in remembrance

how the heck are you all this memorial day? don't forget those you loved who are no longer with us, and those who served our country and gave their lives so you can enjoy yours today. oh heck, thanks to all the veterans and enlisted too. hug them, while they're still here; time flies too fast as it is.

hey dad, both my bros, my sister-in-law, and to all my my relatives that have served in the navy – thanks for all you've done and still do.

____

this car i found in riverside. beautiful old buick. the lady that owned it said it had been her husband's pride and joy. it will be a year ago, july 4, that he passed. she said he hoped she would still take the car out to the shows. well, she does, and puts a big poster in his memory in the front window, but took it out for my shot. thank you.

its1956

yes, yes it is. 1956. says so on the plate.

this is gary's car. i've only met him a couple of times. he's a funny guy.

this shot was from the first time i ran into him, where he made some typical remark, when i was shooting the back end of his car and another bel air next to it (not shown, except for the reflection on gary's car) — can't remember the exact phrasing, but i'm sure you can guess how it went. everyone has to make those kind of comments to a girl on her knees shooting up at the tail lights i suppose.

he happened to have closed the hood for some other photographer, so i went around to the front for this shot, though the back end wasn't bad either. notice i didn't say his back end...

ran into him again last week, where he mislead me on the ownership of another car and knew about my predilection for closed hoods. they do look better closed, don't you think, gary?

can, can

so another busy week at work. quick overnight in san fran for a business meeting. kinda fun going to the other offices once in a while, but two within a couple of weeks of each other is a rare treat. but the travel and long hours do keep me away from shows and posting, so that part is sucking a bit. shout out to my coworker adrian in the sf office, proud new dad of a sweet baby boy.

here's another from last weekend's show in riverside. the owner was kind enough to close the trunk for me. he said photographers are always shooting those tail lights. i guess i agree —here's another one from the broiler in downey.

he wanted to point out that this was a rare 4-speed model, but said you can only really tell from the dials and stuff on the inside, which i didn't take the time to shoot. i did kinda do a commando run through this show as it was (not that kind of commando). if i remember the story of how he got the car, i believe he said he was the second owner of the car, and obviously the original owner had taken good care of it. but now i can't remember the specifics of the who and the how he got it; gotta take more notes or post these sooner/quicker.

no, the owner wasn't wolfman jack jr there on the left...and i could've removed that drink in photoshop, but i kinda like the random junk people leave around. it's not a perfect world, though some of the cars get pretty near perfect.

she's a beauty

i got up late this morning. had a hard time getting motivated. i had to be in riverside by 1 for a baseball game, and intended to stop off here at the 3rd annual phil braybrook memorial car show a bit earlier than i did. i only managed to fit in a quick half-hour run through the front of the show. shame, because i did see a number of additional cars i would have loved to shoot. my bad.

anyway, found this fairlane up in a corner of one of the lots. a guy who pretended to be the owner (hi gary)(don't be a poser)had recently commented on another car on this blog, and recognized me from a previous show i suppose. i am surprised, as i've only stopped at maybe three shows in riverside, assuming that's where i met him before. anyway, he must have read about my preference for hoods down, because he instantly asked if i wanted it closed...lol. i only shot from the back, so it wasn't necessary. i don't remember seeing this car previously, so gary, you naughty boy, just you wait til i post your own car. to the real owner: thanks for bringing it out today. it's lovely.

coulda had a v8

so it rained last night, but was mostly sunny today. i hadn't taken my camera with me to work, since it had rained, so i decided to go straight home. seems that if i don't stop at a car show on the way, once i get into the house, i just don't want to go back out.

by the time i got home, it was vacillating between sunny/warm and overcast/cold/windy. finally decided to skip bob's broiler yet again. almost feel like it's been forever since i went. already know i can't make it there next week either. eventually, eventually.

i figure there's ruby's on friday, and according to my mother-in-law, there's a 'vintage auto show' in uptown whittier on saturday. works for my weekend schedule anyway.

so tonight, i got off my ass and went for a 2 mile walk at least. i sit too much at work and my legs are killing me, so it felt good to get out. my better half has been working too many late nights, and he's already in bed...

