Cars are often closely tied to our relationships with family and friends, but even more so with our parents. We'd be willing to bet you have vivid memories of your parents' cars from your childhood. You may recall these vehicles from long road trips, rides to school, or even from helping rebuild and maintain them. After a while, some of these vehicles may start to feel like members of the family. This was the case for Farid Wadood, of Los Angeles, California, and his mom's 1985 Buick Regal.

You've probably heard of the Chevy Nomad, a unique and iconic two-door wagon body style that was available only as a Tri-Five Chevy Bel Air model. The two-door Nomads are so well-known that some classic car fans will mistakenly refer to all Bel Air wagons by that name. However, aside from the two-door Nomad, there was also a four-door Bel Air wagon body style. This 1957 Bel Air wagon belongs to Dan Naughton, of San Clemente, California.

We're always impressed to hear about "survivor" cars, found in barns or dusty garages in all-original condition with extremely low miles. However, it's just as cool to see vehicles at the opposite end of the spectrum. Some classic cars are daily-driven year after year, decade after decade, racking up miles and soldiering on with incredible reliability. Such is the case for this 1969 Dodge Dart GT. Its slant-6 engine has covered nearly 430,000 miles without a single rebuild.

Restoring a classic car is a labor of love, and that often means it takes a substantial amount of time to complete the project. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day. But ask anyone who has poured hard-earned money, sweat, and possibly even some blood into bringing their beloved car back to its flawless original condition, and they'll certainly attest that it was worth it in the long run. Ron Pinegar, of Huntington Beach, California, is no exception. His 1962 Chevy Nova convertible underwent a 10-year restoration.

The Classic Industries Retail Showroom is always busy with customers browsing our catalogs and picking up restoration parts for their project cars and trucks. Many of these customers are Southern California locals, but quite a few others stop by while visiting from other states or even other countries. However, last week our showroom received an extra-special visitor: Dave Kunz from ABC7 Eyewitness News. Dave and his film crew took a look behind the scenes at Classic Industries and interviewed company founder and CEO Jeff Leonard.

After decades of hard work, retirement can provide a welcome period of relaxation and time to pursue hobbies. But Ron Keller, of Huntington Beach, California, wanted more than to spend his retired days on the golf course. Instead, he decided to take on a long-term restoration project for one of his all-time favorite classic cars: the 1957 Chevy Bel Air.

Although the top-of-the-line Chevy Bel Air has always been popular among classic car fans, we've been pleased to see an increased trend of restoring other variants of the Tri-Five as well. Some of this is due to the popularity of Bel Air models making unrestored examples harder to find, but it's also a result of a growing appreciation for the entire line offered by Chevrolet from 1955 to 1957. If you ask us, all Tri-Fives are cool, from 150 to 210 and Bel Air to Nomad.

Every project has to start somewhere, and customers often tell us about the rough state their vehicles were in before restoration began. While we always enjoy hearing these stories and seeing the spotless completed projects, it's not often that we get to observe the starting point of these builds. But on rare occasions, rather than describing the unrestored condition of a car or truck, an owner will share some photos of exactly what it looked like on day one of ownership. Such is the story of this 1967 Chevy C10.

In 1967, General Motors introduced a complete redesign of its C/K pickup series. These new trucks featured elegant lines and an increased emphasis on features and comfort. Although they were still durable workhorses that could be used on-road, off-road, at farms or job sites, and around town, GM recognized that many truck buyers were looking for the sort of refinement normally found in cars. This trend was just beginning at the time, but has grown into a huge luxury-truck segment today.

Unassuming "sleeper" cars can be a lot of fun, since it's always entertaining to surprise onlookers by achieving impressive horsepower and performance in an otherwise ordinary-looking vehicle. However, it can be just as much fun to build a vehicle that has no qualms about showing off its potential for the world to see. Much like a venomous snake with brightly-colored stripes that tell predators "don't mess with me", these raucous cars send a loud and clear message about their potential.