Hot Rods – Timing Tower

47th ANNUAL WESTERN STREET ROD NATIONALS, April 26-28, 2024, Bakersfield, CA

admin — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 04:13:56 +0000

The Kern County Fairgrounds was brightened both by the appearance of over 1,000 hot rods and by the weather which changed from a rainy Friday to a Sunny Sunday. In addition to trying to see 1,041 cars, A lot of activities went on throughout the week-end; i.e. The Safety Team was busy inspecting cars; Women’s World offered a lot of hand-made items, a Swap Meet offered many needed parts as did numerous vendors. More photos of cars that were at the show are below. Sunday was the final day of the show and the day of the awards ceremony. The ceremonies started at 1:00 pm but in the morning all of the winners were gathered in the Winners’ Circle. The Winners’ Circle gives everyone a chance to see the cars up close and to talk with the owners. The first award, was not to a car, but to Dave Cahill (on the right in the photo below). After 37 years, Dave retired this year from his position as the NSRA Division Director. Those of us who have been used to seeing Dave every year at the Western Nats, will miss him. We wish him well and hope he’ll return to the Western Nats as a spectator. This year the timingtower.com award went to David Fleeman and his 1932 Ford Coupe. This Coupe brings back memories of the Coupe driven by John Milner in the movie American Graffiti. David’s Coupe only improves on the American Graffiti Coupe. There will be more photos of this car as well as a feature article posted soon. Here are the award winners in the order of presentation: Once the awards were given, it was time for the prizes to be handed out. Nick Donovan, who provided the music for the week-end, was on hand to give out the prizes; and as always, a willing, young volunteer was recruited to draw the numbers. In addition to merchandise prices, three cash prizes of $2,000 each were given away. Mitchell Guillen, Chuck Perdue and Jimmy Shannon, II, all of Bakersfield were the winners of the cash prizes. The three winners along with event director, Mike Adams are shown below. Once the prizes were all given away, the show was over and we waved goodbye to another great week-end. Next Year the Western Nats will be held April 25-27, 2025 in the Kern County Fairgrounds. ____________________________________________________________ SATURDAY – UPDATE Like Friday, Saturday was a great day for looking at cars and trucks at the Western Street Rod Nationals in the Kern County Fairgrounds and there were a lot of beautiful and unique cars and trucks in the fairgrounds to look at – like this Ford truck and those in the slideshow below. Car enthusiasts of all ages enjoyed the day. Below is Levi who said this Ford truck was his favorite. Levi has very good taste. One unique car we saw was this Chevrolet demonstrating it’s hydraulics. This Chevy truck came with a matching camper trailer. This 1932 Ford coupe was reminiscent of the coupe driven by Milner in American Graffiti. This Willys coupe was a drag racer back in the day. Below are a few more of the nice cars at the show today. Tomorrow is the last day of the show and will include the award ceremonies and prize give-aways. We saw some of the cars that will take home an NSRA award and they are spectacular. Monday evening we’ll post photos of all the award winners as well as a wrap-up of the show. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRIDAY – UPDATE The 47th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals opened on Friday, April 26, 2024 in the Kern County Fairgrounds. And the weather forecasters were wrong – predictions of rain and wind did not materialize in Bakersfield. The day was sunny, with a few clouds, and the temperature was around 70° Couldn’t ask for anything better. The event registration on Friday was about the same as it was last year on Friday – about 1,000 cars. Saturday is, however, the big day and, no doubt, tomorrow the fairgrounds will be full again. Below are a few of the cars we saw today: The entertainment started around 6:00 pm with Orphan Jon and the Abandoned performing live. Although the band was excellent – the main attraction was the cars and trucks. The cars will keep on coming tomorrow. We’ll be back at the fairgrounds tomorrow and will post again tomorrow night. Take a look again to see more of the fine cars and trucks that will be at the show. ————————————————————————————————————— The 47th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals will be held in the Kern County Fairgrounds, Bakersfield, CA on April 26-28, 2024. Registration for the show will take place at the Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, Bakersfield beginning on Thursday, April 25 from 12 noon to 6:00 pm, Friday the 26th from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday the 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Throughout the week-end there will be comercial exhibitors, a swap meet, Women’s World, kids games, live entertainment and cruising on Friday and Saturday, The Streets of Rods will be held on Saturday and on Sunday there will be an all denomination Church Service. Also on Sunday the award winners will gather in the Circle of Winners on Sunday before the awards ceremony. Nick Donovan’s Rockin Road Show will provide music all week-end as well as drawing numbers for prize giveaway.. Timingtower.com will be there for the week-end and will post on Friday and Saturday evenings with a full article and photos posted on Monday evening.

