I was a little nervous about how it would be received because It’s a departure from the tried and true car show tshirt. I wasn’t sure that people were going to want to deviate from the norm. They sold out in one day. I guess I should have known there’d be deviants at this show.

After all, it’s the people that make up the show, really. The turnout and the vibe were better than any previous Billetproof show that I’ve been to, and the quality of the cars was very high. The highest I can remember. Maybe Billetproof has taken all the hokey rat rods with it? Thank you thank you thank you. The pinup girl contest was a hit, and the swap meet was great in the new location. Everyone had fun, and I can tell you that mini bike races are going to be a fixture from now on. I am working on my bike already, making some mods and updates so that I can wash away the bitter taste of dust and defeat. Adding the Road Devils and Nightmares to the mix was the best idea we ever had. They’re both great clubs and good friends. Including the cars from the clubs, we hit the 400 car mark.

There are still some stickers, tshirts, patches and posters on the sinsofsteel.com site. Thanks everybody! See you next year!

I just want to add that if you haven’t been there, go to LIFT and check their store out. They regularly feature artists from Detroit, and also pull in artists from all over America and Europe. They are big into the vinyl toys, and they have all kinds of cool books and just… stuff. Hit them up online at http://www.liftfootwear.com.

I put up a flickr set of pics of our display and the trophies we made for Autorama Extreme this year. Tim King and Roger Atwood scrounge the parts and make the trophies, and I pinstripe them. Every year there is a trophy for best club display, but you can’t win it two years in a row. Since we won it two years ago, it was time to pull out the stops and go large with our “Tournament of Thrills!” themed display based on the traveling daredevil shows of the 50s and 60s. Naturally, our hard work paid off and we won the Best Club Display again in 2010! I believe we hold the undisputed record for most “Best Club Display” trophies collected in the history of Detroit Autorama Extreme. Justin brought his Hemi-powered Model A. It sounds killer, here’s a little video.

We had table with tshirts and fliers promoting our upcoming show SINS of STEEL (formerly Billetproof, now kicking more ass!). It’s coming up on June 5th, same date, time, and location as Billetproof was. Go to the SINS of STEEL website for more info: www.sinsofsteel.com.

I’m stoked to announce my newest show, Circus Mobius, in conjunction with LIFT Gallery (click here for press release) (click here for map). For this show I’ve teamed up with one of my favorite Detroit artists, Audrey Pongracz, to create a body of new paintings and vinyl toys. The opening on Saturday December 12th will continue with the carnival theme and feature flame eaters, circus food, and costumes. Come dressed up in you best carnival getup, Audrey and I will be! Pick up Real Detroit next week for more info. See you there!

The Lincolns UK proudly release their debut album Hot Blonde Bitches November 14th at the Park Bar in Detroit. Recorded in the summer of 2009 at High Bias Recordings in Detroit by underground scenester Chris Koltay, the album captures the raw energy of The Lincolns UK and harnesses it in a limited edition vinyl EP and a full length CD, together in one package. Listen to preview tracks at myspace.com/thelincolnsukdetroit. Come help us celebrate the release at The Park Bar and support local live rock’n'roll!

I started out by getting rid of all the extraneous electronics. All You really need to keep the bike running are the battery, voltage regulator, and rectifier. I elected to keep the starter solenoid too. I usually kick started the bike, because it’s so much cooler, and believe it or not it actually starts faster. But electric start comes in really handy on the rare occasion that I stall it taking off from a light and I don’t want to stop in the middle of traffic and kick start my bike .

The battery tray was the linch pin for the whole thing, so I mead that first from some angle stock. My idea was that I would try to hide the other electronics under it to make it look as stripped down as possible. Setting the battery tray on the frame, I held the other parts in the space beneath and tried to decide where they would go. I finally settled on welding on a tab that hung down to mount the solenoid, and then hanging the rectifier and regulator under the battery. I also bent some flat stock in the vice to make a bracket to mount the rectifier to, and welded some threaded rod on to mount the regulator. To hold the battery down, I bent up some rod and welded it on to make a bracket to loop a leather belt through.

For this mission, we were sent to participate in extreme sports at the AGA games and try to pick up a few tips from the pros. They make it look so easy!