Eye-Candy for Fans of Custom, Classic and Exotic Cars

Imperial Palace (Quad) Show, May 27th, 2013

Ken — Sat, 18 May 2013 04:13:35 +0000

Billed as the largest indoor car show in Las Vegas, the Imperial Palace Car Show at The Quad Hotel Casino is also unique because nearly every vehicle is for sale. A good portion of the cars on display were new additions since my last visit about 2 years ago. And, there appeared to be an unusually large number of Rolls and Bentley examples on display this time. You can always expect to see several extremely rare and very expensive show cars here.

Boy Scouts Mega Expo, May 27th, 2013

Ken — Sat, 18 May 2013 03:45:45 +0000

By coincidence, I was in Las Vegas meeting up with a good friend (and street rod builder) from New Jersey. And even though this show was just a free add-on attraction at the Las Vegas Boy Scouts annual Mega Expo, I thought there would be more entrants than what greeted us.

Valley Cruisers, May 20th, 2013 – Pahrump, NV

Ken — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:58:37 +0000

What happened? Did people forget to mark their calendars for this event? Whatever, there were several new-to-Pahrump entrants that featured creative ideas, outstanding workmanship and/or uncommon vehicle makes, like the ’37 Terraplane and a swarm of Mitsubishi Starions, including one with a Lexus V8 in place of the turbo 4-cylinder.

To see a more complete shooting of Pahrump-based customs, take a look back at my 2012 and 2011 postings of this annual event.

Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational, Nov 3, 2012

Ken — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:25:17 +0000

Attending this competition is more involved and a bit more expensive these last 2 years, but it is still well worth it to see some of the nations best built pro-touring, resto-mods, and customs compete for the crown of Ultimate Street Car. The winning car needs to score at or near the top in several categories including road course, autocross, speed-stop, and engineering excellence. This year’s winner, Mark Steilow, has won before, but this time in a freshly built 1968 Camaro powered by a supercharged 427 c.i. LS motor. Don’t miss part-2 of the images gallery.

NEW! check out the related videos: Sights and Sounds from OUSCI 2012, video-1 & video-2.

Don’t miss part-2 of the images gallery.

NEW! check out the related videos: Sights and Sounds from OUSCI 2012, video-1 & video-2.

SEMA Show, Las Vegas, Oct 30, 2012

Ken — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 05:54:19 +0000

Finally they are posted! Long over-due, but I think you will agree they were worth the wait. My 2012 SEMA Show coverage is comprised of 6 pages with a total of around 800 images. Yes, you will see multiple images of some of the more interesting cars. You may also notice I shooting fuel injection systems, turbo installations, and independent suspensions- front and rear. In general, I really like cars that appear to have great handling potential and can be driven comfortably all day long on the street. But I also like the old-school gassers and customs from the 60′s and 70′s. Just about anything that’s creative and well built can grab my attention.

This is Part-1. Be sure to see Part-2, Part-3, Part-4, Part-5, and Part-6

Horizon Mart Show, Pahrump, NV, October 6, 2012

Ken — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:12:11 +0000

This was a nice parking lot show with decent turnout and a number of new (to me) entries.

Super Run, Henderson, NV, September 22, 2012

Ken — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:55:50 +0000

I was a little disappointed with this Super Run show. The last time I attended this show I was really impressed so I had high expectations. The other part of “my disappointment” was with the heat. It was at least 103 degrees and sundown was still 5 hours away. After shooting the cars lining both sides of Water Street, I couldn’t take it anymore. Fortunately, the Barret-Jackson Las Vegas auction was in full-swing only a few miles away, and the best part? It was inside the air conditioned Mandalay Bay Hotel Convention Center!

Barrett-Jackson Auction, Las Vegas, Sept. 22, 2012

Ken — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:46:31 +0000

This was my first time attending a Barrett-Jackson auction, and I had a nice time at the Mandalay Bay convention center. Of course it would have been a lot more exciting if I was bidding on some of the beautiful machines going across the stage. One thing I just realized this past weekend: A lot of the cars on display in Las Vegas apparently were not auctioned there, but made another appearance at the January 19th Scottsdale, AZ auction where they were put up for bidding. This is Part-1. Be sure to also check out Part-2.

This is Part-1. Be sure to also check out Part-2.

Formula-1 U.S. Grand Prix, Austin, Texas, Nov 16, 2012

Ken — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 05:46:27 +0000

My trip to the inaugural Formula-1 U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas was an exciting adventure. Although I had previously driven through Texas several times and spent 6 weeks at Fort Bliss in El Paso (many years ago), this was my first visit to the Austin – San Antonio area. The mid-November weather was perfect for all 3 days at the brand new Circuit of the Americas (COTA), where clearly, a boat-load of money was spent to build a world-class racing facility. It was also clear the organizers knew how to plan for the expected crowd of more than 100,000. Traffic jams were avoided by shuttling people in from remote parking sites such as downtown Austin and the Austin airport.

The photos should give you a good idea of what it was like for the average bleacher-seat or general admission ticket holder to attend this historic race. As the saying goes, “Everything is bigger in Texas” and this event was no exception. The COTA facility is grand, and the Saturday and Sunday crowds were huge.

I must say “Many Thanks!” to my son, Brian, for making this adventure possible.

This event is covered in 4 photo galleries: (1) Friday Practice-1 & Practice-2; (2) Saturday Practice-3, & Qualifying; (3) Downtown Austin Fan-Fest; and (4) Sunday – race day.

Gallery-1: Friday Practice-1 & Practice-2

This event is covered in 4 photo galleries: (1) Friday Practice-1 & Practice-2; (2) Saturday Practice-3, & Qualifying; (3) Downtown Austin Fan-Fest; and (4) Sunday – race day.

Sugar’s Show & Shine – May 5, 2012

Ken — Sun, 06 May 2012 00:04:06 +0000

With the sun’s strong rays being masked by even stronger breezes, May 5th was another beautiful day in southern Nevada. Perfect for Sugar’s / Flying Eagle in Pahrump to host a Show & Shine. It’s always exciting to see the variety of restored classics, hot rods, and creative artistry that shows up at these events. My favorite for this show was Ken Nehls’ 1958 Corvette, a very nice resto-mod featuring that classic stock black body sitting on a custom chassis with a gen-2 LT-1 for power. These early Vettes bring back many memories for me. I had a ’61 that I bought back in 1969 for $500 from a body shop in Paterson, NJ. You can read about that car and others I’ve had in an upcoming article titled “From My Past”, which will be available on this website soon.