A few months ago Frozone and I went to AMP Research in Irvine, CA to have them install their products on my project truck for Truckblog.  Here’s the video we put together!

NBC’s new Knight Rider show, based on the popular 80’s show, premieres this February 17th. It features the Knight Industries 3000 (KITT) Shelby Ford Mustang GT500KR created in the vein of the original KITT car that Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) kicked around with his big poofy hair.

A friend of mine designed the iconic red lights on the front of KITT just below the front lip of the hood. I’m going to interview him for an exclusive story for my Muscle Car Blog site. Should be a lot of fun!

Here’s the latest 2 minute video about the show:

Frozone was looking through a recent SEMA newsletter and stumbled upon a photo we hadn’t seen of our Truckblog project vehicle, “Bank Shot”. The one we spent so much time doing the vehicle graphics work for.

It was taken by the SEMA staff photographer… and a great one at that! Click the photo to see the larger version.

Last week I was in Las Vegas all week for the SEMA Show (automotive convention) with 6 others as part of my Truckblog Crew.  Here’s the first video posted of the event:

You can also see all of the photos we took.

I headed off to Las Vegas for the SEMA Show this past Monday morning (4am!) and it has been a busy week. I flew home the afternoon on Halloween to spend time with my family, and currently I am doing some blogging at Truckblog to get some of the news and photos out from the past few days. I’ll be flying back to Vegas in the morning to finish up the show Thursday & Friday, then heading back home for good on Saturday. What a week!

Above is a photo of my Truckblog Crew on Monday. From left to right is me, Jason, Mike, Jason (Frozie), Brian and Tami.

I just realized that I never showed my first major vehicle graphics project… probably because it took so long to do, and then I just got busy with a Ford trip to Michigan and the fires here in San Diego. Plus, I was scrambling last minute to get the plotter and the software to work so I could cut all of the vinyl for this monster truck.

Well, here it is, in all its glory. Took about 3 full days (over the period of a week) to apply the graphics. Thanks to Frozone and Brian for their help (and beer!) It goes to Las Vegas this weekend (Saturday, I believe) for the week-long SEMA Show event. The owner of the truck (a Ford Super Duty F-250 diesel) is Brian Olhausen, and he named it “Project Bank Shot” since his family is in the billiards business. On a related note, his house in Poway was spared from the fires, but the homes right next to him were destroyed.

I took these photos last Saturday. My goal was to grab some sunset shots near the coast, however the marine layer moved in too fast and spoiled that for us. The fires started the next day, ruining any possibility of getting more photos. I’ll take some more in Vegas or after we get back from the SEMA Show.

Hand-drawn sketch and measurements:

Computer mock-up:

Finished work:

There are a bunch more photos at Truckblog, and that gallery will be updated along the way.

With Brian’s huge SEMA vehicle decal project I have this weekend I couldn’t do the job with my 8 year old Roland Stika SX-12 10″ plotter. While it’s done a great job over the years, its time has come to be replaced by something bigger. Since Mike wasn’t using our 24″ plotter in Houston, he shipped it to me. It’s a behemoth 24″ GCC Bobcat plotter that’s basically brand new. Here’s a shot of it with my old Roland Stika cutter sitting on top for size comparison. There’s also a photo of it after the break (barely) sitting on my desk. The stand arrives tomorrow, which will replace the current (sweet) box stand.

Read the Rest of ‘New plotter arrives’

The 2nd of two CORR events was this past Saturday here in San Diego (Chula Vista) and since I was still recovering from my Seattle trip, I did not attend like I normally do.  Frozone and Gillmore went instead, and Frozone got some amazing video by hooking up our in-car cam to the rear of the FOX Racing truck.  Check it out… it turned out awesome as usual!

Our 2000 Honda Civic was stolen a month or so ago. After we finally got the insurance money we’ve replaced it with a 2006 Ford Taurus with 35k miles on it. Between Friday and Monday, that’s two white used Ford vehicle purchases!

It’s in great condition, too. This is actually my mother-in-law’s car, so now she needs to come and get it! What’s a bit funny about this tale is that back in 1999 I bought two vehicles in one day as well: my first truck, a 2000 F-150, and the 2000 Honda Civic. Fast forward 7 years and here I am again, buying a Ford truck and another car. Glad I don’t do this very often… it’s a PITA! LOL

Finishing up paperwork now…2005 Ford F-150 with 26k miles.

I love having this new blog… I can post about anything now which is great! Since I didn’t have this set up a few months ago, I thought I’d post it now before I forgot again.

I love trucks and off-roading. While I don’t currently have a truck, my last two vehicles were Ford trucks. I had a 2000 F-150 SuperCab and then a 2001 F-250 Super Duty CrewCab V10! I got rid of my last truck due to the high cost of gas and it carried some baggage (long story) that I wanted to unload. I now drive a 2006 Chrysler 300C (yes, it gotta HEMI) but I really want to build up a truck again.

To satisfy my truck obsession, as part of my side business, X7 Media, we cover the CORR events when they are in town (Chula Vista International Raceway). CORR stands for Championship Off Road Racing, which is basically an off-road race event on a closed course. You know those crazy off-road machines they race down in Baja that have over 900 HP? Yeah, it’s those puppies… and they haul ass around a closed course, bash into each other and get airborne with crazy jumps. It’s so much fun to watch. Having media credentials, I get to go down to the track and be in the middle of it. By that I mean I get to be on the track itself… standing within feet of these machines. Don’t worry, Mom, it’s safe… they have specific (safe) zones for press.

Last year (2006) we (Frozone and I) covered two events. There are two this year, and the last event was June 9. Frozone did the video while I covered the still photography side of things. This is by far the best video he has cranked out for us. I did the titling and animation while he did everything else…

Another event is coming up at the end of this month and we can’t wait to do it all again!