1955 buick
speaking of vail headquarters, here’s an interesting car from the limited amount of time i spent there in the middle of the summer. before i decided to have a heat stroke.
damn, it’s hot out there in the summer.
maybe it’s the flames on this car.
at least my kid showed up with his family and got some pizza from the shop at the back of the complex. highly recommend that place. kinda hungry right now, come to think of it…
i’m thinking that i need a new computer and more hard drive space. hoping to get to more shows in the future, and this camera pops out big files—but not as big as the files on my better half’s new camera. he’s already got himself a new gift for the holidays, and hopes to join me at some car shows.
he came with me to the bomb club show in october, and had a good time. was using his old camera with a lens he hadn’t used in a while.
we both shot this car. i just saw it over his shoulder, on his computer. he’s thinking about posting again on his website, which he’s ignored for far too long. not sure when or if he’ll share his version, but i like mine.
cars are moving in the background, and the owner is in the car, so this from the end of the show and drive out.
i’ve had a cold since thanksgiving. probably a bit earlier than that, when i complained to my doctor about my earache. earache, my eye. she said nothing was wrong then. nothing is ever wrong when i bother to go to a doctor’s office.
this thing moved from behind my eyes down to my throat and has pretty much stayed there. i’m coughing up a lung, even after two weeks, though i have no other symptoms. tested negative for covid at least four times now, so just a boring old cold, i guess.
i’m hoping to shake it off before the next vail headquarters car show in a couple of weeks. all the better reason to go out and see my grandkids there in temecula.
as you would expect, if you’ve read this blog for a few years, i’m not in the mood for xmas, and haven’t even looked at buying gifts yet, if at all. i’ve got some time off coming up, so maybe we’ll get out of the house, or help my mom put the decorations away after the holidays.
can’t believe my dad will have been gone four years come xmas eve.
i’m just going to post up a few pics that i’d promised from the bomb club show, then sift through others that i liked.
here’s the third one we had a chat with before we left. i should write these stories down within the day of the event, as the details start eluding me rather quickly.
what i think she said was that they’d just gotten this truck back from either getting the paint job and / or other body work, and that otherwise, they only take it out for car shows. i believe it wasn’t a daily driver; better half thinks she said it was a daily driver. looking at that paint, i’m more sure it isn’t.
beautiful flame paint. driving it would put too many chips in it, i would think.
last show we’ve made it to since we moved, was mooneyes open house.
we arrived about five in the morning, and didn’t get started until about five-thirty. we expected more cars that early, as in past years, but really there were very few cars. just a few singular cars, and a couple of clubs, there to get their choice of parking.
saw this one very early on the far side of the street, then he moved over here in front of the shop. interesting customizations. not really sure what that thing is for the shifter, but close enough to being an alien for me to dig it. i like that it’s eyes light up. betting that dashboard gets very hot in the sun.
i loved the morning light, and the overcast sky kept it cooler a bit longer. still, we were pretty much done relatively early. just wasn’t enough of what i like to keep me there.
better half wanted to hit up his favorite restaurant over by our old apartment, so we headed to whittier, before heading back behind the orange curtain.
we’ve been so very busy unpacking too much stuff into a smaller space. it really isn’t working, and the majority of our stuff will just live in a storage unit for a very long time. the intention is to sift through boxes and toss or give away stuff. i’d like to sell some, but i really hate doing garage sales. last one i did was when my kids were little. some guy paid for some piece of junk with a twenty…i gave him change. only later did i realize he gave me a counterfeit bill. ahole. it’s just junk, and he still had to rip me off. sometimes i can’t stand people.
so, ebay or the like it will be. if i ever get around to doing it. easier to just buy a bigger house, but theres no money for that just now.
have a hard enough time finding time or the energy to get up and go to work every day. i’m just tired. lots going on around here, but i’m not going to bother you with details.
hoping to get to a few shows eventually. we’ve missed a few, because i just couldn’t get motivated to get out of bed and drive the extra hour and/or hotel prices are just a bit too insane right now.
