You throw weld like a girl! Kasia "Kat" Jones is a car builder. And a great one at that. Cars are a hobby for this woman who made her career in the medical field, but she’s got the goods to go pro anytime judging by the workmanship on this 1954 Studebaker Commander, lovingly called “Stew”. I met Kat and her husband at the Cavalcade of Cars in Hamburg, NY and this ride was one of the key attractions at the show. She held court near Stew for much of the weekend, but I was final

A TRUCK THAT GOES LIKE HELL The name Carroll Shelby is synonymous with Ford and Mustang, but in the 1980s, it was all about Mopar. Carroll added his go-fast expertise to Dodge’s Omni, Charger, Lancer, and Shadow with the GLH and GLH-S editions of those hot-hatches. However, the only Shelby vehicle that could be had with a V8, was the Dodge Dakota. I spotted this Shelby Dakota at the Cavalcade of Cars in Hamburg, NY last winter and it was a very clean truck. The owner, Les Gle

THE HEMI J Regular Car Show Life #rideoftheweek readers know I love the car show oddball. That car that you just don’t see every day. So, among the Opels, Studebakers, Bantams, and AMCs we’ve featured in the past you can add this Kaiser Henry J known as “HEMI J”. Wally Melvin of Edinboro, PA took this 1951 Henry J and restomodded it. An original car would have come equipped with an 83 horsepower straight-six. Now, the HEMI J is motivated by 5.7 liter Hemi sourced from a 2015

ALL IT NEEDED WAS…EVERYTHING! This 1926 Model T hot rod caught my eye at the Cavalcade of Cars in Hamburg, NY this past March. It had all the quintessential old school hot rod looks: wide-whites, bomber seats, hand-painted pinstriping. But the thing that really got my attention? The custom cup holder console. I chatted with owner, Andy Deegan of Forrestville, NY about how he came to own the car, “I found it on Facebook Marketplace out of Virginia and I saw the potential in it

Post War Resto Mod Restomods are my favorite segment of the collector car hobby. Classic lines with more modern, more reliable mechanicals hiding underneath. Normally restomods are from the muscle car era of the last 60s and early 70s, mid-year Corvettes or shoebox Chevys of the 1950s. So when I happened upon this 1949 Olds with "383 Stroker" badges on the rockers and the unusual "Bellflower" exhaust, I had to know more. The owner would only be identified as "Posie", a child

BACK HOME AGAIN IN INDIANA... In honor of the Indy 500 race week, we’re featuring an Indy Pace Car Edition as our #rideoftheweek! When I spoke to John Shaireman of Jersey Shore, PA about his 1986 Corvette Pac Car Edition, he knew all the stats about the car by heart: 1986 Corvette Pace Car Edition. 0-60 In 5.5-6 sec. 14.5 in the ¼ mile. 7315 Pace Car Editions. 1800 with the 4 by 3 transmission. 700 in Yellow like the pace car driven by Chuck Yeager. L98 V8 with Dana 44 Rear.

ONE HELL OF A FLIP Jeff Nolt loves to build cars. Once he’s done, he’s in search of the next project. For the past two years, he’s been crafting a one-of-a-kind show truck out of a 1983 Dodge D-150. “I have more fun building them than driving them,” Jeff confesses to me at the 2022 PA Motorama in Harrisburg; “I bought this to sell it because it’s different.” And different is good, as Arby’s used to say before they hall “all the meats”. This truck has a lot of eyeball and it

THE DEUCE THAT’S DONE IT ALL The story behind this #rideoftheweek is a car that’s done it all: daily driver, drag racer, show car and neglected candidate for restoration, out rotting in a field. In 1970, Yenko Chevrolet took its COPO Dealer magic reserved for Camaros, Chevelles and Corvairs and applied it to the Nova resulting in the Yenko Deuce package. It was a 1-year only run with 175 cars produced, 25 in Gobi Beige. The original owner of this example purchased it from a Y

ACCIDENTAL SHOW CAR When Ashley Coperhaven acquired this 2019 Dodge Charger, it was intended to be her daily driver. Her husband had recently commandeered her Chrysler 300 and turned it into a show car. That’s why it’s a 3.6L equipped, AWD model. It was intended to haul kids and groceries and not haul ass or look good at car shows. But there was something about that F8 Green finish that screamed “show me off”. Ashley says it started with a glitter kit, then wheels, then lig

One-Owner SS Our #ride of the week for this week is a new Car Show Life Custom. Ken Mack of Chesterfield, OH came to us for a show board for his 1970 Chevelle SS that he's owned since new! I love it when an owner comes to me with a car they've been able to hold on to for years and years. I'm envious of their tenacity to retain a car for so long, while I've had to give mine up. Still miss ya, "Son-Of-Ol'-Blue"! Ken still has a lot of the paperwork for this LS6 equipped Cheve

