Building a Street Machine

...can be a wonderfully rewarding experience, and even one of those great bonding experiences between family members or friends... Or it can become a completely maddening and disheartening ordeal that wrenches family and friends from you. What is often the deciding factor is in the planning, and that's where Mr. Bryant's book excels.

What you get, page after page is a modern look at the classic performance build primer. Building the newcomer's knowledge, system by system, the book takes a straightforward approach to explaining the basics, and suggesting methods of implementing a plan to create the car of your dreams. While many folks today simply look at automotive forums and websites and build whatever is trendy or worse, rely on some group approval method (which normally involves a ton of mis-matched bolt-ons) for design and, uh, "planning"... This book gives concrete examples of how to plan, budget and simply get the work done, using the author's own Buick project as a case study.

From the simplest explanations ("What is a street machine?") to more advanced topics (driveline swaps, suspension and steering controls to power-adders), the book is a great read, and is easily understood. Where technical jargon is needed, it is backed-up with plain-English explanations and illustrations, again, making this the ideal book for the first-time builder or enthusiast in your home or circle of friends.

What's really great here is that it's loaded with tips that can be applied to any genre of street machine, and not just another niche-book, which centers on drag race-inspired or pro-touring style cars. And while many "blanket" type books fall short, this is one title that will be on our "recommended reading" list for any clients embarking on their first car building adventure. It has some great reference material between the covers as well, making this a solid investment for both the studio and garage, and a great gift idea, too!

How to Build a Killer Street Machine
MOTORBOOKS WORKSHOP
Jefferson Bryant
Illustrated. 191pp
Softcover
Motorbooks
$29.99

Grab your own copy here and save over $7.00 in our Book Store!

I'm In a Book!

Go figure…

The Hot Rod Art Book: Masters of Chicken Scratch

As a wide-eyed kid, I’d flip open the latest car magazines and drool over the works of my hot rod design heroes… Guys like Charlie Smith, Thom Taylor and Steve Stanford were (and still are!) the guys I looked up to, hoping to one day at least meet these giants among men. They, and other artists like them were my inspiration to head out and do what I love. Never did I dream that I’d be able to make a career of it, but the world works in an odd way… That, along with long days and longer nights paid off in allowing me to do something I love for a living.

Along the way, I have been beyond fortunate to have made great friends, and meet guys I read about in books as a kid, and all have played a great role in making those Math class dreams a reality. One such friend has been the immensely talented Dwayne Vance, a guy who cranks out work that continually makes my head spin, and who has contributed hours of enlightening and entertaining conversation over the years. When Dwayne called and asked for some samples of my work for a book project, I was floored… When he mentioned the names to appear in it, I was speechless… He rounded up Randy Ricklefs, John Bell, James Owens, Eric Brockmeyer, Michael Miernik, Max Grundy, Jimmy Smith, Justin Chin, Thom Taylor, Larry Wood and Steve Stanford! A veritable Who’s Who in our industry… and he had asked me to be a part of this… Amazing. Just amazing! To walk amongst giants like this, well… I still have no idea what to say, except “thank you, man”. Absolutely priceless.

A peek inside!

…and speaking of priceless, the book will be packaged with an instructional CD by Dwayne to accompany the outstanding look into how he does what he does! Hopefully it finds a spot on bookshelves all over the world, and becomes just what it should be: A valuable resource for countless wide-eyed kids drawing hot rods on folders in classrooms everywhere, gearing up for the day when we “old timers” can read THEIR incredible books.

The book is available HERE… Thanks for checking it out.