in the still of the night

so i made a quick stop at the show over in garden grove for the first time since last year, probably. a lot of people had split off and started other shows because of some dispute with the organizer and the shops over at this show.

considering it was a holiday weekend and i had arrived later than usual, there were a fair number of cars compared to the last few times i can remember being there. no where near what it was when i had started going to this show. and quite a bit dark, without a lot of street light, depending on what part of the street i was at.

i intended to only be there a short time, so did a quick walk thru before bothering to pull my camera out. i was stopped on the way back by a couple of people whom i've met before, who said they'd seen me go by; sorry if i didn't see you on the way in—i was seeing without seeing—looking at the cars, lighting and locations, not the people. i didn't really mean to be rude, just trying to maximize my time and figure if there was anything i wanted to shoot. but i did see you on the way back up the street, so sorry about that first trip.

i only shot a couple of cars. this one and a mercury monterey. and people were walking up to the monterey while i was shooting, and stood there arguing over what year it was and talking car geek talk. they finally went around to the back of the car, but made me wonder if they were obtuse or purposely standing there.

anyway, this one might be with the latin gents, who had their cars parked nearby. many with hoods up, so, so sorry, no shots of them tonight. no one seemed to be really looking at this one, so i took this shot. thinking the other side would have been more interesting with the nearby shop's neon signs, but that side of the car was pretty dark, so this is the one.

hoping to hit three shows tomorrow, but my shoulder is hurting, so i don't know if i will be able to lift my bag. we'll see.

one little indian boy

here's another beauty from washington state. where do they keep these remarkable cars?

this one was at an intersection, usually had a few people around it, but i managed to wait them out, and quickly got this shot before the next bunch got in the way.

this town has a nice, clean, little main street area, similar to most main streets anywhere. i think if i didn't mention where i was, it could almost be anywhere. 

tails, you win!

usually, i hate when cars park nose in, but particularly with these i give an exception — exceptions for exceptional cars. i just love the back end of some of these cadillacs. all pointy angles. did this guy add the funky tail lights from a ’59? i'm not finding another ’61 like this online.

this was from original mike's on sunday. apparently the couple that run the show had a medical emergency, so there was no raffle/prizes. and being still so cold after the rain the day before, a lot of cars didn't stick around long. gotta dangle that carrot of a prize to keep them there.

was told that there are 360° of television screens inside, so you can watch everything from the bar or whatever. well, i don't drink, and i've usually eaten before this show, so i'll take your word for it.

pop

i think this belongs to the latin gents car club. if i look through my collection, i think they mostly have chevys. always very cherry.

i've seen this one several times. love the hood ornament.

yolk's on you

finally got back over to the show at garden grove's main street the other day. since a lot of the summer shows have now ended, this one was overflowing with goodness. shame to see many cars having to leave, being that the main strip and small side lot were full, and no more were able to get in. used to be a much larger show, but some of the guys were doing bad things in the college lots they used to overflow into, so they had to shut those down, and visitors can't even park there, at least they're not supposed to.

the owner of this ford (that's him in the dark blue shirt) told me several months earlier that he'd traded his old car for this one. i think he got the better deal, don't you? i hadn't taken a shot of it until this night because he's always got the damn hood up, and i've mentioned before that i generally don't bother with them. he enquired whether i'd taken any, and when i told him why i hadn't he immediately got out of the chair and closed it up. so i happily got to work.

at one point he must have thought i was done, but no, i was down low on the ground where he couldn't see me. i thanked him when i was done, and he promptly opened it again. do they get judged on the engines too? or do guys just get really excited about headers, car innards and stuff? 

it's in spectacular shape, by the way, and polished up like a new penny.

shout out to redd (blue shirt, next to the car), who owns this plymouth. maybe someday you'll actually buy a print. lol. maybe you just haven't seen a shot of it you like. i have a few more...maybe i'll post another sometime. maybe i just like hassling you.