Reader Rides
Reader Rides is the community showcase. This is your section, built for the people who actually wrench on their cars, drive them to shows, and care enough to share what they've built. Every car on this page was submitted by someone in Arizona, and every one has a story behind it. Some are six-figure restorations. Some are $3,000 project cars held together with willpower. Both belong here.
Why We Built This Section
Most car media focuses on the same builds from the same builders, usually whoever has the biggest budget or the loudest social media following. That leaves out a huge number of people doing interesting work in their garages and driveways all across the state. We wanted a space where anyone in Arizona could put their car in front of an audience that actually appreciates what went into it.
That's Reader Rides. No entry fee, no minimum build level, no judging panel. If you built it, bought it, inherited it, or rescued it from a field in Casa Grande, and you're proud of it, it has a place here.
What Gets Submitted
The variety is what makes this section worth browsing. In any given month, we might get a frame-off restored 1967 Mustang fastback from a retired machinist in Mesa, a coyote-swapped Fox Body from a college student in Tempe, a lifted Tacoma built for Arizona trail running from someone in Tucson, and a slammed Miata daily driver from Chandler. There's no dominant style. That's Arizona.
We also get submissions from club builds, father-son projects, and cars that have been in the same family for generations. Those tend to be some of the best stories, even if the car itself isn't the flashiest thing on the page.
How to Submit Your Ride
Keep it simple. Send us a few photos of your car (outdoor shots in natural light work best, but garage photos are fine too), tell us the basics (year, make, model, major modifications), and give us the story. How did you end up with it? What have you done to it? What's the plan? That last part matters. A car doesn't need to be finished to be featured. Some of the most interesting submissions are mid-build.
We review every submission and post them in batches. If your car catches our eye for a deeper story, we may reach out about doing a full feature article. Several of our most popular features started as reader ride submissions. That 1969 Camaro restoration out of Tempe? That started right here.
From the Community
Reader Rides isn't just a gallery. It's a way for the Arizona car community to see itself. When you browse this section, you're looking at the real cross-section of what people are building and driving in this state. It's a better representation of Arizona car culture than any single show or meet could ever be, because it pulls from every city, every style, and every budget.
We see a lot of the same cars at cruise nights and shows around the Valley, and that's great. But Reader Rides captures the cars that might not make it out to events every weekend. The garage queen that only comes out for special occasions. The daily driver that looks stock but has serious work under the hood. The project that's been "almost done" for three years. All of it belongs here.
Browse and Get Inspired
Scroll through the submissions below. If something catches your eye, check out the owner's story. And if you're on the fence about submitting your own car, just do it. Nobody here is going to judge you for having a car that isn't perfect. That's not what this is about. We want to see what Arizona is building, one car at a time.
For more stories from the community, the Goodguys online gallery features builds from their Arizona events and is worth checking out for inspiration.