The pictures on this page are past 'Picture Of The Day' photos that we have archived here.  Scroll down and enjoy all the beautiful cars and brief notes about the photo's themselves, some of the owners and the Hot-Rod scene in general.

HAPPY HOT-RODDIN' Y'ALL !!!

Let's see what we can say about today's POTD.  It's blue...that's for sure.  It is definately a Plymouth.......oh yeah, and it's owned by one of the Three Stooges.  Okay, maybe not one of the original goofballs from that great TV show that aired way back in yerster-year, but it is owned by one of the members of the 'Three Stooges Car Club'.  I always loved this era of cars and this one is a fine example of what there is to love about them.  Curves in all the right places, a big bulbous rear end and big round headlights....if that won't get your motor running, nothing will.  Plymouth had great style during this era, from the hood ornaments to the badging and chrome accents in all the right places.  But I don't need to tell you...you can surely see this for yourself just by looking at these photos.

This car was not registered for the show, it had no info with or on the car and no one seemed to own it or know who owned it.  It's was the biggest mystery of the day.  If I had to guess, I'd say that it started life as a 50's era Corvette before going through an extensive session of body mods.  I don't even know where to start in describing them.....so I won't.  I'll just let you look at the pictures and see what you can see.  Clicking on any of the thumbnails will enlarge them so you can see more of the details.  I think you'll be intrigued by what you find.

UPDATE:  After having these photo's looked at by some guys I consider the 'Cream Of The Crop' when it comes to Hot-Rodders, the unanimous verdict is that this was actually a T-Bird.  Somewhere between the years of 55-57 with a 57 being the least likely.  After listening to them explain why they thought so and having a couple of them send me detailed photos of the dash on other T-birds for comparison, I have to agree.  So there you have it...it doesn't appear to be a 'Vette under all those mods.

I can think of two things great that happened in 1968...I was born and so was this Nova.....Okay, maybe it didn't look like this, but hey, I don't look the same as I did back then either.  This car was one of my personal favorites from this show.  It had everything I like in a muscle car....slicks, a roll cage, and a great big giant motor that doesn't come close to fitting under the hood.....when you really think about it, what more is there in a true muscle...not much if you ask me.  Enjoy these pictures, because I know Ronnie is enjoying the car..

I was able to see this bright yellow coupe from all the way across the parking lot...in fact this baby was SO YELLOW, I bet it could be seen from low earth orbit.  Gary has done one extremely fine job on this old Ford.  The big white-wall tires, the touches of red on the grille and wheels and the shined up chrome accents and bumpers certainly gave this car lots of curb appeal.  But when you get up close and can see the two-toned, yellow and white interior it almost causes visual sensory overload (see photo's below).  All I can say is 'WOW!!!'.  This was definately in the top three interiors I saw at this show....and could be the best of those three....but it's just so hard to pick a #1 when you have so many that are so well done.  Enjoy the pic's, because I have no doubt that Gary is enjoying this great ride.....

I believe I saw this car couple weeks ago at a traffic light on Northwest Highway in Dallas.  I was going in the opposite direction on the other side of the road, but could still tell this was a beautiful car.  The paint was glimmering in the sun and the driver was smiling ear to ear....but who could keep from smiling while driving such a rolling work of art.  I was quite happy to see this car at the show so I could get a much closer look.  And just I suspected, it looked as good close up as it did from across the street at a red light. This was just one of many cars that I saw at this show I will be featuring here in the coming days...so check us out everyday and see whats new.

This Camaro is one I saw at a little gathering I go to every January 1st.  It is held at a little drive-in called 'The Dairyette' here in Dallas.  I have seen lots of cars that I've never seen before and I don't see anywhere else all year.  There are no judges, no prizes and no entry fees...it's just a bunch car people bringing their cars out on the first day of the year and getting together to talk, swap stories, have a burger and a beverage.  This car is still owned by the original owner.  The sidepipes were installed in the seventies and have never been removed or changed....Now that's something you don't see very often anymore.  And it's the sidepipes that make this an easy choice for POTD.  You can also see a video I did from one of these gatherings by visiting our Car Show Video's page.

