Goodguys Heartland Nationals 2015 – Des Moines, Iowa

The Heartland of America is famous for many things, among them agriculture, friendly small towns, and the center of the country’s rail travel. But what some may not associate with the Midwest is a booming automotive scene, especially when it comes to the slammed classic and custom genres. However, if you’ve ever attended the Goodguys Heartland Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa like we did over the Fourth of July holiday, then you know full well that the American Heartland is home to some of the nicest rides that this country has to offer. Photos & Words: Lindsey Fisher Most people think of farm trucks and rust-buckets when they think of cars from the Midwest. After all, we are dealing with major farm country and even more humidity. But when you pool together classic cars and hot rods from South Dakota all the way through Indiana and Ohio, you come up with…Continue Reading

Camp-N-Drag 2015: The Last Real Truck Run

Those of us that were fortunate enough to grow up on the West Coast in the ’80s and ’90s during the “River Run” heyday will always carry the memories of great times, killer rides, and weekend debauchery with us for a lifetime and beyond. But those days aren’t completely extinct just yet! There are a handful of custom truck shows that are still hanging on to this old-school tradition and doing their part to keep these memories alive for the next generation. Recently we made the trip out to Waveland, Indiana to experience our Slam’d Mag 2014 Show of the Year firsthand.  Photos: Sean French, Stetson Bowerman, Mike Alexander |  Video: Anthony Gonzales | Words: Mike Alexander That’s right, there’s a reason why Camp-N-Drag was voted our 2014 Show of the Year and we had to make sure that it lived up to this title in person. So we hoped a…Continue Reading

Kicker Audio Introduces New Subwoofer to the Q-Class Lineup

Since 1973, Kicker Audio has provided some of the best speakers and audio equipment for the 12v car audio market and beyond. With a talent for creating components that not only give you the sound you want, but also the aesthetic value your custom-built ride deserves, Kicker has the right selection of highs, mids, amps, subs and more for any build, land to water. New Product: Kicker’s New CompQ Subwoofer Balances Luxury and Excitement For more than 40 years, Kicker Audio has specialized in pairing performance with aesthetics and with their latest addition to the luxurious, yet exciting Q-Class Series, the CompQ round subwoofer, you’ll be experiencing those lows in style like never before. The new CompQ subwoofer is built for power, with extra large voice coils that have been computer engineering and optimized for incredible power handling, substantial magnets for accurate voice coil control and an overall reinforced structure, including…Continue Reading

West Coast Kustoms Cruisin’ Nationals 2015 – Santa Maria, CA

Santa Maria, California is a quaint agriculture town tucked away up the coast and is home to world renowned BBQ, hot rod shops, and of course the West Coast Kustoms Cruisin’ Nationals Car Show. This year marked the 34th Annual event where Santa Maria hosts some of the West coast’s hottest pre-‘66 American customs and the entire Central Coast is overrun with hot rods, cruises, and car club shenanigans throughout the weekend.  Photos & Words: Mike Alexander | Video: Scrapyard Creative Hosted by the West Coast Kustoms car club, Cruisin’ Nats is held on Memorial Day Weekend at the Santa Maria Fairpark. Some of you may remember the old “Paso” show, and yes this is the same show from yesteryear, it’s just outgrown the previous year’s venues and the Fairpark has allowed for quite a bit of growth over the last few years. One of the highlights each year is the traditional Santa Maria “City Cruise”…Continue Reading

Legendary Kustom Kulture King Passes: RIP Bo Huff

It is with great sadness that we announce that legendary kustomizer and rockabilly king, Bo Huff, passed away last night. Our deepest condolences go out to his friends, family, and brothers in the Dead Sleds C.C. He will truly be missed. Born in Arkansas in 1943 and raised for many years in Utah, Bo Huff was always into the custom car scene from a very early age. By the time he was in his early teens, he had already picked up on the cool factor of hot rods, hanging out with the older kids and diving into just about every hot rod publication there was at the time. By age 18, Huff had already crafted his first custom, a 1950 Dodge, which he heated the springs on and swapped the bumpers out for those of a ’49 Plymouth. It may not seem like much by today’s standards, but it was…Continue Reading

Battle Drag 2015 – Texas Sure Knows How To Party

This year’s Battle Drag Car, Truck and Motorcycle Show was one for the books. This year the show was held at a new location since it had outgrown the previous grounds, now held in New Caney, TX (which is 15 minutes north of Houston) at AV Bull Salas Park there is plenty of room for growth. Perfect location, weather, and rides – this show truly has something for everyone!  Photos: Sean “Solo” French & Stetson Bowerman | Words: Mike Alexander With more than 300 registered vehicles and 2,000 plus spectators, this year’s event was chock full of some of the finest rides from all over Texas, with some venturing from as far as Oklahoma, Utah, and New Mexico. Definitely worth the trip, both near and far as Battle Drag is one of the most laid back Texas shows where friends gather early summer to catch up on new mods, rides, and upcoming…Continue Reading

