Hot Rod, Custom Car & Automotive Stories

Reporting, oral histories and field notes from the builders, cars, shows, places and people that keep automotive culture moving.

SEMA Show 2026: What Southern California Builders & Shops Should Know

By Ivonne Alfaro · Published September 5, 2026

An editorial preview of the specialty-equipment industry's major Las Vegas gathering through the lens of Southern California builders, shops and automotive media.

Route 66 to Los Angeles: America’s Automotive Corridor into Southern California

By Ivonne Alfaro · Published September 5, 2026

How Route 66 connected Chicago and the Midwest to Los Angeles and helped funnel people, cars, commerce and automotive culture into Southern California.

Southern California Hot Rod & Classic Car Shows — Fall 2026

By Ivonne Alfaro · Updated September 1, 2026

A source-checked guide to Southern California shows and the builders, vendors, collectors and enthusiasts around them.

Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show — Why It Still Matters

By Ivonne Alfaro · Updated August 31, 2026

Hot rods, classics, restorers, builders, parts hunters and collectors at one of Southern California's enduring automotive marketplaces.

Grand National Truck Show 2026 — Pomona Custom Trucks & Builders

A preview of the September 26–27 custom-truck weekend at Fairplex.

View the LA Calendar Girls 2026 editorial masthead →

Our reporting connects the Southern California car shows and automotive events where the culture gathers with the hot rod, custom-car and specialty automotive builders creating the machines, and the tracks, dry lakes and heritage places that give the culture its history.

Have a build, shop, photograph or firsthand story worth documenting? Introduce it here →.