Drive Staff February 01, 2023 All Feature Vehicles
What a great idea! We should have our own car show. Better yet, let’s print it and star your car! It’s safe, fun, we get to see cool cars during the pandemic, and there will be prizes.
Cool, right?!
Send us your cars! Every month we will collect reader’s cool car pictures and publish them. We have a panel of auto industry noteables that will review and select winners from the various categories. Winners will be notified and their cars will be featured in a follow-up issue of Drive.
Send in one photo from each “Best Of” categories:
Paint
Interior
Engine
Overall
And one more category just for those cars that don’t quite qualify for the aforementioned Best Of categories. A select category just for the cool but not perfect cars. We’ll call that category…
Drive Magazine Editor’s Choice
1973 AND BEFORE
We all know that “Classics” are technically 25 years and older, but we like the true classics.
Not that we don’t like a nice 1995 Accord, it’s just, well, call us purists.
COLOR, HIGH-RESOLUTION PHOTOS ONLY
High-resolution is defined as print size at 300 DPI or higher. Good photography is recommended but your cell phone is fine but might not be the best.
The larger, the better.
INCLUDE PHOTOS FOR EACH CATEGORY
✔ Paint
✔ Interior
✔ Engine
✔ Overall
Entries will not be considered for “Best Of” category if all photos requested are not submitted. Show the entire car. Try to keep the vehicle clear of obstacles and clutter.
SHOW US YOUR GOOD SIDE
Let us see what you see in your classic. Take some good shots.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT IT
Was it your grandpa’s car? Did you grow up with it and ended up restoring it? Barn find? Auction? Have you ever raced it? Wrecked it? Restored it?
MOST IMPORTANT: HAVE FUN!
We want to print a bunch of cars to share. Not everyone will be a winner, but everyone with a cool car will get published. Now’s your chance!
SEND ‘EM IN!
Send your pictures and story to: michaele@engaged.media
1973 AND BEFORE
We all know that “Classics” are technically 25 years and older, but we like the true classics.
Not that we don’t like a nice 1995 Accord, it’s just, well, call us purists.
COLOR, HIGH-RESOLUTION PHOTOS ONLY
High-resolution is defined as print size at 300 DPI or higher. Good photography is recommended but your cell phone is fine but might not be the best.
The larger, the better.
SUBMIT YOUR BEST PHOTOS
Include up to 5 images from various angles and elevations. Show the entire car. Try to keep the vehicle clear of obstacles and clutter.
SHOW US YOUR GOOD SIDE
Let us see what you see in your classic. Take some good shots.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT IT
Was it your grandpa’s car? Did you grow up with it and ended up restoring it? Barn find? Auction? Have you ever raced it? Wrecked it? Restored it?
MOST IMPORTANT: HAVE FUN!
We want to print a bunch of cars to share. Not everyone will be a winner, but everyone with a cool car will get published. Now’s your chance!
SEND ‘EM IN!
Send your pictures and story to: michaele@engaged.media
DAVID NEEL
David Neel is the Executive Director of the Murphy Auto Museum in Oxnard and a lifelong car lover. From a young age David started collecting Matchbox cars, Tonka Trucks and Hot Wheels.
As an adult, he started collecting real cars as well as antique travel trailers and vintage Americana. In mid-2013, the Murphy Auto Museum founder asked David to consider taking over the museum’s operations. A deal was done and in January 2014, the ownership, operations and management of the foundation was officially handed over to David.
Since that time, the museum has moved to a more ideal location in Oxnard, grown its presence in the community and grown its presence via social media. The museum has a world class collection of beautiful automobiles, a large collection of Americana, a working scale model railroad and an automotive art gallery furnished with original art from well respected automotive artists.
David enjoys talking about cars, vintage trailers and Americana to car clubs and groups, and is a frequent presenter at Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA), Santa Barbara chapter. He enjoys living in Ventura County with his wife and two sons and aside from running the museum’s day to day activities, runs a sales agency and produces a large vintage trailer show each year.
