2010 Camry hybrid

2010 Camry hybrid Front View

2010 Camry hybrid Side View

2010 Camry hybrid Rear View

2009 Camry Car Picture

2009 Camry Car Picture

2009 Camry Car Interior

2009 Camry Car Side View

More Goofy Grape and the Bass

The Bass Lives!

Got my 1986 '57 Fender P-Bass Reissue refinished in Plum Crazy Purple to match the Goofy Grape.

The color is impossible to reproduce in a photo, it looks too blue but make no mistake this is a Chrysler purple!

Man, I have to admit it is loud in the looks department.

I love it, but it is a love it or hate it bass in this color.

The gold pickguard is 1957 correct and so are the covers and thumb rest.

Plays like a dream and is strung with flats.

I dig it, even if it is a bit on the wild side.

What do you think?

Here she is with the rest of the "fleet."

From left to right:

Gretsch Brian Setzer 6120 Hot Rod in Kandy Tangerine

Gretsch 5127 in Blue/Black

Fender '57 Reissue P-Bass in Plum Crazy Purple (refinish)

Fender Jaguar Bass in Hot Rod Red

Fender '62 Reissue Thin Skin in Burgundy Mist

Fender Hot Rod P/J Bass in Transparent Orange



Plum craziness...

The latest on The Goofy Grape

It is getting closer and closer.

We tried to fire it off today but no luck.

One problem was the builder said it was at top dead center, but it was not.

Got that fixed and the battery gave up the ghost.

She puffed some smoke and backfired a bit, but she is waking up.

With the shell and lights is starting to look like a car again.


I want my MUMMY!

I got this from a guy on the HAMB and stripped it and repainted it myself.

Hard to tell in the pic but I fogged the inside of the eye sockets and it looks like it has glowing eyes.


You might be able to see the eyes better in this pic.

It came out good and creepy!



The dash is looking good now.



Tach it up!


Helmeted warriors.


You can't have too many gauges.


Someday these two will rumble down the road together and be full time stable mates.


Every hot rod should come with an accessory guitar or bass.

I have had a 1957 Fender P-Bass re-issue since 1986 and like a dumb kid I put a water slide "Lady Luck" decal on it and never took care of it.

I dropped it once and really put the hurt on it.

At one point I tried to remove the decal and it had ruined the paint under it, and I messed it up even more with a vandalism mark remover that was not supposed to hurt paint but did.

It softened up the paint and flat out killed off what was left of the finish.

I guess I could have kept it all trashy and called it a relic, but instead it will live again as an accessory for the roadster.

You can see the old original green in the coves still.

Some people seem to like it, others think I need to join a funk band with it instead of struggling with surf tunes.

I like it, even if it is a bit "pimp-ish."

I am taking it to Kerry's Guitar Shop for the rebuild and will post it when it comes back from the grave.

Good reading...

I thought I would through some of my favorite car related books on my blog just in case some of you did not know about them. All of them can be bought from places like Amazon.com and so on.



This is one of my absolute favorite books of all time. It covers the infamous Gasser Wars in detail and has all the big names like Big John, Ohio George, K.S., and the Stone, Woods, and Cook crew. It gives you the history, results, and dares to tackle the question, "Why the Willy's coupe?"




Some people like to act all cool and pretend they do not like anybody that is a pro builder and that "rat rod" attitude gets old. I am a huge fan of Brizio and this is a cool little overview of his work. Do I really like "high tech?" Not really, but I can dig quality work. What sets Roy apart is he does traditional well and is often trusted with some of the most famous hot rods and customs because he knows how to do it right.


This is a huge book covering one of my favorite subjects. Thacker knows his stuff and this is a good book that any fan of the deuce should own!



Genet and Thacker's books both celebrate the all mighty 1932 Ford and this is another must have for deuce heads everywhere. (Just buy them both and get it over with, you know you want them!)



