no fear of flying

here's another car from the fremont elementary school show. back on the playground and in the grass, i think i kinda like it being on a different surface for a change. i do wish there wasn't a car next to it, particularly one with the hood open. but i do like the reflection of the car you don't see in the fender, if you can just ignore that pesky photographer there as well.

that's the owner there, with the thick gold chain. seemed like a nice guy. his wife is sitting in the car, but she kept her head down the whole time. maybe she was reading a book. nice of her to go to the show with her man anyway.

and don't forget my favorite...a hood ornament. this one is called a flying lady.

pita green

found this merc ford (is this a shoebox?) out in riverside yesterday. fremont elementary school was having their 2nd annual car show. not sure what they were doing with the proceeds, but there were quite a few cars in spite of the overcast and scattered showers.

this was right up at the entrance. so shiny, so clean. it's actually a deep, dark green, with ghosted green flames on it. a real pain in the ass... just can not seem to get it the way i remember it because of the blue sky reflecting on it so brightly, which is making it go turquoise, and also killing the hint of the flames on the hood. i do like the shiny reflection, but it does make it difficult to have any chance of remembering that there are flames on the hood.

the owner was sitting inside too, but i'm mostly low enough all you can see of him is the top of his baseball hat.

flame thrower

only a few more weeks until the season when there is literally at least one car show a day. car gluttony. car-razy. car happy = carappy? whatever.

i think it's been hinted to throttle back on how many shows i hit up. shall we just say my better half is very patient with me, and i should probably throw more time his way. but, hey, he does work a lot of overtime, so what else am i going to do? i really hate going to the gym, and at least this gets me out and about, hauling around a tripod.

speaking of upcoming shows, this flamed beauty, and it's hot rod companion (can't really see the flames on it from this side) were at the foothill ranch show last june. was a bit overcast, and not as broiling hot as it got later in the summer there. i can't be sure, but i think this chevy has also been over at fuddrucker's once in a while, and i think it might even belong to the pinstriper guy who comes out once a month there in the summer. i'm sure someone out there will let me know ifn i'm misguided...you always do.

playing with fire

so i hit a couple of shows on sunday. stopped first at the big boy show in orange. second time there. big disappointment. didn't even get my camera out. they had several rows of the parking lot blocked off, so they were hopeful, but the security guard started taking the caution tape down before i left.

then drove over to pal joey's show in costa mesa. haven't been to one of these since they were at the santa ana elk's club. decent turn out, but i still expected more. got there late enough that many cars had the hood up, so bye bye to them.

this one was a pretty decent hot rod, as hot rods go. i've never seen slightly rainbow-y flames as these...pinks to greens to oranges to blues. nice big wall•e engines...kinda expect a nickelodeon if you peek into this one.

so basically for the day, i got shots of maybe four cars. whatever. i had fun anyway.

this one is gumby

yep. here's the proof on the back:

 not much to say, except this is one clean bomb.

crackle jack

all right, another post tonight. up goes a shot with the new lens, no thanks to my insurance company. told them the truth about the old one – a piece that worked the autofocus broke inside it – and it wasn't covered. whereas, i think many people would have purposely dropped it or misplaced it and then reported that damage and would have been paid...but that's another rant that doesn't belong here.

so stuff was going on at the broiler tonight...a photo/video shoot or mini concert in the parking lot. lots of girls dressed in '50s garb and makeup milling about. i assume more cars would show up, but there really wasn't, at least while i was there.

anyway, this old pontiac drives up. i've seen and shot it before elsewhere. while the owner isn't the friendliest dude to run across, and had grumbled at me last time, he never had a problem with it before. not sure why he puts a fugly flyer advertising some other vehicle for sale on his windshield.

anyway, as i set down my tripod in front of it, he came over and asked that i not shoot pictures of the car. some drivel about it showing up all over the internet lately, and please don't. ok, no problemo. he didn't really say it in some intimidating, anal sort of way, as a former posting mentioned. since i haven't posted any of the shots of it i've taken, he can't blame me for any real or imaginary postings of it coming from here. of course, doing a quick image search doesn't turn up his specific car

i did ask him if i could take a shot of the hood ornament, and he said yes. told him i had a new lens to test, though by that point i don't think he could care less. then he returned to the pack of car owners, which also included my everlasting nemesis, richard, so there was some explanation for his cantankerous attitude.

so here it is. wish he'd parked around the corner, so the sun could have hit it and made it glow. i think the lens is a keeper.

fly away home

i've been checking out some of the odd and random shows lately. looking for some different cars to shoot, new people to meet. well, this one was really disappointing as far as shows go, but not as far as the few cars that showed up.

the flyer mentioned that you should r.s.v.p., as there was limited space. well, smooth move sherlock, i can't think of a better way to get people not to show up. marketing genius.

i'd just gotten a new macro lens to replace the one that had broken...so sad. anyone interested in an awesome minolta "secret handshake" macro lens, that doesn't focus anymore? needed to test it out, in case it needed to be returned. being late in the day, i could only think of this particular show still running by the time i could get there.

well, despite being only half-way through the advertised show time, there were a grand total of four cars that i would consider being in the lot for the show, two of which were just selling stuff or otherwise just silly and shouldn't ever be seen in public...so embarassing. oh wait, a tricked out golf cart in front of an indoor golf facility, i guess could be interesting to some.

there were only three when i first pulled up across the street, then this baby drove in. saves the day even better than that stingray next to it. thank you so much!

took a shine to it

this car caught my attention. off at the end of the lot, the sun just starting to go down, light hitting it just so. the pinstripes and chrome just begged to be looked at, just had to get past a handful of hydraulicly-endowed cadillacs.

i like that the fuzzy dice match the color of the roof and interior. i'd lose that antenna ball if it were mine, but i ain't so nevermind.

crossroads

there have been a few new shows listed on dave's site recently, at least i've never seen on it before. this is from the good times show off crossroads parkway, in the carl's jr parking lot. figured if there wasn't much there, we could just go to fry's down the street.

there was a pretty good turnout: lots of chevys, lots of low rider cadillacs, and lots of hydraulics being bounced around. the show started in the late afternoon, but the sun is still dropping fairly early, so started shooting as quick as possible. there was a space of time before the parking lot lights came on, where it was pretty dark, and hard to see the cars. i still took some shots in the various lighting conditions...never know what you'll get. always learning, so practice, practice, practice. see what works and what doesn't for a picture.

there were beautiful cars from one end of the lot to the other, but this was one of the first group of cars we looked at. the owners were friendly and brought along their nice, big pit bulls too.

master of the universe

maybe not of the universe, but of the road. yummy grille on this old buick. lots of chrome. and oh so shiny. would i buy this if i had the cash? i dunno. what would i buy? i'll have to think about that.

lots of cars are showing up with for sale signs plastered on the windshield. is time to start the next “project” or can't afford the gas? well it's a buyer's market, if only i had the money to get something and do the upkeep. do these old cars become money pits, like boats?

------- wtf, it's already after 10 pm...no wonder i'm tired. i can't help myself...just had to post one more. nighty night bunny wab-bit.