Vintage Torque Fest 2011

I have a partially used 14 oz. bottle of it sitting in the garage. I haven't used it often for leather... not because its bad, but its not good either.



Its a typical Meguiar's product that does the job done as advertised, but has nothing special about it. And the thick consistancy makes it hard to remove on deeply grained leather or stitching.



It leaves a slightly sticky feeling but didn't improve the look or condition of the leather at all. However its supposed to provide UV protection.



I have used it on black exterior trim and plastic in the engine compartment with good results, though.



~bw
 
I just tried it last week. :mad::down: It left sort of a haze, and like BW said, sort of sticky too. I've used better and I've used worse. I'll stick to the "better" from now on. Zymol will be my next test.



I never thought of using it under the hood. That's a really good idea. =)
 
I highly recommend leatherique. Excellent product and is safe for any type of leather with EXCELLENT results. I have also gotten good results with zaino Z10
 
I'm in agreement here. I've used it in the past and it is not impressive. I am normally not partial to "combination products", i.e. - a leather cleaner & conditioner all in one. I figured I'd give it a try, but it was typical Meguiar's quality.



For a nice cleaner, Eagle One Leather Cleaner performs well. For a conditioner, I really like Race Glaze Leather Conditioner.
 
Tried it on the wife's Regal with grey leather. It did okay, but it is rather difficult to remove on the stitching and the thick grained panels. It's better than some and worse than others. I will probably use it up on her car, but I won't buy it again.:nixweiss
 
Last Saturday my dad and I decided to head down to Iowa to check out this old school hot rod and rat rod show called Vintage Torque Fest, it was something that my dad saw on Speed Channel. Although Speed wasn't doing any coverage there this year, we did meet Frank and Mike from American Pickers!

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Now, I'm not much of an old school V8 guy, in fact, I know literally nothing about any of these cars. I can spot an LT or LS but that's about it! :rofl:
With that said, I still had a great time checking out all these cars. Some are just junk piles, and while others might appear to be junk piles a closer look reveals that the car is really a product of a carefully tailored aesthetic. A staple of any good rod is that it needs to be low and it needs to be loud, as well as having a distinctly unique look and sense of style.

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Now this next one was a real trip, it's a Model A body (I think) with a 5.9L Cummins turbo diesel out of a school bus! It's on a modified frame using both the front and rear end of the school bus, its also got air ride! The entire car was built by the owner, aside from the driveshaft. The owner told me that he drives it to work whenever the weather is nice, that's dedication.

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Although only using a 4-pot front caliper, the thing was as big as my head!

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This thing must be absolutely terrifying to ride in, no restraints, no glass, and no FLOOR! The steering wheel is made from several dozen welded nuts, throttle is controlled by the piece of scrap steel sticking up by the air controls.

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Now, this beast wasn't actually allowed into the show, the reason for this is that the tires were too modern to be considered "vintage", and they are HUGE!

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The size of this thing is hard to comprehend when just looking at it in pictures, it was truly massive.

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Forget a 5-lug swap, 10-lug is where it's at! :rofl:

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This was another car that wasn't allowed to enter for being too modern, but it was one of my favorites. A nice Impala wagon on bags, without all the flashy crap. I believe the paint was original, possibly an older restoration, but it showed very nicely.

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It's hard to see in this picture, but there is a side exit exhaust poking out just behind the front wheel, unfortunately I didn't get to hear this thing run.

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Everyone had a pile of rusty parts for sale, probably why the Pickers were there.

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The first "spider web" grill I saw I thought was pretty cool, but as I noticed more and more of them the novelty soon wore off.

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This was one of the few cars featuring Rat Fink, thankfully!

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These were among the few cars there with a modern finish. Personally, I prefer the rat rod look.

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Even rat rods for your kids!

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This was another favorite of mine, it just nails all the right details perfectly.

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Another very cool car, check out the shifter!

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Sheet metal floors with no seats, and even then your head still pops out the top.

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Another benefit to an in-car air tank, air tools on the go!

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Pin striping is a hard thing to pull off correctly. Any car that I saw with it, I would think what it would look like without it, and it almost always looks better without. It might sound stupid, but you can still have a clean look with a rat rod.

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Now, this is really gonna show my ignorance of V8 engines but I noticed that many of them have a 3 port exhaust on the heads, why is that?

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I really like the cars with a smooth glossy firewall, it creates a nice textural contrast.

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Excalibur shifter, and as Ben noticed a silver fork gas pedal and bathroom porcelain knobs.

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Here is a great example of a quality restoration, with a terrible result.

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A Caterpillar turbo diesel straight 6, I love the unintended engine choices.

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Elvis was very cool, laying frame on bags, flamethrower exhaust out the hood, and about a 4" chop on the roof. Just. Plain. Cool.

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Something different, not slammed, but lifted!

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A nice panel van, with a second panel van as a trailer which was tastefully wall papered with vintage centerfolds...

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...And a faux engine barbecue! And that damn Rat Fink....

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Can somebody tell what this car is? I really liked how it looked, and it had a hilariously inappropriate name.

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Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the exterior on this one, but it had some nice tones of rust and flat black.

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I think I like the spider web better as a window filler rather than as a grill...

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This Toyota was quite possibly the only Japanese vehicle on display at the show.

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This was (surprisingly) the only clear coated raw finish car at the show.

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This was a really cool truck, it had something I'd never seen before. I am not a fan of flames of any sort on a car, but this one was different. Instead of the usual high color contrast flamejob, this truck had a matte finish with glossy clear coat flames, very unique.

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An old Chrysler 300, for some reason was not allowed to enter...

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...same with this Edsel.

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This Caddy was another one of the cars not allowed entrance.

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I was very impressed by this car. In my opinion, most hot rod guys can go crazy with chrome, but in this case it was used as a nice accent to the black.

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As an attraction for the show entrants can take their prized possessions out on a dirt oval to do some laps!

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There tons of crazy details to be found on these cars, such as a flying pig ornament with glowing LED eyes...

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...A hot dog cooker bolted to the exhaust...

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...A tic-tac-toe board (nobody ever wins) etched into the finish...

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...A drum kick pedal accelerator, bike pedal brake, valve cover transmission tunnel, antique signs covering the floor, headlamp cup holder, drive-in theatre speakers, and an antique microphone for the shifter (and its wired to work!).

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There were tons more cars than this, as well as dozens and dozens of choppers and bikes. This was a really great show, you're guaranteed to have a good time! :bigthumbup:

www.vintagetorquefest.com
 
I absolutely love those types of vehicles, something about them have always drawn me in. Excellent work at shooting them as well.

Where in Iowa was the show? I was born and raised there.

-Kody-
 
Very cool post Connor. Thanks for posting it here.

Your photo skills have really gone to another level.:notworthy:
 
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