We've all seen the legendary Bullitt car chase I'm sure, I'm guessing both version of Gone In Sixty Seconds have passed your eyes at some point.  How about the lesser known but cult movies?  Vanishing Point, yup seen that, how about Two Lane Blacktop?  Sure you have.  Car chases and action sequences are one of the markers of 'car films'.  However car chases are spread liberally around Hollywood to provide that bit of extra spice to movies, here are a couple you might not have seen and the reasons they are great.

Against All Odds

I'll not hear a word said against the mighty Phil Collins title track, it is genius, FACT!  However this movie sticks in my head for different reasons.  Growing up I remember seeing a "How Stunts Work" TV show which featured this chase/race scene, my mind was blown by the frantic weaving in and out of traffic, the swerving of on coming vehicles and the great growl the Ferrari made, all in the days before they just CGi'd it together.  It left an impression, I've still never seen the whole movie though.
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Cobra

Sly Stallone shoots people and swears in this clip from 80's rebel cop film, apparently originally intended to be Beverly Hills Cop, but this script went for a more explosive, serious approach.  Most importantly it features a 1950 Mercury Monterey sled, which is a touch unusual for a movie of any era, let alone the 80's.  The chase has everything that you expect from a car chase, cardboard boxes, plenty of needless skidding, a car that seems to repair itself between cuts, a car park, it is all in there somewhere, and no one can shoot straight.

The Gumball Rally

Now this is hardly an unknown movie, the prototype for The Cannonball Run, Charles Bail delivers a coast to coast car race based on the original legendary Gumball event.  Whilst a lot of people have heard of this movie not a huge amount of people have seen it, so in order to pique your interest check out the clip above, it is almost as much fun spotting the background cars as it is watching the main action.

Of course there are loads more car squences out there, so it may be a subject we revist, what are your favourites?

Well here it is, show season is under way, with the flurry of shows at the start of April until we brave the rain and wind at the end of season shows in October.  We could pretty much find an interesting car event to go to every weekend, and occasional week day, of the summer.  In recent years our particular niche of 'retro' as a show description has grown, whilst the word pops up all over the place in show names there are really three main shows in the UK aimed squarely at 'us'.
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Retro Mania - 5th and 6th June, Weston Park, Shropshire.
Price - Weekend, on the gate £15.00 Adult / Child £6, in advance Adult £12 / Child £5 , Sunday only Adult £7 / Child £3.
The most northerly of the shows in the calendar is also the first and the newest.  Running in parallel to the Dubmania event Retro Mania promises a weekend of all kinds of modified classics, with camping available on the 5th and evening entertainment it is a great excuse to meet up and have a party before the main show day on the Sunday.  The team behind Retro Mania are also the people behind the excellent Ultimate Dubs, so they know how to put a great show on.  Last year was sadly a victim of our inclement summer weather in the UK, with the met office promising a long hot summer this year we're sure this is going to be a roaring success.  You can check out more information on their website.


Retro Show - 17th and 18th July, Santa Pod, Northamptonshire.
Price - £15 per person on the gate £12 in advance for Sunday, Weekend £25 on the gate, £20 in advance.
In some ways the oldest of the shows here, it evolved from the defunct Retro Cars Show and had a few format changes over the past couple of years.  Last year it return to being a Sunday event and has proven to be a reliable show to visit for track action and club stands.  With the Saturday being a RWYB day as well it means if you head up for the weekend you can get your car down the strip until you shatter your diff or smash a piston through your bonnet, nice one.  Additionally to the cars Retro Show also has scooters and bikes in attendance, as well as evening entertainment for those staying the weekend.  www.retroshow.co.uk


Retro Rides Gathering - 8th August, Haynes Motor Museum, Sparkford, Somerset.
Price - £7.50 per person on the gate, £5 in advance
It is difficult for me to be unbiased about The Gathering as we're quite involved with it, but I will try.  After a few years shifting from venue to venue The Gathering has finally settled at The Haynes Motor Museum, with a good sized show field, a track and the museum it has found a good home.  Action comes courtesy of the track with RWYB sessions running all day, there is a good diverse range of club stands and invited cars to keep people happy.  For the past few years the weather has been kind to The Gathering making for a nice relaxed weekend in the sunshine.  Camping is available but not widely advertised, so check their Facebook page for details. www.retroridesgathering.com



The great thing about these three shows is that they are far enough apart that you can pretty much easily attend each of them, also they are each such a different type of show that you won't be having repeated experiences.  Whatever you do make sure you get to at least one and support your UK show organisers, it really is hard work!

