Right from birth I'm a lifelong Californian, so getting on plane at LAX and then landing at JFK, picking up a rental car, and then driving to Syracuse, New York, for the Syracuse Nationals was a real contrast compared to the West Coast scene I grew up with – a really neat contrast I might add.

Any gathering of vintage hot rods will include a healthy dose of trucks. If that gathering centers on some of the best vintage drag racing in the world, you can bet the trucks will gather in force. With well over 1,500 entrants pouring into the Soff Seal Show ’n Shine there was no shortage of trucks in the show area, but virtually every racer had a support truck, a push truck, and maybe a team member’s own hot rod hauler making the 10th Annual NHRA/AA/Holley Hot Rod Reunion the place to be on Father’s Day weekend.

I’ve always loved the “Nats,” and since my first Nationals back in ’76 (in Tulsa, Oklahoma) I’ve done my best to make the show every year I possibly could. But, I have to admit that this year’s gathering was a milestone to say the least, and what made it such was the huge amount of classic pickups that attended the show. It’s great that we classic truckers with post-’48 pickups have access to what is the largest hot rod gathering in the nation – one that consistently draws anywhere between 8,000 and 12,000 entries each year. For those who’ve never attended, it’s huge. Imagine over 300 vendors spread throughout 500,000 square feet of indoor exhibit area on top of the acres and acres of aforementioned cool cars and trucks on display.

If you couldn't make it out to this year's SEMA show, no worries because we got covered with some exclusive photo coverage. Also follow us on Facebook for more pic from Wes!

When it comes to throwing a great classic truck show, location is everything, and that’s the reason Brothers held its 14th Annual Show & Shine once again at the Canyon RV Park located within the city of Anaheim, California’s, Featherly Park. The event put on by Brothers to thank its loyal base of customers took place on July 8, 2012, and there isn’t a better place to get out of the hot Southern California sun than under the trees next to the banks of the Santa Ana River.

From what I hear, the ’50s were great times. Cars and trucks were being designed to have style and function. The potential to create your own American dream was at an all-time high. Work hard, start a family, buy a house or something like that, right?

If you are a fan of cool classic trucks, there’s an event you need to add to your “can’t miss” list. For the last 34 years, the F-100 Supernationals has been attracting Ford pickup fans from around the country for a great weekend’s worth of fun. Held in Tennessee’s scenic mountain resort town of Pigeon Forge, this year’s event brought more than 700 vehicles together for the Thursday through Saturday get-together.

This year the grand daddy of all shows turned 63 years old and all we can say is, WOW, what a blast! The show is not only a gathering for Hot Rodders but rather it’s where gearheads unite to view and show of their latest builds. The cool part about this event is that it’s so massive in size, everywhere you look there is classic cars, trucks, motorcycles and low riders.

Chopped Mercury coupes and low-riding Chevys may be the first rides that come to mind when you think of classic customs—or kustoms—from the ’50s and early-’60s. Let’s not forget, though, that pickups also played an important role in the fabled custom era. Most of the popular custom shops had parts-chaser trucks that inevitably went under the torch. And several of the most famous customs of the day—including the Rod & Custom Dream Truck and the George Barris-built Kopper Kart—were based on radically restyled commercial vehicles.

If you’ve never been to Florida’s famous Turkey Run, it might be time for a new addition to your bucket list. This four-day event is not only a Florida favorite, it is also the largest automotive event in the state, and one of the largest shows of its kind in the country. The emphasis has always been on fun with no classes, no judges, no trophies, and no stress. Pull in, park, and enjoy. This year more than 125,000 spectators delighted in the all-fun atmosphere, checking out a staggering collection of 4,859 vehicles. Vehicles started rolling in early on Thanksgiving day and stayed until Sunday afternoon, creating a rainbow of colors on the Daytona Speedway infield. Spectators from around the state, around the country, and around the world marveled at the collection of vehicles that encompassed every automotive type. Street rods, hot rods, pickups, customs, antiques, Pro Streets, restored originals, kit cars, concept cars and more, made arriving at each new row an exciting moment. But the almost 5,000 vehicles were only part of the story.

As huge lightning storms roll in right over the Texas Motor Speedway, thoughts of huge crowds were bleak for the Goodguys event. The weather can be guessed but Mother Nature sometimes has other ideas. Visions of dark clouds and the constant thought of staying away from light poles and trees, or anything that conducts electricity, were the ideas in my head. The saying, “Go big or go home,” definitely makes me think about the Texas lifestyle … the weather included.

It was early September and it marked the time to head out to the 10th annual Mid-Western Nationals hosted by Goodguys. This was my second year attending the event in Kansas, and every year brings new trucks that grace the pages of CLASSIC TRUCKS. Previous years were plagued with heat waves but the last two events I attended were in the high 70s spiking to around 85 degrees in the afternoon. Locals that found out I was from California said it that I bring the San Diego weather with me on the plane, but if that were the case, why does it always rain when I get home?

Bonneville—it’s holy ground for us. If you’re a hot rodder, Bonneville Speedway’s history is a deep part of our culture, and a pilgrimage there should be on your To-Do list, whether you’re a participant or a spectator. While it’s usually associated with cars, and even motorcycles, if you’re a truck enthusiast, there’s plenty of eye-candy to be had both in the pits and in the spectator areas.

As I more than likely say just about every year, one of my all-time favorite annual events is the huge NSRA Street Rod Nationals. This annual gathering draws anywhere between 8,000 and 12,000 entries each year (imagine over 300 vendors spread throughout 500,000 square feet of indoor exhibit area, plus tens of thousands of cool cars and trucks on display). For years, the association’s strict pre-’49 cutoff pretty much disqualified a large portion of the truck contingent. Sure, there has always been a pretty darn good turn-out of street rod pickups (’27 to ’40), F-1’s and, of course, ’47 to ’54 Chevys.

