CustomRides.com is happy to present this pretty lady in the red dress as the first vehicle in the CustomRides Spotlight of 2008 (”In The Headlights” as it were). She belongs to Wes of Arlington, Texas. Actually, it is a 1971 Chevelle Malibu. As with most dreams, it started with a few dollars – 2,500 of them. We have asked Wes to tell us about it in his own words:

“What is Convertabus?” you ask? Good question. Convertabus is many things…

It is the home of Manfred the moody mammoth It is the ultimate of Custom Rides It is the quintessential subject of many of the topics of interest to car enthusiasts and discussed here on CustomRides.com.

The MC1 concept car designed by Motorcity Europe is one those cars that will without a doubt turn some heads once it’s unleashed on the public roads.
Production release date is planned for 2011 and hopefully Motorcity Europe is able to get the MC1 to the next level so it can be taken into production.

The following images of the MC1 gives you a good idea what to expect:

K.I.T.T. is making it’s return to the screen, and in the shape of a Ford Shelby GR500KR Mustang.

Stepping back in the time machine certainly brings up memories of the “Turbo Boost” and the “Ejection Seat” features KITT showed off regularly in the popular Knight Rider series in the eighties.

The team of Custom Rides would like to wish you and your loved ones a GREAT 2008 and may all your wishes for the new year come true.

So what do you have planned for the New Year for your ride?

Tell us about your custom ride resolutions by either sending us an email or posting a comment, we would love to hear what you have in store for your ride!

We are also as always interested in doing a story on YOUR ride so keep those submissions coming in!

Have a great News Year’s Eve and remember…don’t drink and drive!

Wearing my coat, hood, and winter gloves last week, I was cruising in my sweet Lexus LS 400, and freezing. The heater was working on and off - mostly off. Going up hill for a short time it kicked in for a few minutes, then again when I reached highway speeds. It seemed that there was something to my wife’s reports of problems about it after all.

Several years earlier I had a similar problem with my 1999 Chevy Suburban. It was cold in the passenger compartment in the winter and was almost impossible to warm up. But, as turned out to be the case also with the Lexus, adding the proper mixture of water/anti-freeze did the trick. Fill the radiator, and your heater should work fine as long as your heater core and your blower motor are in good shape.

Technically speaking, one might intuitively think that low coolant would mean that the engine would run hotter and thus so would the heater. Well, the first part is true, but is not necessarily good, even in winter. However, the second part of that assumption is incorrect because of how a typical heater works…

It’s that time of year again, spending quality time with family and friends and having a nice Christmas Diner.     

The CustomRides.com team would like to wish you
and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and we
hope you’re enjoying yourself just as much as we do!

Don’t forget to check back soon as we have some great posts coming up.

Why not take the opportunity to subscribe to Custom Rides right now and be informed of new content being published as soon as it happens!

All cars are different, and some can be quite different. My dandy little 1976 Honda Civic station wagon was perfect in one way, but completely imperfect in another. It was a perfect little city cruiser for under 45 mph. As a 4 speed, it was quite peppy, and very roomy. But on the highway it was another story. As a 4 speed with relatively low gears, the engine was really humming at 50 miles per hour. And, it was screaming at 65 or 70!

Going on a ski trip to New Mexico, my brother and I were excited about seeing snow as we entered the desert plains of West Texas. But that excitement turned dark when we saw smoke instead. Nevermind that we had a fresh oil change before departing, because at high RPMs, the little engine had lost all of its oil. Now, I don’t mean that it burned it; there was no engine smoke when it ran. Instead, there was inadequate baffling between the crankshaft and the oil pan. So, essentially there was a hurricane-force gale on the oil reservoir that simply evaporated it as it blew it out of the valve cover vent tube. I learned this a little too late…

Gas is good. But “oldly” gas is bad (yes, I know I am in jeopardy of losing my literary license). Just like with milk, gasoline can eventually go bad. Typically we drink our milk before it has a chance to rebel; and we likewise use up the gas in our car’s tank frequently enough that it never goes bad. However, when gas is permitted to sit in a tank for too long, we live to regret it. It might manifest itself in the form of extremely poor performance, or with the vehicle not being able to run at all. In some cases it can cause expensive damage. In fact, having owned about 5 dozen of various types of vehicles, I have had more such experiences than I care to have had.

Recently I bought a vehicle that had been in storage for 2 years. The man had told me how it started right up, and he showed me as well. But when I got it home it was a different story…

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US and others celebrating it abroad.

Secondly, welcome to the newly unveiled CustomRides.com. Just as you might find a little debris in a freshly constructed building, there might likewise be a bit of digital dust around this website. Not to worry though, we are staffed and open to the public.

Michael Dean