One of our favourite things that the internet brings to us here at Retro Scene Mag is a glimpse into the different motoring cultures around the world, without having to leave the comfort of our sofa.  Above you will find a clip from the home of big power drag cars, the U.S. of A.  The rest of this entry will bring you a selection of videos from across the globe, all with one thing in common, a love of modified cars.
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First stop a long hall flight to Thailand for some drag racing.

Next stop a quick hop over to Japan to check out what they are chucking down the strip, is it a 180sx or a 240z?

We'll stick around to check out Rising's amazing Sunny.

Now we need to borrow rmad's occasional time machine and head to Sweden in 1976 for what those guys were up to on the strip back then.

With that we'll pack up our travel bag, but promise to return again.  Next time we go travelling though we'll be checking out South and Central America.

Another Show season is underway! Wheels Day is too often about the weather, there's been rain, rain, rain, snow and every now and then -  sun. This year, sadly, the rain won. That doesn't stop a whole host of the UK's finest rides getting their tyres muddy so we can all get our fix of cool motors though. Continuous rain from about ten-thirty meant that there was a lot of cars (and the occasional RSM reporter!) heading out the gate early, but not before a few snaps made their way onto the memory card.

Check out the rest of the pics on RSM's Flickr account right now. 

Hot rods are one of those things that are supposed to be an individual expression, which is why people get a little vexed when they see row on row of identikit rods at shows.  Building a stand out '32 Ford or Model T now days is going to be harder as they have such a long history of being rodded with such a diversity of modification.  One of the best ways to make sure your modified car stands out is to choose a different base model, choose something with the right basic shape, but enough individuality to make is stand out.  Don't choose a '34 Ford, choose a 1933 Hupmobile Model K.
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Once again we find ourselves looking to Sweden, this time the car came to our attention via the excellent Street & Strip magazine.  Luckily for us names and car models don't require us to know Swedish and the internet is a handy tool for finding stuff.  The car has been built by Nordlund racing and is reputed to be the world’s fastest Hupmobile.  Sitting on its original chassis the guys at Nordlund have dropped in a 454 Cubic Inch Chevy engine with a blower strapped onto it which, as far as our rather basic Swedish tells us, kicks out around 650 bhp.  The car is fully stripped down with a rather solid looking roll cage fitted to the interior, the dashboard is more functional than pretty.

Looking at the pictures you'll immediately notice the rat styling on the car, this is genuine patina from having been sat in a field before Mikael Nordlund picked it up and decided to go racing in it.  The rear wings have grown a bit wider with new metal being welded in, the grill has gone and the front arches have gained large holes, we're assuming for heat dissipation, or maybe they were just rust that had been cut away.  The Hupmobile's roofline gives it a natural rake and an almost chopped look which suits hot rods, being four door however it does sit as quite a long car.

For all its rat look and obvious leftfield nature Nordlund Drag Racing have built a very capable, serious, drag car out of the Model K, as you can see in the video below.

Once again the Swedish provide us with a high powered interesting approach to hot rods and customs, keep up the good work.

It had been eight years since I'd last been to an aircooled VW show and as Brian from the mighty Volkszone reminded me this is really a trip to remind me of my roots in this whole car thing.  This time I was an outsider, I didn't know what to expect, who was building what, who the new names where or what the current trends in the VW scene were. An interesting journey or rediscovery was ahead.
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For many it is easy to dismiss the aircooled VW scene, due to its size there is no shortage of similar cars and when a style or trend takes hold it can spawn a whole sub culture with hundreds of cars very quickly.  There were plenty of cal look, resto cal look and rat look cars and vans in evidence alongside a variety of standard cars. Things do keep moving forwards though with new twists on older ideas and some fresh new ideas taking shape. The steampunk inspired black beetle lurking in the third hall was a particular stand out car, along with Bug Box's(link) full size Sand Scorcher.

