When the Chevrolet Corvette was introduced in 1953, the car was hailed as America's answer to British sports cars such as Jaguar and MG. Needless to say, the Corvette has come a long way since then.

Designed by legendary General Motors stylist Harley Earl, only 300 of the 1953 Corvette C-1 model were produced in GM's Flint, MI plant. Despite an anemic 150 horsepower 'Blue Flame' 235 cubic inch straight six-cylinder engine and a two-speed automatic transmission, the hand-crafted car quickly caught on and is today one of America's most collectible vehicles.

More than 250 of the original 1953 model are in existence and command upwards of one-half million dollars at auction depending on the vehicle's condition. That's pretty good money considering the car's original base price was $3,498.

According the Muscle Up Performance owner and former NASCAR driver Rich Bickle, little changed on the Corvette in terms of suspension and handling characteristics during the car's early years from 1953-1962.

It seems like just yesterday Muscle Up Performance was opening its doors. Suddenly, it’s almost a year later and the holidays are here.

That said, we’d like to say ‘thanks’ for a great first year and wish everyone the best of holiday seasons. Remember to celebrate responsibly and we’ll see you for all of your hot rod, classic, and of course, muscle car restoration, renovation and repairs in 2009.

Happy Holidays to all from Muscle Up Performance!

A couple of weeks ago, we got so excited about showing you the artist paint concepts and initial work we were doing on our 1964 Ford Fairlane Muscle Up Performance project car that we forgot to show you what we were starting with.

That's why we've posted a whole bunch of the original donor car shots of this classic Dearborn iron on our Photo Gallery. There's some new restoration shots too - as well as slides of all the cool Murray Pfaff paint concepts - more than 25 of them - that we're considering for what is going to be an awesome resto rod when completed.

To keep up with the build process of this car, check out the gallery of the Muscle Up Performance 1964 Ford Fairlane by clicking on the following link. Once in the gallery, just click on any photo to enlarge.

Enjoy the ride, and remember, you can purchase this custom classic 1964 Ford Fairlane or discuss how Muscle Up Performance can turn your muscle car, hot rod, truck or classic into a showpiece by calling 608-754-4545.

Here the gallery link - Enjoy, and thanks for looking.

http://www.muscleupperformance.com/photog/thumbnails.php?album=12

A wet weekend did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd for Muscle Up Performance products and services on display at the 15 ^th -Annual GoodGuys Rod & Custom Southeast Nationals at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

Rain on Friday and Saturday hardly registered with the thousands of car buffs who weaved their way through aisles of vendors ringed by more than 3,000 muscle cars, hot rods and classic cars. As usual, there were more cool cars than you could imagine according to Muscle Up owner Rich Bickle.

"They had some incredible cars there this year," said Bickle. "They looked great, even in the rain and wet. I just wish I would have been able to take more time away from our Muscle Up Performance display to walk around the show and see all of them."

Bickle stayed close to home discussing the finer points of Muscle Up Performance chassis and body fabrication.

"We didn't talk to as many people as we thought we would, but that was really a product of the weather," said Bickle. "Still, we got some good leads on new business and that, along with showing people your products and services, is what these shows are all about for us."

Muscle Up Performance will take its show on the road this weekend as a vendor/exhibitor at the 15 ^th -Annual GoodGuys Rod & Custom Southeast Nationals at Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

The show will feature more than 3,000 muscle cars, hot rods and classics as well as hundreds of specialty parts vendors this Friday-Sunday, October 24-26. According to Muscle Up owner and former NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series driver Rich Bickle, this is one car show you won't want to miss.

"It's going to be interesting working a car show at Lowes instead of racing there," said Bickle of the 1.5-mile Lowes oval. "It's going to be a great show - tons of incredibly cool cars on display everywhere and parts for just about anything someone might have in their garage. If it has something to do with a custom, classic, hot rod, muscle car or truck, this show is going to have it."

Over the years, Detroit has crafted many classic cars. The 1957 T-Bird is one of them and that makes restoring one to original condition a very special project for Muscle Up Performance.

"Yeah, it's a great car," said Rich Bickle, owner of Muscle Up Performance. "The owner of this car got it from his father-in-law, so he wants it to be restored back to what the factory originally provided. That's what we're going to give him."

