Custom Cars | Hot Rod Cowgirl

My New Love Affair

16 May 2012 47 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography, Sunset, Wild Bill Tags: cars, classic sports car, Custom Cars, Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Hot Rods, Life, Lifestyles, Photography, Sunset, Wild Bill

I have a new love affair living here and “Wild Bill” knows about it…in fact he is the one who gave me this new love for Mom’s Day! I bet you are wondering what it is…

Let me introduce you to” Lola”…a completely stock “1955 T-Bird” that WB surprised me with for Mother’s Day:) Yes we name our vehicles around here…always have as we feel they each have a distinct personality!

We are the third owner and interesting enough…all three owners have been women. I fell in love with this car the first time I drove it with “Wild Bill”. A customer had asked us to check all the running gear out on it as he had bought it for his wife in 1992 and they were ready to sell it.

When I first met “Wild Bill” this was my car…a silver “1964 Corvette Coupe”…which I loved so much! I have looked for another one the last 35 years and have not found one yet. After I drove “Lola” I was taken back to driving my “64”…Lola drives the same and feels the same and is very much like my Corvette! I know there are some Corvette addicts out there that are rolling their eyes that Lola can not possibly be like Lucretia (my “64’s” name)…and I admit this is the first Ford I have owned.

Lola is all class…leather dash and all original interior…6 volt…both tops…three speed overdrive…enough room for two people…and that beautiful Torch Red. She is also the first year of Thunderbird…and honestly if she was newer than a 1957 Bird I would not like her. I personally thought the 1955-1957 T-Birds were incredible.

When you drive her you have to actually drive her:) In other words in my Suburban I just lightly steer and off we go…with Lola you have to steer and watch the tach and shift up and down:):):) So that is why she reminded me of my “64 Vette”. This is a classic sports car back when America knew how to build cars…the golden age of real steel and real parts with attention to detail on horsepower and the ride:)

Here is a very cool touch…the exhaust exits through the two chrome ports above the bumper. They were designed to look like a WWII machine gun ports on a fighter plane…really!

And the hood scoop…love it with the cool grill in it:) Love the flags with the Ford logo.

Smile “Wild Bill”..I love you…so does Tucker and Dasher…he hates me taking his picture…can you tell?

I can’t stop taking pictures of Lola to share with you how amazing she is in person and I love taking pictures! Have you noticed?

My “Baby Bird” has a 292 CID overhead valve V-8. It was the second year of these motors for Ford…a big improvement over Ford’s old flathead engines. Lola’s really peppy even as a senior citizen:)

As I often say…see ya on down the trail driving Lola…L..O..L..A Lola…La-La-La Lola:) Ok here is a test for…who sang the “Lola” song I am humming along to?

Another beautiful country sunset that gifted us on a perfect weekend!

Hot Rod Cowgirl’s Horse Power and Horsepower!

18 Apr 2012 28 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Horses, Hot Rods, Landscapes, Photography Tags: Clouds, Custom Cars, Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Hot Rods, Landscape, Lifestyles, Photography, Weather, Wild Bill

Often I am asked, how did I come up with the name Hot Rod Cowgirl? Am I really a cowgirl? What does Hot Rod mean in your name? How can you be both a Cowgirl and Hot Rod Girl?

The pictures will help to explain the how and the why:)

Horsepower and horse power represent my life. I love my horses and I love horsepower! This shot is perfect…I can see both at once in my view:)

I grew up like this…horses and cows…on a large cattle and wheat ranch…in the middle of nowhere!

Horses have been a large part of my life and my heart…from the time I was 2 years old:)

scan0013

Then I met WB…and my heart became his…this country cowgirl turned into his Hot Rod Cowgirl!

Horsepower…My Classic Hot Rod!

Horse Power…My Classy AQHA “Fanny Annie!”

“Hot Rod Cowgirl.”

Happy Horses…Happy Heart!

Cadillac Truck…Cowgirl Style!

Hot Rods…Horsepower!

Hot Rod Cowgirl, Hobby Horse And Dog Maggie May.

Original Cowgirl Cadillac…Miles Of Memories.

Go Fast GTO Horsepower!

Hot Rod Cowgirl Cutting Loose With Horse Power!

