Saturday, January 29, 2011

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Monsters are coming...



Vultures: Melbourne to Hobart a Photographic Diary


Vultures: Melbourne to Hobart a Photographic Diary is now available to order. This is the first book project by Fuel Magazine editor and photographer Luke Ray.
In March 2010, the Vultures car club set off on a long weekend cruise from Port Melbourne to Hobart, via the overnight ferry. The club invited Luke to tag along and document the event, and this book is the result.

Hard cover and printed on high quality stock, the book is 232 pages long. It's predominantly a photo diary, with inserts written by the Vultures themselves containing memories and stories from the event.


It is printed in a limited run of 500 copies, and each one will be hand numbered and signed by Luke. Click on any of the images for order details.


"The blue dot tail lights drill a purple glow into the night as the heavyweight champion of the boogie universe, John Lee Hooker growls out of the steel dashboard speaker grille.

A Chromium and steel serpent rolls south along an asphalt ribbon. Nailhead, Hemified, Sidevalved and Cadillacked churning up the white line and U.F.O. roulette wheel covers. Hopped up, cut down, tail-dragging through Van Dieman's Land.

Rattles, squeaks, howling wind, burning oil and sonic exhaust rumble to the sound of the devil chaining his third wife down.

3am, Wednesday 17th March. I awake and realise that I need to shake a leg if I want to have my '49 Ford ready for the Vulture's voyage to Tassie..."

Rick Beljan, The Vultures C.C.





Saturday, January 22, 2011

The HAMB Calendar 2011 - sold out!

I hope like me you managed to grab a copy of this masterpiece in the nick of time!

This thing is becoming such a collectible item.




Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The 'Blueprint Series' NOW INSTOCK!


Chris Piscitelli was born and raised in northern New Jersey.  Being the son of a car fanatic and the grandson of a fine artist heavily influenced his decision to pursue a career in design.  He attended Rhode Island School of Design (BFA Industrial Design), then moved to Detroit, MI to attend College for Creative Studies (BFA Transportation Design) and currently works as a designer in the automotive industry.
  
Plainly put, Chris is a car junky through and through. He loves anything that goes fast, or cruises slow. If he had the money, time, or space, he’d have more junk than he already does, and still never be finished with any of it. An artist/designer by trade, and a motor head by nature, he  enjoys combining his love of old iron and passion for design to create visions of what could be for himself  and for anyone in need. 

Whether it’s something as simple as paint color and wheel/tire choice, or a full blown ground up design project, he’s happy to take it on. Experienced in both exterior, and interior design, he has worked with shops and individual builders alike on everything from 4x4’s to wild custom bodied creations, and is strongly dedicated to helping people transform their thoughts and ideas into something they can see, love, and build towards.





Friday, January 7, 2011

TRJ Issue #50 due in soon....


The subscriber cover of Issue #50 features Jim Farley’s ’34 Ford five-window coupe shot on location at Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge complex just outside their Dearborn, Michigan headquarters. Also in this issue are the cross-country trip Jim Semon made in 1958 to visit the Barris Kustom shop and Jim “Coop” Cooper’s view of drag racing’s golden age from the pits and staging lanes.

Maryland’s Frank Morawski recently finished his exquisite restoration of the Fred Carrillo Model T Modified Roadster. We shot it in our studio while Morawski was on the West Coast to attend the Pebble Beach Concors d’Elegance.  First debuted at the Bonneville Speed Week in 1951, the roadster went on to turn a respectable 178 mph. It was also featured on the July 1952 Hot Rod Magazine cover as well as a Rex Burnett cutaway rendering. The heavily researched and comprehensive article, written by Jay Fitzhugh, details the original build as well as the recent restoration.


In 1958 18 year old Jim Semon, along with his mother, brother and girlfriend, drove from Sandusky, Ohio to Los Angeles, California to visit the Barris Kustom shop as a high school graduation present. He documented the trip with his small brownie camera and was lucky enough to stumble upon the Crazy Painters where he caught Ed Roth pinstriping a mild custom DeSoto sedan. We have over 20 of his original photographs along with his story of this memorable road trip that beats most graduation gifts.


Bobby Walden and Jim “Jake” Jacobs have assembled a chopped Deuce three-window coupe that we had the opportunity to shoot in the studio before paint and upholstery. With Bobby’s metalworking skills combined with Jake’s hot rod suspension geometry it’s hard not to be impressed by this aggressive looking highboy.


Pat Ganahl delves into the history and evolution of Ron Aguirre’s 1957 Corvette, “X-Sonic”. The amazing story of how it was purchased brand new off the showroom floor, immediately turned into a mild-custom and evolved into a show stopping, bubble topped, custom creation. Each of the car's incarnations are pictured in this article, chronicling its interesting transformation.


We take a look at the golden era of drag racing as seen through the lens of Jim Cooper. Jim was based in the Pacific Northwest, but made annual pilgrimages to Southern California to shoot the NHRA Winternationals back in the 1960s. Although we are fans of his action photography, we were drawn to his behind the scenes pit photos and have published a selection in TRJ #50. You'll find that these images contain just as much action.

Contact us today to secure your copy. Delivery early February.