Image © 2008 THE LOCAL HERO

Things continue to move forward round here, but we're keeping on top of things with the blog entries.  We've build up a crazy backlog of linklog items, so we should probably get a few more out there for you to enjoy.
[more]
First up we have the Local Style blog from Japan.  One of the things we've found with the Japanese scene on the internet is that there are groups of people that are tightly interlinked, but don't link so often outside of their group, so occasionally we find one link into a blog or web page only to discover that it opens up a whole new raft of cool websites and people.  Local Style is one of those links, it is a window into the custom, low rider and chopper scenes in Japan.  The blog documents their meet ups, ride outs, work on cars and, as usual for a Japanese blog, their dietary habits.  Obviously there is a lot of clicking around to be done on the site to find what you are looking for, but we particularly liked this entry on a photo shoot for Bombs and this fantastically evocative photo series from a ride out somewhere.  Really shows you how they are living their scene.


On the flip side we head to the states for a glimpse at some more modern cars, Speed Sport Life is a crisp looking blog that deals with sports cars and racing.  Of particular note to us is Racer Boy's section in which the eponymous Racer Boy gives us details on various forms of car related sport from drag racing to autocross, the writing is fun and makes you really want to get out there and take part in something, even if it is just slot car racing!


There are millions of car photos on Flickr, we see a lot of them!  However finding sets that really capture us for a while takes some doing.  Even more difficult is finding photostreams that bring us in beyond their car content, the ostentatiously named Lawrence Peregrine-Trousers' photostream really dragged me in.  The photos are of cars and things, a lot are scans from photographs and have a real evocative feel to them, from pictures of a decaying Manchester to snaps of cars and bicycles there are many worse ways to spend your time than looking through this nice set of photographs.


The Chicane: A Celebration Of Classic Motorsport, apparently.  Well if a tag line ever described a blog better, I'd like to see it, this really does what it says on the tin and it does it well.  Photographs, videos, a nice easy to read style with plenty already in the archive for you to browse, before adding it to your RSS feed reader of choice.  Great stuff.


So time for the obligatory video, this time we're showing you just what you can find with a bit of poking around in a Japanese blog and some copying of search terms into YouTube.

Hope you enjoy the links.

Labelling cars can be a controversial subject. It is all too easy to get hung up about whether a particular car suits a certain moniker or not and then go off on a tangent on to whether its important anyway.. But a label also provides a reference point so that when describing a car to another person they can understand instantly what you are raving about.

I will freely admit that I have a favourite bugbear, and a particular word that to me should be kept special and “above” the uses it sometimes acquires. That word is “Kustom”. Supposedly first coined by George Barris in the early ‘50’s it applied specifically to the type of cars that Barris Kustoms and other master bodywork shops were churning out at that time. That is to say cars that were chopped, channelled, sectioned, had frenched lights, shaved/and or altered trim, modified grills, fender skirts and any other suitable bodywork from the customisers dictionary.

Photo from this flickr gallery

This style of modification started back in the ‘30’s with relatively new but cheaper brand cars in order to make them individualistic and be a bit more like the very expensive coach built European cars. By the late fifties the radical bodywork alterations were becoming less popular, perhaps because the cars factory styling was already fairly extreme Larry Watson became the coolest cat on the block with his new paint designs (and very low ride heights) on otherwise standard cars. Thus the end of the Kustom era had come.

In the last couple of decades there has been an explosion of so-called “Kustom Kulture” that seems to encompass a whole gamut of retro scenes, be it music, art, cars and bikes. Other groups have sometimes taken styling cues from this "kulture" and hence the term kustom has since been applied to all kinds of vehicles that, to my mind, are nothing of the sort.

A kustom has been, is now and always will be a 30’s to ‘50’s car with heavy stylistic content and a range of tasteful (and frequently major) bodywork alterations.

(Photo from here)

To check out some great photos of customs and kustoms check out this fantastic flickr gallery by Kid Deuce from which the other photos have been borrowed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80643375@N00/sets/72157594250735430/

And if you want to go buy a book on the subject I can highly recommend Pat Ganahl's "The American Custom Car".