Another bit of Robert Genet's work, and I love this one because it covers pretty much the crown jewels of the hot rod world. I know I have said it already, but another must have. (Great pics also!)


I can not tell you how many times I have read and reread this book. In fact, I pretty much have worn out my copy of it. This is a mighty tome indeed!



The history of the lakes and the strips, what more could you freaking ask for?


Even more lake racing. Notice who it is agian? Why it is Robert Genet of course. I would love to meet this guy!


From the fellow that brought you the Gasser Wars we get what followed...The Super Stock Era!


Some of the Motorbooks books get boring sometimes because they reuse the same pics over and over again in multiple books. (I said books alot in that sentance.) Once again it is Mr. Genet at the helm and this particular book has alot of magic to it. I just really enjoy it. The pics, the history, the motivations of Chevy at the time...it is just a dang good read. On top of that Dyno Don turns up in it.



So break out that credit card and support the recovering economy.

United Breaks Guitars...

I don't know how many of you out there have been through similar things but I can say firsthand that most airlines and companies don't care about consumers and that ticks me off!

In fact, I feel this one of the plagues of modern society and is pretty much found in all levels of "corporate" America and "civil" America now.

We live in a world that has bailout money going to companies and they have parties.

Companies and the Government take our money and give no customer service or satisfaction.

We have become pretty pathetic in the US.

Everybody is out for themselves and the all mighty buck rules...damn everything else.

A man named Dave Carroll experienced the worst we have to offer these days, a careless airline that cared little for his problem or his guitar...and I relate.

I am all about cars and guitars and I feel for him.

He is now getting some attention for a great video that puts it all out there and it is freaking brilliant.

Check out the video at this link: UNITED BREAKS GUITARS!

United* says they are going to take care of him and I hope they do.

*Funny how it took massive response to the video for them to step up though...

I hope they learned a great lesson from one hell of a consumer and one smart guy with the guts to do something for himself and for all of us by taking a stand.

On top of that, it is one catchy tune and that really makes it worth looking at!

Fooling around with diecasts and guitars.

The kids are asleep, so I have to keep it quiet but I am bored.

Got out the camera and played with my toy cars and guitars...

Pat Ganahl's Nitti inspired 1932 Roadster.

The Joe Nitti Roadster is a car I have mentioned on my blog before as one of my all time fav cars.

Pat Ganahl has finished a 1932 roadster that is inspired by Joe's car.

The thread came up on the the HAMB recently and hotrod32 posted the pics (and they are his property...dig?).

Check it out by click-N the linky.

Thanks for the post hotrod32, and thanks for building such a cool car Pat!

This is a car everyone should check out!!!!

Linky

THEM! INVASION II

Invasion II is on it's way brought to you by my good buds in THEM! TEXAS!

Make plans NOW!

INFO!

Aston Martin V-12 Vantage

Aston Martin unveiled the production version of its most potent and focused car at Geneva. This new car combines the V-8 Vantage's compact 2-seat dimensions with the power of the company's 5.9-liter V-12—to the tune of 510 bhp and 420 lb.-ft. of torque. Aston is predicting a 190 mph top speed, along with 0–62 mph (100 km/h) dispatched in a scant 4.2 seconds.
Although the V-12 engine weighs 220 lb. more than the standard car's V-8, carbon-ceramic brakes, lighter forged aluminium wheels, lightweight inner rear quarter panels and optional lightweight seats have resulted in the overall curb weight that's only 110 lb. heavier than its V-8 sibling's. And the weight distribution is near perfect, at 51/49 front/rear.

"More" has to be taken with a pinch of salt, as Aston only expects to build 300–500 examples a year at its Gaydon factory. Deliveries will begin this fall.

In A meanwhile,Aston Martin will return to the Nurburgring for the fourth year in a row to compete in the 24-hour endurance race. This year the new V12 Vantage will be joining the yellow V8 Vantage - nicknamed 'Rose' - on the grid.