The Player’s Classic – Through the Eyes of Air Lift Performance

Here at Slam’d Mag, we’re obviously all about vehicles that have that perfect low-slung stance, and our friends over at Air Lift Performance totally get it. In fact, they’re so involved in the slammed scene all across the globe, there’s hardly a show that passes by without the Air Lift Performance crew being there to take it all in and support, even if it’s “across the pond” or even further. Air Lift supports numerous shows both around the United States and abroad, and they believe in backing both the cars AND the people in the air suspension community. That was exactly the case at this year’s Players Classic, an annual show Presented by Air Lift Performance at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in Chichester, West Sussex in the United Kingdom – which happens to showcase the lowest of the low and the baddest of the bad across the pond. This year’s Players Classic…Continue Reading

Total Eclipse: Doug Johnson’s 1999 GMC Sierra

There’s no telling where one’s passion will take them. From hot rods to muscle cars, all the way through to modern performance machines, we’ve seen our fair share of direction changes in the industry as you get older, your tastes and styles refine, family forces more practical vehicle choices, etc. But one thing remains certain – the custom automotive passion that burns deep in some people still remains, no matter the genre of vehicle or life’s situations encountered. Photos: Frank “BST” Newton | Words: Lindsey Fisher For Doug Johnson of Apple Valley, California, his passion has always been in the truck scene. And while he has run the gamut from fender-dragging minitrucks to sky-high full-size rigs, as far as builds are concerned, it’s been within the Slam’d scene that his heart truly remains. Doug has been a hardcore minitrucker since around 1998 when he bought his first project truck, but it was…Continue Reading

Cameron Burke Memorial Show – New South Wales, Australia

Every year in New South Wales, Australia a very special event his held in memoriam of Cameron Burke. The Cameron Burke Foundation was set up in memory of Cameron William Burke who was born April 29th, 2007 and ultimately grew his angel wings on November 26th, 2009 at just 2 years and 7 months old. In honor of little Cameron an annual car and bike show takes place at the Springwood Country Club (NSW, Australia) on the Sunday of the long June weekend. The mission is to help children and child related services to contribute to the research into Hirschsprung’s Disease and Sodium Loss in young children. Photos: Avit “Toasty” Chauhan | Words: Mike Alexander & The Burke’s This year was the 4th annual Camsday, the Cameron Burke Memorial Hot Rod, Car, Bike Show and Family day. Entrants poured in from as early as 6am and by 11am they were packed 375m down the fairway…Continue Reading

Stella: Doug Cerri’s 1957 Chevy 3100 Pickup

Doug Cerri has long loved the body style on the ’57 Chevy pickups and has wanted a custom ride of his own to take to shows and enjoy with his friends for ages. Being that he’s patient and this was his first project he also knew that he wanted it built correctly and right the first time around. Doug was fortunate to have a good neighbor when he was growing up who owned a 1964 Chevy C-10, which was the first introduction he had into the custom car culture. This soon afforded Doug the opportunity to begin envisioning a custom project of his own. Here at Slam’d we call it the “gateway drug” into the custom car scene and culture. As with many projects this 1957 3100 Chevy pickup started out life as a solid driver. The motor had been installed for reliability and tuned up for long cruises to and from…Continue Reading

Race Wars Arizona: Josh Nepa’s 2012 CTS-V Coupe

The name Cadillac tends to conjure grand images of a luxury vehicle or a classic cruiser that most of the world would think of as outfitted to the nines and “complete” without needing any further modifications or upgrades. But you know better if you’re reading this tale, as here at Slam’d Mag we can’t leave anything well enough alone, and our friend Josh Nepa obviously shares this sentiment. When Josh picked up this 2012 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe he was on a mission to make it stand out from the rest almost immediately. When we asked Josh about his goals with this build his response was simple “Honestly, I just wanted to see how many people I could piss off with a build like this.”  Photos & Words:  Will “Krookid Photography” McDougle To start the mission off getting under the skin of his local “purist” buddies, Josh already knew that laying his ‘V’ out…Continue Reading

Fresh Prince of Bell-Air: Jason Bell’s 1952 Hardtop

Jason Bell of Palmdale, California is what we would call a life-long car enthusiast. Having been hot rodding rides since he was a teenager you can say he’s built his fair share of custom vehicles over the years. After setting his mind on the classic Chevy Belair model of the early ’50s, he began scouring the internet to find the perfect specimen worthy of being customized. Jason happened to stumble upon this super clean 1952 Hardtop, which had already had some custom mods performed and would make a solid canvas for what he was after. Knowing this could easily fast track the project he jumped at the opportunity to take ownership of the already started project. As we mentioned, Jason has had his fair share of fun with all sorts of both Ford and Chevy classics. From his 1929 Ford Roadster to his 1963 Impala, he has built, driven, and damn…Continue Reading