New artwork!

[SRD art]

Put some snakes on the roof, lol! J/K. I read your article, cool write up and congrats on getting your son involved. My son will be 14 yrs old next year and we'll be starting on his Nova then. I bought my first car, a 69 Malibu, when I was 16 and unfortunately my dad never got involved, I was pretty much on my own. It'll be cool to see what your son will be doing to cars in 10 years with having you as a mentor.

Although I have done several "photo-chops" in the past I'd rather start from scratch with a drawing, I can get a much more professional look that way. Photos tend to be limiting to what I can do with them and they often look a little quirky or fakie in the end. Below is a couple samples I did for clients a few years ago. If you're thinking of changing the look for your car I have a couple ideas, pm me here or email me at srdart@streetroddesigns and I'll give you some pricing on a rendering.

[65_stang]

wow Ben... You got some serious illustrator skills!

I enjoy seeing your work!

[SRD art]

Thanks 65, a lot of practice as a logo designer in the past is what got me familiar with it. As I've mentioned I started out "drawing" on photoshop but I felt like it had some disadvantages, such as print issues when spot color T-shirt printing or enlarging artwork for banners and such. Illustrator works great for all printing venues but has a tendency to look "graphic-y", something I've worked hard at overcoming. I feel I can get pretty close to a photoshop look with it now.

Thanks again!

[SRD art]

Hey everyone, I'm offering a rendering for the Christmas charity auction fundraiser. Check it out if you've been wanting to get one done-- https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...never-too-late

[ZVT]

Uhhhhhhmmmmm WOW Ben I have not been around in a loooong time to see your badass work...you just made me a huge fan bruddah!!!

[SRD art]

Thanks Z, I take that as a huge compliment coming from you. I remember when your Torino hit the magazine stand, very cool. I just went through your portfolio again, your photoshop work is amazing. Your son is a real cutie too, congrats.

[SRD art]

I'm currently working on artwork for several p-t.com members and will post them as I wrap them up.

Here's one I just finished up for a local client. This is the second year I've had the opportunity to do the T-shirt for an annual car show my college puts on. It's the second largest show in Utah, usually bringing in about 650 entrants. Cool thing is that all proceeds go directly to the automotive program students in the form of scholarships. It's the show's 25th anniversary so I drew an 80's style pro-street coupe and a more modern street rod to span the time frame. Also this year we're doing a special feature on the salt flats racers and featuring the "City of Salt Lake". This car went 344 mph in 1959. Unfortunately in 1960 while attempting to break 400 they guesstimate a wheel disintegrated and a bad accident resulted in the death of the driver/ builder Athol Graham. Recently his son re-built the car as a dedication to his dad. Here's a link to a local motorhead who's followed the restoration... http://www.chevyasylum.com/lsr/bsf20...2/Welcome.html

[AmKenpo1]

Amazing work thanks for sharing. I've been following your build of the PUMKN8R on here and LS1tech, love the long roofs.

Wil.

[SRD art]

Thanks Wil!

[SRD art]

Another T-shirt I just wrapped up. This one's for the Mustang Club of America's show in Utah this year. Pretty basic design featuring a 69 and 2012 Boss 302 and a landmark pony statue in southern Utah. It'll be printed on "vegas gold" shirts (the color of the background).

[Tig]

Wow Ben, you do some amazing work.
That Vette project is or was awesome. Do you have any more pictures of it. Back in the day I was looking at one with the same intentions, well, this was before LS motors were introduced.
Great job

[454bug]

VERY cool Ben!! You have a REAL talent!!

[SRD art]

Thanks guys!

Sorry, I don't have any more 'Vette pics. I'd sure like to build it someday, but until I'm rich and famous...

[SRD art]

Someone on the forum asked about my t-shirt designs. Here are a few more...

These are shirts that I sell at car shows. It's tough to hit up every car guy with something they like so I had to come up with a few designs that appealed to larger groups of folks. I wish I had the $ to invest in shirts with all different types of specific cars but for now these have been successful. I'm retiring the Mustang and Camaro after this year for something a little different for the p-t crowd. The 32 old school was last year's design and this year I'm adding the hot rod truck.

[SRD art]

Here's Last year's shirt for the UVU car show...