This is another creation from the mind of customizer Aaron Grote.  It is named lunar lander.  I was lucky enough to come across this car at an outdoor show where I was able to get up close and personal with the car.  It didn't have barriers arouind it like at so many indoor shows and really allowed me to look this one over from very close.  When I saw this car, I had never heard of Aaron Grote, but from this day forward I knew I was a huge fan of his.  There was no info about this car at the time and I had to post these pictures on several different car websites before someone was able to tell more about it and the builder.  You can learn about this car, the Atomic Punk (another Grote creation) and several other builds this master craftsman has created.  Grote is on Facebook, ,MySpace, HubGarage, has been featured in Rod and Custom Magazine, Auto Culture....this list could go on and on and on.  A simple google search of his name alone brings up pages and pages of Aaron Grote info.  I think if you take the time to check this young man out, you will be as impressed as I was....that is if the incredible creations he builds didn't already do the trick.

I titled todays POTD 'Hidden Beauty' for one reason.  It's not because it's hard to see the beauty in this Hot-Rod, because that was easy to see.  The paint was perfect, it was clean inside and out and it was obvious that a ton of time was spent building this ride.  I call it 'Hidden Beauty' because I came across this one tucked way back in the corner of a side room at an indoor car show.  In an area surrounded by rat-rods and other assorted rust buckets.  This car showed no emblems or badges.  There was no show board or info with the car.  It was just this timeless beauty, sitting way back in a corner, minding it's own business.  It's like it was there only for those who were brave enough and smart enough to look in all the nooks and crannies for that one hidden gem that would make it all worth while.  Well, I found it and I am sharing it you.  I hope you enjoy it.

I have never featured one of my own cars as POTD.  Nor have I ever featured a car so new.  I believe this is the newest car to ever grace the pages of www.HotRodsNow.com.  But yesterday after a very frusterating start, the day ended with me bringing this beauty home.  It is a 1990 IROC Z convertible.  There were only 1294 of these made.  This car only has 86K miles and is in great driver quality shape.  The plan here at www.HotRodsNow.com is to put a paint job on this rarity, put on a new top (the one on it needs to be replaced), a new set of tires and drive it, drive it, drive it.  At the begining of yesterday, the shop I share with my best buddy, Dennis, only housed a half done '69 Camaro I had been working on for years.  The '69 left the shop to find a new home, Dennis brought out a '79 Z28 he is working on and I brought this IROC Z back from Wills Point Texas...It was quite a day.  It was a day of chasing hot-rods, hauling hot-rods and talking hot-rods.....does it really get any better than that?  I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful, beautiful wife for being the voice of reason and the calming force in all this when things looked to be so out of sorts at the start of the day.

What exactly is the definition of a 'sleeper'?  Well I can tell you that the easiest way to define that is to look at this car and imagine exactly the opposite.  This car screams performance.  With the 426 cid, dual carb motor and a 4-speed transmission this car was hard to beat.  There's a reason these cars looked fast...it's because they were.  But looks aside, when you added the track pak as an option you got more than looks...you got raw Mopar power and performance...and after all, if you bought a car with a giant wing on it, you were planning to do more than Sunday drive this monster.  With a sticker price of $5385.80 it could be called one of the best investments ever...but again, not too many folks were thinking about an investment...they were thinking about how easily everyone else would get real small in the rearview mirror. 

As were the early Yenko Camaro's, the Nova's were simply cars taken off of the Yenko lot in Canonsburg and modified by the Yenko race shop. Most, if not all, were SS 396 / 375hp 4-speed cars with very few options. The Nova's came equipped with the basics, such as bench seat, vinyl floor mats, but did sport a factory 4:10 posi rear end. It is believed that less than 40 of these cars were built, with only 8 documented cars known to exist today.

It is easy to tell any of the Yenko's produced in 1969, as they all could be identified by their distinctive side stripes, hood decals, Yenko badges and special chrome 427 emblems. It is thought that only one car was delivered with the stripe delete on the order, that disputed 1968 COPO car. Yenko did not attach serial plates on 1969 and later cars.