Hot Rod Cowgirl’s Cadillac 4-Horse Hauler Deluxe!

Cowgirl’s Hot Rod Husband…

And Her Cowboy Husband…He Has A Dual Look For Me!

Hot Rod…

Cowgirl:)

I hope that helps to explain it…we live on the ranch and operate our successful hot rod business here…we live the western life with our horses, Aussie dogs and…Hot Rods!

Hot Rod Cowgirl Is Headed Down The Trail…Ta-Tah For Now!

Portland Roadster Show 2012….Part Two

23 Mar 2012 23 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Award, Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rods, Photography Tags: Award, Custom Cars, Ford F-100, Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Hot Rods, Lifestyles, Photography, Wild Bill

The Portland Roadster Show opened to the public last Friday at noon and ran until 7:00 Sunday night. It draws around 40,000 through the gate each day and with 500 custom, restored, classic and beautiful cars…there are some incredible cars to see and drool over…it is a fun show as we have gone enough that we know some of the people and that makes it special to us.

I love seeing the new cars that come to the show with the various modifications and the creative touches…however it is hard to leave our display as Wild Bill is always in demand to talk to about either restoring someones car or building a dream car or doing a frame off restoration on a car that has been in the family for years, so each night when we leave for the hotel we walk a different route so that we can see more of the cars.

Before I show you some of those I want to show you the 1956 F-100 that we took and also a few more pictures of the 1972 Bronco…they both won Best of Class in their classes which was awesome for the owners and awesome for us too:) It is fun for us when the owners tag along with us to show their cars as we have a chance to know them more as friends and share some laughs and memories plus we get to share in their joy when they win!

1956 F-100

The Roadster Show was the F-100’s first show debut…Wild Bill was still putting the last bolts into the hood after we got it unloaded…it is that fresh of a build….in fact it is back in our shop today as we have to finish the wiring yet. It was a show stopper as the color is incredible…the silver looks like chrome in person under the lights…and we used a blend of colors in the blue FORD on the tailgate that makes it pop out.

I love how the motor reflects into the firewall…and the glow of the unusual color as it shines like a jewel. Winning Best of Class was the icing on the cake for Stan and Marie…we were thrilled to see Stan float up to the stage to accept his award. He was here today in the shop to see WB and he is still floating:)

We had a perfect amount of space to display both vehicles in a good way…and parking at a slant was good too as it was not the usual line of parked cars…I like different:)

Look at the color of the Bronco, it is a custom color…in person it is even prettier and has incredible depth…almost like it is 3D…winning Best of Class two years in a row is very cool:)

Lots of colors and various styles of cars…

I love this car…very rare…and the color is gorgeously incredible!

And this car was in your face…outrageous and my hubby loved it.

And then we found this one that emanates “Bad To The Bone.”

I love the paint and the flames…and the look:)

“Quit taking my picture Cowgirl…Grrrrr”…he really doesn’t mean it:)

I took a picture of this very cool Chev. Pick Up as the color on it is British Racing Green. We are considering painting “Jagged” this color as he is a

1928 Dodge Coupe with a V-12 British Jag motor in him, compliments of Wild Bill. Until we saw this color, we were leaning towards black. Now we are re-considering…what do you think?

This morning when we woke up, “Hello Winter…sorry to tell ya but Spring is here…so vamoose!”

Have a Fantastic Friday wherever you are…I took a bunch of cool pictures coming home from Portland…so stay tuned:)

And yes I’m still a Cowgirl…just have a bit of Hot Rod too:)

Hot Rod Cowgirl Heads To The Portland Roadster Show 2012…Part One

20 Mar 2012 23 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Award, Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rods, Photography, Wild Bill Tags: Award, Custom Cars, Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography, Weather, Wild Bill

Hello my fellow bloggers and friends:) I am finally able to update you on the last week at the Portland Roadster Show.

We left last Wednesday morning for Portland, Oregon…which is over 200 miles from our front door step.

This is about half way into the trip to Portland…we are now in the Columbia River Gorge…as you can see the terrain is vastly different from what I usually photograph.

