Has Economy Affected Hotrodders?

We're seeing that while the down turn in the economy has affected some enthusiasts who have been saving up to do a restoration or upgrade to their classic car or hot rod, many are going ahead with their dream plans. We're seeing that the true enthusiast has included their project in their list of essential priorities.

Even if finances are tight, there are many ways you can proceed with your dream project without risking financial ruin. Motorheads Performance will be offering suggestions in upcoming articles which will help save you money on your project.

October 2008 Update

So many wonderful things have been happening at Motorheads. It's been a very busy year, and Guy and I have been working hard to continue our quest to give our customers the best service and product available. We're busy with building and installing performance engines, performance upgrades, car and truck restorations, body-off restorations and repairs.

We've welcomed many new customers with exciting rides: several Corvettes including an all-original '62 Corvette Roadster, an incredible and extremely rare '69 GTO Royal Bobcat which has won the heart of my non-interested daughter and turned her into a true "Motorhead" (now we have the difficult task of finding one for her project car so if you know of one let me know!), a stunning red hot '70 Camaro SS will be finishing up soon with a 400 short block that delivers over 500hp, the '70 Chevelle SS that just got freshened with a beautiful custom paint job with airbrush detailing, a unique '30 Chevy Dually Pickup in for a total restoration, and a one-of-a-kind '72 Lincoln Mark IV Convertible with quite an interesting history.

And let's not forget about the projects that are being completed with the help of their owners! The '71 Chevelle SS was a father-son project that began as an engine swap, turned into an engine rebuild and performance upgrade, which lead to a custom paint job. We'll be posting pics of this beauty shortly. The '74 Charger being transformed into a '71 Charger Clone's engine work is complete and will be going in for bodywork and paint by year end. The Model A, complete with rumble seat, was fired up with the owner present to experience the moment he'd been waiting for for over 40 years...what a hot rod she'll be! She's scheduled for paint at the first of the year and will hit the road when done. The owner of the '58 Desoto, undergoing a total body-off restoration, painstakingly located and obtained all the parts and pieces for what will be an amazing transformation he'll take part in.

Hot rod heaven!

We're excited about the coming year, and what great things are in store and look forward to more frequent updates. We hope you'll join us regularly.

Warning: You Get What You Pay For!

I know we've all heard this old saying time after time, but darned if it isn't true! Once again, we see first hand of a person "just trying to save a buck" who took a short-cut that they probably shouldn't have.

We recently had a customer who we had done some performance upgrades for in the past. Not wanting to pay what he thought was an unjust amount of money for a professional paint job, he took his prized ride to "a local guy" (you know the type...a friend of a friend of a friend...who could "do the job cheap"). Well, the ghost flames he wanted for his ride didn't turn out quite right. In fact, they were horrible. Not only were they "off the shelf" flames, you could see where the paint was applied right over the stencils! This left unsightly ridges which provided something far from "ghost". The owner has brought the vehicle back several times, but I guess the shop just doesn't know how to make it right. After sinking a pretty penny into this "cheap" paint job, there's no money left to take it to someone who knows how to achieve a decent ghost effect.

We hear these horror stories all the time. We know it's not cheap to restore a vehicle, or to have a quality paint put on your ride...we've had to paint our vehicles too! It doesn't necessarily mean you have to spend an outrageous fortune on it either. There are some shops out there who still provide quality work at reasonable prices. Do your homework carefully and be wary of shops that sound too cheap, who can't tell you what brands of paint or primer they use, who don't use a spray booth, who don't strip down your car properly, or who rely solely on plastic fillers.

Remember, a paint job gone bad will end up costing you much more in time and money than a quality paint job done right the first time. And, you'll be a lot happier with the job done right!

Motorheads participates in TV Show

KQED contacted Motorheads Performance concerning a segment of "Quest" for this San Francisco public broadcast station. The production focused on trends in custom car restorations and included Motorheads' photos of restored vehicles. We were pleased to help in the production of this episode.