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24th ANNUAL CRUISIN FOR A CURE, September 9, 2023

admin — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 01:55:25 +0000

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 the 24th Annual Cruisin’ for a Cure kicked off at 4:30 a.m. when the gates opened to allow registered cars to entry into the Orange County Fairgrounds. For those that didn’t pre-register, registration was available at the Gate from 4:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Gates opened at 6:00 a.m. for spectators. And thousands of cars and spectators filled the Fairgrounds, including this impressive line-up of tri-five Chevies. Cruisin’ for a Cure was started to raise awareness and money for KSK Cancer Center of Irvine for prostate cancer research. Each year the show offers free prostate cancer screening both with PSA tests and physical examinations which are the best way to detect prostate cancer. The screening began at 7:00 a.m. and continued until 3:30 p.m. In addition to screenings, individuals from the Orange County Prostate Forum were present. This organization provides information free of charge on many aspects relating to prostate cancer including imaging and therapies. The gentlemen below were on hand from the Forum. See Prostate Forum of Orange County Cars were spread all over the fairgrounds, both outside and inside. The inside buildings offered reserved parking for the Women and Wheels in the Costa Mesa Blvd., VIP Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos-Santa Pavilion, the OC Promenade and the Meguiar’s Hanger. This fine Mercury was found in the Meguiar’s Hanger. This terrific T-Bucket was also located in one of buildings. This Model A Ford in the Huntington Beach Building was chopped and sported a flathead. When was the last time you saw a Model A coupe that wasn’t chopped? The Model A below was in the Meguiar’s building. With several modifications to the side of the body, this 1975 El Camino has a clean look. However, not all the great vehicles were found in buildings. Look at this 27 T Modified. A Ford Fairlane Retracable. A 1933 Ford 3-window Coupe and other cars from the 1930’s. A lot of nice trucks were at the show. And a lot of nice cars were on display. Some pretty rare cars were were at the show.. The official cruising began at 9:15 a.m. with a parade lap by the California Fire Museum Fire Trucks. The Fire Museum had a table with information on display as well as the trucks. It was interesting talking to retired firemen who staffed this display and learning about the workings of a fire truck. Clover liked the fire trucks, too. If the vehicles on display didn’t keep folks busy, there were a lot of vendors selling everything from car parts to t-shirts as well as a model car contest, a raffle, and a silent auction. And when it was time to sit down for a minute, tables were available and there were food and beer booths. Next year, the 25th Annual Cruisin’ for a Cure will be held on it’s traditional day of the 4th Saturday of September. Mark your calendars for September 28, 2024 when the fun will once again continue.

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DONUT DERELICTS, August 8, 2020, Huntington Beach, CA

admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 00:34:20 +0000

The weekly Saturday gathering of Donut Derelicts took place yesterday – proving that it takes more than a lock down to keep hot rodders from showing their cars and meeting with friends. Cars started arriving before the sun came up and the coffee and donuts were ready. More than 100 cars took part yesterday – often times there are many more. The event takes place every Saturday in the parking lot neighboring the donut shop at Adams and Magnolia in Huntington Beach, CA. This unofficial show has lately been a welcome relief as most sponsored car shows have been cancelled or postponed because of the California lock down. Pretty much everything about Donut Derelicts is informal starting with its beginnings. The accepted story has the beginning 34 years ago when a few friends met on Saturday morning to have donuts and coffee and solve the world’s problems. It wasn’t long until they started bringing their hot rods, setting Donut Derelicts in motion. Rick Finn, a hot rod artist and car lover, designed the logo and put his artwork on shirts and jackets. Seeing cars in a line is always impressive. Below are some of the cars at the show: This show welcomes everyone – whether you have two legs or four. Donut Derelicts doesn’t last long and by 8:30 am or so folks were starting to leave. But the nice thing about Donuts Derelicts is it will happen again next Saturday.

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20TH ANNUAL CRUISIN’ FOR A CURE

admin — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 00:54:09 +0000

The 20th Annual Cruisin’ for a Cure was held on Sept. 28, 2019 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California. This year about 3,200 cars participated in Cruisin’ for a Cure. This show not only provides a fun day with a chance to see some of the most unique, most beautiful and most innovative cars on the planet, it saves lives at the same time. The 1924 Buick shown below is owned and built by Ryan Rivers. This car was one of 14 contenders for the coveted title of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) at the 2019 Grand National Roadster Show. What makes this car stand out from the 13 other contenders is that this is not a pro-built car. Admittedly, Ryan has had some experience building cars, but he accomplished this build by himself at home in his garage. Now for the saves lives part of the opening paragraph. Cruisin’ for a Cure provides all men over 40 at the show the opportunity to have a physical prostate exam and/or PSA blood test which may indicate the presence of prostate cancer. Since the show started in 2000 more than 10,000 men have been tested with about 3,000 being advised to see their doctor for further testing. There is no doubt that many men were able to be at the show this year because of the testing they received at a previous show. All the proceeds from this show are contributed to the KSK Cancer Center in Irvine to help prostate cancer research. In 2018 Cruisin for a Cure donated $100,000 to the KSK Cancer Center. Shown below is the screening center at work. While prostate cancer is the focus of this show, the women weren’t excluded. In the testing center, volunteers were on hand to ensure that women were aware that they should be having annual mammograms. To this end, a drawing was being held with the grand prize being a free mammogram. Volunteers were also available to answer questions. Although the day was fairly cloudy and didn’t offer much sun, being California it was still warm, but not too warm. The cars on hand were a diverse bunch. Rat Rods Only a rat rod would have a B-17 Flying Fortress theme. Hot Rods Classics Tri-Five Chevys Trucks/Haulers/Deliveries Nifty/Unique After the opening ceremonies, the official cruising started with a parade of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles from the California Fire Museum. Around 11:00 a.m. Barry Meguiar of TV’s Car Crazy, hosted a panel discussion with several car personalities (from left to right below): Cory Ness, is a 2nd generation motorcycle designer and builder, and son of Arlen Ness; Bruce Meyer, who with Robert Petersen, founded the Petersen Automotive Museum. Meyer became its first chairman and is an avid car collector; Jerry Logan, Founder of Bushwacker is an innovative builder of off-road vehicles; Mike Brewer, is an English presenter of car-related TV programs including Wheeler Dealers on the Discovery Channel; John D’Agustino, the Grand Marshal of the show, has built some of the most beautiful customs in the world and now attends car events worldwide; Brian Burton of Burton’s Classics in Stanton, CA, was the featured builder for the show, and continues to create beautiful and innovative hot rods and classics; Carson Lev, directed engineering and design at Mattel Hot Wheels for 10 years, and is a prostate cancer survivor thanks to the screening he received at Cruisin’ for a Cure in 2002. In the morning, Shades of the Past performed, a capella, in the Hanger. The group made great music and drew a crowd. One of the group’s youngest fans was Henry – looks like Henry would like to join the group. Next year Cruisin’ for a Cure will be held on Sat. Sept. 26 at the Orange County Fairgrounds. This is one show you don’t want to miss. The photos above can be seen our SmugMug site and are available for purchase. Click on the SmugMug icon:

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