The car was anything but a classic when the team of restoration experts at Muscle Up took possession of the vehicle.

When   it comes to classic lines, the 1964 Ford Fairlane is one of the coolest body concepts to ever come out of the Ford styling studios in Dearborn, MI. Long, lean and sleek, the 1964 Fairlane had it all – until now.

The latest creation from Muscle Up Performance is turning a classic Blue Oval ride it into a 21 ^st century showpiece. Best of all, this car – with a completely personalized color scheme – could be yours according to Muscle Up owner Rich Bickle.

“We’ve been working with Murray Pfaff, a great graphic artist out of Michigan,” said Bickle. “We’ve started the build on this car and now is the perfect time to buy it because we can color coordinate it anyway you want. For this car, Murray has provided more than 25 different paint concepts to choose from, but he can personalize this or any car for our customers. He has a real eye for color. Any car he does for any of our customers is going to be totally unique, a one-of-a-kind show quality vehicle. All you have to do is take a look at the concepts for this car to see that.”

Rich Bickle has won more than 260 stock car races in his career, but few of those victories were as satisfying as capturing the 1990 National Short Track Championships at Rockford Speedway.

"It was huge for me to win that race," stated Bickle, who will compete in the Super Late Model portion of the 43 ^rd -annual NSTC event at Rockford this weekend. "I grew up at that track watching my dad race there. I won every contest they had for kids there - the bowling ball toss, the bike race, the penny grab, the grocery cart push, the demolition derby. Any promotion for kids, I won it. As a driver, I had the Short Track Championships bagged three or four times only to have something come up. Rockford had a stranglehold on me and to finally win it was a huge thrill for me."

The latest Muscle Up Performance project - a 1970 Chevy Chevelle for Linda Hammen - is coming along nicely.

The car, which will eventually be an asphalt eating monster featuring a 502 cubic inch fuel injected engine, is in the fabrication stages at Muscle Up. The car was previously media blasted and now the vehicle is being massaged by a team of fabricators and welders.

  "Linda had a 1970 Chevelle as a kid and she really loved it," said Muscle Up Performance owner Rich Bickle. "We were able to find a body for her out in California and we built a Muscle Up Performance full-frame replacement for it. It's going to be pretty neat."

There are several advantages to replacing the stock frame of your muscle car or hot road with a full frame, bolt in chassis replacement from Muscle Up Performance. One of them is the new chassis allows owners of classic iron to bolt on additional 21 ^st -century performance parts according to Muscle Up owner Rich Bickle.

"We use a lot of parts on our replacement chassis that we use in racing," said Bickle. "Companies like Wilwood and QA-1 have products for both racing and the hot rod and muscle car market. Their products are very complimentary to what we are trying to accomplish with our chassis - give a customer the best and safest handling and performance packages available."

Bickle knows a little bit about performance and handling - he's won more than 250 short-track stock car races in his 30-year racing career and was also a winner in the biggest racing league in the country - NASCAR. If anyone can speak to the benefits of superior handling and chassis performance, it's Bickle.

George Laschewski knew exactly what he wanted when he decided to restore a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro.

"I wanted a car that was going to be worth something in the end," said Laschewski. "A lot of places take short cuts, you spend $20-$40,000 and wind up with nothing. Everybody charges about the same - there might be about 10-15 percent difference between shops. It's still a lot of money, especially if you wind up with junk. I took it to Rich Bickle and Kevin Laatsch at Muscle Up because they know what they are doing and they care about what they are doing."

Laschewski, an Ottawa, Canada resident, knows a little bit about cars and restoration considering how many he has in his current collection.

"I've got a lot of cars right now," said Laschewski. "I really can't remember how many I have. I probably have more than 20 right now."

More than 200 people and over 75 muscle cars, customs, hot rods, classic cars and trucks showed up for the Muscle Up Performance Grand Opening and Open House this past Saturday, August 23.

“Considering it rained most of the morning, I thought we had a really good turnout for the event,” said Muscle Up Performance owner and former NASCAR driver Rich Bickle. “It just poured about an hour after we got going, but a lot of people still came bringing out their cars and taking tours of our shop. In all, everyone had a good time and it was a very successful event for us despite the weather.”