By the end of 1969, insurance companies were refusing to insure these big block monsters. Don had to come up with a new plan and once again, he would look to the Corvette engine line up to help. Don was able to convince his friends and fellow enthusiasts at Chevrolet to install the Corvette's new LT-1 small block into the Nova, to be called the "Yenko Deuce." This was done under COPO 9010 and COPO 9737. Even though this solid lifter engine was rated at a stout 360 bhp, the insurance companies simply saw the car as your basic small block 350cid Nova.

Only 194 of these Nova "Deuce's" were built (seen here is #162), in 8 different colors, with either a close ratio 4-speed or the same Turbo 400 automatic transmission as the Camaro and the Chevelle. Colors available were Cranberry Red, Fathom Blue, Cortez Silver, Forest Green, Citrus Green, Hugger Orange, Gobi Beige and Sunflower Yellow. The "Deuce" carried it¹s own special graphics package, including distinctive hood and side stripes, Yenko badges and "Deuce" decals attached to the front door panels. In addition, the Deuce came with a hood mounted tach.

Whenever someone mentions Don Yenko's Super Cars it is almost always the '69 Camaro.  But Yenko was building others long before the '69.  One of the earliest was the 'Yenko Stinger'.  The motor in this car was a Turbo Air 164 that was pushing 140 horses.  It got a special stripe package and Yenko Stinger emblems to show the world that this was no wimpy little Corvair.  Forget Ralph Nader....this is a car anyone would love to have.  Before seeing this car years ago, I had never heard of the Yenko Stinger, much less seen one....and to this day I have never seen another one.  So take a good look here....this maybe your only chance to see a real one of these babies.

Originally, the lead sled referred to extensively repaired/modified cars due to the use of lead as body filler and was, for the most part, an insult.  Since the introduction of artificial fillers (such as Bondo), the term has come to mean a post-war, large (full size) American car of the 1950s like the one featured as todays POTD
There are several things that I would have done differently on this car, but then, this isn't my car.  I love the flat black and all the chrome....that looks great...but, the sparkley purple roof.....well I suppose I may have chosen something a bit different.  I like the way they incorporated the alien into the trim work on the deck lid...but I have always wondered what the connection to the alien and this old lowered Caddy was.....I guess we may never know.....over all this car is a winner...I like it...even if there are a few details I would have done differently...but, that is what makes this hobby so great...everybody has a different idea as to what their dream car should be....If we all thought alike, what a boring place it would be......

I titled this cool ride 'Early Morning Hot-Rod' because that is when I saw this one.  It was about 6 am at the Texas Motor Speedway for a 'Good Guys' car show.....all around our campsite gear-heads, hot-rodders and other assorted motor-heads were firing up their rides and getting ready to go inside the track.....some were tuning, some were polishing and some were just warming up...if you wanna hear this baby run, just go to the Car Show Video's page and watch the video titled "Good Guys Car Show Pt II"...this car is the opening scene.

The title says it all.  Begining Thursday 11-10-11, everyday I'm gonna post one of the great flames jobs I've seen.  I am gonna do this until Thursday 11-17-11.  Please let me know what you think of this series of photo's.  I love to hear all your feedback.

It was the 30's era cars that were most popular for the post war era Hot-Rodders to make into their street warriors.  These cars were plentiful, cheap and easy enough to tinker with, that every shade tree mechanic and weekend racer could do the work themselves with just a few basic tools.  Today, the cars from this era are still abundantly popular and for good reason...they are beautiful...they are timeless...they are the cars that helped transform a generation.  Today's POTD is just such a car...and a fine example of one, if I do say so myself.

What defines a sleeper?  In my book a sleeper is a car looks like the one your gramma would drive to church on Sundays and to the market on Fridays.  But under the hood it has a heart of pure power and the ability to make the weekend street warriors eat your dust.  These days there are not too many 'sleepers' coming from the factory.  But in the sixty's it was a totally different story.  Cars could easily be ordered with just about any powertrain and trim combo you desired.  The guys at Chrysler were notorious for producing plain Jane cars that would eat up the competition at the strip.  But GM didn't let that niche market go untapped either.  A good example is this 1965 GTO.  Similar to the Le Mans, Tempest and even the Catalina that came before it, this car was a big bodied road cruiser.  But it could also put a hurting on the unsuspecting challenger who had no idea the punch it could pack.  Today's POTD is a well driven car that has the Pontiac V8 and triple dueces.  It sucked down gasoline faster than Hunter S Thompson sucked down Vodka....and that was no small feat.  The four speed gave it maximum performance and the vinyl top gave it the subdued look, Betty Ann's father approved of when you picked her up on Saturday night....did I mention the size of the back seat?  Any way, check out these pictures and take a quick trip down memory lane to the bygone days of the mid-60's. 

