what's up?

home, sick

1940 chevrolet special deluxe

apparently the office cold has caught up with me. was able to work from home yesterday, and enjoy coughing up a lung without glares from coworkers. really not that bad, at least yet. i was going to go to several car shows this weekend, but i think if i made the move to head for the door, my better half would tackle me.

i think he's testing me now. he slathered me with vicks vaporub, and hoped i'd stay put while he took his mom to disneyland. i could just take a shower and go to one show, and be back before dinner. but really, i already have a few pictures i can play with, and i guess this is just one of those days i save them up for, right?

so i'll spare you my cooties, and stay put. i'll probably take a shower, and wash off this sticky stench of vicks. so gross. if they run too late, i will go uptown and find some dinner, but i will otherwise just stay here watching old reruns and looking through my files for some other cars to post.

saw this one last weekend at the classics/temptation show in santa ana. so glad the clouds started rolling back in half way through the time we were there. skies and the reflections on the spit shined cars are always so much better. and as always, the hood ornament.

1940 chevrolet special deluxe

outside looking in

1947 chevy fleetline

i go to your car shows and take pictures. i am acutely aware that i don't really fit in, never have. i'm still the wallflower, observing from the sidelines, only now, i'm in the midst of things, yet still trying to be inconspicuous. doesn't really work with a bag and a tripod, so i just do what i do and sometimes you say hi.

only had time for one show on sunday, so i picked the classics/temptation toy drive at the santa ana elks club. i got there and realized it was at the same show, the year before, i went over and introduced myself to jae bueno.

i'd seen him around, but never had the nerve to say anything. but at last year's show, i found myself standing right next to him, so what the heck. he was very nice. he was there with his family. he was so fully there, healthy and enjoying the show; he was getting ready to head out to another event or family thing. so that memory was happy, but also bummed me out. so...

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i think this was the second or third car i shot. the owner, or at least one of the club guys came over and asked where they'd be able to see the pics, so lucky you, here's one. gave him a couple of cards. hope they see it and like it.

i never get tired of these cars. just love the lines. my better half is more of a '39 master deluxe guy lately, but i think i'm a fleetline girl right now.

my better half went with me. he was done taking pictures way sooner than i was, as usual, but said he was fine waiting. really, he wasn't. he was ready for lunch, and started getting a headache, so i kinda had to be more selective and hurry. i'll post more soon. it's late and i gotta sleep.

was nice chatting again with danny from the fleetliners...he knew i didn't shoot his car, because his hood was open...offered to close it, but we really were on our way out.

hey to the temptations guy who reminded me not to write a bad review...didn't know i was doing that...and don't worry...it was a good show. just close your hood all the way next time...

tiger in the grass

1951 chevy 3100 truck

i've posted this one up here several times before. keep trying to get the stripey, random airbrush paint job right. lo and behold, there it was in with a small contingent of cars from orange county down at chicano park, hiding in a corner. 

as i've said before, it's fun to find a car over and over, and then to find it some new environment. typically, i find it on a hot, sunny day, sitting on hot asphalt in a parking lot. things get more blown out that way.

here i found it again, in the shade of the bridge overpass, sitting pretty on the grass. surrounded by hundreds of other remarkable cars, i found it without a crowd around it for a change.

temptation

1951 chevy truck

i've posted this truck before. it really is extraordinary. paint, pinstripes, and engraving. really interesting airbrusing.

this was last month at the viejitos show. then i ran into it again earlier this month at the latin gents show. second time i've spoken to the owner, though i doubt he remembered the first time out at santa ana the previous year.

anyway, at the gents show, he asked if i could take a picture of his truck, specifically from the side and above. best i could do was get up on a curb. he and his buds were sitting in chairs in the sweet spot for taking the shot from, due to the location and sun angle.

i've said before, that i shoot them as i see them, and i didn't feel like getting a bunch of guys to move out of the way, even after they asked for the shot. if they can't think of it themselves, i'm not going to bother to tell them. they did move a little bit out of the way, but i still wasn't going to be able to get the shot they asked for.

should trust the photographer's eye, and even then, they don't always get the perfect shot. because he asked to see other shots, i'm posting a few here. i've got a few more, but not liking them enough to post, which i could say about most any of the cars i shoot.

sun kissed

1954 chevy bel air

i am still wrestling with space issues on my hard drive. thinking i'll burn off  stuff back to earlier than 2009, stuff i hardly ever look at. just makes sense.

meanwhile, i was bad and attempted to hit up three car shows today. apparently a mistake, as it being veteran's day, they were mostly canceled. drove out to torrance. cadillac show at the dealership there. they had them parked in the service tunnel, and didn't seem to be much parking nearby, so i didn't stop. i know, i know. probably were more hiding on the inside, but if i don't go looking for other pics online, i won't miss them.

then tried another show that should have also been out there, but nothin was there at all. i did pass a park that seemed to have an informal muscle car show going on, but you know those don't really get me going much, so i drove on by it. fortunately, my backup planned worked out...my little bro lives nearby, so i hung out over there for a few hours.

on the way home, i took a quick swoop by the fuddrucker's in lakewood. must have been cancelled for the day, but there were still a couple of diehards sitting there polishing their cars. didn't stop there either.

so nothing for today, but long overdue family time. so win anyway.

i've been pondering which version of a temptations truck i should post. still haven't decided, so i'll put up this lovely viejitos chevy. probably should have waited until the sun had gone down a bit more, but still nice.

was that your club i saw cruising down whittier blvd today?

xmas spirit

1951 chevrolet truck

i'd intended to go to a couple of shows today. made it only to this one at the santa ana elks club. was going to also hit up the john force show, but as i approached the freeway ramp, the radio was reporting a big truck spin out up the highway and a motorcycle cop had just got on the freeway and began the zigzag pattern...didn't feel like driving the surface streets out there, so i skipped it. maybe next year. i guess i'll peek at dave lindsay's pics when he posts them.

anyway, as soon as i walked into the lot, i met up with danny, from one of the clubs at last week's show. he's interested in shots of his club's cars, several of which were there. i'll see if i like any of them another day.

the guy that belongs with this truck also asked if i could take a picture of it. said it was the first time he'd had it out since his dad died. well, i would have even if he hadn't asked. it's a pretty clean ride.

interesting zebra stripey airbrushing pattern and big red bow on the front. might have liked it better if it wasn't parked next to a white iron fence, which reflects on the paint and just confuses the eye with the competing zebra pattern.

i think it was a member of one of the host clubs for the show. hope he sees this. i threw a card on the seat.