Thursday, February 5, 2009

road trip

Hey another Elvis sightng on I40! It seems that super stars are attracted to other super stars and pay their homage when the public allows them space !I only hope the Enquirer doesn't want these shots of 'E' for some cover ,teamed with a title "aliens had my jock star baby!"
hey theres still room on that sign for your name jock, get busy!!!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009







Bobby Harris keeps a watch full eye over Helton's engine as they prepare to add the stud girdle, just to keep it all tight during the high revs .That dam big ass cam is gonna shake up every thing !And as usual we found Albert doing what he does best!....Supervising from afar , all those cubic inches just wore him out.

does any one feel a draft ?


Hey direct from the Helton speed shop,a baby blower for Alberts new 327 being installed in the orange thing!The old jeep engine was blue and Albert needed more orange on the ride,besides the rods were knocking ,so why not put a blown 327 in! Mike and Albert have been swapping more parts than Craigs list and E-bay combined , all the commerce between them might just fix the economy ,lets hope so.

lucky hanks

I am extremely honored to have this man spend a little time in my shop .Lucky Hanks is a fantastic car builder/ craftsman and any one whom has seen his work can attest to his skills,he has a gift that allows him to see how a problem can be fixed and done right!His attention to detail and his fabrication work has allowed him to build so many fine hot rods ,street rods and just cool driveable cruisers! I would love to be able to mentor under him and develope into a better builder! This man is the real deal!!!! Thanks Lucky!!

moe on da truck




da fixture has a fiberglass front cap that will tilt with actuators once the fab work is done.There has been 4 inches removed from the top and that's probably why Albert had a heart attack, he asked how many of these I'd done ....none was the reply !! But there was enough beer available so we dove in and only regretted it for a while! Some electric seats were donated recently and they will be really cool too ! Albert has a brand new bed for the truck and a custom made stainless fuel tank made by Gilbert's welding in Centerville Tn. This ride should be terrorizing your neighbor hood soon .

da 55 funky truck


Alberts making a little progress on the chop top 55, we sand blasted it roughed in some of the plastic filler and shot epoxy primer on " da fixture" man that big block "show"looks good between dem rails!Albert has boxed the frame and it has a 9 inch ford diff and mustang 2 front end with disc brakes to" whoo" the 460!Funny how a little primer helps the looks of a project .I hope the big boy will forgive me for not working on it for so long! Some times a little sabbaticle makes the heart grow fonder,so lets get busy... i still gotta mustang or 2 to do!
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stuffing the pig with big block


The 427 is ready to stuff into the Nova, and it is kicking and screaming cause it doesn't want to fit !We are having a bit of a problem with the correct motor mounts the measurement of the stock frame mounts is 2 5/8 inch and the motor mounts are much smaller so on this night things were a no go!This left us all scratching our heads , so to the parts store we must go !! again!! It's been a constant battle between the engine shop and the body /fab shop.The engine shop guys are such primadonnas with such complaints as , you cant be sanding and shooting paint while I'm adjusting valves , stuff will get in the motor !! Such whining


the fab shop and the paint shop did a good job on the firewall all will fit nice and snug 1,but the motor shop sez ,heck we can just take a hammer to it if it needs clearence!!!!! Oh no!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009













This guitar was done for a good friends son .Brad said his son was wanting to fix up this axe a bit and suggested perhaps some sort of eagle ,well i could not just stop there and added some flame design also.The orion silver base has black art work over it and the chanti candy was shot over that.Heck i liked it with out the candy,but it did give a cool effect

little art work

These hoods were done for Central Church in Collierville, they have made their youth room to look like an old garage and wanted some hot rod art to hang up on the walls.Mrs. Anne Clay was nice enough to allow me free reign on design except they wanted "252" on one that reflects a bible verse that happens to be the theme of the class.I enjoyed the design work and process throughout.The blue hood was completely covered in water drop effects and featured triabal flames /scallops and gold leaf crosses.The black hood has silver flames with streaks of different candy colors on them as well as shadeing.I hope to find time to do more for them !



















happy new year to all !


Well we took a little time off to celebrate with family and friends,but now we're gonna hit it hard!Hot rod air has been taking their sweet time getting all the parts to us for the air and heat system ,This week we have mounted the heater box and are putting the hose block on the fire wall, its a nice billet piece that's going to look great surrounded by HOK oriental blue .I got a test panel shot for Mike to approve the colors and design for the stripes,hope he likes it!



Mike has been trudging away at the big block and will soon have it all buttoned up,then we will slip it between the fenders. Not to say there have not been a few stumbling blocks along the way,getting the right parts have been a big problem,and the second is keeping Albert out of the bottle, just kidding !!