Street Machine magazine August 1981
Another dip into the vintage magazine pile pulls out this early 80s issue.
custom car
Hot Rod & Custom UK Magazine August 1979
Let’s have a look at the state of the customising art in 1979. Another vintage magazine, full of old school builds and fascinating how-tos.
Cars & Girls Again – Inside Chrome & Flames February 91
Let’s look inside another vintage car magazine, and see what was hot 32 years ago.
What’s inside Custom Car’s May 1982 edition?
And will I have to pixelate any of it?
Another old car magazine leafed through for nostalgia and inspiration.
Inside April 1980’s Street Machine Magazine
Another old car magazine perused for cool content and nostalgia.
Inside Chrome & Flames 17
Let’s have a look at some custom cars from the early nineties. A fair amount of pastels and sharp graphics. And some very crazy limousines.
Chrome & Flames Oct/Nov 1991 – look inside a vintage car mag
Another magazine from the stash. Chrome & Flames was a Belgian based magazine, published in French, German, and English (and maybe other languages, I don’t know).
Significantly more glossy than the British mags I’ve collected, it was focused almost entirely on finished cars, where UK magazines would be full of how-tos and product reviews. The cars in Chrome & Flames are, generally, easier to find models of, and much, much more flashy.
Custom Car Magazine February 1978- my favourite feature cars
I have a growing stack of vintage car magazines that I’m trawling through for inspiration, and I thought I’d share them with you. This is Custom Car magazine from February 1978, full of old-school customs I mostly can’t find kits of.
Footage and Photos from Fitted 2021
I have the luxury of not needing to own a car, being within walking, cycling or public transport distance of the places I need to be most often- with car clubs for those occasional delivery runs too big for a pannier. So, if I do buy a car, the urge to have something custom will be strong. Luckily, there are show like Fitted to give me inspiration for what that imaginary ride might look like.
This year’s show was in Manchester Convention centre, so I grabbed my camera and phone, and headed over to shoot some video and take a lot of photos. As well as the video above, there’s a photo gallery on Flickr.
While I put more pennies in the change jar to go toward a full size car (and the electric engine swap that’ll be part of my customisation plan), I can apply some of the inspiration to the contents of the model stash. I’m sure I’ve got at least one Mini waiting to be built….
Lining up the projects for 2020
From the Spinneyworld blog.
For someone selling models and modelling accessories, I don’t get anywhere near enough models built. I’ve finished a couple of small scale builds this year, and may manage to wrap up the Bosozoku bike soon.
So, I’m challenging myself to make more models in 2020. Particularly ones where the build utilises my own products or stock.
The first three are lined up, and ready to go.
Build 1 will be this Fujimi Honda CR-X.
The recently added Street and Track Racer Parts set was designed, in part, to provide bits for this build. I’m aiming for a mix of track day toy and street racer, with definite nods to Kanjo racers and their like.
Build 2 will be a Gundam.
I know next to nothing about Gundam. There’s a mythology, games, and who knows what else. I just want to build a giant robot. One of my new distractions is watching Gundam build videos on YouTube, and I am inspired to detail up the model, and pose it in a diorama. I don’t have any specific 3D printed stuff to go with it yet, but the scale is 1:144, so it will work with N gauge/ 10mm wargames buildings and models.
Build 3 will be a Land Rover. Or maybe several Land Rovers. I have the Italeri 1:24 fire truck, as well as their 1:35th 109″, and Revel’s 1:35th soft top. If I pick up Revel’s new 1:24th offering as well, I may try to build it and the fire truck side by side.
That’s the current plan. I’d love to be organised, and do a build a month. But I’m realistic, and I know how a plan like that soon comes unstuck, so we’ll see.
Funky little Renault 5 Turbo
I have a magazine full of custom cars and comics by a French artist called Pascal Meslet, which has somehow managed to survive since 1984. I’ve always wanted to make some models based upon the pictures in it, and finally managed to.
It’s a far from direct copy, but this little Renault 5 was inspired by the image it was photographed on top of. It’s been practically finished for over a month, I just kept putting off painting the rear lights and gluing them in.
I need to get more modelling done, I reckon.
RIP George Barris
George Barris was the custom car builder who created the original Batmobile, and many other vehicles you may be familiar with from old TV shows. (But not the Monkee mobile.)
Oddly, I went off on one of my little internet wanders earlier today, looking for replica Mercury bodyshells, thinking how cool it would be to put Tesla running gear under something that looked like the Hirohata Merc, one of Barris’ most famous cars.
Source: George Barris, LA’s king of car customizers, was 89 – LA Observed