Kevin Oeste and Mike “Q-Ball” Clarke chat about their recent trip to Chicago for the 2023 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals Show! The 2023 MCACN show brought out hundreds of the most amazing Muscle Cars in the world, and Kevin was once again honored to help unveil some of the Featured Restorations and Emcee the event. Keep your eye on our V8TV YouTube and Muscle Car Of The Week channels for new videos from the event. Of course, there’s automotive trivia and some other nonsense along the way, making it a legendary episode of the V8 Radio Podcast!
Kevin Oeste and Mike “Q-Ball” Clarke chat about their recent trip to Las Vegas for the 2023 SEMA Show, the week-long center of the automotive aftermarket universe. The SEMA Show is loaded with cars, new parts, and events, but Kevin feels this year was more about the personal connections than anything else. Of course, there’s automotive trivia and some other nonsense along the way, making it another fun episode of the V8 Radio Podcast!
Honoring Veterans And The Birth Of Hot Rodding on Veterans Day 2023
Today’s hot rodding and high-performance parts industry can be directly traced back to veterans who enthusiastically put their newfound skills to work following World War II. This was a time where their enthusiasm and passion for speed and creating machines was coupled with an availability of low cost jalopies and cars to hop up, And a booming American economy, provided financial resources for them to make it happen. We love the fact that many veterans have started high-performance parts businesses many years ago that are still in business today helping us all realize our passions and enjoy our cars with friends and family. Thank you to all veterans From the V8 Speed Shop team! 
Or show starts off with Kevin Oeste and Mike “Q-Ball” Clarke sharing the story of his Kevin’s recent invite from Jimmy Shine and Billy Gibbons to be a guest at a recent ZZ Top concert! Kevin was super excited, and it only escalated when the topic shifts to recap the amazing new Hot Rod, Kustom, Street Machine, and Truck event called the Triple Crown of Rodding! Kevin, Kelle, and some of the V8 Speed & Resto Shop crew had an unbelievable time seeing some of the hottest cars in the country and hanging around with great friends and builders like Troy Trepanier, Alan Johnson, Gary Case, Chip Foose, Dave Kindig, Jesse Greening, Ken “Posies” Fenical, Roy Brizio, Mike & Jim Ring, Troy Ladd, Bobby Alloway, Phil and Jeremy Gerber, Johnathan Goolsby, and many more. While there, Kevin connected with Larry Erickson.. you know, the guy who designed CadZZilla… and his documentary project got a shot in the arm! It’s a heavy episode book-ended by Automotive Trivia and the usual nonsense, so we’re hope you’re fueled and ready for the V8 Radio Podcast!
This video was from the very beginning of the 2023 75th Annual SCTA Bonneville Speed Week. In addition to streamliners and race cars running on the Bonneville salt flats setting land speed records, each night there is a very cool custom and hot rod show at the Nugget casino in Wendover Utah. Join us for a lap to take a look at some of the cars on display at Bonneville In 2023! There are everything from gasser Corvettes, 1932 to 1934 Fords, Chevrolet Impalas, and all kinds of other hot rods and customs in this video.
The Bonneville Salt Flats are home to the Southern California Timing Association SCTA Speed Week, and 2023 is the 75th year of the event. Each year, Hot Rods and Customs converge on Wendover along with all the land speed racing cars, motorcycles, and trucks to set world records on the salt.
Hot Wheels: Chevy Corvette Restomod Build: Custom ’64 Corvette C2 At The V8 Speed and Resto Shop
We’ve all wanted a full-size version of our favorite Hot Wheels car, and this custom 1964 Chevrolet Corvette built at the V8 Speed and Resto Shop makes that dream come true! The restomod Corvette build features custom paint, performance suspension upgrades from Global West, new disc brakes, and a Holley Sniper EFI system install on the Edelbrock 350 crate engine.
The Design
The main part of the project was repainting the Corvette in custom colors. The goal was to give the overall appearance of a full-size Hot Wheels car, a car that is fun to look at and drive! Custom C2 Corvettes can be controversial, as changing a C2 Corvette from original can hurt it’s collector car market value. However, this 1964 Corvette did not have it’s original engine any longer, and the exterior and interior had been changed from their original colors as well. This allowed for some freedom of expression to build a custom Corvette with a new paint job all it’s own.
Building The Corvette
This custom Corvette video features disassembling the corvette, repairing the fiberglass body, and a bit of Corvette C2 history. The V8 Speed and Resto Shop paint department repaints the Corvette in Ermine White, then lays out the 3 color custom stripe design. We mask off the stripes and custom paint the Corvette in our downdraft Blowtherm paint booth, and spray a final clear coat.
Our team had so much fun with this 1964 Corvette that we even built a 1:64th scale Hot Wheels version to match the full size car!
Let’s Build Your Dream
The V8 Speed and Resto Shop is as full service custom and restoration shop, complete with a full fabrication shop, body shop, paint shop, interior shop, and mechanical departments. We perform stock restorations and complete custom builds, and everything inbetween. LS Swaps, custom body mods, modern driveline swaps, custom interior, custom consoles, high quality custom paint, and dyno tuning are all available. Contact the V8 Speed and Resto Shop today to see how we can make your custom, restomod, pro-touring, street rod, or performance truck build come to life!
Ed Tillrock is an amazing artist, hot rodder, and a great friend of all of us at the V8 Speed and Resto Shop. This month, Ed’s outstanding work is featured on the cover – and inside – the latest CARtoons Magazine! CARtoons is part of the DNA of so many of us who grew up with the passion for cool cars, so it’s great to see Ed’s work in the mix. CARtoons Publisher Marc Methot is also a buddy of ours, and we’re honored to be able to call both of these talented car-guys friends. Our advice is to pick up the latest issue and subscribe to CARtoons as soon as you can so you don’t miss it! And if you’re reading this in the future, CARtoons usually has some back issues in-stock, but there’s no guarantee!
BELOW: Ed Tillrock as a guest on the V8 Radio Podcast
Continuing our Father’s Day Pics from the V8 Speed and Resto crew meet; Bob Schramm and Lisa Woods are a father & daughter duo here at V8 Speed and Resto. Lisa handles Marketing and Events at V8TV Productions and Bob is Shop Cleaning/Maintenance.
Lisa: “As a kid, our 1977 Ford Wagon held countless memories, particularly during family vacations. The spacious back wagon became our makeshift play area, brimming with excitement and anticipation. However, the summer heat transformed it into a sweltering sauna, as we traveled for hours with no air conditioning, but thanks dad for adding the mattress the year we went to Alabama .”
Bob: “Watching my dad spend many evenings and weekends on his early 1950’s Dodge truck is something I will always cherish”. “Hanging out in the garage, the smell of oil and paint was where we had some of our best conversations”.
As Father’s Day approaches V8 Speed and Resto is sharing some of our own Father’s Day pictures. Meet Joe Dahm; Sales Manager/Customer Relations of V8 Speed and Resto with his daughter Evelyn….. It all starts with a car wash!
We shortened up the 1979 Dodge Maxivan first road trip story for this episode of the V8 Radio Podcast! Kevin Oeste and Mike “Q-Ball” Clarke chat about Mike’s first month as a full-time V8 Speed and Resto Shop team member, some much appreciated listener shout-outs, and then the road trip that could have really sucked, but turned out to be a good time! Trivia and other nonsense are all included at the same price, so you’ve got no reason to skip this episode of the V8 Radio Podcast!
