Deadend Custom Capital – Candy, Flake and Fun
The Deadend Custom Capital show has been rolling strong for five straight years and I’ve been fortunate enough to have attended them all. It all started as a 10th anniversary celebration for Deadend Magazine but has snowballed into an annual affair. Some years have been easier than others, and it would have been really easy to find an excuse to miss the show this year. The Friday before the event was a 15-hour day in a shop with a temperature at 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Sunday following the Deadend Custom Capital I had two of my own vehicles scheduled for another event and had to leave for roll-in around sunrise. It would have been really easy to use that Saturday to split the Friday/Sunday work load but I didn’t even think twice about it.
When Saturday morning rolled around I didn’t question doing a 300-mile round trip drive to get to Manzanita Park in Prunedale either. There was no way I was going to let a few little obstacles get in the way of seeing year five of this fun, family-style custom car show.
Much of this year followed the same formula as the previous year, and after all if it’s not broke don’t fix it right? Just like any other car guys and gals though, the Deadend team tuned it up a bit with minor tweaks and additions. This year’s event featured a new model car and pedal car exhibit which as you can imagine, was a big hit with the kiddos.
Some other show features weren’t outright changed, but just “turned up to eleven” so to speak. The model car display isn’t unique to this show alone, but the method used to display them was something I hadn’t seen at another event before. Rather than just a row of little cars on a table somewhere, attendees were treated to an entire cruise scene complete with roads and buildings. Honestly if I didn’t feel like I was hogging the display I could have spent a lot more time shooting this part of the show.
Of course, the reason we all show up is for the full size cars, and those were spectacular as always. The Deadend Custom Capital was just as advertised and full of traditional style American customs, low riders, and hot rods. Mild to wild you’ll find it here, and I always see something here that I don’t get to see anywhere else.
Add in the mild Prunedale weather, a huge park and you have the perfect way to spend a day. We tip our cap to Deadend Magazine publishers Jose and Juan Espinoza for continuing to carry the torch for the Nor Cal custom car scene. Nobody does it better!
