Chipman & Taylor: Kuckle Skraper's Rat Rod

Air Pumps is a site dedicated to documenting and showcasing the best and most attention grabbing forcers of Air that I or any future editors on this site cross paths with. Any particular Air Pump need only have a very limited set of criteria to be showcased on this site. They need to, in some way pump air, and do it in a way that grabs attention, and shows some sort of dedication, and handiwork that went in to its conception. Whether that be in a factory, in a garage, or in some cases, a backyard.

 This Pump, with some argumentation could easily be of the latter conception location, but with no less hard work and dedication than other Pumps documented on this site.

 The thing I loved most about this Rat Rod is the contrast that is seen throughout. This is shown quite well in the patina red bodywork, and the stainless louvered trunk. This particular piece is completely unnecessary, unless you have a barbecue in the back and need vent the smoke from the tasty roasting steaks. In this case there was no barbecue and therefore no need for the louvers, but, they are very, very cool. It adds so much more interest to the rear section of the car. I have always loved louvers and took a different mindset to them after seeing the 2015 Speedhunters Scion Tuner Challenge Scion frs, and I have to say adding them on this rod is only for the better.

 The contrast continues to every corner of the car, the pin-striping, on a weathered and battered headlight housing. It just shows the level of artistic appeal this car has, and I don't think you can walk by this car without appreciating that at least a little bit.

 This Rod and the few others that were with it were put together by a group of Rat Rodders called Knuckle Scrapers based out of Palouse Washington. They are a pretty low key group, that make some pretty special rigs. I know one of the members who also owns a company that specializes in hot rod header flanges pretty close to where I live, I'm thinking about contacting him if I ever decide to do anything with an exhaust manifold on any of my cars. Here's his neat website. Website

 Anyways, back to the Rod, the thing I love about these types of builds is how just about anything goes, as long as it reflects the creativity of the builder and stays true to "never quite finished on a low budget" unwritten build guidelines for Rat Rodders.

Another thing I loved about this car was the very subtle throwback to the fighter plane of a similar vintage as the chassis. This is easily seen here and even in the jackets the crew wears, to the accents on the engine, the interior accents, again more pin striping, stylistic contrast just oozes from this build.

 It continues from the interior to the engine, the quartet of bell stacks with independent throttle bodies on the Offenhauser engine. Both the stacks and the engine were something I had never seen before and loved researching. Turns out this is an American company with a rich vintage racing history, real neat stuff.

This type of thing is what brings the level of the build up to more than just a creative level but a historic and nostalgic one. One of the most interesting items about these cars is how they interest a wide range of people, the contrast in the types of people that take interest in these cars is almost as interesting as the cars themselves. From a late teens blond hooligan with a camera, to an older looking gentleman in a red shirt. Fascinating these connections..

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo

Chipman & Taylor: Car Show and Stuff Blog.

The summer is a great time for the classic car. Sure spring and fall are good and all, but in the spring, people are still finishing up their last touches on their projects, and in the fall the classics are just finished with a good summers worth of use and are most likely not looking their best.

In the early to mid summer the best side of classic cars comes out and I have to say I love going out and visiting the local car shows and seeing what has been worked up over the winter. One of these such events that I anticipated this year was the Chimpan & Taylor car show in Pullman Washington, my hometown. This place is a college town in the middle of a farming community which in my opinion is on of the best combinations for the preservation and showcasing of the classic car.

There is a university to feed the pockets of bored professors, and fuel the restoration of barn finds, but also there is an older community of people that grew up in the muscle car era that love to come to these shows and relive the glory days when drag racing down Grand Avenue was the best thing to do on a Saturday Night. This car show in particular is in my opinion one of, if not the best on the Palouse, I overheard a number in the range of 125 cars on the complex for the car show, and have to admit I didn't have the time to take in the details I would have liked of all the cars there.

Now in all reality I feel like this was an overcrowded, almost unprofessionally put on show but none the less I was there for the cars, not to speculate on how the cars could have been shown better. One thing for sure is that this was a family event, there were free hotdogs, a truck bed full of trophies for different categories of cars and live music. The magical combo for any small town large car show.

So as I post more on the Pumps I wanted to showcase from, keep in mind I wanted to show projects that were something unique, that I haven't covered on Pumps and that also had a high level of finish so until the wait for the first post is over, watch a video on how to Drift, something I enjoy watching very much and have been though at least three times.

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo

Porsche 924: Dogwood Show and Shine

The Porsche 924 was the first car with a Porsche badge to have a front water cooled engine. While this may not have been the prettiest or best way to start off the front engine Porsche. It began the trend which produced some of the world’s fastest and most expensive pumps at the time.

This Porsche 924 was a little gem I found at the Dogwood Show and Shine in the Lewiston Clarkson valley in north Idaho. This car was in the process of a restoration but for the exterior at least, it looked like it had already been done. I talked to the owner and he said he’s been in the restoration process for a while and started to list some of the mods he had done on it, including how he stashed the tire grease rag under the rear tire, very tasteful in my opinion, I mean if your going to use a tire grease rag you might as well show it off too. This one looked really clean and I think speaks of the cleanliness of the tire before it was greased, all I can say is Wow.

He first pointed out the closely matched new paint job the Porsche was sporting. With only a slight color variation between the engine bay being the original color and the fender being the respray color. He also mentioned that he did a five lug swap to fit the bigger phone dial wheels which I think are a great contrast to the hard edges found throughout the car.

 Additionally he did a rear disk break swap to provide a bit more consistent stopping power and finally mentioned the duck-tail spoiler he added from the Carrera variant of the car.

After talking to him a bit I popped open the door and peaked inside, disappointingly it wasn’t much to look at. Once I saw it though, he was quick to spell out how he planned to get the seats reupholstered in the same pattern with some fresh leather as he would also do with the worn and cracked dash. Black leather with pea green thread to match the paint sounds like the perfect combo to me!

Knowing that this little 924 was in the middle of a restoration,  I found it refreshing at a classic car show full of American muscle. I see the draw to these cars and have dreamed about owning one myself, and after watching this old top gear episode, I feel even better about the first water cooled Porsche. Whether the engine really did come out of a Volkswagen van or not.

Joshua Sewell

Instagram: josh_sewell_photo

Dogwood Festival Show & Shine

Every year, in a pretty little pacific northwestern valley, hosting two cities, Lewiston and Clarkston there is the Dogwood Festival Show and Shine. This event is a classic car show that gives locals and not so locals, the opportunity to show off their cars. So here's some photos, in no particular order, and hints to some later posts and what they may contain. Enjoy.

Joshua Sewell
Instagram: josh_sewell_photo