Timing Tower

GRAND NATIONAL TRUCK SHOW, SEPTEMBER 26-27, 2025

admin — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 18:50:43 +0000

**SORRY FOR EXTRA WHITE SPACES IN THIS ARTICLE BUT WE ARE HAVING COMPUTER TROUBLE** THE GRAND NATIONAL TRUCK SHOW, SEPTEMBER 26-27, 2025, FAIRPLEX IN POMONA THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL TRUCK The World’s Most Beautiful Truck 2025 is a 1941 Willys owned by Larry Jacinto of Mentone Beach, CA. Building 4 of the Fairplex was full of exceptional trucks of every variety. One such vehicle was this 1946 Diamond T built by Tom Phillippbar of San Clemente, CA. This vehicle is very likely the only woodie Diamond T in existence. Only three prototype woodies were built by the factory; two were burned in fires and whereabouts of the last vehicle is unknown. Tom found this Diamond T logging truck, built a woodie body and grafted it onto a Dodge diesel truck frame. He also added drop-down steel wheels to allow the truck to run on railroad tracks. Tom did all of the work on this vehicle including the wood and metal work which took him 5 years working week-ends. Below are some of the other trucks in Bldg. 4. In addition to trucks, Building 4 was also home to a number of pinstripers working hard throughout the show creating some beautiful artwork which was auctioned off. Auction proceeds went to the Volunteers for Veterans Foundation. More than $50,000 was raised from the auction to benefit veterans. Many of the trucks sported some amazing artwork. The outdoor drive-in was held on both Friday and Saturday and attracted a variety of vehicles. There were a lot of kids at the show and it sure looks like Phoenix (shown below) was having a good time in this truck. Throughout the event pinstripers were hard at work creating some awesome artwork that would be auctioned off. The proceeds of the auction went to the Volunteers for Veterans Foundation. The auction raised over $50,000. After the pinstripers auction was over, it was time for the awards ceremony and the crowing of the World’s Most Beautiful Truck. The ceremony opened with a color guard presenting the colors followed by the singing of the National Anthem. The eleven contenders took the stage before the presentation of the World’s Most Beautiful Truck trophy. The winner was Larry Jacinto 1941 Willys. In addition to the honor of being the winner the World’s Most Beautiful Truck, Larry took home a check for $12,500 and a trophy. At the end of the awards ceremony it was announced that the 4th Annual Grand National Truck Show will be held in 2026. FRIDAY UPDATE Below are the eleven contenders for the World’s Most Beautiful Truck 2025. 1968 Chevrolet C-10 owned by Bob Matranga 1967 Blazer owned by Kenny Hinge of Santa Maria, CA K 1968 Chevrolet K-10 owned by Kent Matranga of Dana Point, CA 1968 Chevrolet C-10 owned by Bruce Griffin 1962 Ford F100 owned by Rick Clutter of Lancaster, CA 1975 Chevrolet C-10 owned by Frank Walsh of Lake Havasu, AZ 1941 Willys owned by Larry Jacinto of Mentone Beach, CA 1955 Ford F100 owned by Patrick Kelly of Huntington Beach, CA 1985 Chevrolet C-10 owned by Terry and Carolanne Smyl of Kelowna BC Canada 1956 Ford F100 owned by Rick Howell of Livermore, CA 1952 Chevrolet 3100 owned by Chris Tulley of Kelseyville, CA Interestingly, each of the above contenders took a little different approach to engine presentation; from painted to polished, from blown to unblown and stacks to scoops. All done extremely well. In addition to the eleven contenders, the main building at the Fairplex held many, very nice trucks. A few of them are shown below. The show included a drive-in with trucks parked outdoors between the buildings of the Fairplex. Below are a few of the trucks that participated in the drive-in. The GNTS continues tomorrow. Today lots of trucks showed up for the outdoor drive-in but tomorrow there will likely be more. The pinstripers’ auction will be held tomorrow night and a number of pinstripers have been busy creating some beautiful artwork. The proceeds […]

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1970 BOSS 302 MUSTANG OWNED BY STEVE LANTZ

