June 30, 2011
Wow! Born Free 4 was an incredible weekend! Filled with Bikes, Booze, Broads and more Bikes! 15,000 people and no fights, just grease, smiles, fringe and good frineds! Thank you Grant & Mike for a wonderful time!
Cole and Willy Davidson of Harley
Must See!
December 30, 2011
First magazine editorial on the 1970 BMW 3.0 csi was shot today for Autoweek. Thank you Davey!
November 3, 2011
Cole just returned from a Trip to Austin, TX to visit his old friend Jesse James and film for an upcoming show - a 3 way biker build off between, Jesse, Paul Sr & Paul Jr. It will air on Discovery channel Dec 5 & 6.
click here to see the commercial!
October 23, 2011
I think Cole Foster has perfect attendance for the annual California Hot Rod Reunion in fabalous Bakersfield, CA (home of Buck Owens and the Crystal Palace!) So we packed up our magical mystery caravan and headed down not to miss the annual gathering of a bunch of old dudes who still like to go fast!
Here is the beautifuly restored Raymond Beadle's "Blue Max" that i'm pretty sure Cole had some type of indentured servitude contract when he was on this race team in the 70's before child labor laws.
As always it is such a treat to see the beautiful and gracious first lady of racing Mrs Linda Vaughn! LV, you are amazing! Who else can pull off a gold lame' cat suit! We love you!
October 9, 2011
Cole Foster and Erin both had pieces in the "Visual Mechanics" exhibit at the SOMA gallery in old town Salinas. The next day treated to a beautiful day in the park for the annual Rod Powell pinic. Some amazing cars turned out , and some not so amazing ones......
Our Numero Uno Ambassador Henry Gong drove his Nomad to the Gallery show that night & Tim Condor said it best!
"Looking at this Nomad, you'd expect a mellow tone from it. This thing had a NASTY cam, and bitchin' exhaust. It sounded (and looked) fantastic.
August 23, 2011
1972 BMW 3.0 CSI freshly painted BMW Marrakash Brown
Aug 2, 2011
Photographer Mark Kawakami did a wonderful write up on Cole and the shop! Check it out!
July 30, 2011
Thank you Barry for wearing our shirt on the A&E show "Storage Wars"! We all know you make the show!
July 29, 2011
The editors from of Heavy Duty magazine in Australia made a pit stop at the shop on their ride to Sturgis, SD! These guys don't even blink at the 1,500 miles ahead of them to the biker mecca! Thanks for the visit and for the cover last spring from your slick magazine!
July 14, 2011
Wow! Looks like Moon Eyes in Jeselo, Italy are representing! Thank you Amigos!
June 11 & 12, 2011
Biker Bikini Benefit in Ceseratico, Italy - near Venice
April 16, 2011
We wouldn't dare miss the "Hippy Killer Hoedown" in Winchester , CA! Our dear frineds Kutty & Jamie Noteboom really know how to put on a great shin dig! Bear'ne was even there!
http://hippykillersgarage.blogspot.com/
March 10 - 13, 2011
Moto Days Roma, Italy. Thank you to Ela Dutch, Jeff Decker , Bobby, Elisa from Genuine Motorworks & all our Italian friends for making this so special! Ciao
December 10, 2010
Moon Eyes Yokohama show is our favorite show and somehow it just keeps getting better! Do no miss this show in December 2011 - we'll be there!
August 26, 2010
Neighborhood Clothing Japan NBHD Fall 2010 collection featuring Cole Foster
After a lot of work and collaboration from Shinsuke (Sin) Takizawa, his team of designers and Cole Foster a new clothing collection has been launched primarily in Japan, New York and LA. Sin founded the company Neighborhood apparel in Harajuku Japan over 15 years ago. He is the Calvin Klien of the East! They are now known globally as a pioneer of independent style brands, with deep roots in vintage and hot rod culture.
Cole had the pleasure to meet Sin a few years back at the Moon Eyes show in Yokohama. Sin later bought the Moon Rocket bike to add to his incredible collection of motorcycles and hot rods!
The new fall 2010 collection contains Cole Fosters new line, it includes Coles shirt logos and some traditional style racing jackets in tribute to Cole's father, Pat Foster. The jackets sell for around $400 and the t-shirts around $70. Below is a sample of the new line. Check out The Neighboorhood website for more info and store locations! www.neighborhood.jp
August 13, 2010
Pebble Beach Concurs is a show we never miss! It is one of the biggest and most prestigious car events in the world - right in our town! Museum cars and Historic race cars from all over the world are flown in for this event. There are several auto auctions, and nostalgia races also with legendary racers like Mario Andretti and Parnelli Jones
Great celeb watching too! Jeremy Piven (Entourage) kept wanting to play with Shelly's adorable French bulldog puppy i was carrying around!
