pardon me, do you have any grey poupon?

also from the ruby's halloween show, this group of upper crust cars were clustered toward the front near the prize tables. don't think they usually drive these pampered puppies out and about on a daily basis, but it would be fun to go for a ride in one.

i've never seen a pierce arrow anywhere except in a museum or on film. of course the first shots i did of it were of the hood ornament; shooting the car itself was just an afterthought, since i didn't have one in my collection of shots.

my regrets to the owner of the yellow essex; i went back later to take a picture of your car, but you had already gone. but here's your hood ornament.

nice tail

well, it's halloween time. it had also been the day to dress up for prizes and what not at work. used to be one of my favorite holidays, but the last few years haven't really had the time or money to think about a costume. being that i've been at home sick, i've had plenty of time to consider things, but no energy to put something new together. so i dug into my box of old costumes.

one thing about being sick is that you have no appetite, so i've lost a few pounds, though not enough to get back to what i used to be. anyway, i got back into an old leopard costume i'd worn in high school, though i filled it out a bit more than i used to, it was still doable. 

went to work, where at first i didn't see anyone else dressed up. for some reason, they like to keep their costumes a secret until the competition begins, so i was the only one for a while. people were having a difficult time talking serious business with me, while looking at my cat face paint job. that was pretty funny.

no, i didn't win anything, mostly because i'm too shy to walk across the stage and strut about fabulously, so i didn't enter anyway. but lots of people liked that i had the nerve to dress up.

i drove straight to the ruby's show after work. it was the last show for the year, so i expected it would be very busy. i was not disappointed. lots of cars. at first i didn't see too many people dressed up, though it had been announced at previous shows that there would be prizes for costumes and decorations. took a bit of nerve for me to get out of my car, but i said screw it, and went about my business.

yes i did get stared at, and i really had to ignore that or i'd just turn around and leave. funny how juvenile some of the guys are – one guy pretended he couldn't read something on the hood of a car, wanting me to bend over for a closer look. nah, didn't give him the satisfaction, but he did have the balls to try asking me again, even after i told him from where i was what the thing said. nice try, little boy.

whatever, get your jollies my friends. at least other people started showing up, and i wasn't the only one in costume.

i delivered a couple of prints at the show, so i really did have a reason to be there anyway. the owner of this black chevy saw one of the prints his friend bought, and i guess he liked what he saw. he asked me to take a picture of his car. here it is...what do you think?

there were guys with cameras there, of course, so i suppose a picture of me will pop up somewhere eventually, or maybe i'll post one here after i'm over the trauma. you can always squint real hard at the front bumper and see me behind the tripod, as always.

reflection

here's another car from the duke's show. i forget which car club (my bad). one of the many jammed in the back lot, this one up against the wall. this was a more typical model chevy there in abundance, but no two were exactly alike.

i liked the two-tone paint on this one, but especially liked the reflection of the sky in the fender. don't forget the hood ornament — don't know why i love those things. didn't notice the broiler sign in the shot until i got home and downloaded the pictures from the camera, so bonus. too bad downey still uses overhead lines...stupid telephone pole right in the way. oh well.

gypsy rose

i attended the duke's show & shine over at bob's in downey this past weekend. incredible congregation of car clubs, lots of representation from each. really for me, it was chevy overload...it was a plethora, yes a plethora of chevys of many years, mainly 1939s–1950s, with some odd years and some impalas thrown in, and this one opened its petals to me.

so many to choose from, so many similar cars all jammed into the entire parking lot. i even had to park a few blocks away, since there was no parking nearby. i didn't know where to start, or what to shoot, much less, i'd been away from shooting for a couple of weeks and was a little out of sorts, so i did my usual. i started by walking around the entire show, seeing what's there. then sat down and took out my cameras. then went back through and just picked random cars—they were all so delicious, but so crowded together, as well as being overrun with people, i could only really do a few.

by the time i got there, they were already doing raffles and giving out trophies. really big, tall trophies. i saw many cars stuffed full of plaques and trophies from prior shows. these guys really know how to do a show right.

anyway, i am rambling. this car has a remarkable paint job. lots of detail. real crowd stopper. parked right up by the trophy table. perhaps you know it? according to my flickr friend, kid deuce, it's known as the gypsy rose. he was there the same day, but i don't know if at the same time. i've never met him, so if i walked past without saying hello, i'm really sorry i didn't recognize you without your western attire. :) he's posted lots of shots from that afternoon, so check them out.

also, thanks to jae bueno for posting the notice about the show, or i would have missed it. he takes really good shots of cars as well, and again, if he was there, i did not recognize him, or i would have thanked him in person. waiting to see what pictures he got of the show.

ketchup and mustard

i'm practically psychic...i know i won't be posting tomorrow...so i figured i would just post another one. hoping it won't rain tomorrow; i want to go to the last foothill show for the year.

these two were over in the corner at enderle plaza last month. the red one is owned by a guy that looks like santa, if i remember correctly, only skinny, but with a white beard. at least the plate names it santa56. the owner of the yellow one moved it in next to the red one, and the owners walked off together, so i suppose they're buddies.

i think the yellow chevy might be this same car from the garden grove friday show. nice neutral flames on the yellow, not overpowering and in your face, so much the better. sometimes you gotta let the classic car be the show stopper, not the paint choice. both very clean.