Opened earlier this year, Muscle Up Performance is a full-service restoration and repair shop for classic cars from the 1920’s through the 1970’s. The showpiece of the company is a cutting edge designed bolt-in replacement frame that allows owners of older classic vehicles the option of updated chassis, suspension and braking parts.

Muscle Up Performance and Hot Rod Shop - Wisconsin's newest full service classic, muscle car and hot rod restoration, repair and design facility - will hold an open house Saturday, August 23 from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Located in Janesville, WI at 4100 Newville Road, the 11.000 square-foot office/shop complex features nine work bays, a metal fabrication shop, a full body shop including paint booth and media blasting room, a parts room, assembly area and waiting area.

  The open house will feature a free of charge 'shine up what you brung' car show, a live radio remote from the The Hog 105.9, an appearance by the local Janesville Hooters Girls, and , of course, tours of the new Muscle Up Performance shops.

The largest car show to hit the state of Wisconsin this summer – the Goodguys 19 ^th -Annual Great Lakes Nationals – will be held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI this weekend and Muscle Up Performance will be right in the middle of it.

The show, which will feature more than 2,000 muscle cars, hot rods and classics, will be the place to be this Friday-Sunday, August 15-17, according to Muscle Up owner and former NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series driver Rich Bickle.

“If you are into cars, especially classic muscle cars and hot rods, this is going to be like being in a huge candy story,” stated Bickle. “This is easily the biggest and best show in the state this year. It’s going to be amazing.”

About two months ago, we gave you a first look a 1968 Ford Mustang we're doing for NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Travis Kvapil. The car, which had originally started out to be an 'Eleanor' clone from the movie Gone In 60 Seconds, has morphed into something very, very special.

"It's turning out to be a pretty amazing car," said Muscle Up Performance owner Rich Bickle. "Kevin (Muscle Up shop foreman Kevin Laatsch) and the guys have done a great job with it. We still have a few body parts to hang and we have to get the interior in it, and then it will pretty much be ready to go. I'm thinking we'll get the car down to Travis in North Carolina sometime this fall."

Kvapil, driver of the No. 28 Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup ranks, is sure to be pleased with the final results. The car, perched on a Muscle Up Performance full frame chassis replacement, has a high-speed look while even sitting still. The car features QA-1 Shocks, Black Cobra Wheels and Nexen Tires (225/30/18 front, 245/4018 back). A Heidt's independent rear end with a Ford 9-inch center section adds to the ride and handling qualities of the car while stopping power is provided by Wilwood Brakes on all four corners.

A quick look under the hood of this Muscle Up Performance 1940 Ford Truck and you'll be scratching your head trying to guess exactly what you are seeing.

"Nobody ever guesses what it is," states Rich Bickle, owner of Muscle Up Performance. "It's actually a 100 horsepower Ford Flathead V-8 that we put dummy Hemi valve covers and a air cleaner shaped like a blower on it. It really has a four barrel carb under there. People walk up to it and they have no idea what it is. It runs really great, and it goes down the road really straight."

The 'cheater' Ford pickup is just the latest creation to come out of Muscle Up Performance - Wisconsin's newest and most complete muscle car, hot rod, and classic car restoration shop.

Looking for something unique to play with that gets great gas mileage? Look no farther than this 1928 Ford Model A Highboy Pick Up Truck created by Muscle Up Performance and Hot Rod Shop.

The truck, which will be on display and put up for sale this weekend at the Thresherman's Park Swap Meet in Janesville, WI, is a real head turner according to Muscle Up Performance owner Rich Bickle.

"I get all kind of looks when we drive it down the street," Bickle stated. "It's a real throwback to the hot rods of the 1940's and 1950's with its fenderless, stripped down look and flat-black paint. Everywhere we take it, people stop to look at it."

Rich Bickle had a frustrating night finishing 15 ^th in the 29th-Annual Miller Lite Nationals at Slinger Super Speedway Tuesday. The three-time Nationals titlest saw his chances of a record-tying fourth championship in the prestigious super late model event go up in smoke when he was crashed out of the 200-lap event on the 150 ^th circuit.

