With December in full swing and Christmas-time near, tis the season for parties and holiday cheer. With hot rods on the freeway, plus an onslaught of rain, I had to yell at times, "stupid ass, stay in your lane!!!"
This past weekend, I attended the
Annual Mooneyes Christmas Party at
Irwindale Speedway. I can't believe it's already been a full year since
the last time I visited the show. I have to admit... cold, rainy weather makes me feel pretty lazy. Living in Southern Cali, I think I've gotten used to the weather being 73 degrees all year round, so when it dips below 55 degrees outside, it's pretty hard for me to convince myself to leave the comfort of my baffled goose down comforter behind and trudge through the rain with 30+lbs of camera gear and flyers on my back. This Saturday, it was especially difficult because
I was out with my friends at a house party and didn't get back until 4:30am on the day of the show.
However, I'm really glad I did make it to Mooneyes this year. Speaking to my friend
Shige (
the man behind Mooneyes and
Crown Classics in Yokohama Japan), we both agreed that the rain did put a bit of a damper on the event's attendance, but it was good in a way. It weeded out most of the "trying to be down" scenesters and showed everyone who the real hardcore hot rodders were. Most of the guys who came to this year's Mooneyes Christmas Party
actually drove their period correct traditional hot rods with vintage whitewall tires on the 605 freeway IN THE RAIN to and from the show. Now that's dedication! Much respect!
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Posted by: Antonio Alvendia | Dec 14, 2009 | Categories: Coverage | Tags: Beetle, Cavaliers, Christmas Party, Dead Sleds, Heathen Kings Social Club, hot rod, Irwindale, Irwindale Speedway, lead sled, Mooneyes, Mooneyes 2009, period correct, piecrust slicks, pin up girls, pinstriping, Rat Rod, Shige Suganuma, Takahiro Ishii, Traditional Hot Rod, Volkswagen, white wall tires, Wild Man | 29 Comments »
If you've been paying attention to what I've been writing on Motor Mavens and other automotive websites at all, you may have noticed that I've recently become a fan of hot rods and kustoms. While I'm certainly no expert when it comes to these cars, there definitely are particular aspects about this whole car culture that I personally identify with and have fallen in love with.
Travis Hodges and I recently paid a visit to the
Ink n Iron Festival at the
Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. While the show was certainly expensive at $40 each for 'media passes' and $15 each for parking (at that point, we realized we haven't paid to get in to any car related event in YEARS), it's okay because the event had tons of cool looking cars and other elements of hot rod culture that made for some interesting photos.
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Posted by: Antonio Alvendia | Jul 08, 2009 | Categories: Coverage | Tags: Antonio Alvendia, Cavaliers, chopper, Continental, Dice Magazine, hot rod, Ink n Iron, Lincoln, Queen Mary, roadster | Leave A Comment »