Lost Projects

What probably could've been my best project ever. It was a 2006 Mitsubishi Raider. Unfortunately the Real Estate market crashed and I lost my job as a Realtor for a while. I went to work for Mini Truckin' Magazine and it just didn't pay the bills. The truck was never even started.

You ever have an idea so good, you have to put it down on paper. I do. It's how I function. Everything gets written down somewhere, it used to be on paper, but now it's on my phone. When it comes to trucks and cars i seem to have ideas bouncing around in my head all the time. Unfortunately I don't have unlimited resources and money so I just can't build them all. I have been fortunate enough however to finish a few. Here are a few renderings of trucks I never got around to building. (Don't steal em') lol

The original version of project STK TRUK, which later became WAS STK. I've always wanted a black Mitsu.

This is a project which I still consider. Let's see if anybody goes and builds it. I wanted to build it on the Mitsubishi Montero platform. I came up with this concept around 2004-2005. I through the idea to Max Fish at Bio Kustumz and later To Brandt from www.graphicdisorder.com who helped me come up with the rendering. Notice the bottom grill which caused me some grief for a while lol

This is one of the original versions of what would later become "NR 2" and then "Bring It On" I did start to build this truck. It was amazing. Craziest thing I'd ever envisioned with the help of Max Fish at Bio Kustumz. The truck got sold last year to finish WAS STK to somebody on the East Coast who wishes to be anonymous. 

The finished version of "Bring It On" Again, like I said, it got sold to finish WAS STK last November of 2011

Old School Dreams

My buddy Mike Quigley came over with some cool stories and some cooler artifacts from days past. I figured I would share them on here. Enjoy.

(sorry for the poor quality and the out of place MOM logo) I had a broken lens that day and didn't even know it. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE SET

WAS STK, OR WAS NICE

As I sit here and ponder about the future of my favorite build to date I wonder if shes worth resurrecting. But before I go into that, for those of you that by chance don't know the story. My 1994 Mitsubishi Mighty Max commonly reffered to as STK TRUK, then renamed WAS STK was in a horrible accident this passed weekend. In a nutshell a friend of mine rear-ended me on the 605 N bound freeway in a suburb of Los Angeles named Irwindale.

It was an accident, shit happens. The thing to think about now is where do we go from here. As of now, I haven't even met with the insurance adjuster yet. I have a feeling that they are going to try and butt rape me on the truck though. I know how these things work. But I also know what I have into this truck not only financially but emotionally. A couple of friends and I have started drawing out some plans for the outcome of this truck:

1) Rebuild it as it was! Not likely, why? Because it already was and has been. Does that make sense? The truck has already been born and lived a short but successful life. SEMA, Cover shoot for Mini Truckin' magazine, The Roadster Show, it really didn't have much to look forward too.

2) Throw it away for scrap. Not likely either. I'm not one to just toss out such a thing of beauty. Even wrecked she looks pretty.

3) Like a "Phoenix" rise from the ashes. Rebuild her in a way as to pay homage to the earlier build. This would be the most likely outcome. I wouldn't paint her the same but something similar. After all the thing I had the most props on was the paint combination on the truck. In my opinion it looked just right. Sure I wish the paint job was slightly better, but it still looked really good.

Hopefully within the next 48 hours or so I will be meeting with an adjuster from Geico. I will post an update and let everybody know where we stand. And if all goes well, she will come back better than her former self and will attend SEMA 2012. Keep  your fingers crossed.

My work

A few of the trucks I shot while at Mini Truckin'

I don't know why my dumb ass didn't have him close the door. I think I was in the moment.

This little LUV was the first cover I ever shot for MT mag. I'd shot one other cover at this point for Tailgate Magazine.

The 20th Anniversary shoot I did at Festers house in Arizona.

Shot this thing in the middle of the day in Japan. It's hard to tell but it's actually dark green.

1996-ish

Me with my 1993 Mighty Max, this is what it looked like when I joined Forbidden Fantasy.

Badass Toyota

I shot this thing for MT a few years back.

Summer Madness 2011

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE SHOW COVERAGE
 
This years Summer Madness was the funnest Summer Madness I've been too in a long time. And I've been to a ton of these shows, I'm figuring at least 10-12. I had a big chance to really sit back at this years show and enjoy some drinks with some good friends and fellow club members. It was a bonding experience we haven't had in a show since Resolutions.Considering I just lost a friend this week, I was really hoping for a mellow weekend.

