Hey, where's your coverage from the 2012 V-103 Car and Bike Show?

Well, glad you asked. This year, I wasn't feeling it. I went, but I honestly wasn't thrilled like how I am with other car shows. (Note: With car shows, I'm like a little kid on Christmas day.) It was all wrong.

I guess they thought it was cool to leave it on the hitch.

First up, there's only two radio stations in Atlanta that plays Rap and R&B music, and V-103 chose to have their car show the same exact day as the competition's Birthday Bash Concert. Splitting that demographic wasn't smart because naturally people was going to go to Birthday Bash and partake in the events leading up to it- including the guys who had better cars that was featured in the show. Guys know how girls in Atlanta are, and most girls (not women) are attracted to shiny things, regardless if it's real or not. So of course, they would rather drive around and see how many girls they can pull.

Because of the first comment, there were more bikes than cars there. And the cars that were there, were mostly wheel and tire customizations. That's okay for a Bugatti, but for a Dodge Charger??? Bernie doesn't like wheel and tire shows, if that's the case, I would go to a car dealership.

Three, some of the cars there shouldn't have been there. Like this Dodge Magnum with the crappy matte black paint job. I have never painted cars. I've only painted my condo, and powder coated a wheel at SEMA, but I'm smart enough to know that paint jobs should be done even. I didn't photoshop anything in this photo, that's how uneven the car was painted. AND it looks like it took them five minutes to paint it.

Four: the reason why I liked this particular show in previous years is that the radio personalities put their cars in the show. The only personality from V-103 that put anything in the show was Greg Street. No Frank and Wanda and No Ryan Cameron. Major no no.

Five: Because they scheduled the show the same day as Birthday Bash, naturally the performers were going to go to Birthday Bash and perform for a larger crowd and get more money. Duh, I know I would have if I had any musical abilities. The car and bike show has pulled big names to perform- Rick Ross has been the headliner, so has TI. This year it was R Kelly, what song has he had since I moved to Atlanta? Step in the Name of Love was good, but it wasn't that good. What I'm saying is that they needed to go back to what worked in the past. Even Fat Joe pulled a bigger crowd and we're not on Trinity Ave in the Bronx.

SIX: WHY WASN'T  BABY'S, BIRDMAN'S, BRYAN WILLIAMS' BUGATTI and MAYBACH ROPED OFF FROM THE VERY START??? I know he can afford those cars, but don't allow kids with sticky hands and women with mile long nails to touch the cars. Auto Extremes had it correct from the beginning by roping off T-Pain's Bugatti. Duh, that's common sense. Halfway through the show, they decided to rope off both cars, but that should have been done before the doors opened to the public.

Seven: They did a last minute pull in, where if you wanted to be a part of the show, you could have arrived between 8am- 11am. But they didn't tell everyone that, so cars like this...

... couldn't be a part of it or they had to park outside, because they didn't tell anyone. And yes, they drove from Florida to be a part of the show.

Granted they still have a huge turnout. Girls bought out Rainbow, 5-7-9, Rave, Dots, Citi Trends and all the other $10 or less clothing stores in Atlanta to make sure they were seen.

Next year, I'm showing up when they're pulling the cars in, because I'm not going to be caught dead with the crowd that was there. And that's why I only showed off the photos on this page and not on my gallery because this show wasn't my best work. As a published photographer in print media that's sold worldwide, I'm big enough to admit that.

Always glad to run into Block and his donkasaurus... but I know there's a lot of guys who are ready to battle Block on the donk game.

Yaaay!!! LA Cops Seizes Will.I.Am's Ugly DeLorean

For the first time EVER, Los Angeles Police Department have done something right. Earlier this year, Will.I.Am had the stupid idea to start an automotive company that produces ugly vehicles like the one pictured above. Anyone with vision can see that this is one ugly car.

So a few days ago, Will.I.Am is driving around LA and he gets stopped. Cop asked for license and registration, and he could only produce one out of two of those items. It turns out that he couldn't provide plates, registration, or even a VIN for the car. Ipso facto, it was extremely illegal to drive. AND... authorities did a little research and found out the parts on the custom car haven't been registered for about 10 years. If LAPD is smart, they would drop it off at a chop shop and keep it moving. But LA doesn't have a mafia presence (only gangs), so there goes that idea.

P.S. Hey LAPD, could you be nice and give him back the Beats by Dre speakers? That's the only great thing about the car.

Burnout gone wrong....

Not going to say much, but watch the 2 minute video...



Lesson learned: do not do excessively long burnouts. Keep it at a 30 second (a.k.a. A New York Minute) maximum.

Video: GR

Interesting Customization: A Convertible Cadillac Escalade EXT

Newport Convertible took a Cadillac Escalade EXT (the pickup truck one), and turned it into a Convertible. The end result...



At least it's on Forgiato wheels. I think their choice of wheels was the only smart decision in this project...

Reminiscing over the Chevrolet Chevette

I was on Car and Driver's site, and unlike some sites that steal posts verbatim from Car and Driver and Autoblog, I actually read a story and take something away from it, or give my own honest opinion.

Case in point: Car and Driver had an excerpt from their June 2011 issue about the Ford Pinto and the Chevy Chevette. The meat and potatoes of the story was about how unsafe these cars are and if you're desperate for a car without having much money, these two cars would come into mind.

I've never experienced the "joys" of a Ford Pinto, however, I remember the Chevy Chevette all too well. My mom was and still is a nervous driver. She's so nervous, she went to a special driving school- the school for the nervous in the Bronx. After failing her road tests for three times, she finally passed-- in a compact vehicle.

In about 1986, my Dad bought her a 1987 Chevrolet Chevette in that god-awful grey above for a grand total of under $10,000. Because of my mom, I had my first taste in customizations- where she had a manual popup sunroof installed, had custom paint job, and made sure that she had all four of her hubcaps on her car. For 9 years, my mom proudly drove this car around Long Island, sometimes venturing into the five boroughs of New York City. There's more stories than I can count about this car, but it met it's kiss of death in 1995 in a car accident that sent yours truly to the hospital. Ironically, the doctors said if my mom didn't react as fast as she did, I would have had the same destination as her Chevette... dead.

The best part about the Car and Driver's article was that they shamelessly ran the specs of each vehicle. If you were to compare the specs to a present day car, it would match the Smart Car. And I quote:

The rear-drive Chevette upheld the American tradition of punishing small-car buyers. In its favor, it was cheap and relatively reliable. Today, it would wear EPA numbers of 33 mpg highway for the 60-hp 1.6-liter and up to 42 mpg highway for the 51-hp, 1.8-liter Isuzu diesel. Performance? Not really. In our testing, the gas ’Vette did 0 to 60 in 13.0 seconds, and the diesel took 21.2. The best one in the world, a 16,727-mile ’81, brought $4290 at auction in 2009.

ENGINES > SOHC 1.4-liter inline-4, 52 hp, 70 lb-ft (1976); SOHC 1.6-liter inline-4, 60 hp, 82 lb-ft (1976); 1.8-liter diesel inline-4, 51 hp, 72 lb-ft (1982)
TOP SPEED > 80–88 mph • UNITS MADE > 2.75 million (including 26,681 diesels)

Thank goodness Chevrolet doesn't make Chevettes anymore, but they still make Aveos (now known as the Chevrolet Sonic), which is practically the same thing. Needless to say, my mom's taste in cars has evolved. She now likes cars that have more than 100 horsepower.

Some people had Ford Mustangs in their family. In my family, we had cars that you don't want to remember owning.