leadrag

i've seen this one many times. i thought i'd posted it at some point, but i'm not finding it right now. well, i know i have other shots, but not very satisfying ones.

this is the first time i've seen it with the top up. i suppose because it's next to those trees, those lovely, drippy, sappy trees. and the birds.

i'm not saying it's my favorite car, but i do just like the challenge of trying to get a good shot of cars i see far too often. usually solved by a change in location. like this one; they killed off the fuddrucker's show in el toro...all that construction had pushed it too far from the main drag, and no one knew it was there. here it is at chik-fil-a, where you are separated from the main street by a few feet of concrete, dirt, trees and flowers.

flying fish

stopped at fuddruckers the other day. mostly too late to catch the sunset, which wasn't all that special anyway. not like the one a couple of nights ago. why is it when there's some awesome sunset to be seen from the front door here, there isn't a car show to be had? saturday, there was a sunset so deep purple to deep red, melted crayons couldn't have matched it in a million years.

finding fewer cars at this show that i want/need to shoot a picture of. been an overall different vibe there, though the dj/host does like to mention other upcoming shows to me.

only took this shot because i liked the fish hood ornament. that decal on the side panel kinda ruins it for me otherwise. 

full monty

or at least a three-quarter monty. another of the few cars worth shooting at the show in san diego. orange and off-white was fairly striking under the hot sun. imagining the chrome would burn something fierce if you touched it long enough—put a real good grill mark on your buns.

just an aside: hey geri, were trying to rig the raffle? party on...

duke of earl

i did a lot of shooting this weekend. had lunch with my better half, who had to work all weekend, then decided i'd finally go check out this show in riverside. yep, riverside. no reason to go out there anymore, since my kid graduated, but there are a few shows that i did enjoy, that i will definitely make the drive for again.

as i said, i'd never had time to hit this one, which is in the evening, once a quarter the guy said. out at riverside airport, adjacent to a hanger. they actually advertise it as a sock hop, and folks showed up in 50s costumes, and the dj only played songs from the 40s and 50s. there were several marine and army planes around, and for a hundred bucks and three hundred bucks, you could get a forty minute or more ride in a couple of the planes. damn things would fly by real low and twist in turn right near the crowd. thanks buddy. don't make a mistake.

anyway, there were about three dozen cars, at least before i left. a lot of chevys got passed by because the hoods were up. there was only one car i'd seen before, so that was nice. i may not remember the owner, but i do remember the cars. actually, i did remember this one owner only because he made some joke at a show a year before. maybe i'll post his car sometime.

hey gary from riverside (not the other one i do not like out here) why weren't you there with your chevy? i bet you would have closed your hood like last time.

nuff boring story. i gots to get some sleep. long day today.

i liked this merc that drove in. pretty simple. drove in, parked, and dropped down. and didn't open his hood. also, got the plane there in the shot, just before it took off on a another charity ride. now, if it only had a hood ornament, it would be perfect.

some kind of wonderful

not sure what this is—chevy or merc—but it was one of the few nice cars at ruby's yesterday. incredible interior upholstery throughout, and very light use of pinstriping on the hood and over the lights.

i go away for a couple of weeks, and when i get back, there's not really much there. fewer cars than ever.

at least when i arrived, had just parked and popped my trunk, an old acquaintance ( his car ) was just walking back to the show from the carl's jr. said he'd missed me, had been reading my little blog. had been reading my better half's blog. mentioned a couple of pictures of me he'd seen there. apparently, he perceived that my better half might actually like me. a lot. hmmm. hmmmm. hmmmm. of all things to notice over on his blog...i hate pics of myself, but my better half seems to like them.

so there was only a couple of rows of cars there for the show. didn't take too many shots, still taking it easy, though i am allowed to return to normal activity. talked to a few people i've met before, as well as a few others, about cameras, about pictures, about cars—don't know much about the last one, but i do like taking pictures of them. it's nice to get back out.

