taxi

saw this taxi recently, when it drove past the window. i usually hear cars before i see them, and know to stand up and take a peek. some days i've seen a dozen old cars of all types drive by, which sends me for a walk uptown to see what's going on...where are they going?

anyway, as i was saying...i happened to be watching a hummingbird that sometimes sits on a tree outside, and saw this car drive past. not quite as fast as the ice cream truck...how the heck are kids supposed to catch that guy?

i've never seen the taxi before. told my better half to look out the front window, but he was deep in conversation with his mom, and didn't quite hear me. it was gone by the time he figured out what i said.

few days later, here it was at founder's day. owner was a youngish guy. i want to say he was telling the group around him he was recently home from the military, but i might be remembering another group of guys and another car.

he seemed nice. i think he was telling everyone about the guys that helped get the car done. looks nice.

milestone

was my birthday yesterday. low-key, cause that's the way i like it. rained...which i love, so i didn't mind that one bit. had dinner with my son and my parents, so that worked out great. got back home just before my better half was getting into bed, having given up on me coming home for the night.

so my thoughts on birthdays: don't care anymore. even if it is a "milestone" in one's life. just a number, so statisticians can keep a tally on life expectancy. i thanked my mom for, you know, squeezing me out...it should be more of a celebration of the one who did all the work that day, right?

now that i've had my kids, and no sign of grandkids anytime soon, save the hairy, four-legged one that sheds a lot, i just see things as ways to fill time until the game's over. and what's with the time-warp? time seems to go by so much quicker the older i get, yet i move so much slower. except when i'm at work; then the day just seems to go on forever.

i remember when summer used to take forever to get here. now all i do is work, and with no real seasons to speak of in this state, if i didn't have a calendar, i wouldn't know the difference. my office cube looks out over the freeway. all looks the same, every day.

so, i fill my free time with car shows. and this is the place to be for those, right? nuff said. birthday done for another year.

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wandered up on the grass in the main section of chicano park, and found these latin bombas cars under the trees.

this one stood out, mostly because it was red, so it just "popped" from the green background. love the chrome and the headlights on the master deluxes. and the evolution of the hood ornaments with each year.

bright

it's late. i'll have to edit it this later, but wanted to post something. 

i think this should do nicely.

chop chop

looks fast just sitting still, no?

not quite sure why it was sitting all alone in this parking lot, here in chino, on the edge of a very big car show, but i took full advantage of it. no people, nicely framed by the trees, i like this shot the best.

i did notice later on, that other cars moved in next to it, so i just got lucky, i guess.

golden slumbers

got there relatively late this time. had to stop at the market to have breakfast, since we pretty much skipped dinner, and i was just gonna faint if i didn't eat.

we decided to start at the back of the park this year, then move to the street, before the crowds showed up.

i liked this plymouth, just sitting there glowing in the middle of the lawn. stupidly, i didn't take any shots of the hood ornament, and i love hood ornaments. oh well. next time.

i suspect there's some custom stuff on the car, since i don't think plymouths sat like this back in the day.

matchy matchy

so many chevys were at the show, it's hard to pick just one to show you.

i liked the color of this one up against the mural's colors.

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looking back down the street, before we left, noticed someone with a huge octobox lighting umbrella. really curious who it was, and what they could possibly be trying to light up around noon. maybe trying to make the shadows less harsh? heading for something hiding under the overpass? just was really weird to see one out in the crowd. and i thought my tripod was a tripping hazard.

pig's ear

found my better half talking to the owner of this fleetline. we had both been taking turns shooting it -- front, back, side, details -- so much to see. my better half yells over the din, that the owner was "busting his balls."

uhhh, what?

said the guy wondered why, is this ocean of beautiful cars, why the heck were we taking pictures of this one?

all he could think to tell him was, "that it had character."

could have added all that fun texture, the pinstriping, the fact that it isn't ashamed of it's blemishes, and even emphasizes them. and hell, it still has all the curviness that i love about fleetlines.

it may be the pig's ear in that old saying; but way more interesting than a silk purse.

45th annual chicano park day

took the train down to san diego this weekend. then the red trolley thing down to barrio logan. annual chicano park celebration and car show. 

was supposed to have sold out within two days, but since it had rained the night before, and was supposed to rain at some point saturday, there was a big empty space on the front lawn, where there is usually wall-to-wall cars. they tried to disguise it by making a circle of vendors in the empty space, but still...

still there were many, many cars, enough to keep me in my happy place.

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it's getting late, and i gotta get up early, so i'll just stop here for now, and continue on my next post.

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and it didn't rain during the show after all...

needle in the haystack

saw this impala on my way out of the swap meet. i was wading my way through the sale stuff, the junkers, the beaters, the project recyclers, so many odds and ends. frequently find the occasional gem in this lot. i figure they got there too late or otherwise didn't want to pay the show price, but still wanted to be part of the pomona experience.

spotted this one from two rows away. got over to it and set up, and waited to get my shots in between other admirers of the car. it was next to a pop up, so it somewhat limited the angle--to try to not show it.

did not realize the owner was waiting to leave, until i'd already taken a few sets. so thanks for that. totally forgot to shoot the front; no matter, it's the back end of these that i like best anyway. and pinstriping was pretty cool too.

reboot

been in seattle for a week. this time a planned vacation. and it was good and needed. didn't care that it rained half the time. weather was perfect the last few days.

flight home was delayed for several hours. something about the previous flight out of lax having to have their onboard computer rebooted. at least sea-tac airport is a really nice place to kill time. lots of shops and dining to choose from. clean and modern. so why the hell is every other airport i've been to, so much better than that crap airport, lax? fix it already.

also thought how it is sort of a small death, preparing for vacation. tying up loose ends, letting things go. giving jobs away to the others. hoping they don't realize they can get by just fine without me, but that they will still be glad to have me back.

i know tomorrow will be a big pain in the ass, going back to the office. it's always the worst part of vacation, and why i put off taking one at all. time out of the office throughs me off, even if its in a good way. like being deprogrammed and being put offline. reboot.

oh, and i'm not going to bore you with my vacation pics. you can find a few on flickr or instagram, if you really must, but they don't belong here. only old car i saw all week was the tail end of a pontiac in the rain, and i didn't have a camera out, so...

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got up and went to pomona this morning, just for a few hours. easy to do. wandered around the show cars, found a few interesting cars in the sale area.

i'll put this truck up, since the owner talked to me. i liked the paint color. plain and simple.