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Chuck Vranas draws inspiration from a lifetime fascination with traditional hot rods and customs every time he picks up one of his cameras. Since he started burning film on wicked cars well-over twenty years ago Chuck has captured the essence of each one’s inner soul. Well known for his dramatic images and East Coast writing style, he has put down thousands of miles over the years crisscrossing the country, hopping the pond to England, and venturing into the great white north of Canada to cover some of the coolest soup-jobs and their unique stories.
A true hot rod enthusiast, Chuck owns the well-known Lady Luck II ’23 Ford T-bucket powered by a dual-quad fed big-block Chevy V-8 and a pre-war era survivor ’33 Ford five-window with a stroked 59AB Flathead V-8 known as the Devil’s Coupe, recently rescued from 50-plus years of storage. Chuck is currently working on a ’46 Chevy barn-find pickup project named the Hoodoo Hauler which will reflect an early ‘60s-era style.
In 2008, Chuck received his Rookie license at the 60th Anniversary of Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats piloting a Flathead V-8 powered ’32 Ford roadster on the 3-mile course, attaining a speed of 117.056 mph. In 2009 he completed the Voodoo Doll ’27 Ford touring which competed for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California.
A graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, Chuck began his career covering automotive events for some of the finest national and international rodding magazines published. His milestones, features, shop tours, tech articles, and event coverage regularly appeared on the pages of Street Rodder, Rod & Custom, Classic Truck, Custom Classic Truck, Camaro Performers, Chevy Classics, Chevy High Performance, Super Chevy, Popular Hot Rodding, and Rolls & Pleats. He is also a contributor to Custom Car UK, Classic American UK, Gasoline Sweden, V8 Passion Canada and Kustoms Illustrated magazines.
Chuck’s collaborated on three book ventures, providing the majority of the images for “The Jalopy Jam-Up Chronicles”, “Great American Hot Rods: A Full Throttle Chronicle of Custom Cars from the Street, Show and Strip” on KP Books, and the children’s book “Custom Cars (Motor Mania Series),” with Lerner Publishing.