buick eight

another from the elks' club yesterday. ecclectic mix of cars, as you can see from this one to the muscle car in the background. never know if this show is gonna be busy or not, but the latin gents always show up to support their guy, ernie, who runs it.

a guy came over to chat while i was taking some pictures of it. was guessing what year it might be; i dunno. said he had just been driving through garden grove and saw it going down the street, so he kinda just followed it and ended up at the show. thought it was really stunning. 

i told him about the show over at featherly park, which i didn't go to, as i had limited time out of the house before i had to get back home. seems to me he walked around a bit more then took off. i wonder if he happened to drive on over to the other show. i'm curious as to what was there, and will be looking at flickr to see what people post up there.

ernie—good tunes, good show.

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got the call for entries for the oc fair. what to enter...what to enter...so many to choose from. any preferences?

just a favor

no, i haven't gone to the dark side. just posting this for the owner as a favor. 

i've run across him many times now, usually at the latin gents show, and he sometimes asks for pics of his car. can't remember the history of it anymore, but it's special to him. usually it's crammed between the kind of cars i like, and i never really get shots i like of it.

he happened to pull in at the monthly show at the garden grove elks club yesterday, and parked off here by himself. so, why not take another shot of it? managed to get a couple of the latin gents' cars in it too.

and what's up with the elks not putting the show on their online calendar??? 

junk in the trunk

i do notice these cars; i just don't always bother to shoot them. only the exceptional ones catch my eyes, be it the art, the chrome, the details.

saw this majestics car out at the oldies san fernando show last year. i really liked the glittery airbrushing on the roof, but i'm not tall enough to get a good shot usually. 

i also like the engraving details on the metal of the plaque.

there was a woman sitting behind the car, holding a sleeping baby. i thought the child was so beautiful, but i dare not take a picture, that would be too up close and personal, at least without permission.

look at all the chrome fun in the back end. what is that? stereo equipment or just the hydraulics? pretty sure they don't drive this to the supermarket.

road warrior

i always feel worn out after the drive home from work. typically takes over an hour when it should only be about forty-five minutes.

and people on the freeway are insane, so i'm not the only one. but really, most people drive fine; it's the one too many f-holes that think they are exceptional and the road is theirs. you know the ones i mean—they swerve in and out of lanes, giving semi-trucks no effective warning or brake space. they'll drive up the shoulder if need be.

ya, my hands hurt sometimes from gripping the wheel too tight. after a long day at work, followed by that drive, i feel about as old and tired as this truck.

but it's still here. and so am i. i need a vacation, but don't have one scheduled. maybe i'll visit my kid tomorrow and sit in the jacuzzi. better half can't go anywhere on weekends until his mother is better, and even then he'll worry about her.

blurtard

since my better half hasn't bothered to post this one yet, i'll go ahead and put it up.

owners were nice enough to me, offered to let me get in and shoot some pictures of it. there was a really old guy, who told the other guy "there's a photographer." and the other guy was a really large guy.

better half had a different experience. paraphrasing what he told me, and you really need to hear him tell the story, with all the affectation and vocal interpretation:

he'd just set up his tripod and mounted the camera. the big guy that owns the car comes up behind him and informs my better half, "that he has long hair, and that his long hair is long, like a woman's hair, and that, people may think he is a woman. a big woman. with long hair. and that he doesn't mean to offend, but in case you didn't notice, your hair is really long."

and my better half stared at him.

and the guy went on to tell him some other stuff, mostly repeating the previous information, and even tried to touch my better half's hair in order to show him that it was long. like a woman's.

at some point, my better half had enough, and offered to let the guy go and not offend some other people, as there were plenty of other people waiting to not be offended.

it distracted him from what he was doing, and he says his pictures of it are crap, because he'd forgotten to set it to the proper f-stop. blurry, with the big blurry guy in the frame.

so ya, i kinda ignored the big guy, said uh-huh a lot, and got the shots. not really a great fan of the car, just the story that went with it. too over the top, too much glitter, just too much too much, it distracts from the car, and renders it fugly. my opinion, but i don't mean to offend...

taking my sweet time

i've been very lazy this weekend. enjoyed the rain, recovered from the busy work week. come tomorrow, repeat the previous week. sometimes i wonder how many different ways you can be pulled without breaking. very draining, and finding it difficult to even want to turn on my computer in the evening.

shame too, because i do enjoy futzing with these cars.

i was up early today, and briefly considered going to pomona, but then it sprinkled a bit, and i decided not to. i suppose i should clean the cameras, as i switched the lens quite a few times last week, when i went to my son's alumni baseball game.