[SRD art]

And finally for tonight here's one I did for a friend, Craig Watson of Kentucky. His car literally does this on 8.5" DOT tires, and he's run as fast as 8.90's in the 1/4 with it.

[71duster]

hey ben. are you going to throw the AMC out there?

[ProTourGSX]

Here's another one I wish I had built. Once upon a time I had bought a 74 Buick Apollo for parts for my Nova. One of those I wish I hadn't gotten rid of. I've always thought the Buick GSX was a bad doggie but being a light weight X body fan I put the two together. I understand the 350 and 455 Buick blocks are the same size and I've heard they're about the same weight as an SBC so doing a warmed over torque monster 455+ in a 3200 lb Apollo would rock. Throw on some suspension goodies and 17" billet Buick wheels and we're good to go- an Apollo GSX street fighter.

I LOVE THIS concept!
Ben, not to get technical on you, but the Buick 350 & 455 are NOT the same size! 455 is much bigger/more noticeable differences (longer, sits closer to radiator in vehicle/etc.) compared to 350, however, you are correct that Buick 455 is (150 lbs) lighter than comparable engines, specifically the Chevy 454!

350
Buick adopted the popular 350 cu in (5.7 L) size with their final family of V8s. Although sharing the displacement of the Chevrolet Small-Block engine family, the Buicks were substantially different.
The Buick 350 V8 had a 3.80 in (97 mm) bore (like the 231) and retained the 3.85 in (98 mm) stroke of the 340. It was introduced in 1968 and produced through 1980.
The major differences of the Buick 350 when compared to other GM V8's are deep skirt block construction, higher nickel-content cast iron, external oil pump, under square bore sizing, 3 in (76 mm) crank main journals, and 6.385 in (162.2 mm) connecting rods. It is an extremely rugged and durable engine^{[citation needed]}, and some of the design characteristics of the Buick 350 are found in other Buick-designed GM engines such as the 231 V6, and Series I, II, and III 3800 V6's.
Of all the GM 350-cubic-inch (5.7 L) engines, the Buick 350 has the longest stroke. It made the Buick 350 significantly wider than the other GM 350's — essentially the same width as the Buick big-blocks, which have the shortest stroke of the GM big-blocks. In fact, at a glance the Buick 350 is commonly mistaken for the 455 engine due to the oversized intake manifold atop the engine and conventional angled valve covers like a 400/430/455. The Buick 350 also shares an integrated aluminum timing cover as do most of the Buick small and big blocks which incorporates the oil pump mechanisms as well, leaving the oil filter exposed to oncoming air for added cooling.
The Buick 350 was used in the Jeep Gladiator and Wagoneer from 1968–71, where it was known as the "Dauntless V8".

455
The 455.72-cubic-inch (7,467.9 cc) 455 Buick V8 used a 4.3125 in (109.54 mm) bore and a 3.90 in (99 mm) stroke. It was produced from 1970–1976 and was based on the 400/430 V8. The regular Buick 455 was rated at 350 hp (260 kW), while the 455 Stage 1 was rated at 360 hp (270 kW). The regular 455 produced a rated 510 lb·ft (690 N·m) of torque at 2800 rpm, more than any other muscle car engine. The horsepower was somewhat reduced in 1971 mainly due to the reduction in cylinder compression ratio, a change which was mandated by GM in order to cope with the introduction of new federal laws which would require new cars to use unleaded gasoline in an effort to reduce exhaust emissions. Then, starting in 1972, the horsepower rating on paper would be reduced again, down to approximately 250 hp (190 kW), this time due to the new measurement of horsepower as SAE net horsepower, rather than a gross horsepower rating. Tightening emissions controls would cause the engine to drop in power still further, a little at a time, through 1976. Most parts (except the pistons) interchange between the 400 and the 430. The 455 was one of the first "thin-wall casting" engine blocks (at GM), and because of this advance in production technology it weighs significantly less than other engines of comparable size (for example, 150 lb (68 kg) less than a Chevrolet 454).

[aidanfancystang]

dude you do some sick work, I have a buddy that does stuff like that and he is always busy. That's a talent I wish I had.

[CruizinKev]

x2 I love your stuff! good work!