THE BURNOUTS STORY
Burnouts officially come to life in 2001, but it really came to life when I could hold a pencil. My name is
Cliff Guinand and I've always loved drawing, especially performance machines, thus what you see here. Even though it's called Burnouts Garage, it's more than just the art, it's about the culture, people and machines!
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The Art of Burnouts
Growing up on a ranch in Northeastern Alberta, art was not a priority – doing the chores, haying and feeding cattle were. Well, I must have had some time, because I always remember drawing. Right from grade school and up through high school I always had to justify why all my note books were filled with doodles and sketches – mainly of cars of course.
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My name is Cliff Guinand, the art behind Burnouts Hotrod Wear and here's a little background to what makes me tick, err, draw.
On the ranch, my dad, as many rural residents had to be fixers, so growing up there was always that influence which rubbed off on us, more on my older brother which led to him always having a muscle car which in turn, rubbed off on me. That, along with magazines from the '70's influenced that part of it, but buying CarToons magazine really got me into the art of hotrods and muscle cars.
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This love of drawing led me to attend the Alberta College of Art & Design in Calgary in the early 80’s which lead to making a living with something I enjoyed doing. It seems that the world of advertising required creative talent, so after graduating I got a job in that crazy business - of which I still do today.
Then, as life so often dictates, I got married, went to work, bought a house and began raising a family. Then in the late ’90’s I got back into the muscle car realm, and drawing them. This time, these drawings packed a lot more attitude. Along with these fire breathing illustrations, I drew on my years in advertising and had fun coming up with related headlines that assisted in the over all attitude of the image.
This new line of Burnouts illustrations were derived from growing up with ‘Cartoons’ magazine, with cartoon masters like Steve Austin, George Trosley and Dave Deal to name a few. I also looked way back at the 60’s to the art of ‘Big Daddy’ Ed Roth and his crazy Rat Fink machines. So, armed with a talent and reaching back to my boyhood hero’s, Burnouts Hotrod Wear began in the fall of 2001.
Burnouts is my art and soul poured onto fabric, so I’m hoping you enjoy these images and muscle car t-shirts as much as I had producing them.
The Muscle behind Burnouts
As I mentioned here, I got into muscle machines thru influences like my dad and my brother Ted, but it was also the people who you hung out with back then and now, which I might add, people in our hobby are great people.
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When I was 14 years old, my uncle Alec McDonald was working up in Ft. McMurray and a guy who migrated out west from Ontario blew the 383 in his '67 Dodge Coronet 500. He asked my uncle if he knew if anyone wanted it cheap. Well, I had a few bucks put away and soon had my first muscle car. My brother helped me rebuild the 383, well, OK, he rebuilt it, haha. And soon after I was ripping thru the fields and backcountry roads with it because I wouldn't be turning 16 for another year. During that time I had done some questionable modifications but hey, it was cool to me. It became my high school wheels and many memories were made with it in the late '70's.
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I got a job during grade 12 at a local dealership/gas station and with a the extra jingle in my pockets, a 318 powered '73 'cuda was traded in and no sooner had the deal been done, I had a dark green 'cuda with flat black stripes and power bulge hood which was an upgrade from the old Coronet which was now parked at the ranch. The 'cuda soon went thru the whole 'day two' modifications, with Cragar SST's with big meats out back and skinnies up front with all the chrome goodies under the hood. Hey, it must of looked good because I started dating a young lady who would a number of years later became my wife.
In the early '80's I attended the Alberta College of Art & Design behind the wheel of the 'cuda but before graduating and about to get married – I sold it. Hey, that's life, right.
So performance was put on hold until I had the opportunity to get my uncle Alec's '60 Dodge D100 in 1999. He had had it for years but it was tired and needed a new home, so, with a couple young boys, I bought a project. Well, the old Dodge was pretty rough so I bought a couple '59's, all of which were 318 poly equipped, and out of the 3, I made a single 'driver' out of them, of which I still have fun with today - the Burnouts Garage parts runner.
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Then, in the summer of 2004, again my uncle Alec, who had a lifelong effect on me, and after the old Dodge was done, knew I needed another project and told me about a couple old Mopar's up there in the Lac La Biche area. Well, one wasn't for sale but the old relic down in the slough by the creek was.
Hmmmm, well, that car turned out to be a very rare '72 Swinger 340 Special which is one-of-seventeen 'special' order cars by Crosstown Motor City in Edmonton. Once this car was pulled out of it's wintery grave it was just too far gone, of which I still have but in 2016 another one these 17 cars became available and a full rotisserie restoration commenced. It was debuted at the 2018 Calgary World of Wheels to great fanfare. It was featured in Bone Stock magazine and was soon after invited to the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals over in Chicago. Wow. Subsequently, it's been featured in a number of US magazines, blogs and sites. Crazy ride! With that, this car has taken me all over – physically and emotionally – people said they don't exist, and yes, they weren't supposed to, but this dealership was able to order a handful after Chrysler discontinued the Swinger 340 after the 1970 production year – of which I'm blessed to have two.
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See more on these rare cars at www.swinger340specials.ca
Oh, and there are a few more project cars that are in my corral, one is a B7 '70 Swinger 340 retired race car that will soon be restored as what I'm calling the 'Burnouts Brawler'. As well, I have a very rough '78 Dodge Macho PowerWagon with a 400 Big Block that I have no idea what I'll be doing with. Interested?
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Anyway, I guess you can say that I 'walk the walk, and talk the talk' when it comes to my hotrod and muscle car art. Living the dream... living the dream.
Wacom Hand Image