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anyway, found this wonderful chevy at the viejitos show last october. i just love it. love the hood ornament too. and no one around; they must have been doing the raffle tickets at the time.

sunny with a chance of rain

supposed to rain at the end of the week. i think the weather guys are mostly just getting paid to guess. they always seem to be wrong on their predictions.

i bought a new umbrella that has a handle like a samuri sword, that fits in a case that slings on your shoulder. i've been waiting a month to use it. the couple of days i carried it when they predicted rain before, i got a lot of double-takes by the security guys in the office. so that's fun.

so i'm gonna put off washing the car. again. well, i basically don't bother until i really can't stand it. or until i take it in for an oil change, and they do a free car wash.

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found this neon orange ford in an upper lot at the show. so early, no other cars were around it. i like the contrast of the orange and the blue sky. and that the hood was down. bonus.

out early

here's another cadillac king. guy said it was the oldest in the club. i just know i like it.

yet another reason to get out of bed and to a show early. only way to catch that light. but so hard to leave a warm bed...

he is a king

i arrived at the car show at the whittier area community church around 7am. had to, as i had to be out by 10 and somewhere else at 11. the guys at the entrance to the parking lot were stopping cars, checking to see if they were vendors, participants, or what. i shrugged and said i just wanted to take pictures, wouldn't be there long. they looked at each other and said ok.

i parked nearby, and quickly got going. as i walked about, i heard guys talking and one said they had originally limited it to 300 cars, but then found 50 more spaces. i enjoyed the early morning, seeing the show growing busier. got to some cars before they were packed in tight, before the crowds.

my better half really wanted to be there, but he stayed home taking care of his mother, still recovering from breaking her arm. guess it will be that way for a few more months.

down in the lower lot, came across the cadillac kings car club. this one belonged to one of the only guys that bothered to talk to me. so i'll start with it. beautifully polished, it reflected the sky so wonderfully.

maybe a doctor can remove them?

i had carried my camera bag with me for a couple of days this week. drove over to chik-fil-a on tuesday after work, took a stroll around the lot, but didn't even take my bag out of the car. oh well. probably was too early, but i haven't seen anything there like they used to get at the fuddruckers location. is it the location or the people running it?

wednesday, the traffic was moving pretty well, so i drove up to the broiler. it's a lot different feel than a couple of years ago. not as much there, the back exit is blocked off. looks like one of the local car dealers parks some cars back there. and that's where the low rider guys go as well, back in the darker parts of the lot. probably better that way. they don't come across as the friendlier types, and seem to care less about people seeing their rides than they do for hanging out and smoking skunk.

trying out a new camera bag my better half got me for valentine's day. nice bag. just not sure it's very practical for car shows. i'll have to try it a few more times before i can say one way or another. good for travel on a plane in the overhead. ya, that's it—a good excuse to fly somewhere, to test if it's travel worthy.

anyway, i took a few pictures in the hour i was there. saw a few people i haven't seen in a while. sorry if i was a bit abrupt. i haven't been out much, and have had a long week at work, even by hump day.

i liked this old car when i first saw it, but by the time i got around to shooting it, it had broken out in homies. and machine guns. i don't get it. but then, i don't get my mom's fondness for dolls either. but why put them all over the hood? bad enough when they are parked in front and back, but this is just overkill. i think i'll pass these cars by from now on. just showing this one because i liked the light on it.

i sure enough would like to knock them off there, but this is how it was, so there you go. maybe i should have just shot the hood ornament...