admin — Thu, 01 May 2025 23:55:04 +0000

This exceptional 1970 Boss 302 Mustang was the timingtower.com pick for 2025 at the 48th Western Street Rod Nationals in Bakersfield. When Steve Lantz rumbled by in his Red Mustang Boss 302 it drew our attention and we immediately saw our pick for the timingtower.com award at the 48th NSRA Western Nats. In 1970 Ford combined the attractive, aggressive styling of the Mustang with a special edition high performance small block to create the Boss 302. Steve bought this car a little over a year ago. It had been mostly restored, but Steve finished the job. The car is stock but for the carburetor. The original carburetor is nearly impossible to find and very expensive if it is found. The attention grabbing Candy Apple Red was introduced as a new color option in 1970 and only 505 of the Boss 302s were painted this color. Buyers of these cars had a wide choice of exterior colors (11). Interior colors varied based available production options with black or a black and white combination. Additionally buyers could customize their Boss 302 with different seat trim and console options. Steve’s car has black seats with red accents and wood vinyl dash trim. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, American manufacturers of pony cars were all interested in fielding cars in the national Trans Am Championship series of road races with an eye to winning the Manufacturers Championship and subsequent bragging rights. The engine size was limited to 5.0 liters which is just over 305 cubic inches. To qualify for the series the manufacturer had to produce a certain number of cars with the basic race engine for sale to the public. Hence. Chevrolet sold the Z 28 and Ford the Boss 302 Mustang. Camaro dominated the Trans Am series in 1968-9, but Ford came back to take the Manufacturers Title in 1970. The Boss 302 Mustang was the street version of the race car. The engine featured a special 302 block topped with canted-valve 351 Cleveland heads. The engine was laughably rated at 290 horsepower (as was the Z28 Camaro 302) but actually produced over 340 horsepower. The Boss 302 Mustang also included race-like body and suspension modifications. Congratulations Steve for being the proud owner of this spectacular Boss 302 Mustang.

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NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS, BAKERSFIELD, CA April 25-27, 2025

admin — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 19:38:15 +0000

The 48th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals were held in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield April 25-27, 2025. There were just shy of 950 cars in the Kern County Fairgrounds this past week-end. The rainy weather took it’s toll on attendance, but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the attendees or the unique cars on display. At the awards ceremony on Sunday it was announced that 53 cars were inspected, with 47 of them passing for safety and 43 meeting the 23 point criteria. The safety inspection offered by NSRA gives everyone the opportunity to have his/her vehicle inspected for safety at no charge. After the awards ceremony, in addition to product prizes, NSRA gave away three $2,000 cash prizes. This year Payton did an admirable job drawing the winning numbers. The three lucky $2,000 winners were Chris Diehl, Richard Vipham and Robert Hollett all from Bakersfield shown below with Payton and event director Mike Adams. The award winning cars were all parked in the winners’ circle Sunday morning giving everyone a chance to look them over. Kingston, shown below, decided this Corvette was his favorite. A new event held this year was the Slow Drags. Hard to believe that any of the high horsepower vehicles in the Kern County Fairgrounds could go slow, but this 1932 Ford Sedan managed to be the slowest. Below event director Mike Adams writes up the paperwork officially designating Harvey from Arkansas as the winner of the slow Drags. There were some not-often seen vehicles in the Fairgrounds, like this 1925 Ford Express Pickup. After the awards ceremony and prize drawing, the 48th Annual NSRA Western Street Rod Nationals was over and folks headed home. SUNDAY APRIL 27, 2025 – Today was the last day of the show and the event highlight was the awards ceremony which started at 1:00 p.m. Prior to the awards ceremony the winners gathered in an area of the Fairgrounds known as the winners’ circle. The winners are parked around 10:00 a.m. so everyone has a chance to take a good look and photos of the winning cars. This year 44 trophies were given out. The trophy winners are shown below – the first car through was this 1959 Chevrolet Impala. The last car through the winners’ line-up is typically the long distance award winner. This year there were two long distance winners – a father and son from Plainville, Michigan each driving a street rod. Their goal is to attend every NSRA event this year. The timingtower.com pick for 2025 is this 1970 Boss 302 Mustang owned by Steve Lantz. Additional photos and information about this outstanding car will be posted tomorrow. There will be more photos and event information posted tomorrow. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SATURDAY APRIL 26, 2025 – The 48th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals continued today at the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA. The day was rainy, wet and cloudy with limited intervals of sunshine. The picture below demonstrates the wet conditions in Bakersfield today and how this little girl made good use of a puddle to have some fun. Although the rain impacted turnout for the show, there were still some really nice cars in the Fairgrounds. The owner of this roadster found a great way to protect his upholstery from the rain. As did this attendee. While the adults tried to avoid the rain and stay dry on Saturday, the kids had a great time playing in the rain. Notwithstanding the overcast weather we were able to get photos of some great cars as shown below. The hydraulics on this sedan put it as low as a car can go. Early afternoon the sun made an appearance many of the cars took advantage of the sunshine and went cruising. A late afternoon storm with thunder and lighting just missed the Fairgrounds, but some rain did fall and again things got wet there. Although we got wet and cold we had a lot of fun seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be cool and cloudy – but dry. We’re looking forward to the award ceremonies and prize giveaways tomorrow. The award winners will gather in the winners’ circle in the morning and in early afternoon the awards will be presented. And, of course, there will still be cars to see in the Fairgrounds. Check back for photos of the award winners as well as more coverage of the event. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRIDAY APRIL 25, 2025 – The 48th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals hosted by The National Street Rod Association opened today. Vehicles of all kinds were on display in the Kern County Fairgrounds and, as is obvious, folks were having a great time. This was a good day to roam the fairgrounds, there were a lot of cars, but not a lot of spectators. Tomorrow there will, of course, be a lot more cars, but also many more spectators. Today provided a good opportunity to get a good look at the cars, talk to the owners, learn some new tricks and hear about the various shops that provide service. Below are a few of the great cars we saw today. Also some of the unique cars at the show: As always some very creative folks bring along some unique things: Mark209 provided Friday night entertainment and will do so again on Saturday night. We got a preview of the entertainment Friday afternoon while the band was setting up. Around 4:30 pm people started heading out for dinner. We’ll be back at the fairgrounds tomorrow and will post more photos tomorrow night. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ The National Street Rod Association will host the 48th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals, in the Kern County Fairgrounds, in Bakersfield, CA April 25-27, 2025. Vehicles 30 years old and older are eligible to register. Registration will be […]

