Sunday, June 17, 2012

Eagle Field Drags DVD



EAGLE FIELD DRAGS DVD
 MODESTO, CA. Eagle Field is a WWII U.S. Army Air Corps training facility, or used to be during the war.
Today there is a small museum and a few military vehicles around the property. There are also a few vintage airplanes as you can see from the cover of the DVD.

Three years ago Rocky Phillips had an idea, to bring together other like-minded hot rodders and recreate what was the norm back in the 50's, racing on runways. Well, his idea spread like wild fire and now, three years later, thousands of people show up to race and watch what has become one of the most unique events in the world.
The May event is spread over two days with the first day being called the Fresno Dragways and the second, Lions Drag Race. An homage if you will to those former tracks.

What has been called an outlaw racing event because it is done on a non NHRA sanctioned track, has become the place to run your vintage hot rod, muscle car or nostalgia front engined dragster.
Running on the 8th mile runway, remember it's a runway not a race track, has it's challenges but that's what makes it fun right?

The DVD covers both days of racing and has a running time of approx 75 minutes.

Speed & Chrome is proud to present their first entry into the video arena with their coverage of the Eagle Field Drag racing event. There is none like it in the world. While you can't smell the nitro, you can see some great cars making great runs, blowing motors and bangin' the gears.

Due in-store soon.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Rod & Custom's Little Pages instock!

Rod & Custom Magazine is reversing gears and revisiting it's roots with the return of "The Little Pages"!

Survivors, restorations, and maybe a recreation or two are all part of Rod & Custom's Little Pages.
No Filler... No Fluff... Just good old-fashioned hot rods and customs in full color... Like it used to be.

Auction is for 1 issue of the 2011 & 1 issue of the 2012 Annuals.

Available for a limited time from Traditional Speed Supply Auckland.

"It's not just a Hot Rod, it's YOUR Hot Rod!"

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Vintage Market - Beach Hop

Tradspeed will now be joining some other very cool businesses and selling our wares at the 3 day indoor Vintage Market during Thursday, Friday & Saturday of Beach Hop. Come up and say hi.

Look forward to seeing you there...

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Rodders Journal Issue 54 due soon...

The subscriber cover of TRJ #54 features the recent recreation of the So-Cal Streamliner built by Dan Webb of Burton, Michigan, which debuted at the 2011 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The construction of the original So-Cal Streamliner began over 60 years ago when Alex Xydias commissioned Bill Burke to build a narrowed Model T frame for the So-Cal belly tank. It then became the basis of the Streamliner. The influence it had on hot rodding in general, and more specifically land speed racing, is undeniable. The Streamliner held the title of Top Speed of the Meet at Bonneville in ’49 and ’50; eclipsing 200 mph in the process. Unfortunately it was destroyed on the sand at Daytona Beach, Florida in ’51, and until this recreation, could only be seen in photographs. The article, written by Greg Sharp, delves into the history of the original So-Cal Streamliner campaigned by Alex Xydias and Dean Bachelor and includes extensive vintage photography. It also details the build of Dan Webb’s replica, which we photographed at the TRJ studios. 

The newsstand cover features a ’32 Ford five-window owned by Ronnie and Avis Beasley of Mobile, Alabama. While it made the cover, we show the Beasley five-window along with another equally impressive Alan Johnson-built ’32 Ford, a three-window owned by Rodney Harris of Leighton, Alabama.  We shot the pair on location in Gadsden near Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop where the coupes were built. Alan Johnson and crew have long been known for producing traditionally styled hot rods with aggressive stances and they have taken the genre to a new level with this pair.

Keith Charvonia’s choice to chop and customize a four-door ’51 Kaiser may seem out of the ordinary to those who are more familiar with chopped Mercs, shoebox Fords and early Chevys. But that is just it, this Pheonix, Arizona, resident (and at the time college student) whose previous experience mainly focused on mini trucks, had not been exposed to traditional customizing. With great enthusiasm he set out to chop the top and convert it to a two-door. Little did he know at the time the amount of work he had ahead of him and the vast learning experience he was undertaking. The project culminated with Gene Winfield painting the car in his Mojave, California, shop.

In TRJ #54 Senior Contributor, Pat Ganahl, takes us through his discovery of Dick Price’s ’32 Ford roadster. He connects the dots to tell the story of a Deuce highboy that first caught his eye in an image he saw in 1976. The photo shown above, likely taken in June of 1950, depicted two roadsters on the starting line of a one-time AMA motorcycle drag meet (which included some SCTA four-wheeled racers) at the Navy blimp base in Tustin, California. This article goes on to explain how another image of the roadster came to Pat’s attention, which led to his research about the car and eventual conversation with the owner.

You may recognize Moorpark, California resident, Scott Roberts’ 1941 Ford Pickup from many of our holiday promotions last year. We happened to have the truck in our studio during the height of our holiday marketing efforts and luckily Scott was up for letting us “borrow” the truck for a bit. In this issue we give the truck the full studio treatment as well as a location shoot. The interesting story behind the bronze pickup is that it is not only the first hot rod project, but also the very first automotive project Scott had ever attempted. In fact, Scott tackled much of the work in his own garage with only help from reading rod and truck magazines. He then called upon the experience and expertise of the folks at Hot Rods and Custom Stuff in Escondido, California, and the result is one perfect little pickup.

TRJ#54 also contains a collection of vintage images from Eddie Baumann’s scrapbook. A life long hot rodder and drag racer from San Antonio, Texas, Eddie shares with us his photographs and stories of many years in this sport/hobby. In this issue we also take a look into Eric Zausner’s book, Spindizzies: Gas Powered Model Racers, which lavishly documents the sport of miniature automotive racing and its history. You will find each of these features and much, much more in TRJ #54.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Kings of Kustoms: #1 Gene Winfield (due instore soon)

Kings of Kustoms introduces viewers to the visionaries who have created this uniquely American art form, as America’s most acclaimed car customizers share their secrets and put their talents on full display.
Each episode will focus on the unique history, designs and techniques of an acclaimed Kustom artist, metal masters who believe they are limited only by their own vision.

Running time: 90 + mins          $50:00 shipped free in NZ



Ever since Henry Ford created the assembly line, there have been car customizers determined to break the mold. This unique art form has produced true visionaries, customizers building both stars of the street and stars of the screen. There are a select group of these artists that set the bar for all the rest. Their original creations establish trends that are imitated for decades. They are the best of the best, they are legends, they are true Kings of Kustoms. This DVD is an in-depth look at the life, cars, and history of one of the greatest car customizers ever, Gene Winfield. For more than 65 years Gene Winfield has been creating the world's finest custom cars. Hollywood also discovered Winfield's genius and the results were some of the most unique and memorable vehicles movie and TV audiences had ever seen. Whether it's turning a '50s sedan into a full blown custom, spraying a classic Winfield fade paint job, creating a time-travelling DeLorean, or rocketing at 200 miles per hour across a dry lake bed, Gene Winfield only has two goals, to be the best and to never stop.