here's the first one i took from the dia de los muertos show in whittier yesterday. this was a row of showlows cars. ronnie was kind enough to let me know they were going to be there, and since its right up the street from me, easy to walk to. even got uptown early and got some bfast before they arrived.
i don't think i've seen this one from their club. very exceptional and clean. i liked the pinstripes, which they all seem to have, and it's very well done.
there are old things we should keep around. like this old truck. a new coat of paint, shiny chrome, new wheels, and you have a keeper. it has value to the owner, and all us poor plebes can only admire from afar and appreciate the hard work. yep this one got put almost in the center intersection of the whittier uptown car show this year.
feeling philosophical tonight. i have a house filled with boxes of stuff from an earlier life. boxes of memories, toys, junk. all have value to me, or i would have gotten rid of them long ago. i used to have it all in storage, then decided i didn't want to pay the storage fees anymore. thought it would be easier to go through it all if i actually had it around...
thing is, i think i'm ready to let go of some of the stuff. i'm sick of looking at the boxes. if i can find someone to cart off a lightly used electric clothes dryer from my garage, i could move some of said stuff out there, so it can play with the other boxes out there, out of sight, out of mind...except everytime i park my car there.
if i had the time, i'd go through the boxes and filter out the old photos, and absolutely sentimental stuff to keep forever, then decide what to do with the rest of it. i should have a garage sale, but i hate them, especially since the last time i had one, some bunghole actually paid for my junk with a counterfeit $20. thanks for nuthin.
it is a lot easier to just shove the stuff in the corners and ignore it, but i'm getting to the point where i don't want to think about them anymore. i suspect this is why i got custody of all this stuff, so that i would have to face it one day. i think he would have just thrown it all away and be done with it.
i could post stuff on ebay, or take it to goodwill, but that would take time, which i don't have a lot of lately. i'd like to clean the slate, so to speak. someone could make use of it. i've gone through it all a few times over the years, but this last bit is just hard to let go of.
easier to play with my pictures, go to a car show, go to work, watch netflix, travel, do almost anything than to deal with the past.
another late night, spent pondering a graphic i have to do tomorrow at work. thought i could come up with an idea while shooting a car show...you know, when your best ideas appear when you aren't even thinking about them. no luck. guess i'll sleep on it.
well there wasn't much out at cypress today, but not disappointed that i left work on time; i needed the break. actually, the few local shows i've been to have been pretty sparse. is it the price of gas, or is everyone just selling off their cars?
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getting back to this picture...another from henderson lincoln. didn't realize the clouds looked so awesome at the time. i was just trying to get the front of the car and the reflections in the hood. this thing was so shiny. interesting hood ornament thingy too. i'll have to post the close up another time. i'm running on fumes right now, so best get meself to bed.
quick post then off to bedski...another long day; another long week...
another from yesterday's show in pasadena. was going to walk by this one because the hood was up, and they're just kind of ho-hum up front, then remembered it's the back end that makes this car nice. took a few shots down low just to catch the curves. got a lens flare on this shot, but it doesn't bother me.
noticed after i was done that it belongs to my friend reine's so cal tribe car club...had one of their logos in the window. seems a long way from home, but nice to see this one represent.
i stopped by the broiler the other day. was a bit more lively than on recent visits, yet still pallid compared to last summer.
as always, i find more interesting cars hiding in the back for whatever reason. this impala was one of those. on first look, it was an eye catcher, with it's shiny paint, glitter and all. but on closer inspection, there are a few imperfections on the pinstriping/airbrushing, but maybe it was just because i was getting up close and personal with the thing. still, it's a pretty thing just the same.
here's a nice bomb, hiding in plain sight. under cover of the overhang, i had to tweak it a bit to get it out of the dark—my camera exposed for the sky more than the car. someday i'll have to figure out how to use the camera properly.
my better half has tried many times to explain all the buttons and what nots on the camera…his is even worse. he'll sit with the knowledge that one of these days, i'll give in and ask for this information, and pay attention, the same way i did when i asked him to show me how he was doing his pictures. he loves to tell that story, and it gets more “interesting” with each telling, as do most of his stories about me.
anyway, i like these old chevys, with all their curves and chrome. i like the front of it too, even if the hood ornament is so very simple, err, elegant, err, modernistic...; i'll have to post the pictures someday.
i took my mom to a car show a few weeks ago. with all the beautiful shiny cars all around, she asked why i bothered to shoot stuff like this. if you can have steak every day, every once in a while, you still just want a hamburger.
can't tell me this doesn't have some character, can you? it doesn't look totally, naturally weathered; they're probably working on it at a very early stage, but still shows a life lived. that these old cars are still around in whatever condition is a statement in itself. it may be a POS, but it's still an interesting one to look at.
ya, i cropped it...had the damn hood open. :)
i had already been warned that the whittier uptown show was going to be different this year. i'm not saying there weren't some nice cars there, because there were. i'm saying, the change was not good. they decided to segregate the show this year: today would be hot rods and muscle cars; next may would be the bombs and low riders. it almost felt gutted without the quantity, quality, and enthusiasm of past shows. what were they thinking?
happily, in a side lot, a group of bombs, low riders and the like, had staked out the lot the night before, and set up there, along with a tent advertising the show next may. while i do have more affection for these types of cars, a few had still managed to find their way in, out on the main street. while there were not so many cars, they had still blocked off just as much space as past years. you'd think they'd tell the guys to space the cars out...a lot. they still clustered them toward the center stage and judges' area, i suppose. the crowd was not so rowdy. the cops didn't notice the guys drinking beer out of the back of their van disguised in red plastic cups. there were a several whole blocks of closed, empty streets.
now i wonder if so many, of what they've determined to be the rowdy element, will want to come on down next may, after being so excluded. i'd be kinda pissed if i were them.
anyway, that's my review. a big pffft to the bigwigs in whittier, you've made a great show kinda boring.
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this one was over in the bomb lot. only a handful of cars back there, but the kind that i like. the owner kindly dropped the hood for the shot. i'm not sure that the guy that specifically asked for a shot of this car was just one of the working car show shlubs, or one of the organizers of the show. if an organizer, i've probably not made him happy by my review, but it's just my opinion, dude. and what do i know about cars anyway, aside from how to shoot them with my little camera here.
these guys were parked off on the end at enderle last week. i think the owners and a couple of other people were chatting about paint and body and other customization, but in the background of my mind it all sounded like charlie brown's teachers: "wha wha wha whaaa wha wha."
it was something different. don't think i've had the pleasure of catching a hudson that looks like this. all the curvy goodness is just fun for my eyes. not too flamboyant, and even in a simple monotone, i like it a lot.
of course that there mercury ain't bad neither. guess i'll have to post the close up of that one sometime too. polished to a shine on the hood of infinite darkness.
i think i saw this one at ruby's last time i was there. here it sits in the parking lot of old world. kinda cool with the wall•e engine thing and weird finish paint job.
my favorite parts, though are the unused hood lock painted to give you the bird – F.U. too; and the metal rooster on the dashboard. wait for it, wait for it...no, i'm not going there, i'll be good for a change, and not say something about how big (or small) it might be. love the pinstriping on the door too.
i think the owner was sitting opposite the car, and would occasionally make the hydraulics squeak a bit. thanks for not bouncing it while i was taking my shots.