flying rat rod

quick post since it's late...seem to be starting every post lately that way...too much to do, too little time.

i had a busy weekend. i did make it to riverside. ended up for an hour or so both saturday and sunday at the riverside show and go. saturday on purpose, sunday to entertain some visiting relatives. saturday was great, about 1000 cars; sunday, only a few hundred. my buddy gary (hey blog lurker!) was there on sunday, and said if people didn't win or think they won a trophy, they either didn't show, or had already left.

well, there were still more than enough to satisfy my relatives, and we all ended up satisfied. i have more pics to post, though not of all the cars i saw...too many hoods were up! lol.

times are changing

as i've been saying, my life has been getting very busy. not clearly an absolute yet, but i may soon also be packing all my worldly possessions up and stuffing it into storage. nah, i'm not going anywhere else, everything's fine. change of environment, sort of.

had hoped to get some pictures yesterday at fuddrucker's in el toro, and drove over there, but since the weather has been overcast and sprinkly, there was just a couple of newer corvettes and a 1930's ford. didn't get out of the car.

today i intended to try a new sunset show in laguna niguel, but figured since you really couldn't see the sun, and would have been colder near the coast, figured it wasn't worth the drive yet.

so, i'm really hoping the sun is out on friday for the first ruby's show of the season this friday. i'll be there, won't you?

_____

found this one from the easter show over at fuddrucker's in lakewood. i think i've mentioned in another post, that there wasn't much at this show because of the holiday. i'll have to go back again soon on a typical sunday. i've heard it can be a very busy show, and more cars equals more to choose from. lots of practice, only makes you better, and i've been out of practice. 

how was your day?

so i haven't been posting as often as i think about posting. my life is a bit busy right now, as i've been saying previously. and it will continue to be so for at least the next month.

today, i intended to get to a car show before a baseball game. i didn't quite get out of the house as early as i had thought i would, but i did manage to make it to original mike's for about 20 minutes before i had to scram.

got there almost an hour after it started. probably a good three-fourths of the cars had their hoods up, but it was a decent turn out, at least compared to the last few times i'd been there. i didn't have time to find owners and look longingly at their pretty beasts until they got the clue, so i shot about a dozen others that were ready to go.

this one had the door open, but i haven't seen one of these before, and it didn't bother me as much as an open hood would have. not sure if that's the owner there. i think he threw something into the car, but people throw flyers and stuff into cars all the time. he wouldn't get out of the shot no matter how much i stared, so there he is.

and of course, as soon as i called it a day, packed up and about to close the trunk of my car, in drives an oh so bitchin old mercury, clean, low, pinstriped...perfect. pulled into a parking space, sat for a minute, then backed up and left. why, oh why...followed it down the street a ways until i had to turn left, and he turned right...

fine day

in spite of being unable to get out to all the shows i'd like, my kid has been kicking ass in baseball. in fact, today, he went to bat five times: 3 singles, 1 double with an rbi, and one intentional walk. ya, i missed the game because of work today. sucks.

found this one out in riverside. got there early because the show started only an hour before the game was to start. kinda stalker like. was waiting for something interesting to drive up. several plain, but very nice old cars, but i wasn't interested in shooting them. but since i'd already spent a while here, and time to leave was looming, i figured i might as well get the camera and shoot at least one.

i did end up taking shots of about 5 cars before it got too late. nothing special, but i'm just making a record that i was there.

rumble

the thing i really like about being at a car show—apart from the taking of the pictures—is not even having to look around to know when these beasts are rolling in.

i can be low to the ground, focusing the camera, blocking the shot, and i can hear the low rumbling, like those dinosaurs in jurassic park, of the old cars blocks away. i don't even have to turn around, to know by the rumble if my next picture is driving up.

there's a big difference in the deep, low growl of old chevys, from the high pitched whine of the rodents running in the engines of say, a civic, driving down the street—eeeeeeeeeee—you know what i mean.

those lovely clouds...oh these are the kind of days i wait for all year.

full monte

another car that i usually pass by, but i liked the reflection on the hood too much. frankly, i don't get the tiny wheels they put on these cars. i suppose it has something to do with the hydraulics and bounceability. otherwise, this one was rather plain compared to others i've seen all tatted up, relatively.

payback isn't always a bitch

one of the first cars i decided to shoot at this show, and oh how i wished the photo album was off the hood. the owner did finally come over and offer to move it, but i was already done with his car, starting to overheat and running short of time. chatted a bit, showed him my book.

he said he'd helped the original owner paint this car, i think back in the '70s. turns out he'd inherited it from him a couple of years ago. if i remember what he told me, i think he's still tweaking the engine, but it looked nice, glittering in the sun. glitter and pinstripes. not a bad way to say thanks for your help.

solvangian dream

whilst on a lost weekend in solvang several months ago, i was on the hunt for an old ford i'd seen tooling around the town. had even gone all the way back to the hotel to fetch my gear, and headed off to the main drag and public parking lots, hoping to find it somewhere. 

usually, it's quite busy on the weekend, and parking spaces are full. most any day of the week, one can find this here chevy. it's owned by one of the shop keepers. i was told by one of the employees watching from the store's doorway, that he also has another old car, and that she did as well...told her to tell him to bring his out, as well as hers the next day. (they didn't — i checked)

i've passed it by often over the years, but never had the interest prior to a couple of years ago, nor a good opportunity to shoot it. being that it was a rainy weekend, and fairly windy and chilly, here it was sitting with an empty space next to it, not many cars on the street. booyah! i took a couple of shots from the front, and from out in the street behind it. i liked this view best.

never did find the ford. must have been out just for a cruise.

everything's eventual

ah yes. eventually, i'll think of an appropriate (or inappropriate) title for this post. inevitably, i need to get some sleep. someday, i'll finally sort through my to do list at home. soon, i'll order the blinds for my windows...the list goes on and on. things that always get put off. i suppose in the end, it will all catch up with me.

for now, i'm still choosing to distract myself with my pictures. but today, i think i've had enough of sitting: driving to work for 50 minutes; in front of a computer for 8 hours at work, driving home for another 50 minutes; eating dinner and chatting with my better half for another hour before he has to go back to the office for the evening...then sitting a bit longer to play with my pictures. enough already. i'm off to bounce on my trampoline, and then finally a chance to lay down for a few hours before starting all over again.

the clock is ticking. i doubt any of us will look as good as this car when we reach the same age.

like buttah

i suppose the guy that owns this chevy gave up hope of ever seeing it here long ago. such a rich, creamery butter color, i think it may be just a tad too dark here because of processing, or just that my monitor is out of calibration again.

i think the owner was one of the few guys that bothered to chat with me, and he and his buddies took the time to flip through my book of prints, and ooo'ed and aaaah'ed all the while. it is always fun to see people's reactions to the pictures. mostly they are tickled by them, not believing they're pictures; there a few photography purists, who screw up their noses, and say it isn't their taste, which is fine. you like what you like.

anyway, was a nice car and a nice guy.