You can see a short video of this and several other GTO's I saw at this show by going to the 'Fun Video Page' and checking out the video titled 'GTO by Pontiac'

Since beginning the 'Picture Of The Day' series, I have tried to post several shots of the featured car and as much info as I knew about the car.  But I also have quite a few great single shots of cars I've seen over the years but have only the one picture and no info about the car.  So I am going to do a series of these shots.  The old saying goes, 'a picture is worth a thousand words', so I'll let you insert your own words and I'll provide the pictures.  Be sure to give me some feedback and let me know what your thinking.

Happy Hot-Roddin' Y'all
Wild Bill
(founder/creator, HotRodsNow.com)

There was no real way to tell if the car sitting next to you at the light was a Max Wedge or Gramma's grocery-getter.  There were no stripes or badges to give it away.  But when the light changed and the tail lights just kept getting smaller and smaller, you knew there was no slant-six in that car.  This 1964 Max Wedge came with the Stage III 426 and a 4-speed.  It was a radio delete and a heater delete car.  No need for that extra weight or horsepower robbing options.  This was car meant to do one thing.....go fast.  As you can see by the sticker price and knowing what they are worth today, they were awful good investments...but I don't think there were too many of these sold as investments.  If you bought this car, the only future you were concerned about was the next Friday night at the strip.

This car was born on December 5, 1969 at the Lynch Road Michigan Plant.  It is 1 of only 599 4 speed, six-pack Super Bees built in 1970.  To even narrow it down a bit further, it is #47 of 60 on the Chrysler Registry.  The owners Mike & Lynn Colorio of Guthrie Oklahoma were kind enough to bring this beautiful Bee out to the Texas Motor Speedway for a Good-Guys event in the summer of 2006, which is where I saw it and took these pictures.  The one thing that has always been baffling to me about this model is the stripe.  As you see it on this car is exactly the way it came from the factory, but to me it just looks like they forgot to put the rest of it on.  I've always thought that it should continue a bit further up the car and onto the door...but it doesn't and it never did.  Oh well...it is still one awesome looking Mopar.  Be sure to check out the picture of the window sticker and the original MSRP.

This beauty was not your typical street rod.  It did have all the things you'd expect like a huge big block, a monster tranny to turn the power into tire smoking force, rubber out back that is wider that a small john boat and super skinny's up front.  Inside it had a full roll cage in the event of a wheels up mishap, but it's the inside where this great car differs from most other street rods.  Lots of times the interior is bare bones, bare metal and stripped to reduce weight and lower E.T.'s.  But this car had leather everywhere.  And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere....even the roll cage was leather wrapped.  I'm not even going to try and describe it....you just gotta see the pictures.....enjoy, folks...and Happy Hot-Roddin'

This is a wonderful example of an iconic Mopar.  There are so many unique styling ques on this particular model that standout I would have trouble mentioning them all, so I'll just pick a few.  The wide grill and hideaway headlights give the face of this car a one-of-kind look.  When you see it in your rearview mirror, there is no doubt what kind of car is barreling down the road behind you.  As it passes you, what catches the eye are the muscular looking bulges on the sides and the graceful slope of the rear window that make this car look fast even if it's sitting still.  Then, as it moves in front of you, you notice the curved back glass.  And inside on the dash are four big side-byside gauges that are easy to read at a glance.  All these designs were put into this car to give it style and good looks and that is exactly what they do.  Today, the bean-counters design most cars and the main objective is to build them as cost effectively as possible and pump them out in large numbers.  This car was designed and built when car-guys designed cars.  There is a huge difference and it shows everytime you see a car like this from that long past era.

