGE Blog volunteered [...]
When Rod invited me to write a series of guest features on my 1951 Kaiser Drag’n back in October I figured it was a one shot deal, so you can imagine my excitement when he asked me to cover the Grand National Roadster Show on behalf of Speedhunters. If you read the Kaiser stories you [...]
It’s right back at Daikoku PA now for a final look at the other day’s supercar gathering. During the few hours that I was there I literally never stopped walking around, because as cars left, more kept coming in. By around lunch time the lot was so full that a many were forced to park [...]