July 18, 2010
Mooneyes, Irwindale Summer Car show. Shige & Chico never dissapoint. The weather was hot, but that didn't seem to affect the turn out one bit. Tons of Customs, Low Riders and Muscle cars. Henry bought out his 56 Nomad for our booth. The wheel of Death got a lot of use and the Deadend boys were represented too! The Jet car was impressive and drew a crowd with each pass it made down the track! Thank you Moon eyes!
July 9, 2010
West Coast Tattoo Show, Vancouver, Canada. Thank you Tim at Trick Factory Cutsoms for having us to your excellent show!
July 1, 2010
Great to see Chip at the LA Roadster show in Pomona!
Hello! we know it has been over a year since we have updated this site! We apologize - we do not have a full time web person to report on our busy lives. You can keep a more recent tab on Cole on facebook.com We could not even begin to document this last year! It has been wonderful!
Cole was invited by the USO military to help promote a motorcycle safety program for our overseas troops in southern Spain, Sicily and Naples, Italy. The trip was coordinated by Motorcycle enthusiast and head of safety Steve Kalnasy.
Along with Jose de Miguel & his beautiful girlfriend Ingred of Caribbean Custom Cycles in Puerto Rico! It was an incredible trip, with a lot of site seeing! We visited the island of Silicy then toured the ruins of Pompeii. It was amazing to see ruins over 2000 years old & wined and dinned as only the Italians can do!
We could never miss the incredible Mooneyes show in Yokohama! The Japanese kids are so hungry for custom culture! Big thank you to Shige, Chico and Makoto for all the hard work to pull off an effortless show!
Then the first part of 2010 Cole took a trip to Germany for the custom chrome dealer show
http://www.cyrilhuzeblog.com/2009/12/07/custom-chrome%C2%AE-40th-anniversary-from-custom-chopper-to-custom-bagger-and-everything-between/
where he built a cool 70's chopper!
Salinas boys were special guests at the Verona show in Italy in January 2010
http://www.motorbikeexpo.it/inglese/custom.htm
July 11, 2009
Cole is a feature in famed hot rod photographer Peter Vincents latest book "Hot Rod Garages"
Acclaimed hot rod photographer Peter Vincent takes readers into the shops and garages of more than two dozen rod and custom builders across the U.S. Hot Rod Garages shows how these work spaces inform and reflect each custom creation, whether of individuals crafting the cars of their dreams or prominent shops turning out cool rides for top dollar. The book offers an intimate look into the garages of legends like Pete Eastwood and shops such as Rolling Bones; celebrated builders-for-hire like Vern Tardel, and Cole Foster; and top-of-the-line shops such as Brizio Street Rods and Steve Moal’s operation.
June 9, 2009
Check out the increadable photos of Mark Kawakami! Thanks Mark and Liz!
May 27, 2009
We've added new shirts to our store, check it out!
May 9, 2009
Sorry folks that it has been so long since our last update.... just been too busy living life to report on it.
Last winter Cole built a 49 pan-head that debuted at the Moon eyes show in Yokohama, Japan to tons of press. The show was even bigger than last years show - a huge success! Thank you Shige, Chico and Makoto for the trip and all your hard work! mooneyes.com
photo by Giuseppe Roncen
But since then Cole has been putting some miles on it! The bike was mostly built with parts hanging around the shop and the motor was freshened by Pat Stevens of "Pats Machine Shop"in soulbyville, CA. Pat is a great guy and a solid motor builder. This is the second panhead he did for Cole. He even delivered the motor to the shop along with a chair he made out of an old tree with a chainsaw! Cole used an old BSA tank and made the rear fender from sheet metal with a stainless fender support. His good friend and world famous custom painter "Wild Bill Carter" laid some beautiful pearl and candy color to the bare metal. If you want the finest custom paint job give Bill a call (818) 807-2202!
Life is hard around here, when you have to ride your bike to a beautiful park to shoot with a beautiful model. The super talented photographer at Glenn Mcdowell www.mcdowellphoto.com shot these shots for a feature in "The Horse". So keep an eye out for that one, may be the cover.