__________

so i saw this grape at ruby's a couple of weeks ago. i'm not quite sure what this is, aside from a v8. guessing its a ford. i've seen it on other people's flickr pages, but they don't have it identified either.

i must admit, it did stand out in the crowd.

mercules

ok, this one is definitely a mercury. says so on the back bumper.

i'd been at the fuddrucker's show for maybe about 10 minutes. there were plenty of cars – an additional row had been made available. problem for me was that, either i'd already shot the car before, a good number of them were muscle cars (yawn) and/or the hood was up. i try to at least shoot one car, to make it worth the stop at the show.

i'd settled on an old ford, and rattled off several sets of shots. wandered around again, nothing interesting. i approached a very rusty 1928 ford of some sort. mostly original rickety bits. i was going to shoot it, when the owner popped up and opened the engine compartment to show it off to some other dude. oh well.

so i proceeded to my car, capped the lenses, packed it up, and got into the drivers seat. i sat for several minutes, checking phone messages, email, etc., all the while keeping an eye on what was driving in. more muscle cars. (yawn), newer corvette. (eh), chevys i'd already shot.

i was about to leave, when this baby drives in. always happens...just when you're about to leave, a good one shows.

since i'd been watched packing it up by some guy in a van nearby, i decided to move my car to another lot, and pretended to leave. i didn't feel like hauling all my bag and stuff out, so i just grabbed my wide angle set up, and the tripod. i felt a bit nekked without the whole bag of fun, but it was much quicker.

walked back to the lot, hoping he'd been forced to park on an edge because of all the muscle cars. happily, it was parked along the curb on the edge, so i had a bit more access. of course, because it was so different, it had attracted a crowd. i had to wait a bit for people to move, and then just ended up shooting anyway. the sun was getting ready to set, and it was casting long shadows, so that limited what angle i could shoot from as well.

different days, draw different crowds. sometimes the regulars are friendly, sometimes indifferent, and other times, they might as well be on the rag. grumpy old men. young teenage posers. frumpy women. overdone girls. lol. just kidding. but not really. can never tell if people will be polite or not. and this particular show, they seemed to be a bit more pushy, and in the way. haven't really had a day that their cumulative attitudes turned me off from a show yet, but one or two, almost.

i'

hot lead

so this is not a merc, as i originally thought, but a ford (thanks for the correction gary!). i do have a hard time with id when there's nothing but the bumper and wheels to go by. i'll get the next fer sure merc up tomorrow or the next day.

as i said previously, i keep seeing flame-painted low slung cars. seems to be all the rage, or cliché, but at least there are lots of variations in how they can be presented.

mercury rising

i've seen more than a few flamey mercurys (mercuries?) lately. why is that? i suppose because they're awesome that way.

it was hot and extremely windy when i took this shot a few weeks ago in riverside. it was the glitter painted flames that stopped me first, and that it had a hood ornament – bonus. almost gave up trying to get a shot of it, there were too many people around.

i am at the point where, i figure, screw the people milling about if they're not in focus, just get the car. otherwise, the best cars just can't be captured. i hate the ones that i let get away in the past because people wouldn't move. fortunately, the majority of the time, if you whip out a tripod, people will move, same way i try to stay out of someone else's shots. i have some patience, and i can wait.

anyway, i think i'll hit you all up with a short series of mercs. why the hell not. i keep seeing them, so why shouldn't you?

m

had enough of the showlows cars? ok, this is the last one of the bunch i have. did i miss any ronnie? such a nice collection. a nice bunch of guys.

wish there were more sunsets like the one there was this night. such pretty colors and i don't use that word too often. and i liked how it reflected on the cars, especially the lighter colored ones.

just realized i've posted over 250 cars up here...whew! time flies when you're having fun. :)

PNS car

i'm feeling fiesty tonight...quick post and then to bedski...

this is a mid-life crisis in action. i'm thinking it belonged to the doctor guy in scrubs with too many gold chains around his neck. but that's just me making up a story. fun to imagine.

this cars says, "i gots too much money and i'm insecure and/or compensating" or "i gots too much money and i'm full of myself." or i could be nice and think, "i've worked hard and can afford it, so why not treat myself?" nahh, too few of those guys driving this type of car.

anyway, it wasn't really in the show, just outside of the designated area. to the effect of "look at me, look at me," it did make me stop and shoot it. but only because i've never seen one before and it got me thinking wtf?

i think its a new-fangled corvette, though there is absolutely no insignia on it, except for the checkered flags on the center of the wheels. maybe its just a fiberglass body on an old vw bug chassis, a kit car...lol.

hey doc, if it is yours, i don't mean nuthin about you in particular, just what goes through a girl's head when you see this kind of thing. i'm not going to judge the guy by his car... good luck to you.