i'm in a kind of hell now

living a whirlwind right now, with very little time to post, much less think or sleep. got a coworker on a three week vacation, so helping with some of her work on top of an increasingly busy work schedule. still packing my stuff to go into storage, but at a much more accelerated timeline than i originally thought. but even that, i've been too busy to get much boxed. my son did get through his graduation, so at least i can check that off the list.

quick post, so you don't think i've dropped off the planet. sun was way too bright for taking good shots this day at fuddrucker's in el toro, but i was there and needed to shoot to break the work week up. this was a really nice merc, all flamey and chopped and parked just so. wish that suv thing wasn't next to it.

funny thing was that i was on my way out to spires the next evening, and saw it again followed closely by an unfinished merc on the 91 freeway. had hoped they were heading to the show, but they didn't take the exit, so pooh. went over to the broiler, but they weren't there either. another one of those "where you going?" moments...

free at last

i am both relieved and feeling some loss. my son played his last baseball game yesterday. hitting .351 and 32 RBIs for the season. not bad. he will graduate from college in a couple of weeks. i've been going to his games since he was eight years old. it feels weird to know that my weekends will no longer be scheduled around his games. mostly it just feels weird knowing that is just another step in letting him grow up.

he'll probably still have to make the decision to continue on to law school or say yes to a pro team if they pick him in the draft. big choice, and glad it's not mine to make—it's his future now, so i'll just be there to support him whichever way he goes.

but getting back to the car shows is something i can still look forward to. found this show in fullerton, before heading to a baseball game [of course]. had a momentary scare while shooting this car. seriously thought i'd killed one of the two cameras i use at the car shows. already maimed one and killed one lens from overuse. turned out i just had forgotten to switch a couple of settings, since i'd been also using it to shoot the baseball games.

ya, i didn't stay long at this show. owners seemed a little too pretentious, maybe that's not the word, but it wasn't clicking with me. this was the day for hot rods and stuff; the next day was "concours d'elegance" —yes, maybe pretentious is the right word.

from the lack of free parking to the "free shuttle," which turned out to be a standard van for too many people, i knew it was one of those shows that i typically avoid. and yes, i've known about this show for years and managed to skip it. i'd never even gone to the museum, though my college professors used to recommend it for art gallery review assignments. not as many cars as i thought there would be, but i think the concours was probably the busier day. lots of hoods up, many very fine cars, but not many that made me want to take a picture.

i have a couple more i'll share, but there will be additional stories of owners being themselves, to put it nicely. and maybe i should wait a while so i can do the "say something nice, or don't say nothing at all," and get it out of my system. but that's boring.

shooting star

catch a comet by the tail, but not in this case. i liked the front end better.

rare day at a car show lately. family and work priorities finally gave me a brief break. this show in paramount has started up again for the spring/summer season. never are too many cars here, and the cliquish (as i was told by an unnamed acquaintance) group are always bunched up in front of the main circle of cars, in front of the trophy table. kind of like the oscars, they vote each other the awards every week, even if one of them doesn't bring their car or arrives late...or so i was told.

fool injection

another day, another back end. wasn't feeling well this evening, so i skipped going to the broiler. just been flipping through old shots, deciding on stuff i will work on when the rain comes or when i can't decide which one i like. at least it will have been narrowed down a little. and it's just a collection of what i liked today, which doesn't mean i'll like it on a day that i don't know which one to work on.

this one was from a cars and coffee type show over by LAX early last january. had to drop my better half off for a business trip, so hey, find a car show as long as i'm up this early. it was parked next this woodie.

favorite combo: fins and clouds. kinda wish that woodie wasn't there.

cardinal

a quick search on the web finds this car, or one amazingly similar, parked down in balboa park in san diego. it is also on a cars for sale site. is it the self-same car? i don't know. it didn't have a sign on it.

i found it up in the "look at me" row, up front of ruby's. once in a while they are actually worth a bother. this one is almost too perfect to be driven much. i should have peeked at the mileage.