Speaking of talent, check out Joyrides Art Company site that showcases the photographic and design work of Mark Kawakami. joyridesartco.blogspot.com
Mark and his lovely wife drove up from LA to spend a couple days shooting with cole, his work is pretty impressive! He will post the pics soon!
This month we will be headed to Santa Maria for our first bike show in the year,May 16,17! Seth from Horse Power Promotions puts on a first class event, with live music hot bikes and a bikini contest, i'm sure he won't disappoint! Come by our booth and say Hi and get some free swag! santamariamotorcyclemadness.com
The shop is always full of projects, but we are finishing up the last of 3 really cool 1963 Ecoline trucks for one of our favorite "hero's" Dan Woods. Dan used to work with Ed Roth in the 60's now he has a metal fabrication shop. He is the go to guy when your building those no budget homes that hang over a cliff of the pacific ocean and the engineer and artichet say it can't be done, he gets it done! His work is amazing!
So back to the truck he had Ryan Falconer custom build a 300cid fuel injected straight 6. The motor alone is a work of art with stainless and alumimum intake plenum, stainless headers all hand built just off the dyno at 290hp.
We also have a rad knuckle head from Ernesto in Vegas. He has been collectiing parts for his bike and choose salinas boys to put it all together and get her running!
We have a few new shirts that we will be adding to the site soon and get some more cool pics up! Thanks so mucho for checking us out!
susan
August, 2008
Welcome,
and thank you for taking a look around! Hope you enjoy our new look as the old site was in dire need of refreshing! Ryan Cochran from the Jalopy Journal designed these wonderful pages, now i just have to upload all the content! Wow! i wish the shop would slow down so i could catch up! Please be patient as i load the projects and magazine articles and try to get the site up to speed! The first magazine feature was over 17 years ago, so i only have over 100 magazine articles to scan resize, build new pages for and upload. I doubt it will ever be a complete chronicle, but we'll do our best to follow all the press they get from all around the world.
Also, i'll be adding new Salinas Boys shirts and caps to the store soon!
You can now get all your hot Salinas boys gear at Dotseth Speed & Performance shop at 865 Abbott Street in Salinas, CA! It will help you meet chicks!
Motorbooks Publications has just released the "Cole Foster and Salinas Boys Customs" hardback book! You will be able to order a signed copy on our site soon! Get one for yourself or your favorite Hot Rodder!
Please email me if you have any ideas or pictures you would like to share! Especially if you have added one of the Cole Foster tanks to your bike! Thank you again and enjoy!
sincerely,
susan foster
May, 2007
It has been busy around here.... The Boys took Bob Timmermind's 32 Ford out of the Pumpkin patch it was sitting in to a now classic Hot Rod! New rolling chassis, chevy crate engine, all new interior and black sateen paint (by Saul) finish his new ride! He and his lovely wife Claudia were so excited to drive it to their first car show. Bob has owned this car for over 30 years and this is the first time he has drove it!
Cole and Salinas Boys have been featured in 3 books so far this year with a hard back book of his own coming out this summer by Motorbooks.
"Hot Rod & Custom Chronicle" by Thom Taylor, The book features Cole's Ol Blue 54 Custom Chevy , a now timeless classic. Along with other timeless classics such as the ZZ Tops Eliminator, Chip Foose Grand Master sedan and the So-Cal Roadster
"Hot Rod Kings" by Kevin Thompson - venture into the shops of all-steel apostles
Hot Rod Kings takes the reader into the lives and garages of 11 of today’s most highly respected hot rod builders and customizers. Cole Foster, Scott Mugford, The Kennedy Brothers, Mercury Charlie, Sean Johnstun, Keith Tardel, Rudy Rodriguez, Mike Smith, Jimmy White, and Gary Howard are all consummate craftsmen, pouring their substantial skills and knowledge into many of the tightest traditionally styled hot rods and custom cars you’ll see anywhere. No billet trailer trash or TV studio garages here. Photographer David Perry and writer Kevin Thomson spent time with each of the featured builders to bring you the inside stories of where these men came from, what inspires them, and what their day-to-days are truly all about. Perry’s photography of the subjects’ shop operations and cars in progress, as well as some of the finished rods, is accompanied by the jumping and knowledgeable prose of Kevin “BoBo Tech” Thomson, resulting in a tasty slice of the true hot rod way of life.
Also, "Rockin' Down the Highway" by Paul Grushkin features Rock Stars and their cars and as you know Cole has built a few of those! http://rockindownthehighway.com/