Kurt Morrow pointed to the raised hairs along his neck.

The roar of the '72 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead filled his shop near Ventura Avenue. He turned the motorcycle off, and his voice could be heard, his passion for motorcycles evident with each word he spoke.

Morrow will join fellow hot rod and custom culture aficionados for the fifth annual Primer Nationals on Saturday and Sunday at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. The event brings together American-made pre-1965 customs, hot rods, trucks, woodies, low riders, race cars and motorcycles.

Behind each carefully crafted vehicle, there is a story. Stories of long hours spent working and molding what many would consider rusted junk into gems that grab people's hearts and jog memories of youth. The Primer Nationals is a candy store for car lovers.

The event's diverse offerings include the art of Oxnard's Arturo Rivas Jr., car building skills of Matt Noble and rockabilly music from the Phantom Riders.

"It's always full of hand-built old-style cars and hand-built, old-style motorcycles, and that's where it's very cool," Morrow said.

Owners work on these built-from-the-ground-up cars, instead of paying big bucks to have a professional custom shop shape the car. People who attend are going to see something new and innovative, promoter John Parker said.

"These cars are unique. They are not cookie cutters. It's not just a '56 Chevy two-door with some custom wheels on it," Parker said. "These cars are melded together with many different years and models and what works and stuff that was discovered out at Bonneville and El Mirage Lake by the early hot-rodders. Some of their discoveries and their traditions and their little things are handed down like folklore."

The younger generation has a keen interest in cars their parents loved as teens. Parker estimates as many as 70 percent of the participants are 40 or younger. These car lovers are going online and visiting chat rooms and researching the legends of hot rods and custom culture, Parker said.

"These guys are insatiable in their thirst, their hunger to know exactly how it was in the day," Parker said.

The event showcases the work of custom culture enthusiasts like Morrow, 51, who builds custom motorcycles out of his shop, Ventura Motorworks, and lives in an apartment in the back. He focuses on 1930s, '40s and '50s American-made motorcycles, including Harley-Davidsons and Indians.

Morrow started small when he opened his business in January 2001. He did service work and small custom jobs. He began full-blown customs in 2003 and is working on three motorcycles that have sold for more than $40,000 — two 1947 Harley-Davidson Knuckleheads and a 1954 Harley-Davidson Panhead.

"It's getting exciting now, but believe me, those first few bikes, I wouldn't say it was exciting to build them," Morrow said. "It was really hard."

Morrow, who grew up riding dirt bikes, always has worked as a fabricator, whether it was welding, concrete, wood or furniture — anything, he said, that kept him from a desk job.

Right now, he said, he "lives like a pauper," but as word spreads, and his business grows, Morrow said, he foresees taking rides with his friends and customers.

"This is my life. This is where I want it to go, and now I'm here, and that's amazing and wonderful," Morrow said. "A lot of people look at my situation and say, Ah man, the poor guy. He's 51 years old and he's doing all that work.' This is what I wanted to do."

Finding his calling

Blocks away at Noble Fabrication, cars in different stages fill Matt Noble's shop. Inside his office is a framed article from Ol' Skool Rodz about his pristine condition '55 Mercury.

The article showcases his car-building skills, yet it also illustrates how Noble and Morrow advertise through word of mouth the quality of their work.

Noble, 30, who attended Camarillo High before dropping out, often hung out at the home of an older classmate, who had a variety of old cars, including the Mercury. It sat there untouched for about 14 years. After high school, Noble worked at a truck shop in Thousand Oaks. He learned the trade, including how to weld. Drawn to old cars, he began working on them on his own time after his shift ended.

The tattooed and bearded Noble left the car business briefly toward the end of 2003 and opened a restaurant and bar, Table 13, with some partners. One evening, the owner of the Mercury stopped in. His mom had sold the house and needed the yard cleaned out. Noble could have the car for free. He arrived with a tow truck at 7 the next morning, and three years later he had made it into a head turner. "I tore it down to the frame and rebuilt it," he said.

Noble, who started his business four years ago, began slowly, then gained more work when he completed projects for leading members of two Santa Barbara low-rider car clubs, Night Life and Brown Sensations. His business has continued to grow and he now has a six-month waiting list.

Finding his passion early

As a young child, Rivas saw his father create portraits.

"I used to just sit there and just be amazed at the things he could do with a pencil," Rivas said.

Fascinated by what he saw, he took his father's advice to draw something for himself. He thought of a skull, which he incorporates into artwork he shows in galleries and custom car events.

His father's old welding truck was pinstriped by Kenneth Howard, aka "Von Dutch," when the renowned artist lived in Santa Paula. For Rivas, it was an introduction to hot rod and custom culture. He tagged along with his dad to various shows.

"I started meeting people, getting into the cars," said Rivas, whose father owned a 1950 Ford Shoebox and later gave it to his son when he was 18.

He met and picked up tips from fellow artists Von Franco, E-dog, Keith Weesner, Dan Collins and Robert Williams. Santa Paula artist Xavier Montes helped Rivas show his art in galleries.

The Oxnard resident is mindful of his Latino heritage and incorporates Day of the Dead artwork with hot rod culture. The holiday, known traditionally as Dia de los Muertos, remembers the dead and celebrates the continuity of life. Rivas, 41, gained more ideas from a trip to Mexico City with his wife.

She also took him to Teatro Inlakech, a cultural arts center in Oxnard, and introduced him to Javier Gomez, the director. The soft-spoken Rivas joined Gomez at festivals and helped children with art.

Rivas, who spent 19 years welding offshore, now works during the day at an aluminum forging company, and during the afternoons and evenings, focuses on his art.

Rivas uses a variety of media: airbrush, acrylic, Sharpie markers and pinstriping. He has created metal sculptures, including light holders, and other items, including an all-black stroller with spider webs and small skulls near the handle.

"I put all of me into (my art) and when it's done, it's like man, I don't know if I want to give it up,'" he said.

Ageless tunes

Six bands — three local — will bring rockabilly music to the Primer Nationals.

The Phantom Riders, a three-person instrumental rock 'n' roll band, offers a mixture of rockabilly, Latin, blues, surf and early '60s garage rock.

"I think there's a certain freedom," guitarist Joe Baugh said. "There's a certain improvisation there."

The group, which also includes bassist Eric Monteith, has produced one album, "The Phantom Riders," since it was formed in 2000 and is working toward another. Drummer Tony Cicero says the band has been influenced by Link Wray, Dick Dale, The Ventures and more.

"It's not continued," Cicero said. "It's not forced. It's something that's happened and evolved."