to the mattresses

here i sit, all downhearted...ah, ah, don't finish that thought. well, third day of rain in a row. everyone is so skittish when there are clouds in the sky; a whisper by someone that looks like rain can clear out a decent car show. i waited all summer for the awesome clouds out there now, but the cars mostly don't come out, even when its clear for the evening.

after work in orange county, the sun had actually come out, and the clouds were all billowy and towering into the sky. so i headed for the show at spires, off the 605. not far into los angeles county, it started to drizzle, maybe even just sprinkle. shit. bailed off the freeway and headed home.

sitting at my computer, looking out the window toward the hills, there is just a big gray smear of cloud cover. not raining at all, sunset trying real hard to make a decent show through the gaps. walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner, then back here at my puter, tweaking my pictures. trying different things, deciding which car to post.

look what they done to my boy...i'm watching the godfather movies again for the zillionth time, on my phone at lunch. lots of nice cars in the film, if you ever noticed.

i can imagine this one in the parking lot at connie's wedding, or maybe one of the cars following the don home from the emergency room, but without all the extra do-dads on it.

courtship of edsel's faja

i never saw an edsel wagon before...didn't even know they made them. so i had to get this one. apparently edsels are relegated to the outskirts of the show, as that's where i always find them, at the ends of the rows. i guess because the cadillacs where curiously missing last friday, the edsels had taken ownership of the last forlorn row of the show.

this pair were really nice. nice and shiny. just before the awards and raffle prizes were being announced, these two moved to a different spot than this one here, facing the other direction. and then the buffing began. the owner of the wagon just started buffing and dusting off that car...don't know that it could get much shinier than it already was, but maybe he just needed something to do to keep his hands busy. uhhh, nervous energy, i mean. oh, behave.

flamed trifecta

well i might as well make it a complete triumvirate of flamed vehicles with this motorcycle. i don't often bother with them, but i do make exceptions when i'm bored, or the opportunity arises for a decent shot of them.

found this one back in april at the foothill ranch show. parked near the raffle booth, and probably belonging to one of the people running it. i think it was the red glitter paint with the sun hitting it that made me take this shot. if i remember correctly, the owner even moved another bike out of the way.

flaming youth

ahhh, this is more like it. i've posted two flamers in a row, similar paint scheme, but which is better? does it matter really? they're both bitchin' cars. i wanna say this car kicks butt, but the flames on the el camino are probably better done.

my whole day blew big chunks at work, so getting a shot like this salvaged what was left of it. just sorry i missed a spectacular sunset with big toy story clouds in it...shots would have been so much more awesome.

california freeway traffic on a friday is just what i needed to get a really massive headache going – thanks knott's scary farm people! you all drive like dillweeds. and surface streets weren't doing much better; the scattered lightning strikes and sprinkles of rain had put out traffic lights here and there, which just slowed me down even more. now all i need is my computer to lock up, as it tends to do, my day will just be complete.

here's to a better tomorrow. yay for the weekend!

hot damn

i know its not my normal oldie but goodie, but sometimes i just gotta take the shot. the light was hitting the flamey goodness of the paint just right as i passed this car.

i'd already walked by it several times, and finally just had to stop and give in to temptation. if you gotta have a 70's car, might as well make it worth noticing.

hot day, hot rod

i missed the previous show at foothill ranch because i was out of town, and being they only do this one once-a-month thru october (i think), i didn't want to miss it again. turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, and lack of a crowd reflected it. there were maybe about 10–12 cars, instead of the usual 20–30. half had the hoods up, and i walked right by those, which mostly were 56/57 chevys. too bad.

i only bothered shooting about 5 of the cars before sitting down in the shade to wait for it to cool off and see if anyone else was going to bother to show up. one of the organizers told me they were going to pack it up early because of the heat. don't know if they decided to hold the raffle prizes and trophies until the next show or not, because i didn't stay too long after hearing that.

