It’s that time of year again! I was asked to head back out to the Lone Star Expo Center in Conroe to cover the 2014 Lone Star Throwdown for RIDES Magazine. The show was markedly more crowded that last year, judging by the fact that it took me two and a half solid hours of waiting in line (both in the car and on foot) to walk through the front gates…insanity!
Once inside, I saw a few familiar faces from Old Iron Works, who brought along their Ford Rad Rod and gorgeous Stutz. There was a smattering of classic cars, but the bulk of the show was dedicated to lowriders, donks, and HUGE lifted trucks. There was some truly amazing custom fabrication work, ranging from custom paint, to custom wheels, to a damn dagger placed on the hood of a truck. Pretty awesome to be able to see such a wide variety of custom work in one place! The scene was an assault on the senses as big diesel rigs vied for the biggest numbers on a mobile dyno, spewing thick black smoke into the cheering crowd nearby. Trucks fitted with train horns sounded in the distance, and every now and then you’d feel a rumbling in your chest as a nearby car showed off its ridiculous sound system.
I was also able to meet up with Dale Martin of Dale Martin Photo, and it was great to walk around with him and talk shop for a bit. After spending a couple of hours there, and exhausted from my 2.5 hour wait to get in, I hit the road to beat the traffic back to Houston. Lone Star Throwdown always makes for an interesting show, and I can’t wait for next year!
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