(before filling my in-box with rants about designs and designers of today, let me add this:  Yes, there are some great cars still being designed and produced today, but they are mostly special editions and have a high price tag and limited numbers.....this car was designed and built for the 'every-man'......go to any new car lot today...any manufacturer....and look at the 'every-man' cars, then come back and tell me I'm wrong.)

This ain't you're Grampa's Buick.....that is unless your Grampa had a real tire smokin' hot-rod.  I believe this is a 1967 Buick Skylark GS.  If I am wrong, please correct me so I can give the proper information here.  The Gran Sport was the daddy of the Skylark.  It had it all...the looks, the power and the head turning style.  It's not every day you see one of these.....so when I saw it, I knew I had to aim my camera at it.

Very often the POTD is an ultra rare car or low number build.  Sometimes it's a highly modified, super powerful beast.  Sometimes its an all original, low mileage survivor car.  Sometimes it is just really cool, old ride.  This truck isn't rare, doesn't have a 1000 hp monster motor, doesn't have 100 grand worth of modifications, and certainly isn't all original, but is most certainly a cool, old ride.  This panel truck is owned by Doc & Jobeth Pilcher.  The 350 motor in it was built by Jobeth and is backed by a 350 turbo transmission that spins a Nova rear end that contains 2.56:1 gears.  That makes this truck perfect for long hauls.  Giving the truck direction is a Mustang II weld-in front end.  Inside is an interior installed by Doc & Jobeth.  It has a Wabbits dash, Classic Instruments and carpet by Bitchin Stitchin.  To keep it cool is a Vintage Air system.  Doc & Jobeth worked together on the interior while Jobeth built the motor, but the paint and body work credit all goes to Doc.  I would have to say that you two make a fine team. 

It may seem strange that I have featured an Italian built car as POTD, but keep in mind that these cars were designed by American born designer, Tom Tjaarda and powered by a 330 hp Ford 351 Cleveland engine and were imported through Lincoln/Mercury dealers.  Although these cars were hand built and only 1007 reached the US in 1971 (the first year of production) there were some quality issues.  In fact several of the cars broke down on Fords test track after arriving.  But the quality issues were mostly worked out the first year and the Pantera was produced all the way up to 1991.  This first year, the car was quite sporty for the time and the price was reasonable.  At an MSRP of $9800 this car would turn 0-60 times at 5.5 seconds with a top speed of 159 mph right off the show room floor.  And since this car was powered by a Ford 351C it was not a major task to upgrade the motor and produce more power and faster E.T.s.  All-in-all this was a pretty cool hot-rod in it's day and still is a head turner today every where it goes.

Let's imagine for a minute that on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning you decide to take a little cruise.  You walk out to the garage to pick a car to drive.  If for some reason (and God only knows what that reason would be) you choose not to drive the '69 COPO Camaro sitting there, what would be a good second choice?  Well, a good second choice would be this 2002 ZL1.  This car is #19 of only 69 like this built.  Powering this rare bowtie is a 600 horsepower LS6 that pushes 575 ft lbs torque.  The guts of this motor are filled with 11.4:1 pistons and it exhales through ceramic long tube headers with electric cut-outs and chambered exhaust.  Putting the power to the ground is a limited slip rear end with 4.10 gears and a deleted traction control (after all..who needs traction control).  Stopping this missle is a set of Z06 brakes with slotted rotors.  The Cragar SS mags are wrapped with Goodyear F1 Super Car Tires.  The body has been lowered 2 inches and the shocks are a special Penske design.  Inside the cockpit is a houndstooth interior that looks very comfortable and a Hurst short throw shifter that will have you ripping through the gears like Emerson Fittipaldi at Nurburgring.  This car has all the right stuff.  I suppose if I had this and a '69 COPO in my garage it would be a tough choice to decide on which one to drive....Life sure is hard sometimes......Happy Hot-Roddin' Y'all............

Today is another first on www.HotRodsNow.com.  We have never before had a POTD that had two cars in the picture before.  I have several pictures of these cars at more than one event all by themselves, but I really like this picture.  The red car on the left is known to many as 'Huffer'.  Over the years this car has seen more than one transformation and set-up.  It currently boasts a well built 383 with a blower to cram more air into the combustion chambers.  Never one to let all that power go to waste, the owner of this fine car has been know to leave in a cloud of tire smoke.  All I can say to that is 'Rock-on Frank!!!'

