rat

found this rat rod around back of the industrial park at the super cruise. its pretty beat to shit, and seemingly haphazardly put together. but if you look closer, the small details are really fun to discover. seems to have a thing for skulls too. wonder what freud would say to that?

the mottled paint is the color of rust, but it really isn't rusted at all, and it adds a wonderful layer of texture to the thing. and hells yes, real bullet holes instead of the stupid stickers!

work in progress, or will they stop here? 

  

  

just super

spent several hours at the hillco super cruise this morning. got there after it started, but there were still plenty of cars to see, though there seemed to be always some arriving and others leaving.

the weather helped tremendously, with clouds overhead, and partially overcast, to keep the temps quite comfortable. at one point, it seemed it was on the verge of rain, then the sun burned through for the rest of the day.

saw several people i've met before, though not very often. i apologize that i don't remember names without running into you more than several times at various shows, but i do remember your cars, and i do keep your business cards. and of course, everyone remembers dave lindsay.

i saw this chevy drive in while watching my better half shooting pics of an old rusty '39. found it later parked in between the industrial buildings, where there were fewer people milling around. i couldn't find any mention of a car club on it, so i guess it's just some guy with some car.

i like the brickwork on the ground, and the building behind it, for the texture. i could live without the car behind the gate, but it doesn't totally ruin the shot; it's a chevy too, so it adds contrast to the classic lines versus the boring straight lines of today's cars.

wondering around up at the front of the show, saw some ahole drive his muscle car past the show on the street at upwards of a hundred miles an hour, only to have to slam on his brakes pretty hard and fortunately not run into the back end of some poor driver going the speed limit, approaching a red light. idiot.

also found this guy pinstriping the back of an airbrushed and glitter-covered truck. it's always interesting watching those guys, and wondering how the hell they do what they do. i'd be so nervous about wobbling the line, and to think they typically do a mirror image of the scrolls and curls, with no apparent template or tracery.

his tattoos were interesting, and i wonder if these guys crave the ability to just do their own tats as well. i know my daughter would if she could, considering she could probably draw better than most average tattooists. maybe that's why she hasn't sleeved up yet.

xmas is over

xmas is officially over at the house. spent all day taking down the tree, finally. my better half would be perfectly happy with leaving it out year round, as he did when he had his own place, but his mom has a thing about getting it put away. she's been sick with the flu since about xmas, and just didn't have the energy to get after us to take it down until now.

while no where as near as difficult as putting the crap on the tree, disentangling about a hundred strings of lights from the branches is just as painful, with the fake little needles stabbing at your hands, and the wire in the branches tearing at the flesh. then packing each string into zip lock bags to keep them from tangling up for next year, and sorting the ornaments and other decorations into bins. still need to finish tomorrow and throw it all in the garage.

but first thing tomorrow, heading down to hillco's super cruise, which they seem to have had every super sunday for more than a decade. i got there late last year, but was told there were several hundred cars at one point. that pesky foozball game clears them out pretty quick.

i remember it being much warmer last year, and i have very few photos for the hour or so i was there. i know there were some wonderful duke's cars there, but there were also these works in progress, as well as many just rusted buckets of metal.

supposed to start at 9am., planning to be there earlier. hoping i don't freeze and they let me wander around while everyone is getting situated. will be interesting to see what turns up.

tweedy

looking back to last year's shows, which i hope to attend this year, i found this chevy from greenspan's tweedy mile show. so many wonderful cars there. another show i would go to a whole lot earlier than i did, to avoid the heat later in the day. also the humidity, from the water evaporating off of the grass.

i think i really just liked the color combo of this one, the green, beige and pop of red.

stop please

i spent most of the weekend with my better half. part of saturday at disneyland, which i haven't been to for a a year or two, and out to dinner with my parents. then today, he walked with me for a couple of miles, just for the exercise, and it was a nice, sunny and cool day. stopped in at the little local art gallery, then walked home imagining hanging some of my pictures up in there.

i had mentioned that the grand national show was running all weekend. he fully expected me to head over there at some point. he joked about getting up and going this morning, and letting me know how it was, but that didn't happen either. it just isn't one of the shows that interests me. perhaps after checking out more of my flickr contacts' photostreams, i will feel differently, but past years' photos haven't convinced me to get out there.

anyway, here's one from last week out there at the fairgrounds. nice as anything they might have shown this weekend.

the owner was in the truck, and was moving, ready to head out, when i signaled that i'd like to shoot a picture. he nodded and stopped.

i got down low, so as not to have him in the picture, and tried to be quick. little did i know, he had gotten out of the cab, and was on the other side chatting with someone. i mouthed thanks over the noise of the engine and other cars queueing up to leave behind me.

i thought it was a standout, and it was probably the colors and the chrome that made me do it.

simplicity

been a busy week. have been unable to find a moment to play with my pictures, until tonight.

just a quick post, as i'm pretty tired. here's another chevy from the majestics new year's show at the dam.

clean and simple classic. no pinstripes. no pimping. i like it.

home james

i liked this cadillac. not sure what year. not remembering having one in my photo collection. pretty sure those aren't necessarily the original hubcaps, the paint on them is sort of suspicious.

little bit of lens flare, but that doesn't bother me that much either. not a perfect shot, but it does record the memory of the car i saw.

here's looking at you, kid

i did manage to go to the pomona swap meet today. never been there for that, though it has been recommended by a couple of flickr contacts. didn't realize there would be so many cars. i got there relatively late, so i suppose there had been more. next time, i would go way earlier, before the sun and the heat got unbearable.

there was a large lot of what seemed to be just cars for sale, and way too many of them vw bugs. then over by the grandstands, a fenced off area with more cars there just to show. that's where i wanted to be.

got a lot of pictures of cars before everyone started bugging out an hour before it offically closed. 

saw this chevy, and set up to shoot a picture. realized there were kids inside, and tried to take the shot down low, so they wouldn't be in it. apparently, the kid in the back seat wanted to be in a picture, and yelled out to take his picture. but then, when i set up to shoot him in it, he sort of pulled back and hid. if you look closely, there's a couple of other kids hiding in there as well.

anyway, i handed him one of my cards. he said he'd call. pretty smooth. keep practicing that line. maybe it will do you good in about ten years. next time you ask for a picture, be in the picture. dude, ask your dad what the year and model the car is...tell him the idiot photographer doesn't always know the year and model.

no show?

i had such a busy day at work. barely left my chair. i was so looking forward to getting out to a show. was that or stay and work some overtime.

i left on time, and will probably have to work late tomorrow.

headed over to the advertised impalas show. slightly early, so i went inside and had dinner. killed some time. about 5:30, i'm done. outside, nothing. so go to the broiler or just head home? i'm tired. i head home. 

an old truck pulled in as i was leaving...

so, maybe they showed up later. it was a work day after all. but i was disappointed anyway.

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here's a beauty from last year. used to go to the show at spires, err, not spires...perris? i don't remember. the show got smaller and smaller each time, so i pretty much skip it now. but there were some nice cars there at times.

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ok, i'm done sitting for the day. time for bed.

gentry

another for the day. won't post tomorrow. already know it.

read somewhere the latin gents show is down for the winter, so i dug up this one from a show last august. was hoping the summer weather would keep some shows going through the winter. so that sucks. always love their cars, and the clubs that participated.

thinking about checking out the impalas show on wednesday. anyone going?