This year we drove up in a huge freaking motor home owned by my homie and fellow No Regrets member Mike Quigley. Knowing that the temperatures in Bakersfield are through the roof, we wanted to make sure we would have somewhere to sleep comfortably. Besides the RV, this year I also decided I would drink liquor instead of beer because really hot temps and beer just lead to bloated minitruckers. Liquid Cocaine's were on the menu, (Amaretto, Malibu, Southern Comfort and Pineapple juice) and they were the perfect blend for the hot weather.

Friday night ran smooth, people flowed in from all over southern California, central California and nor cal. It seems like everybody was there to hang out and party, and everybody left their attitudes at home. Show staff allowed people to cruise and have some fun. It seems like with all the good at every show comes all the bad. At this show we didn't have a huge problem with people dragging out of control, because dragging isn't allowed. So in the absence of truck destruction, guys decided to bust out their train horns. I'm a firm believer that train horns belong on trains, and I wasn't the only one. People could be heard booing all throughout the park. But this didn't deter the noisy truckers. I guess everybody is entitled to their form of fun, but when they do it at 4am or 6am it just really sucks ass!

Saturday was show time and this show was huge. I'm not even sure how many trucks were in the show, but I'm assuming it was around 350 or more. The show was great and even though it took them about 4 hours to set them all up but in the end, it was laid out perfectly. If I was them, next year I would lay out the show in the huge grass area because it would make it easier to set up and to walk it as a spectator. 

I know that next years show may have a different vibe since it will finally be under new management but I believe that the vibe will only improve. I know that Airbrush and his crew from Regulators will do an awesome job of taking over the show.  I hope that they can bring the prices back down to earth and hopefully that will help with attendance. Even though this years show wasn't the biggest ever, I actually enjoyed the atmosphere of the show, and I thought the staff handled the show well. I look forward to going next year and hope to see some of you guys there!

Camp n Drag 2011

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SHOW COVERAGE 

It's been a few days since I got back from my trip to Camp n Drag in Waveland, Indiana. I can honestly say that I'm still trying to get back to normal. It's 10:19 at night two days later as I sit here and type this and I'm still tired and recovering from all the partying I did with friends at the gorgeous park in Waveland. But I told myself I would post the pictures tonight so here I sit.

I arrived in Indiana at just after midnight on Friday the 15th, I was supposed to be there late Thursday night but my flight had a crazy delay in Phoenix Arizona. I didn't let that bring me down though because I knew that the weekend would make up for it. When I got to the park at about 4am, nobody was awake except for a huge crowd at the NR camp of course, and in the middle of it all was good ole' RJ. The rep for NR Indiana/Illinois and one of the promoters of the show. (the next morning he would tell me that he didn't even remember me getting to the show lol) Everybody was drunk so I just went to bed. No way was I going to try and party and reason with a handful of drunk asses.

The Next morning I quickly realized that the park was already filling up. I could quickly tell that this years attendance was already bigger. Friday was sort of a blur. I went shopping to Walmart and picked up some Malibu in a bag, don't ask and started partying with hundreds of minitruckers. The nights festivities were awesome and a blur. I didn't go to bed until 6am...I think.

Saturday was show time! The sun was hot but not unbearable and the show field was filled with amazing trucks. Severed Ties clearly came to compete, not just to party. They had a big row filled with trucks, including passed feature trucks. All the big clubs were in the house and the mid-west definitely brought their "A" game. I was very impressed with the quality this year. If I had to say I was disappointed with one thing it was the amount of people dragging their roll-pans off and destroying their trucks. I can honestly say that I'm in no way shape or form impressed by the destruction of your truck, and the Trailer Balls; forget about it. If I was staff I would tell the guys with trailer balls to just park the trucks because first of all they barely spark at 5 mph and all you're doing is destroying the concrete. But enough of that, clearly not the staffs fault.

Speaking of the staff; they did an amazing job again. (Even the way they handled the Volley Ball incident, You're Welcome Bill!") I look forward to going back next year and I urge you guys to go as well. Shows like this are rare, so you should enjoy the ones you have. And if you plan on attending, don't ask where the host hotel is at because they don't have one. Bring a damn tent and don't be a chicken!!!