The Gorge is beautiful and scenic but you usually have weather of some sort…we had snow off and on as well as mist from The Dalles on…only once did the trailer slip a bit….and HRC prayed a lot!

Setting up at the Expo Center last Thursday morning…the Portland Show invites us to put our car trailer into our display as they like the trailer and people like walking through it…WB and his buddy Jack are rolling out the awning…WB is on the ladder trying to tear some tape off with his teeth…ding dong now quit that!

Here is a small view of the inside of the trailer once the car is unloaded.

And here is what I got to do….not fun! Cleaning and scrubbing the tires of both vehicles that we took once they were unloaded. My fingers are still cracked and split as I had to use my fingers tips to get into the deep places in the tread on the Bronco…I was thankful that my Sister Blah Blah other wise known as T, helped me do the Bronco tires before they left for home…the party poopers!

I kept my smile and as you can see the part of the tire that is done is shiny clean and black while the part not done is dirty and blah…it makes the car when the tires are detailed out…the differnce between winning or not.

Here WB is helping me with the second vehicle tires and wheels…lots to do and get ready once you do get to the show. See my entry…the saddle? I thought I would show the original car seat:) Hee-hee wink wink:)

My hubby Wild Bill built this 1972 Bronco…it is custom and beautiful. We bought the Bronco back in 1993 for WB to build and have fun with:) And he did for several years when he had time…if you look close there are no door latches…he built the tauna cover that is open in this picture…of course he louvered the tail gate and did an amazing job. I could go on and on about the various customizing he did to the Bronco…

See the ladder bar suspension under it….WB designed and made them….WB is very innovative and creative….he is an artist of restoration with customizing, building and creating. We sold the Bronco a few years ago…which was hard for us to do as it had been part of our family for 16 years. It won Best of Class last year at the Portland Show…the first show for the Bronco…note the flames on the rear end housing:)

This is just one row of the 500 plus cars that were displayed at the roadster show…it is a huge show to attend and the vehicles are pristine…perfection…incredible!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part Two…and the rest of the story:)

Thank you MJ for the awards:):):) I have missed all of you!!!

Hot Rods and Secret Labs

06 Jan 2012 Leave a comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rods, Photography Tags: 68 Cougar, Custom Cars, Ford F-100, Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rods, Photography

Hot Rods and Secret Labs….what does that sound like but Holton Secret Lab!

“Should you accept this mission?”

I decided last weekend that no matter that it is cold out, it was time for another HSL photo shoot to let you know what we are working on…we have many various projects going currently.

By the way…all you car people out there…you can click on all these pictures and they will blow up and fill your screen…makes them look very nice!

I love the shot of the “53 F-100″…it sits right and looks bad to the bone…it is parked in front of “The Secret Lab.”

Currently we have been working on two F-100 Ford pick ups.

We call this “56 F-100 The “Chrome One”…the paint and all the chrome make it shine beyond belief! It is like a mirror…and shines like a wild thing…it is going to be a show stopper this year.

It has a big heartbeat…yah-yah! Can we all say…incredible…awesome and fast!

When you see this F-100 in person…it is jaw dropping and ver cool.

Can you say “Zoom Zoom?” This belongs to a “68 Cougar” that we have built a new suspension for among other details….if this car pulls up next to you at a stop light…forget it…it will blow your doors off!

The ever changing scenery in the lab…I never know what I will see on the rotisserie…here we have a “54 Willy’s” cab on one end and a “35 Dodge” cab on the other end…getting ready for priming.

We spend hours customizing each customer job to their specifications…from a louvered firewall…

To a custom dash and interior as most customers would like to have more gauges and air conditioning installed as well as satellite radio etc.

Another custom touch…a back light on a “35 Dodge Belt Line.”

It takes many shop hours…labor along with talent to create and fabricate hot rods into outrageous and outstanding rides.

This “48 Ford Coupe” is in process right now…it is getting a new heart and suspension.

This is a “46 Ford Tudor ” that we built and if you look close at the two vehicles you can see that we customized this Ford a lot.

Here is my “36 Ford Pick Up Cab” sitting on top of the paint booth…”Hey…wait a minute Wild Bill…I want my pick up finished!” I used to own a 35 Ford Pick Up that got sold…arggghhhh!