Hot Rod Boneyard

Diggin thru pictures, I figured it was time to show others the beauty I saw when I got to walk this property. Bingo

KultureBlog.com ...Back at it

I've been trying to put the right formula together for GarageBoyz Magazine. It has been a website, a page flip e-zine, a blog site, back to a flip mag and of course KultureBlog.com.
The whole foundation to all of this was and is to serve the Kulture Community. I want to bring awareness to the local kulture scene and the shops and people that make it what it is.
While I have met many people, and have had the chance to be a sponsor at some car, bike and tattoo shows. I still feel like I am not reaching the Kulture on a deeper level. One that helps pull a community together.

I know this is not going to happen easily or overnight, but frankly the online magazine is not getting the readership levels I had hoped for, a level that makes all of the work that goes into putting a magazine together, seem worth it.

So I am going back to the drawing board, reviving the KultureBlog and will continue to hammer out a spot in the Kulture community for the magazine, in one form or another. So look for new Kulture Blogs soon.
                                                   Proudly Serving the Kulture Commuinity,
                                                          Bingo, GarageBoyzMagazine.com editor

Kundratic Kustom's Mach 5 Knucklehead

 So, I'm at the 22nd Annual East Coast Indoor Nationals at the Cow Palace in Timonium, MD and I see this unbelievable bike on display.

 Now I'm sure your  asking yourself  "what the hell is he doing talkin about a bike when he was at one of the premier car shows on the East Coast" ?  Well, just take a look at this thing will ya !

It was put together by a local shop out of Baltimore, Kundatic Kustoms and it is a prime example of the quality of motorcycles
 that are now being invited to compete at this invitation only show.

 This board track inspired modern kustom features a 93 inch knucklehead engine build by Flathead Power. The frame is a Kraft Tech that was reworked by Kundratic and it has a springer front end.

 The two monsterous S &S Super B carbs really stand out and give the bike a  hot rod look that was a real crowd pleaser, as was the aluminum body work. I hung around looking at the bike for a while and these two features were big conversation starters.

Personally one of my favorite features of the bike were the perimeter brakes. They really allowed the wheels to be shown and kept the board tracker look that would have in my opinion been lost had they used a tradition brake set-up.

 I love knowing that Maryland is home to some world class custom motorcycle shops and once again a build like this shows that Baltimore truly is the hub of Kulture in our state. You can be sure the next time I am in the area I will stop by the shop, and of course , share the experience with the KultureBlog.com readers. In the meanwhile if you can't get enough of this award winning bike you can check out more pics and specs at their website www.KundraticKustoms.com.

Oh, and as for the cars at this Car Show, don't worry it's covered. You can see pics from the show in the Events Coverage section of the blogazine http://www.kultureblog.com/ececindoorsdec2011.html.

 There will be plenty more coming up,as I caught up with a few of the owners of some amazing local cars and shops, including a feature on the 1923 Ford C-Cab Delivery Wagon that I blogged about back in October.

So keep checking back, or better yet subscribe to GarageBoyz Magazine's Kulture Blogazine for FREE and don't miss a thing.

Vintage Ram Rods Car Club pics

I got these pictures from Len Cottrell a member of the Ram Rods CC since 1964. They are from some of their shows back in the early 1960's at the National Guard Armory in Washington DC. Their car show eventually went on to become the World Of Wheels Show in DC one of the top National Shows in the country.

They had a garage in the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg for quite a while, but it now sits empty. I do not know the current status of the club, but would love to hear form anybody that does.

I know the car kulture scene was huge here in the local area in the 1960's and hope that others who were living the life of fast hot rods and kool kustoms of the time would like to share their pics and stories. Just email them to Bingo@KultureBlog.com . If you want to see more of these pics from the Ram Rods CC,  check out the Vintage Kulture feature in the features & articles section of the Blogazine.

A Local Original 1962 Harley-Davidson Panhead

The owner of this bike brings it to the Rolling Thunder weekend events at Battley Harley-Davidson in Gaithersburg. It is one of the bikes I looked forward to seeing every year. It is as pristine as any new bike, and its one owner has kept it completely documented having everything from the original Bill of Sale forward.

He proudly shows the bike along with some of those documents in the main parking lot, and its was a rare moment that I was able to grab some pics with out a crowd circling it.

 I am glad to see such an original bike and a prideful owner who believes in preserving the history and lifespan of his motorcycle. The roughly 8x4 spot he parks the bike on becomes like a time machine trip or a museum. The other thing I love about  this bike is that I've never seen it on a trailer, so its gets seen, heard and watched in motion and that is kool.

Acid Trip by Jaags Cycles

While sharing a a booth with Shiftpoint Magazine at the East Coast Indoor Nationals back in 2010, we were set up across from the Jaags Cycles display. Jeff Gray owner of Jaags had his build Acid Trip on display along with his Marilyn Monroe bike and a few others. While all of his bikes drew a crowd all day, this particular bike really stood out. The paint work and metal work and custom touches throughout made this one unique bike worthy of all of the attention and trophies it garnered.

The H-D Panhead motor and  psychedelic 1960's paint work by Kenny Dean and custom seat by local kulture legend John Longo really gave this bike a way back hippy trippy look and a fit in finish that could compete at any national level show.

Jaags Cycles was once located here in the Mid-Atlantic in Hollywood, Maryland but have now moved on to sunny year round building and riding in Florida. Their shop will be missed in our region, but from the quality of their builds it looks like they are going to be making their mark in the custom building scene for a long while.

A bike that reminds me of why I love bikes...

This bike came rolling through the parking lot at the Jalopyrama 8, and I lost my mind. I was talking with a friend and just watched it in motion. It was one of those experiences where the background gets blurry and only the bike and rider is clear, and the world becomes white noise. I remember thinking  how badly I was hoping that bike was coming and not going , cause I wanted a close up chance to make googly eyes at it.

As you can tell from the of pictures , I got the chance. The bike had my head spinning, I was thinking Bonneville Salts, cafe racer, bobbed sportster and by God the historic H-D race bikes that had to have inspired the builder.

I saw these race bikes at the H-D museum a few years back, and thought how this black bike had the "black sheep" of this family look and feel. I loved the use of the modern peanut tank rather than the older elongated ones and as I looked at the fairing, I could not help but think that this is what a Buell could have been.

There are a good number of amazing cafe bikes that have been on the scene lately.  Thanks to shops like Loaded Gun, I have learned to appreciate this style a lot more. The majority of the cafe bikes I've seen have been based on British and Japanese bikes, both of which I love, but seeing this Ironhead made me remember just how well Harley's adapt to being cut, welded and reborn.

There are some great details on the bikes, many of which cross-over motorcycle  and hot rod influences and mixes them together perfectly. With its Moon Eyes oil tank, pleated seat, speed holes and fins and such, the bike was perfectly suited to show at this event.

I never had the chance to talk with the owner of the bike, and I certainly hope to one day, because I'd love to know more about this bike, and I'm guessing if you've made it this far into the blog, you probably wouldn't mind either. So enjoy the pics, check out the details and how amazingly aggressive this bike stands and looks for yourself.

If you want to see more from Jalopyrama 8, say oh a couple dozen or so pictures more, head over to the Kulture Gallery portion of the blogazine. Either go to KultureBlog.com or just hit the black and white KultureBlog circle logo in the upper right corner.