On a humid July morning at Schenley Park, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix feels more like a neighborhood festival than a motorsport event. Families wander the hillsides with lemonade cups, children climb over hay bales, and the scent of fuel blends with kettle corn. Spectators drift between polished British roadsters and brass-era antiques. But tucked between the hillside trees and the makeshift paddock, the heartbeat of real racing still pulses.

Jacob isn’t your average young enthusiast snapping photos at Cars & Coffee. He’s the one under the hood, the one welding a cracked frame back into shape, the one who learned to rebuild fiberglass panels not because it was fun but because no one else would touch them. He is, in every sense of the word, a craftsman — one forged in grease, patience, and trial by fire.

Mike Brooks never imagined he’d see his truck again. He had accepted it, moved on. But sometimes, fate works in mysterious ways. It all started on what should have been an ordinary weekend at the Good Guys show in Columbus. Mike had parked his beloved 1986 Chevy C10 outside his hotel, never thinking twice about it. The truck had been with him for years, a labor of love, meticulously maintained and customized to perfection. It wasn’t just a vehicle—it was part of his identity…then, it vanished.

Elliot always had a knack for cars. Growing up around the hum of engines and the scent of motor oil, his future was written in chrome and steel. But IBF Hot Rods wasn’t born in a garage—it began with a dream shared by two people. Elliot and his wife had spent years on the road, moving from city to city for her General Motors job while Elliot honed his skills in hot rod and restoration shops across the country. When they finally settled in Indiana, the stars aligned to create a business that would blend their automotive passions into something extraordinary.

In the world of movie cars, few vehicles are as instantly recognizable or as iconic as the 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. With its battle-scarred exterior and raw, unfiltered power, the Monte Carlo roared onto the screen as a symbol of old-school American muscle. Now, decades after the movie's release, Austin Bowers a dedicated car builder, has taken on the ambitious task of recreating this legendary street racer—down to every detail. A car that’s not built as an homage to the movie but something Austin is proud to drive and race all over the country.

For Nate Emigh the promise of adventure filled the air as him and his wife prepared to embark on a journey that would take them across the United States in an untested 1992 NSX internet purchase. Its a car that Nate dreamed about after he saw one on a lot while he was a young dishwasher and he knew one day that car would be in his driveway. A cannonball run enthusiast, the NXS was symbol of Nate’s long-held dream, a dream of nostalgia and adventure, from behind the wheel of one of its most iconic Japanese sports cars.

This story might be one of the most heart wrenching that I have done and when I first spoke with Rob Williams at World of Wheels Pittsburgh I knew his story needed to be told. It all starts with this Porsche 944, not just any run of the mill old car, maybe the finest restored 944 in North America, maybe the world. The project was started by his father and after his untimely death finished by Rob and rolled onto the Pittsburgh Convention Center floor, a dream his father envisioned.

Nick Rearick’s Skyline had already been imported and was quite possibly the cheapest R32 in the US at the time. He embarked on a journey over three winters to restore, upgrade and customize the car similar to an old school classic. The 1990 Skyline R32 was completely torn apart, gutted and put back together painstakingly all by Nick in his garage until it came out as his dream car.

Like the saying, “what’s old is new,” mini trucks are making resurgence and taking these once trendy trucks and filling them with the latest technology and making these trucks cool again. Shawn Stemmerich is not new to this game and this 1997 S10 that you are about to read about and listen to, is a $2K truck that he’s owned for over 15 years, has gone through three different builds over its time, and has done all of the work himself minus the paint.

On this crossover episode we talk muscle cars and professional bodybuilding with IFBB Pro Jennifer Zollars! We go into a deep dive of the bodybuilding world and talk behind the scenes of a typical prep all the way up through show day. We also spoke about the podcast being hacked and some of Jen's favorite cars to photograph! You can find her on instagram @jeni.snax or on Facebook Jennifer Zollars or just catch her live during this upcoming season in the IFBB Professional league.

What you are looking at and listening to is the story of the lost 1981 Oldsmobile Omega that was indeed used as one the Official Pace Car for the 1981 PPG-CART-Indy Car World Series from the forgotten car era. This 1 of 1 prototype was the product of the GM beancounter reigns taken off using a mix of factory and aftermarket parts culminating in one of the raddest Omegas ever. For around 30 years this car was thought to be crushed only to live on in photos and memories. However, after a trip to a local Western PA dealership to look for a totally unrelated car Mike Blaze stumbled upon the historic piece and understood the prominence of the car.

My faith in the Pittsburgh car scene has been rejuvenated with the first Steel City Cars N’at / Burgh Built end of summer bash. A collection of cars, trucks, lowrider, classics, exotics all gathered at the Soutpointe parking garage for a celebration of car culture before the hands of old man winter relegate these machines to the garage. I talked with three of the show goers in quick podcasts to find out some of the stories behind the 500 cars that showed up to the event.

Slate Performance is on a mission to become the premier custom and restoration shop in the Indianapolis area…and boy are they starting off hot. Their resume includes a CEO who worked on a NASCAR team to movie cars contracted by Universal Studios to wide body classic Corvettes pumping out 1000+ horsepower the quality and performance being pumped out is unmatched.

Within the past decade the phenomenon of cars and coffee started, presumably in California, where a group of car enthusiast started meeting in the mornings. No matter what the make or model, as long as you drove or rode it there you were admitted. Awesome, until like many things in our society it was ruined as it grew in size.

For Justin Ross, his collection is based on some of his favorite designers and has a completely different take on what makes a car special to him. Names like Zagato, Giugiaro, and Gandini all continue to pop up when Justin explains how he built his collection. If you don’t know these names you should, they’re all designers that have influenced many of the iconic cars of the 70s, 80s and 90s and reason behind the rolling art studio that is Justin’s collection.

“Never forget” we use that phrase a lot, however it takes a unique person to truly never forget. We all love the classics, 60’s Mustangs, 30s hotrods, GM muscle, but what about the forgotten cars? Enter in Mr. Obscure, a mysterious man who has a passion for the rare, weird and forgotten cars of yesteryear. By day he works a normal job like the rest of us, however through the magic of sitting on the throne, educates the internet on obscure cars that 99.9% of us have never seen.

In every sense of the phrase “hand built",” EJ Talik is putting out some of the best hand built hotrods on the streets in America. Trained by fire he has learned the old school ways of swapping metal and has a resume that includes Riddler and Good Guys winning hotrods. His one man shop outside of Pittsburgh PA includes simple tools and a lot of man power. No big power hammers, not CNC machines, just EJ basic metal shaping tools and a shoulder with tendonitis that could tell a story.

The journey of learning how to fabricate and build an entire car is a monumental task but when done is one of the most rewarding exercises. For Cody James his daily driver Cobalt SS turned street/strip beast was built 100% at home out of boredom and to prove to his friends it could be done well and on a budget. The car was built on blocks in a three car garage and is the only RWD Cobalt that still retains the unibody platform.

Like many of us aging Fast and the Furious kids we are at a point in our life where function sometimes outweighs form. So what is an aging car enthusiast to do? The unlikely four door that looks like a time attack weapon draped in black and carbon puzzled show goers and piqued the interest of the young and old alike.

For as much of a global economy as we live in there are still regional products that don’t make it around the world and when encountered in another environment seem alien. For Kris Laser and his son Kris Jr. their 1996 Honda Acty Attack truck would be an every day work truck in Japan but while driving on American roads its a show stopper everywhere it goes!