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DR. GEORGE CHARITY CAR SHOW, FEBRUARY 8, 2025

admin — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 04:12:24 +0000

The 22nd Annual Dr. George Charity Car Show was held February 8, 2025 in the Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. Below we have posted the award winners and the pedal car races. Now we’ll fill you in on the rest of the show. In keeping with past tradition, as the show opened the Palm Springs Air Museum provided a flyover by a Douglas C-47 Skytrain. The C-47 was the military version of the civilian DC-3 airplane and was primarily used as a troop carrier. The C-47 was in use by the military for over 35 years and was retired in 1975. The wings and fuselage of this C-47 were painted with a highly visible paint scheme – alternating black and white stripes. The stripes were added to the C-47 planes used during the assault on Normandy in World War II. The stripes, known as invasion stripes, allowed for ready identification of friendly forces by the allied artillery. Below is the C-47 flyover by the Palm Springs Air Museum. Again this year, the show did not disappoint when it comes to the variety of vehicles in attendance. The newest generation of the Ford GT shown below is but one such car. The new Corvette Z06 with a 670 horse power 5 liter mid-engine. The 1953 Corvette, the first Corvette introduced by Chevrolet is another. Custom creations, such as this 1955 Cadillac, were on display. As was this iconic 1934 Ford hot rod. And one of the most popular classics – the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air. Military vehicles remind us of our history and are always interesting. According the the website Kaiserwillys.com the white 5-pointed star on the bumper identifies this jeep as belonging to a tactical unit. All the visible numbers/symbols mean something. For example, on the hood “Jeeps always had the prefix 20, which stood for ‘reconnaissance’ followed by the vehicle’s registration number. For the first 99,999 jeeps, this was a 5 digit number; later jeeps had 6 digits.” On the front bumper the Arabic numeral followed by a triangle 3 inches high with ¼-inch stroke denotes an armored division. There were many vehicles in the Tennis Garden, however, space allows only a few to be highlighted here. For those who don’t know, the proceeds from this show are donated to the Desert Cancer Foundation. Next year the Dr. George Charity Car Show will be held February 14, 2026. As you can see, it’s well worth attending. TROPHY WINNERS AND PEDAL CARS COVERAGE IS BELOW. The 22nd Annual Dr. George Charity Car Show was held February 8, 2025 in the Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. This year, like all past years, found the Tennis Garden filled to capacity with some very amazing vehicles. A special few of these vehicles took home a trophy. This year in addition to Best of Show and Best of Show Special Interest, the David George Memorial Trophy was awarded. David George, who passed away in 2010, was the son of Dr. George, the namesake of the event. BEST OF SHOW – 1956 FORD PICKUP BEST OF SHOW SPECIAL INTEREST -1957 CHEVROLET PICKUP THE DAVID GEORGE MEMORIAL AWARD – 1947 CADILLAC All of the winners displayed a tri-colored ribbon. Below are other award winners. One of the more popular events held during the show is the pedal car races. The racers line up, get a push start, and race to the end. The racers give it all they’ve got. Below is the winner of the 2025 pedal car races. When the races are over, all the pedal cars are auctioned off with all auction proceeds going to the Desert Cancer Foundation. This year one of the pedal cars sold for $800. More photos and a complete run-down of the show will be posted by Monday evening. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRIDAY – FEBRUARY 7, 2025 The Dr. George Show will officially be open on Saturday, February 8, 2025 in the Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. However, the event began today (Friday) with parking selection. From 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. show participants could pick out and save a parking spot for Saturday and could leave their car in the Tennis Garden overnight. Many participants took advantage of the early parking. Some of the cars in the Tennis Garden today are shown below. T Tomorrow the Tennis Garden will be filled with cars spectators and vendors. The show will kick off with singing the National Anthem. As all the shows in the past have been, we expect tomorrow will be an outstanding event. And if the today’s weather repeats tomorrow, there will be sunny blue skies with temps in the upper 70’s. We’ll post complete coverage of the event with photos Monday night.

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