PURPLE BITCH While chatting with Tawnya La Mark at a car show last summer, I got the low-down on the history of her 1981 Z28. Turns out, the original owner lost it in a bar bet. Well, now that’s a #rideoftheweek story if I’ve ever heard one! And that’s pretty much all we know. No clue as to what the bet was about or why he wagered his prized F-Body. We do know that the winner didn’t really enjoy the car. It sat for about 10 years in a barn when a Mr. Shaffer (first name unk

NAVAL TAXI When Harry Lynn of Saxton, PA was in the Navy and stationed in California in the mid 80s, he bought a 1968 Mustang 2+2 from the original owners, an elderly couple who took great care of the car. It was Royal Maroon with a 289 and a C-4 automatic and became his daily drive and a "taxi" for his Navy buddies for nights on the town or special events. “They’d offer me gas money, pay toward my insurance or buy my tickets or drinks wherever we were going. It was great,”

IT WAS “A HAPPY LITTLE ACCIDENT” Just as painter Bob Ross, would say about any mistake he made while painting, Barb & Dick Moore’s acquisition of this 1970 Opel was indeed a "happy little accident". You see, Barb always wanted an Opel GT. “I dated a guy that had one. Couldn’t care less about the guy all these years later, but still loved that car.” So, six years ago, her husband, Dick, scoured the internet and came up with one in Johnstown, NY. They drove up there and stopp

DID GM MAKE A SUNSHINE EDITION? This week marks 10 years since the #GotchaDay of my 2011 Camaro 2SS/RS convertible, "SunShine". I thought I'd take this week to mark the occasion by telling the story of my own ride and the third Camaro I've owned over the years. When Chevrolet revived the Camaro with the 2006 Concept Car I was still driving my '02 RS. "Son of Ol' Blue" was really starting to show his age, but as a newlywed with a new mortgage, buying a new car was a far-off p

When Wayne And Carole Sokach of Johnstown decided they wanted to buy a fun convertible to drive and possible show, the thought they were looking for a Mazda Miata. But after driving a few they felt it was too small. In March of 2016, they saw a Pacific Green Ford Mustang on the lot. It was nice car, 4.6L V8, 5-speed but it didn’t scream out to them, or at least, they didn’t hear it. That little Mustang stayed on that lot, out front, all summer long. By December, they started

Let’s face it. In the annals of muscle car history, the best paint colors and coolest color names came from MOPAR: Go Mango, Sub-Lime, Lemon-Twist, Vitamin C and of course, Plum Crazy! So, if it’s okay to drop a Chevy 350 into a Ford Model A, it should be fine to paint a Chevy in a Mopar Color. That’s what we have here, a 1941 Chevy Truck that has been sliced, diced, chopped, and channeled into a wonderful hot rod, finished off in a signature Dodge FC7 Plum Crazy Purple. It’

ZZ TOP’S ELIMINATOR-LIKE I was first drawn to this 1934 3-window street rod because it reminded me of ZZ Top’s Eliminator (thought that was a ’33). When I got closer and saw the 5.0L Ford Engine and steering wheel sourced from a late 80s Ford Mustang, I wanted to know more. So, I chatted with owner, Darryl McHenry of Avis, PA who gave me the back story. “I had always wanted a 3-window coupe, but I built a T-bucket hot rod back in ’97-’98 and sold it. I found it later and tr

OUTSTANDING IN ITS FIELD The compliment to a scarecrow that does its job well can also be applied to the origins of this 1959 El Camino. Frank Swartz of Ginter, PA found this first year ElCo abandoned in a field and bought it for $150 in 1978. It was a California car that made it all the way across the country before coming to an abrupt stop in Pennsylvania, where it sat abandoned. Frank spotted it by the side of the road and eventually made it his own. It took a lot of wo

NEVER BREAK THE CHAIN (OF OWNERSHIP) When I asked James Voldrecht of Groton, NY how long he had this American Bantam Closed Coupe he said, “All my life.” YES! This 1938 American Bantam was purchased new in ’38 by his great-aunt. She bequeathed it to her brother-in-law, his grandfather, on her deathbed with the stipulation that he either scrap it or fix it, but never sell it. So, he honored her request and stored the car in his junkyard inside the back of a Charlie’s Chips pa

Two, two, two trucks in one Just like Certs breath mints, this ride of the week is two, two, two mints in one. Mostly it’s a 2008 Dodge Ram that was the victim of a cab fire. In place of the fire-damaged cockpit rests the cab of a 1992 Peterbuilt. It is the brainchild and handiwork of Williamsport car show scene staple, Gene Duke of Linden, PA. It all started about 5 years ago when Gene got a hold of the fire damaged Ram and decided to make a driver out of it with something