The VW Drag scene continues to build cars that are not only fast but look great, with Outlaw Flat Four continuing to lead the charge.  The show attracts an international crowd and attendance, in fact this cross border swapping of ideas and show attendance is one of the cornerstones of the VW scene, both air and water cooled, bringing in new ideas and a friendly rivalry.  The twisted VW Brasilia off roader a case in point for some international new thinking attending the show.

In the club area plenty of variety was on display, Trekkers, buses, Type3s, Beetles, Porsches and more obscure VW kits made their way to the show.  Trade wise the event was very well stocked with traders, just about everything you could need for your project was present.  Upstairs there were handy how-to presentations that have no doubt got a bunch of people ready to break out the tools and tackle jobs they wouldn't ordinarily do.

The show was busy, as ever, which is the only real down side to the event, getting photographs with the way the cars are parked up inside and the amount of people there can be very tricky, but then the point of car shows is to check out the cars, not to just take photographs.  The car park provided a whole lot to look at too, with a range of cool VWs as well as other makes being present.  Having a gap between events certainly means going in with fresh eyes, but I won't be leaving it for eight years next time.

You can view all of out 150 photos from the event on our Flickr photostream.

Race retro celebrates Alfa Romeo's centenary and the 30th anniversary of Audi Quattro at this year’s event. Now in its 7th year there are 3 days of classic motorsport action and historic racing with appearances from various motoring legends, not only can you see incredibly rare racing cars but you can also meet the drivers who took them to victory. Asides from the outdoor rally stage, punters are treated to 3 halls of static displays with cars, bikes, engineering and restoration companies, parts, model cars, magazines, everything you need for a petrol heads weekend out.
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Asides from the mouth watering selection of cars, many famous drivers not only attended but also drove their works car on the rally stage. The audience were treated to hell for leather antics with Stig Blomqvist in his S1 Audi Quattro and British Rally Champion Keith Cronin driving an ex-prodrive Aston Martin . Other memorable cars featured included a very quick Chevrolet 302 small block engined 800kg South African Vauxhall Firenza as well as several flying Lancias, Ferraris and Escorts. Another interesting cars on the stage was an ex-BTCC Alfa 147, ex-works recently restored and re-liveried Rothsmans Porsche 911, a very rare Peugeot 106 Maxi as well as famous Group B cars such as the MG 6R4, Opel Manta and Peugeot 205 T16.

Much appreciation and fondness was evident as Russell brookes drove several of the ‘Andrews Heat for Hire cars’ in their distinctive yellow liveries. Also driven in anger was the 1972 East African Safari Triumph 2.5PI, piloted by Brian Culcheth.

As well as the live action, Alfa Romeo had an impressive selection of cars over their 100 year history from priceless historic racing cars to almost extinct 1980’s saloons. There was also a good selection of Audi Quattro cars on display, again attracting much attention and recognition. As to be expected the public also brought in their own cars, many of which were allowed to park within the enclosure.

The weather just about held out over the weekend, and despite some signs that winter still hasn’t left us, this was a fine start back into classic sports car events. The entry costs were reasonable, considering the scope of static and live action and the potential to grow can only increase as word gets around.

You can see our fine selection of photos from the event on our Flickr photostream.

We always like to recieve product news here at RSM, it is even better when it is a new film, particularly about a car sub culture that is difficult for us to see first hand in it's native habitat.  So we were very happy to get information sent to us about Dustin Volo's "Volo : The Cars, The Culture & The Camera".
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Dustin Volo is one of the most celebrated and accomplished photographers within the low riding culture. His childhood love for photography has led him to take pictures of some of the most creative built automobilles of the last 20 years. The documentary, “Volo: The Cars, The Culture, & The Camera” presents his entire photography career, as well as his lifetime passion of low riding.

