would smell as sweet?

this old ford gets around. i've seen it at a few shows in various places. the aged finish and pitted hood ornament and grill make it more interesting when i process it.

the name on the door proclaims it to be of penrose machine shop out of compton, ca, but i can't find it on google. and i can't believe there isn't another picture of it out there either.

is this penrose an "impossible object" popularized in the '50s by the mathematician roger penrose, who describes such objects as "impossibility in its purest form?" [no, i'm not a geek...found it on wikipedia] how can it be explained otherwise?

addendum: (thanks denny) There was indeed a 'Pensose Machine' in Compton, CA. He was a dealer for small industrial engines and parts, such as Wisconsin, Continental, Kohler etc. I sold him product in the 60s thru mid-70s. Another 'Penrose' was" Dick", who was at one time working for Continental Motors, before I was, and he was 'Sherm" (I presume Sherman) Penrose's son. Sherm had a small engine and lawn equipment distributorship in Long Beach in the 60s. I believe 'Penrose Machine went 'unde'r in the early 80s with different ownership. The Ford in your picture was most likely sponsored by Penrose-Compton.

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.

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.

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.

dodge

the owner of this car has been stalking me for probably a month now, at least. not in a bad way. he's been trying to sync up at a show when he has this car and i have my camera. he'd been shown some of my work and had been crazy trying to get me to shoot this car.

it actually has yellow doors, but he really wanted them to be the same color as the rest of the car, which if i remember right, is actually a warm brown. i think this is close enough, but a little warmer because of the sunset.

there was some interest in making the background black and white or sepia or blurry, but that kinda loses the beautiful colors that come from a sunset. and adds a bit more time to my work, so i'm skipping it for now, unless they really want that...

told him i'd post a couple of shots to choose from, then either print a small proof to look at or go ahead with a large print to deliver on friday. i'll add another shot to this post tomorrow.

then, after shooting this car, ended up shooting the gray car you see behind it, as well as another car behind the gray car...i'll also post these two tomorrow, for them to choose a bigger print from on nice paper. busy weekend, but having fun with the challenge.

lady dragon

stopped at the enderle center show in tustin today. thought it would be the typical weekly bunch of cars. apparently it was an annual (?) classic car show. roads shut down, had to park down the road a bit, fireboys with their trucks there. but really, about the same number of cars that show on the regular show days, only with some that i've never seen before, and a much bigger to-do for a raffle and trophy tent. couple restaurants open and free haircuts from a salon in the center. fun to be had by all.

was there just before it officially started, so had to stand for the singing of the star spangled banner while a hook and ladder firetruck raised an enoromous flag. they should have turned the truck the other way, so the wind would have blown it out, instead of back over the ladder. whatever. that was followed by pledge of allegiance, and several speeches by show officials.

anyway, this was an extraordinary car. i believe i heard the owner saying it had originated from a childhood dream. he'd had it custom built/crafted to his specifications. can't remember what he said was under the hood, but i think it was the drive train from some other standard classic model car.

what caught my eye, was the hood ornament, of course. other details included the lady dragon scultped on the gas cap, as well as dragon-themed dashboard elements, and on the center medallion of the steering wheel.

the owner handed me a business card, which says he's an artist. so i am not surprised by the craftsmanship or the imagination that went into this unique car.

cute tomato

went to the show at ruby's last night. waited until it cooled off, and the sun was starting to set. lots of people there.

saw this 1938 chevy early on. its really a deep deep maroon color that is spectacular in the sunlight. i'd seen it at the whittier uptown show, but then it had been crammed between two other cars and always had the split hood up. so i never got a shot of it that day. here it was, with the hoods up again...arrrggggh. passed it by several times.

after going off for some golden spoon yogurt, came back for one more pass through the cars. sun had set. they were beginning the raffle and trophy announcements. the crowds had moved over to the announcement area.

finally the hood was closed, not too many people around, which was good. at this point, the exposures on the camera were going to be long, and i didn't need people milling around arbitrarily; can't be helped. there are still some people ghosts in the background, but they aren't interfering with the car, which is the main focus anyway.

the owner was nearby. he came over and turned on the lights–which also illuminated the hood ornament, but i guess i wasn't at a good angle to capture that well. i liked the ornament, and tried to get a hand-held shot of it with my macro lens, but the exposure was too long, and all out of focus. hopefully i'll see this one again when its not so dark.

dragon master

this hood ornament goes with this 1936 chevrolet that i saw again this past week at the show at alondra and the 605. maybe its not so much a dragon, as it is a phoenix, but i like it. it is a beautiful vehicle. i think it made the blue pop a little too much here; it's actually a bit darker blue – i'll try to restrain myself in the future. again, my monitor is a bit out of whack, so i'll have to check it on another computer somewhere.

the green truck is pretty nice too. both of the owners got out of the picture for me, but maybe i should have asked them to move that ratty chair too. lol. just kidding. you probably didn't realize i was framing up both cars anyway.

*************

everyone that had a good time at the whittier uptown car show today, raise your hands! saw a few people i knew, and a whole lot of wonderful cars. what a blast! total pictures for the day: 674. enough to keep me busy when the rain comes.

one twenty

i look forward to days like this. overcast skies, which add more drama to a picture, as well as softening the light. only trouble is, it keeps a lot of cars away from the shows. either the threat of rain ruining a perfect wash and buff job or it's just too cold to stand around outside for a period of time.

i'd seen this packard several months earlier, but had shot it from down low. just a big shot of a grill topped with a hood ornament. interesting to me, but not enough to bother with here. and here it was, not too crammed in with other cars because of the weather. the owner was nice enough to chat and move his chairs away from the front of it for my shots.

i suppose he's long since given up seeing it here...i warned him it could be a while. well, really has been only a week or so. so many pictures to choose from, and i remembered him. thank you for moving your chair. now if i could only have gotten the next car over to move somewhere else.

racing of the bull

well, my day has sucked so far. was driving up to san luis obispo this morning, to go see my kid play baseball. got as far as the big hill on the 101 heading down into camarillo and blew a tire. little tiny shoulder. crawled out on the passenger side. people insanely speeding down the hill. thank goodness for the aaa guy. don't envy his job changing the driver side front tire with all those "sweet" drivers barrelling down that hill. found a tire place in camarillo and got a whole new set – had over 78,000 miles on the original tires, so it was probably time anyway.

anyway, got that done and no way was i going to make it to the kid's game at all, so with assurances that he was going to have a ride home, i turned around, and here i am playing with my pictures. was too late to even drive out to some car show in ventura, though a very nice old woody did pass me while i was stuck on that hill.

hubby has taken his mother and nephew out to disneyland for the evening, so i'm blasting some music and getting sleepy at the same time. 

enough of my busy day. you're really here for a picture, so here's an interesting hot rod. caught it just before the owner drove off...he was going home to fetch some other car for the show here in tustin. here's what's left of a 1928 essex super six somewhere under this customization. the spider web detail seems a little unnecessary, but i do like the bull's head hood ornament.