"Rich Loch came off of Turn 2 and bounced off the outside back stretch wall," said Bickle. "Then he went into Turn 3 and got loose. I tried to drive under him and he cut right down from the outside groove to the bottom of the track. He hit my right front tire with his door bars and got sideways. Instead of driving out of it, he drove right over the front of my car. That was it for us. We were done. It's a shame. We had a good car. I'm not sure we would have won, but we were way better than Kyle Busch and he finished fourth."

Rich Bickle will try to capture one of the most prestigious titles in all of short-track racing when he competes in the 29th-Annual Miller Lite Nationals at Slinger Super Speedway this Tuesday, July 15th.

"The track hasn't changed a bit," said Bickle, the 1992, 1996 (left) and 2003 Nationals champion. "The competition is just as tough, there just isn't as much of it. Back in the 1980's, there would be more than 60 cars in the pits. Now, there's usually 40 to 45 or so. It's still tough, one of the toughest races to win anywhere. That's why I keep coming back. It's great competition."

Opened in 1948, Slinger is a quarter mile in length and banked to the sky. Bickle, the 1989 Slinger regular season champion, made his Nationals debut in 1981 and knows his No. 45 Perlick Chevrolet Monte Carlo will have to be faster than fast to make the starting field in this year's Nationals. It will take a qualifying time in the mid 11-second range to win the pole for Tuesday's 200-lap event. Anything in the mid-12's, and you're probably on the trailer headed home.

When Larry Neman was looking for someone to provide the backbone of his 1940 Packard convertible restoration, he looked no farther than Rich Bickle's Muscle Up Performance and Hot Rod Shop.

"If first met Rich and was introduced to Muscle Up Performance at the Jefferson (WI) car meet this spring," said Neman. "Later, I came down to their shop in Janesville and it really looked like they knew what they were doing. At that point, I said let's go for it."

Neman rescued the vintage Packard about seven years ago after it was destroyed in a museum fire. Of all the pieces left of the car, the frame was the worst of them. Rusted and worn out, Neman took the car to Muscle Up Performance looking to revive the backbone of the unique vehicle.

Rich Bickle rolled to a sixth-place finish in the star-studded All Star Challenge super late model stock car race Tuesday night at Madison International Speedway. The event, which featured top NASCAR stars Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch, drew more than 8,000 fans to the Oregon, WI raceway.

“We had a really good car, but the driver decided to run our air pressures too low in both segments,” said Bickle. “It would take too much time for the tires to come up to pressure after a restart. It just took us too long to get going. Once we did, we were just about the fastest car on the racetrack. If we would have run 100-laps straight, we would have killed them.”

Bickle’s No. 45 Perlick Chevrolet Monte Carlo started the 24-car, 100-lap main event from the seventh position after posting a lap of 17.72 in qualifying.

“The car gave me all it had,” said Bickle. “It was so good that we only took about five laps of practice before we covered it up. Honestly, I didn’t think there were that many cars there that could beat us.”

After months of working double shift days to establish his latest business venture, Rich Bickle is finally going to get back to what he really enjoys doing - driving a race car.

The Wisconsin short track ace and 15-year NASCAR veteran has entered Tuesday's Madison International Speedway All Star Challenge - an event that will feature a full field of the midwest's super late model stock cars and drivers - along with NASCAR Sprint Cup stars Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.

"I used to be the big draw for these kind of races back when I was in Cup, but now I guess I'm just a field filler," joked Bickle from his office at Muscle Up Performance and Hot Rod Shop in Janesville, WI. "With Matt, Tony and Kyle coming up, it's going to be a big deal and I'd like nothing better than to go up there and kick their butts. We've got a good car and hopefully, she'll run the way we want it to the whole race. I think we'll be able to be right there racing them for the win. I'm looking forward to it."

As a NASCAR driver, Rich Bickle competed out of some of the best shops in the sport. Now, as owner of Muscle Up Performance and Rod Shop in Janesville, WI. he's trying to replicate that kind of quality and dedication to excellence.

"We want this to be the turnkey shop for area muscle car and hot rod enthusiasts," said Bickle. "We want people to know that Muscle Up Performance is a place where they can get everything from the smallest repair job to a complete frame off restoration/customization of their favorite car."

During his 16-year NASCAR career, Bickle raced with some of the best teams in the sport including Petty Enterprises, Hendrick Motorsports, Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, Cale Yarborough Motorsports and his own Bickle-Smith Motorsports. At each stop, the Edgerton, WI native learned more about what it takes to run a successful high performance automotive facility.

When NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Travis Kvapil decided to restore a classic 1968 Ford Mustang, he wasn't quite sure what he wanted the finished product to be.

"Initially, I didn't have a plan or a direction with the car," said Kvapil, who wheels the No. 28 Team Yates Ford Fusion in NASCAR's top series this season. "I kind of thought I might want to replicate the 'Eleanor' car from the movie Gone In 60 Seconds. That car was so tough and mean looking and I wanted something like that. But as we got going with it, we kept doing our own thing. Now it's pretty much evolved into a hot rod rather than a replica car."

True to his racer's roots, Kvapil initially focused on the performance of the car. That led to a discussion with Kevin Laatsch at Muscle Up Performance about just how good the car could be.

"I got up with Kevin and he said we needed to build a full frame complete with coil over shocks, rack and pinion steering, the works," said Kvapil. "I agreed and just kind of let Kevin go with it. We wound up with an incredible chassis featuring all kinds of stuff including an independent rear suspension and four-piston brakes all around. Along with the rack, coilovers and performance tires, this car is going to handle really well."

When Randy Johnson was looking to make his 1966 Chevelle restoration project the best it could be, he had little trouble choosing a Muscle Up Performance designed bolt-in, full-frame replacement chassis as the core of his muscle car makeover.

"I thought about using the stock chassis, especially since the original car had a really nice, clean frame," said Johnson, a Kewaskum, WI resident and owner of D&Z Customs. "I could do it, but I would have to channel it and move quite a few things around. Then I saw the Muscle Up Performance chassis and a lot of the stuff had already been figured out for me. Also, the rigidity of the Muscle Up chassis was 10 times better than anything that I could get the stock frame to do. At that point, it was a no brainer for me."

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. That proved to be the case in the latest Muscle Up Performance and Hot Rod Shop custom creation – a 1931 Ford open air sedan.

“When I first saw the car, it was in a field with the rear quarterpanels, back panel and the cowl laying in a pile,” said Rich Bickle, owner of Muscle Up Performance, a Janesville, WI. classic, muscle car and hot rod restoration business . “I paid $100 for it and when I brought it back to the shop and told the guys I was going to make a car out of it, they said I was crazy.”

Crazy turned into classic within six weeks as Bickle and the Muscle Up Performance team of restoration experts quickly took the new design of the car well beyond its original concept.

As a 15-year NASCAR driver, Rich Bickle had seen plenty of rainstorms hit the racetrack, but none of those were anything like the downpour he experienced at the Madison Classics Car Show and Swap Meet held at Jefferson (WI) Speedway this past weekend.

“We got there Friday and just after we got set up, a monsoon hit,” said Bickle (left), who was debuting his new Muscle Up Performance and Hot Rod Shop business at the annual Madison Classics spring event.   “Man, we got soaked. The water was over the bottom of the wheels of our display vehicles. I bet there was nearly a foot of standing water where we were set up. It was a muddy mess.”

Friday’s wet weather all but made Bickle’s display space unusable and it was just a taste of what was to come when he and his Muscle Up Performance team returned to the outdoor show and swap meet Saturday.

“Fortunately, I had some friends that had some extra exhibit space up on the dry asphalt part of the show, so we took our entire display and moved it up by them Saturday morning,” said Bickle. “The weather was still pretty miserable Saturday because the temperature was in the 40s and the winds blew all day long with gusts up to 40 miles per hour. Late in the day when the wind quickly dried all the mud from the previous day, we wound up having a dust storm. We went from a monsoon to freezing to a dust storm all in the span of 24 hours. At least on Sunday we had some good weather and the show wasn’t a total loss.”

Located in Janesville, WI, the 11.000 square-foot office/shop complex features nine work bays, a metal fabrication shop, a full body shop including paint booth and media blasting room, a parts room, assembly area and waiting area.

"I wanted to have a construction/restoration shop that could do everything from a spot on matching number original car to a radical muscle car or hot rod," said Bickle. "I think we've achieved that goal. We can do everything from building a perfect Ford Flat Head V-8 to a 21st century muscle car based on a race inspired frame and chassis components." (MuscleUpPerformance.com Photo)