anyway, whilst chillin' in the shade and packing up my gear, the owner of this '31 coupe stopped by to chat. he'd noticed me shooting his car, and was interested in what i was going to do with the pictures. gave him my card. i know he peeked at my blog, because he is one of the brave few who actually bothered to email me — thanks randy! hope you like it.

gumby!

just kidding. the color of this is a bit more turquoise than gumby, but i think of him anyway when i see this truck. so friendly and curvy and fun. and what the heck are those dingleberries hanging on the rearview mirror...they look like mexican pastries. why? why?

the owner of this truck is one of my favorite hecklers at this show at ruby's and also at spires. his truck also snuck into the picture here, with his ratty chair too. really he's nice enough. sometimes likes to pretend he's my middleman making a sale, running the price of a print up. come on man, you're gonna scare the straights.

gotta go...someone waiting for me >:)

wood you?

i think, were i not at a car show, that a guy asking me to "check out my woody," would cause at the very least a double-take if not a slap in the face. but of course i knew what he meant, so no worries.

this 1946(?) ford woodie wagon belongs to one of the group of guys that i've joked with the past couple of weeks at ruby's. i'd seen it before at the show at spires (or is it peris?) i'll call it spires, kinda the same way irvine meadows amphitheatre will always be irvine meadows to me, not verizon..., or its just "the forum," not great western...but i digress.

several of the guys are very interested on whether i shot their car, and can they see a print. i'm not usually all that jazzed by woodies for whatever reason...too cliché maybe; more likely because the wood distracts me from the nice curves of the front. so this owner had to ask me to take a picture of it. so here it is...what do you think?

and surprise, surprise, i only shot the hood ornament on it before. does it light up? at least he doesn't have the stereotypical unused surfboard stuck on it somewhere, that i find kinda lame, though i guess it does fit the theme. totally tubular, dude. cha.

ruby ruby

the owners of these first two front cars have been asking about the shots i took lately. "did you get my car?" answer is yes, probably. have i worked on them, answer is no, probably. not enough time lately, with late nights at work. and so many pictures to choose from, i really can't decide what to post when i have had time.

i thought this was an interesting shot, all around. and there weren't a lot of people there that evening, which is especially unbelievable up by the restaurant, where there are usually quite a few "look at me" cars and crowds of people. i think there was another show somewhere that night. well fine. i'm having a good time.

i was waiting for some people to show up; spent an hour taking pictures; put my gear in my car and grabbed something to eat, then walked back around the lot. was dark by then, and really should have gotten my camera back out. the lights had come on, reflections were different, some cars had lights turned on underneath that matched the paint themes...but i was tired and just didn't.

photo fin-ish

could they have put anything else on the back end of this car? it seems bizarre, but i love it. i've seen this car before, but he likes to back it into the parking spots, since the front of it is so awesome as well. fortunately, he (that's him on the right) parked it up against a sidewalk, on a beautiful blue-sky day. he tried to point out the "best shot," which i guess is higher up, and looking into the cockpit of this spaceship, showing the swivel seats, and the doors open. nice, but i think its probably been overdone that way.

————

it was mentioned to me tonight, by a thoughtful car owner at one of the shows, that he enjoys reading my blog, even if i quite often label the cars by the wrong year, or even don't have the right make. i've said it before, so i'll say it again, use that little turquoise "post a comment" up above any and all pictures here, or even the send me an email on the sidebar, and for goodness sakes, let me know what they are when i'm wrong! in the time since this blog hatched, only two of youze guyz have bothered to correct me—ya, it was their own car—and also, one guy at a show just told me outright. i quickly revised the label and any reference to the car, so thanks very much.

i really love taking the pictures of your cars, but i don't know diddly about what they are specifically if they aren't obviously noted. my brothers would probably know. my dad would know, and i could ask him, if he'd stay awake long enough to peruse my blog and tell me what they are, but that's too much trouble and he's busy. i do my best to research them on the web, to find similar images of the car in question, but those are obviously not always right, and i'm doing my best to get more familiar. so i'll just keep shooting your little darlings, and not worry about how right or wrong i am naming them.