The blue car on the right has a more subdued look.  Just looking at it, you would never know what this car is capable of.  But when the motor fires up, you know there is something special brewing under there.  This stock bodied car ran 195mph in a standing mile this year.  Propelling it to that awe inspiring feat in an LS motor with a Kenne Bell supercharger.  Now just for the record, that's no regular LS motor either.  The owner of this car is also the owner of
SpeedTek Performance in Halthom City Texas and has spent countless hours making sure that the car is at the top of it's class.  On race gas this car puts about 1000 hp out at the crank.  If you'd like to see a slide show of this build and learn more about the car and what it takes to create a monster like this,
just check this out.

Today's POTD was taken almost 5 yrs ago today.  These pictures were the beginning of my idea for www.HotRodsNow.com.  There are so many car sites out there that concentrate on a certain genre (eg. Rat Rods, Fords, Mopars, Pre-War, Dragsters, etc etc) that I wanted to come up with a concept that was slightly different and family friendly.  Don't get me wrong, I like the pin-up style pics with the models in string bikinis, but there are a ton of those sites out there.  I wanted to focus more on the cars and shows and owners.  Not just the high end 'Foose-Type'  cars either.  I wanted to feature more every-guy cars and the home-built cars that are affordable to a wider range of car-guy (and car-gal).  This picture was taken at a Good Guys event at Texas Motor Speedway in Sept of 2006 and I decided that day to try and attend as many shows as possible, get to know as many real car-folks as I could find and take pictures of everything.  On January 1st of 2011 I launched this site and it has been growing ever since.  And this is one of the cars that launched that idea.

In 1970 there were some pretty cool Mopars coming out of the factory.  There was the AAR 'Cuda, for one.  But there was also a sister-car to that, in the form of a T/A Challenger.  It also had the 340 with a six-pack and those signature exhaust pipes exiting in front of the rear wheels just like the AAR.  I had heard of these cars, seen one or two on TV, but until the day I shot these pictures, I had never seen one in person.  The owner of this 'Pentastar'  car was also the owner of an AAR the same color that was built only one day apart from this one.  They were his and her cars.  One for him and one for his wife.  Now that is the kinda family that I hope moves in next door to me.

(I added one picture of the matching AAR in the photo's below)

This car was one of the best cars at the Southwest Mopar Mini Nationals this year.  That is why this car was displayed in the 'Order Of The Pentstar' corral.  The 'Pentstar Cars' are the cream of the crop when it comes to correct restorations.  Not many cars qualify for that prestigious honor.  This Dodge Charger R/T was equipped with the 426 Hemi, producing 425 hp.  The motor was backed by a 4 speed and is only 1 of 211 '68 Hemi Chargers with the 4 speed.  To turn the rear wheels there is a Dana 60 rear end under this bright blue beauty.  In 2009 this car won multiple awards at SEMA in Las Vegas, it has been featured on several TV shows and was even in Hemmings Muscle Machine Magazine in April of 2011.  It's cars like this that will turn anybody into a Mopar fan, if you already aren't one. 

Thanks for bringing your car out, Ken.  It sure is a beautiful ride. 

To see lots more cars from that show, be sure to watch the video titled Southwest Mopar Mini Nats 2011 on the Car Show Videos Page.

It only seemed appropiate to feature a car that was painted with the image of an American flag, an eagle, a fighter plane and the twin towers on the 10 year anniversary of the worst attack ever to take place on American soil.  This car honors the innocent lives lost on 9-11 and also honors the soldiers who have lost their lives fighting for our freedom and those who are still risking everything to continue that fight.  Even though there are beautiful memorials now on the site where the towers stood, many lives have been changed forever and nothing can change that.  Nothing will ever let us forget.  Nothing will ever change how we feel about those who still wish us harm.  I took these pictures in August of '08 when I saw this car at a show in Dallas.  They are the only pictures I could find that I had taken of this car, but there is an entire website dedicated to it.  Please visit them at USCruiser1.com and let them know how much you appreciate there gift to America and the dedication they have in memorializing the lives that were so wrongly stolen. 

MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA AND STRIKE DOWN HER ENEMIES