The ADAC Nurburgring 24-hour race attracts a variety of entrants from factory backed teams (including Aston Martin, VW and Audi) to private entries in anything from Porsche 911 GT3s and BMW M3 GTS to more modest machinery. The strangest entry in last year's race was probably the Opel Astra Caravan, which finished ahead of a Lamborghini Gallardo!

This year Aston Martin will enter a V12 Vantage, driven by Chief Executive Dr Ulrich Bez along with members of Aston's engineering team. The car is described as being 'near standard specification', which means about 510bhp from a 6.0-litre V12. Changes include reduced weight, which necessitates re-tuned suspension and Pirelli has provided slick tyres for the race.

Pagani Zonda R Official Commercial

“The Zonda has set more than one record at the race track. It raised the bar for road supercars. Passion, ingenuity, knowledge and craftsmanship created the parts to form an effective and focused package. What more could you want?”

These are the enticing words appearing at the beginning of this beautifully-shot video clip. In the clip is the new supercar Pagani Zonda R. It does not move or even start up. This is something of a commercial trailer for the super track car which was commissioned to Supercarmovies.com by Pagani.

At some point during the clip they show some of the components that make up the R and then progress to other shots demonstrating these parts being screwed together by hand to form a complete package. When it’s done you can’t help but admire the polished finished product.

To get the technical spec of this supercar is powered by a 6.0-litre V12 engine with 552kW (750hp) and peak torque of 710Nm. It comes with a 6-speed sequential gearbox and slick tyres.
source:worldcarfans

Lamborghini Insecta Concept

It’s a Lambo with extra bite! Meet the Lamborghini Insecta Concept, the brainchild of Romanian design student Iulian Bumbu. The Milan-based designer claims the car is a fusion of the Italian carmaker's current design language and the exoskeletons, or body armour, found on insects.

Insects to be the inspiration for future Lamborghini’s? That’s what one industrial design enthusiast was thinking about when he turned up this design study of what a future Lamborghini might look like. This supercar is still the concept car and is cleverly dubbed the Lamborghini Insecta and is structurally made of carbon fiber.Rumours said,this supercar, is to be powered by the same V10 powerplant that powers the Gallardo though we’re hoping it’ll feature more power, after all, insects are capable of some pretty amazing things.

And the two-seater mid-engined supercar certainly has a bug-like quality to it – with it’s tightly-wrapped carbon-fibre bodywork, wide-set eyes and winged scissor doors.Iulian Bumbu, the industrial design enthusiast of Romania explains in pure designer language, “The idea was to create an extreme race-oriented supercar with a style that introduces softer and more organic lines and integrate them into the geometrical style of Lamborghini.”Apparently the exoskeletons of insects gave Bumbu the idea for the external structure of the car. According to him, he tried ot to deviate too much from Lambo’s new design language but what will really be interesting is the response from Lamborghini Brand and Design Director, Manfred Fitzgerald.

Audi TT RS

A supercar manufactured by Audi,the Audi TT RS is to be officially revealed at next month’s Geneva Motor Show but the power of the internet again prevails as we now have official shots and an audio clip of the TT RS.This supercar will be powered by a 2.5-liter five cylinder turbocharged powerplant. Officially Ingolstadt’s hottest ever TT model, it is also a tribute to the spirit of the original Quattro model of the 80’s.

The new addition to the RS line up is good for some very impressive numbers - 340hp and a max torque of 450Nm, 0-100 in under five seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h. All that power is channel to all four wheels - or Quattro all wheel drive system in Audi lingo - through a six speed manual gearbox.

On the outside, the TT RS gets a rather subtle treatment over the 272HP TT S model that includes slightly larger front air vents, a distinctive rear diffuser, a fixed boot spoiler and twin-spoke alloy wheels. Inside, there’s a leather multifunction sports steering wheel and sports seats in a combination of Alcantara and leather. Check out the gallery below, more details on this next week.