GREG GILL
Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, private autobroker Greg Gill had an earlier Public Relations career – invaluable in establishing him as a trusted service provider in Los Angeles for all things car related.
Handling the best clientele one could possibly even, ever imagine (his own words), Gill handles Sales/Purchasing/Leasing/Restoration/Sourcing/Financing – ALL of it, the car business.
In 2015, twenty years of that experience and being a lifelong gearhead led to Gill being contracted by the Automobile Driving Museum to balance its permanent collection. Also, some public relations. That same year, he became a founding sponsor of Wheels and Waves, the wildly successful monthly Malibu car show produced and hosted by FIreball Tim Lawrence. Since 2017, Gill has also been involved in the Public Relations and collection balance of the Official Murphy Auto Museum in Oxnard CA.
A past president of the Wilshire Rotary Club of Los Angeles, Gill is involved in various historic preservation/land use organizations, is active in Rotary International District 5280 and has been a long term fundraiser for the Maple Counseling Center in Beverly Hills.
Gill and his partner, retired Planning Director Rob Bruce reside in Altadena CA, continuously restoring and refining their historic Arts and Crafts property.
KEN VELA
Ken had spent 20 years in the Medical field and wanted to pursue his dream for designing and building custom cars as a kid so in 2012 he built a one off Kustom “Hot Rod Outlaw” Porsche Speedster “Wikd 356”. It won Best of show in 2013 at the Huntington Beach Concours and was featured at “Art Center” Pasadena. That same year Ken opened Wikd Kustoms in Huntington Beach and teamed up with car designer “Fireball Tim” Lawrence doing several Vlogs and hosting many events throughout Malibu. Ken was Vlogging a show with Fireball and overheard a conversation regarding the need for an announcer and that no one wanted to do it, so he volunteered. It was the “Hot Wheels Garage” hosted at the Automobile Driving Museum. Ken had not touched a microphone in twenty five years, but as soon as they heard his voice that was it! He was asked to host regularly. Ken also realized how much he missed being on the microphone and volunteered his services for one year.
Currently Ken is restoring vintage cars, announcing and teaching voice lessons. Recently Ken started a promotional company and is also producing The Fountain Valley Classic Car Show.
WES NIELSEN
Wes Nielsen is founder of The Daily Driver Project. The Daily Driver Project covers car shows all over the Southern California area. Wes Nielsen has spent the last 25 years in the Automotive Aftermarket doing a little bit of everything in the industry but has a true passion for sharing photos and videos with everyone.
FIREBALL
Born in Hollywood California in 1965, Fireball Tim Lawrence has built an extensive and unique career in the film and automotive industry. Local 800 Art Directors Guild. http://www.fireballtim.com
Besides having designed vehicles for hundreds of major movies, TV and commercials. He’s hosted some of the biggest Automotive Shows for Discovery, TLC and Speed. When not designing for film, Fireball’s company Fireball Publishing creates the World’s Best Automotive Coloring Books.
Fireball’s stints include Walt Disney Imagineering and Universal Studios plus over 400 movie credits including “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Batman,” “Monster Garage,” “Jurassic Park,” “GI Joe,” “Knight Rider” and “The Avengers.”
He’s also Design Director for the world famous Murphy Auto Museum in Oxnard, Ca.
As host, Fireball is constantly in demand as an Automotive Design Expert with many appearances on the Discovery Network and Speed Channel including “World’s Most Expensive Rides,” “Extreme Rides” and “Street Tuner Challenge.”
Here’s some tips!
Deadline is the first of each month. If you send stuff in later, it goes into a following issue.
Show the car with the doors and hood closed. Interior pictures should be free of clutter and your Starbucks cups.
Don’t crop your photos. Let our Drive staff do their job.
Any inappropriate images will automatically be excluded from the competition.
Drive’s Editor will reply to your email confirming he has received your images. If you are included in the Drive issue you will be notified of what issue your car is appearing.
SEND ‘EM IN!
Send your pictures and story to: michaele@engaged.media
Please wait...