The 18 minute documentary covers Volo’s love for cars, his admiration for the low riding culture, and his career as a professional photographer. The documentary was directed by Reggie Reagor and produced by DRG Films. The production company has just completed the projects “A Love Supreme: U-N-I & Ro Blvd. The Documentary”, Those Chosen’s “Soundclash” music video, and El Prez’ “Floss Angeles” music video. Each of the 3 parts of the documentary will be released online over the next 2 weeks.

Check out the trailer

Volo: The Cars, The Culture, & The Camera Documentary Trailer from DRG Films on Vimeo

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You can check out more of Volo's work at www.elvolo.com. For more information, please log onto www.drgfilms.com.  We'll be keeping an eye on this one for sure!

It will come as no suprise to you that we do love a good retro super car here on RSM, one of our favourites being the De Tomaso Pantera, Italian style matched with American muscle is a great formular for and interesting car.  De Tomaso produced many other sexy wedges during the last four decades, however they also had a hand in some slightly more consumer level cars, most notably the De Tomaso Innocenti.
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Innocenti as a name has a history that stretches back to 1920, initially a company that built industrial machinery it changed direction post World War 2 and produced Lambretta scooters for many years.  In 1961 Innocenti started to produce a licensed version of the BL Mini, in 1972 British Leyland took over Innocenti completely.  Sadly for Innocenti, which was a hugely popular brand in its native Italy, this resulted in the company getting caught up in BL running out of money and being nationalised in 1975.  Step forward Alejandro de Tomaso to save the day, and the company.

Rechristened Nuova Innocenti, the company started to produce a Bertone designed five seater in 1976, still on the Mini underpinnings.  The engine produced a respectable 71bhp being closer to a Cooper 'S' in tuned than a standard mini.  The car looks more like a shrunk down Golf than a Mini the hatchback allows the boot to be larger than a mini, but the slightly larger seats mean less leg room and a more cramped interior.  To our mind this car has everything, very modable for more speed with its reliance on mini parts, cool boxy 70’s styling, a super car name on the badge, and that little bit of Italian throw into the mix, fantastic.

Contemporary reviews of the car found it to be a great drive, possibly superior to the comparable standard Mini.  Which makes us even sadder that it was never officially imported to the UK, any you see in the UK are private imports.  They turn up on Italian ebay occasionally, so keep you eyes out.

What followed the Innocenti mini was equally as cool, in 1984 the line ceased production and De Tomaso struck up a new deal with Diahatsu to provide the under pinning’s for the follow up. The Innocenti 650 and 650SE were based on the Daihatsu Charade with a 617cc 2 cylinder engine, later the Mini 3 would come along with a 3 Cylinder engine, running production through to 1992.  Innocenti finished as a company in 1995, but have left us a legacy of some cool cars to hunt out.

During the deal with Diahatsu it turns out the De Tomaso were partners in a bid to make a Charade Group B car, which the guys at 7tune have a great entry on that is well worth a read.

The South Australian All Japan Day is only in its third year but has already created a reputation both for the cars in attendance and the 'attitude' of the show as a whole.

Built on the mantra "No DJs, No prizes, No trophies, No sound-offs, No dyno runs, No promo girls, No smoke machines, No roped-off displays, No Fuss" this event is free, open and all about the cars.
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For me this years show was stolen by a gang of Izuzu Belletts (and their tag-a-long Florian) and a sole Boso inspired Cressida.  The Izuzu tribe combined all the best retro elements boasting amongst their number stock and modified, sedans and an ultra rare Wasp truck and pristine paint parked amongst a mixture of real and stylised patina.

Taking Boso further that I have seen in my home state this Cressida Station Wagon was well on its way to ticking all the Boso Boxes.

Stance, wheels, wing mirrors, subway grab handle, obnoxious oil cooler and genuine Japanese number plates. All that was missing was an outrageous upsweep exhaust but maybe that will come when the 1JZ sitting in the engine bay is plumbed and finished.

For a relatively young show the atmosphere and ethos shines through, if you are in the area be sure to drop in for next years event, you can find more details from this years show at the All Japan Day Website.

You can find our full gallery of photographs from the event on our Flickr account.