<deleted some snarky stuff here...wouldn't you like to know...?> gotta edit myself sometimes. my mother-in-law reads this once in a while. lol.

lead sled

this merc custom, also from the whittier uptown show, is seemingly the companion piece to this one. this was the second of three similar vehicles parked on this corner. maybe it was just a coinkydink that they were clustered in the same area. i don't think i bothered with the other, as i remember it was just painted in primer gray and not too dazzling or remarkable.

i remember this being a spectacular, deep blue, but i think maybe i've made it too dark here. the time of day made for an uncontrasty, flat shot, so i had to jack it up a bit. but that's the point of my tweaking, now isn't it?

found nemo

so i'm getting over my cold. they've let me back in the house, but i'm staying away from my mother-in-law — not because of the stereotypical reasons; she's wonderful, but doesn't want to catch anything respiratory at her age. missed the ruby's show; was supposed to take a picture of someone's car, and didn't have any way of letting them know i wasn't going to make it besides not showing up. now there's only one left for this year. tried to get my better half to go take shots for me, but he ended up working late. hoping to hit up a car show tomorrow or the one in foothill ranch on monday, if it doesn't rain as promised.

——————

another member of lifestyle car club, this 1949 chevy truck was found at the whittier uptown car show back in august.

i think these guys do their own painting and pinstriping; one of the guys (the owner?) was touching up the pinstripes on this when i went by it later in the afternoon. devil in the details? nope, just little roses, down by the wheels.

sweet, swirly and fun, the curves of the car and the color theme just make me think of clown fish, but in a bad ass kind a way.

purple people eaters

i think i probably caught a cold, courtesy of my lovely neighbors seated next to and nearby me on the airplane home. really tired, so 'scuse me while i whip this out.

not one of my best shots, more of an experiment. i liked the positioning with the neon sign and the reflections on the side of the car, but i think i'd need to rethink the actual taking of a shot like this. a little rough and noisy, and not quite right, but i liked it enough to post it.

gonna go pass out now. i might be banished again from my mother-in-law's, which is where my computer is currently parked, so i might be down for a couple of days...suckage.

deliverance

well, i'm back. had an excellent week hauling myself around d.c. missed my cars though. already had missed a local car show outside of town, so of course, while cruising through museums, i was on the prowl for them.

now i have to tell you, i do hate taking pictures of cars indoors, especially at museums. same reasons i haven't bothered going to the big car shows here: too many people; artificial light and/or ugly ceiling from low points of view; limited manueverability to find the perfect shot; not allowed to use a tripod; etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

when i was a kid, we lived back behind mt. vernon, so got to visit the smithsonian museums fairly often. my dad would mostly march us to the buildings on the mall. so i had some memories of where to look. i remembered the american history museum having a hall of transportation: a vast room with 3 or 4 full-size trains of various time periods, with the associated smell of smoke and iron; and a room with lots of cars from lots of time periods.

well, its all been redone. the giant trains are gone, except one, and so was the smell. the cars were limited to about 5 or 6 models in silly dioramas, and despicable conditions for getting the shot i wanted. screw it. i got them using a small, flexible gorillapod tripod thing, but i probably will never bother posting them, i dislike them so much.

if you get farther out from the mall, you can find some interesting things. i found this old ford postal truck in the u.s. postal museum of course. i didn't catch what year. the amazing thing was that i could use a big tripod in there now — couldn't do that last year. not a lot of traffic off the beaten path. and apart from the bars to keep you off the thing, you could almost get a 270 degree choice of angle around it to shoot from, only because they have a modern truck behind it at an angle.

really was great to get away from work, but i missed posting. i'll stop boring you now with tales of my time away, since the rest has nothing to do with cars.

again

can't get enough of this car. won a trophy at this show. seems like the guy in the checkered shirt is telling a dirty joke...nice hand movement.

anyway, not much to say, not much time...been running around like crazy this evening. worked late. stuck in traffic. bailed off the freeway. slow drive to the house. no time to change out of my work clothes. pick up a print, then deliver it to the owner at ruby's. no time to take any shots at the show, only a quick walk around. then to the stupidmarket for my mother-in-law. then pick up a bite to eat. home and carry it all in the house.

why the run around? had to get home to pack my bag...heading off for a week in d.c. in the wee hours of the morning. mom and dad, take care of my house, please. don't do anything i wouldn't do...>:)