i don't know why i love the back of these cars so. gotta be the curves. pleases my eyes. kinda looks like a manta ray, at least the lines of its wings.
i've been outta town for a few days, so i'm feeling a bit of withdrawals from my pictures. almost didn't post tonight, as my shoulder is killing me from too many hours of driving over the weekend. yippee for extra strength tylenol. so i'll make this one my quick fix for the evening. now i can go rest.
did you guys see the sunset last night? wow. and it just really popped this truck, in spite of the matte paint job.
almost missed this bunch of chevys at the very back of the lot at the broiler. i was about ready to pack it up, but was waiting on my better half, who was playing with a lensbaby on his camera and chatting up another truck owner at the front of the lot. i always keep half an eye out for anything new driving into the show. you know what i mean—when you hear them before you see them. usually happens right after i've packed my gear up, only to be forced to decide whether or not to pull it all back out.
so this handful of cars drove through...there were no empty spots up front...it was happily busy for a change. some of the best stuff can be found in the back lot because they show up later. only complaint is the lack of lighting at the back, especially if its getting dark and i'm on my own.
anyway, i got several shots of these cars with spectacular skies behind them. i'll have to post them eventually. getting late now, so you'll have to settle for just one.
according to my brief “research” on the internet, “the 1954 chevrolet corvette nomad was a concept car built by GM and introduced at the 1954 GM motorama in NYC. the nomad was decidedly a sporty wagon way ahead of its time.” probably should have just taken a close up shot of the descriptive flyers in the window for the history of this baby.
i'm left to wonder why anyone would want to make a corvette into a wagon. bet some dad didn't want to haul the family around in some big ass family wagon, and thought it would be a good idea. i guess it would have been cool enough, but i don't think it really caught on...i've never seen another one like it til this.
greetings. anyone miss me this past week? all i can say as to why i haven't been able to post, in no particular order: overtime, rain, family.
take this ford, for instance. i managed to get the hell out of the office last tuesday, on an evening when it was actually not raining. sky was clear, wasn't too cold, yet there just weren't all that many cars out at the show. true, clouds were rumored to be heading this way, but not yet. gets kinda disappointing when i find the time, and not much is there.
i hadn't seen this particular car since 2009. it did make it on my blog early on last year. i was especially happy to have found it again, as i had only taken a couple of shots of it from way down low.
anyway, i'd only taken a couple images of this one and also a sweet chevy nomad, in all of 10 minutes, when i get a call from work, saying please come back and tweak some files. so i pack it up and work 2 or 3 more hours...they're all starting to blur together.
otherwise, family was in town, and had to get all the time i could with them. ended up squeezing in a lunch hour, and a late dinner the night before they left. oh well.
i've realized it was exactly one year ago today that i began this blog. i'd like to thank everyone for putting up with me at the car shows, whatever mood i'm in, and letting me take pictures of your cars. at least most of you. thanks for visiting my blog, no matter how much i ramble, digress, or blather on about nothing. the pictures are the main thing, and they make me happy. i can only hope you're liking them too, or i'm really just talking to myself here.
here's another car from the fremont elementary school show. back on the playground and in the grass, i think i kinda like it being on a different surface for a change. i do wish there wasn't a car next to it, particularly one with the hood open. but i do like the reflection of the car you don't see in the fender, if you can just ignore that pesky photographer there as well.
that's the owner there, with the thick gold chain. seemed like a nice guy. his wife is sitting in the car, but she kept her head down the whole time. maybe she was reading a book. nice of her to go to the show with her man anyway.
and don't forget my favorite...a hood ornament. this one is called a flying lady.
found this merc ford (is this a shoebox?) out in riverside yesterday. fremont elementary school was having their 2nd annual car show. not sure what they were doing with the proceeds, but there were quite a few cars in spite of the overcast and scattered showers.
this was right up at the entrance. so shiny, so clean. it's actually a deep, dark green, with ghosted green flames on it. a real pain in the ass... just can not seem to get it the way i remember it because of the blue sky reflecting on it so brightly, which is making it go turquoise, and also killing the hint of the flames on the hood. i do like the shiny reflection, but it does make it difficult to have any chance of remembering that there are flames on the hood.
the owner was sitting inside too, but i'm mostly low enough all you can see of him is the top of his baseball hat.
only a few more weeks until the season when there is literally at least one car show a day. car gluttony. car-razy. car happy = carappy? whatever.
i think it's been hinted to throttle back on how many shows i hit up. shall we just say my better half is very patient with me, and i should probably throw more time his way. but, hey, he does work a lot of overtime, so what else am i going to do? i really hate going to the gym, and at least this gets me out and about, hauling around a tripod.
speaking of upcoming shows, this flamed beauty, and it's hot rod companion (can't really see the flames on it from this side) were at the foothill ranch show last june. was a bit overcast, and not as broiling hot as it got later in the summer there. i can't be sure, but i think this chevy has also been over at fuddrucker's once in a while, and i think it might even belong to the pinstriper guy who comes out once a month there in the summer. i'm sure someone out there will let me know ifn i'm misguided...you always do.
so i hit a couple of shows on sunday. stopped first at the big boy show in orange. second time there. big disappointment. didn't even get my camera out. they had several rows of the parking lot blocked off, so they were hopeful, but the security guard started taking the caution tape down before i left.
then drove over to pal joey's show in costa mesa. haven't been to one of these since they were at the santa ana elk's club. decent turn out, but i still expected more. got there late enough that many cars had the hood up, so bye bye to them.
this one was a pretty decent hot rod, as hot rods go. i've never seen slightly rainbow-y flames as these...pinks to greens to oranges to blues. nice big wall•e engines...kinda expect a nickelodeon if you peek into this one.
so basically for the day, i got shots of maybe four cars. whatever. i had fun anyway.
all right, another post tonight. up goes a shot with the new lens, no thanks to my insurance company. told them the truth about the old one – a piece that worked the autofocus broke inside it – and it wasn't covered. whereas, i think many people would have purposely dropped it or misplaced it and then reported that damage and would have been paid...but that's another rant that doesn't belong here.
so stuff was going on at the broiler tonight...a photo/video shoot or mini concert in the parking lot. lots of girls dressed in '50s garb and makeup milling about. i assume more cars would show up, but there really wasn't, at least while i was there.
anyway, this old pontiac drives up. i've seen and shot it before elsewhere. while the owner isn't the friendliest dude to run across, and had grumbled at me last time, he never had a problem with it before. not sure why he puts a fugly flyer advertising some other vehicle for sale on his windshield.
anyway, as i set down my tripod in front of it, he came over and asked that i not shoot pictures of the car. some drivel about it showing up all over the internet lately, and please don't. ok, no problemo. he didn't really say it in some intimidating, anal sort of way, as a former posting mentioned. since i haven't posted any of the shots of it i've taken, he can't blame me for any real or imaginary postings of it coming from here. of course, doing a quick image search doesn't turn up his specific car
i did ask him if i could take a shot of the hood ornament, and he said yes. told him i had a new lens to test, though by that point i don't think he could care less. then he returned to the pack of car owners, which also included my everlasting nemesis, richard, so there was some explanation for his cantankerous attitude.
so here it is. wish he'd parked around the corner, so the sun could have hit it and made it glow. i think the lens is a keeper.