Flying into Spokane, Washington, from California was an eye opener, not because the flight was bad, the landscape was that good, and it kept me glued to the window. The state of Washington, especially Spokane, is incredibly green with numerous rivers running right into the downtown cityscape. Why am I telling you the reader this? Well, sometimes it’s about the destination outside the event that makes the actual event that much better. Not to mention, the people were exceptionally nice.

I guess if we were going to sum up what we thought of this past season’s Goodguys 14th PPG Nationals in one word, it’d have to be “awesome.” Now, for those who are veterans of the event this is common knowledge, but for those that have yet to make the trip to the show (what are ya waitin’ for?), awesome is about the best one-word description we can think of.

If there’s one thing So Cal Ford and Chevy truck owners can agree on, it’s that the Canyon RV Park located along the banks of the Santa Ana River is one of the state’s best places to hold a truck show. Unlike parking lot events where folks have to create their own shade (or sweat trying), the 63-acre site is crammed with trees spreading a luscious canopy. The Chevy and GMC guys roll into the park a month after the Ford guys in Pickups Ltd. have put on the F-100 Western Nationals. On July 10, the folks at Brothers held the 13th annual show to thank its valued customers for their continued patronage. Chevrolet and GMC truck owners from all over California, and surrounding states, gathered in packs or drove individually to enjoy the festivities.

Here are some of the cools trucks that we managed to snap some pictures at this year's SEMA show.

Looking for a great collection of cool classic trucks in a scenic location? Show promoter Charlie Cobble has the answer. Following on the heels of his successful Ford-oriented F-100 show in May, the All Chevy show in June of this year featured a great collection of vintage rides. Both events were held at the same location, the new Municipal Parking Lot in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. With plenty of room to spread out for show vehicles, as well as nearby parking for the tow vehicles, the new parking lot was a perfect choice. Add the scenic and shaded River Walk, adjacent to the show field, and you have the perfect alternative should the noonday sun get a little too warm. The collection of 371 vehicles gave drivers and spectators lots to see throughout the Thursday-Saturday event.

The Goodguys East Coast Nationals (or “Rhinebeck” as it’s referred to by its legions of faithful attendees) held its 20th annual gathering this past June and, as is customary, they did it in grand style. The picturesque Dutchess County Fairgrounds has become a favorite venue for northeastern rodders, and the Goodguys show is one of the region’s all-time favorite events. This past season’s gathering was nothing short of spectacular, and the inclusion of rods, classic trucks, and customs through 1972 ensured that there was plenty of eye candy for every taste.

There’s only one thing better than spending your time building a cool classic truck and that’s burning up the road with it. With a union of sweat, grease, motor oil, and gasoline all becoming one once you hit the ignition, the only thing left to do is buckle up and let the asphalt take you to yet to be discovered territories. Maybe it’s an East Coast thing, but once the snow clears out and the weather starts to get nice you experience an adrenaline rush that seems to have been building for months, making you want to do nothing else but put down the miles on your truck.

When it comes to giving back, Edelbrock knows how to do it right! Since 1938, Edelbrock has been building classic performance parts the right way. They have established themselves as a leader in the car industry, but one thing you may not know is that Edelbrock has also established themselves as a leader in the community. On May 1, 2011, Edelbrock hosted the Rev-ved Up 4 Kids Car Show, located at Vic’s Garage in Torrance, CA. It was a full day of family fun filled with hot rods, engine building competitions (where local high school kids competed to move forward in a national competition), great food, and entertainment for the whole family (my 4-year-old son’s favorite was the huge inflated slide and jumpy.) This charity fund-raising event benefited The Center for Learning Unlimited, which is a specialized, non-public school that provides comprehensive educational and social-emotional interventions to high functioning students who have complex learning differences, as well as ongoing support and solutions for the entire family.

It was just a few years ago that NSRA finally gave up on the pre-’48 format and opened their events to later-model cars and trucks. The results have been good, with a lot of great vehicles from the ’50s to the late ’70s rolling into their events. Of course this made for a whole new look to the NSRA events, but what really captured our eye was the amazing number of trucks that now attend NSRA events. Maybe that’s because a lot of people who own a street rod also own a classic truck, but we like to think it is because trucks and hot rods just go together perfectly.

Geez, it’d been a good six years or so since I’d had the pleasure of heading out to beautiful Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for the F-100 Supernats. My ol’ pal Pat Ford was runnin’ the show back then and the gathering was one that I looked forward to every year. But with my transfer back to the street rod world, business had me hitting the car shows instead of the truck shows for a while. During the time I was missing out on the Supernats a gent by the name of Charlie Cobble (the driving force behind www.autoshows.cc) had taken over the helm. Now back behind the wheel here at CLASSIC TRUCKS, the F-100 Supernationals again became one of the premier shows of the event season—and I was excited to head back to Pigeon Forge to see what I’d been missing.

Have you ever thought about skipping this year’s annual truck show or event or putting off that traditional vacation just because you did it last year? Well, for me this year marked the seventh Del Mar Goodguys show I have been to and I was thinking about not going. Then I picked up last year’s event coverage in Classic Trucks and remembered how many cool people I had the opportunity to meet, and also it was the first event I covered for Classic Trucks magazine. Talk about running around like a chicken with its head cut off. This year Riz and I decided that we should skip the Finest Five and take a breath of the fresh Del Mar sea air and go with the flow. Well, at least that was the plan anyway.