taking down my show listing page. too many people sending me messages about shows i have no part of—i don’t run them, i don’t book vendors, i won’t take your money. i always redirect them to a website or a contact or a flyer, but really, it was just meant to be a cheat sheet listing of shows i was interested in going to. oh well.
pomona swap meet, last year.
wondering if indians used to live on these grounds. swear to big guy there’s a ghostly face of an indian in that driver’s seat on the full size image. i suppose i should add that here too, but i’ve already shut down my computer. otherwise, there were no other people hanging around this time of a cold morning.
don’t care much for hot rods, but i took a shot of this one for some reason. might as well post one once in a while.
have not done a whole lot today. i’m losing track of time working from home. apparently i thought thursday was wednesday all day. no idea where i lost a day. and have the work computer sitting here makes it too easy to just try and get projects done that are always pushed aside for the immediate rush jobs.
today, i power washed bits of the carpeting that the dog beast barfed on a week ago, when he ate some bad food.
one more week of work, then i have a week off. no where to go. previously scheduled vacation i never bothered to cancel the work time off. i’m tired. why not?
this past week or so has just been a roller coaster, and all i can do is just hold on. i know you will either be relieved or terribly disappointed that i won’t spill details here—it’s still a pretty sensitive situation, and i suppose i overshare enough when it has to do with me.
apart from that time bomb, my better half has loaded windows ten on my computer, but i lost all my favorite settings in my programs, so maybe my pictures will all be shit for a while. last few i fiddled with today just seem really dark, though my better half disagrees. he says he can hook up my old drive and for settings i saved, there should be files i can just copy over; just haven’t been here enough to get it done. so excuse my pics while i just wing it for a while.
i did get out to the black widows car club barbecue or picnic or whatever last week. waited long enough other cars did eventually show up. stayed longer than expected, only because there was a breeze and shade under trees. otherwise, just the ugly light of midday, and the sun relentlessly shining on my roasting arms. forgot the sunblock again. hate that greasy stuff.
owner of this lovely said there was still another layer of paint and/or a good buff to do on this new paint job. really nice, and different, no? little bit of pinstripes, little airbrush, some flames, and a lot of glitter—stood out anyways.
i’ve been waiting fifteen minutes for this windows update to finish, here at work. i actually have stuff to do, so this is slightly inconvenient....
ah, there it goes. only had to start a post on my phone to make it complete...blog blocker.
well, here’s a nice merc from last weekend at the park. interesting ghost flames in the paint.
yesterday was my boy's birthday. twenty-seven. how'd that happen?
they invited me to join them for birthday dinner. some restaurant down in laguna beach. because they're foodies, and know where to go when they want good stuff.
i haven't been to laguna in probably twenty years. no reason to go, and i always hated the crowds and traffic. i stopped going to the beach because there was no point in me trying to get a tan—i just burn then fade to white again. and then all the sand that gets in the car and in places sand just shouldn't be, if i went in the water on a boogie board or to jump the waves.
at least laguna main beach isn't too run down, as beach towns go, but i had a bit of a time remembering how to get around, and finding parking.
restaurant was hopping busy, and i got there early and put in my name to save a table. still would be about forty-five minutes. everyone else arrived and we walked across the street to the water, and some park benches.
flashbacks to places i'd been there when i was younger and dating my ex. and later, a building, where we'd attended a xmas party for work. so long ago.
remembering seeing a random man on a corner, wearing very loose dolphin shorts, with nothing under...and the wind blowing at the wrong time. ewww.
my sister lives out there somewhere, with her boyfriend/landlord/whatever he is. never have visited. i have issues with him. i see her once in a while at my mom's house, but mostly on holidays.
ya, probably be another twenty before i bother to go back.
anyway, it's difficult to find a gift for kids as they get older. they've already bought the things they need, and they have their own likes and decoration style.
so i fall back on their sense of humor, and just get them silly, just so there is something to open. found him a rubber shark puppet, and with some cash in it's mouth, he was happy enough. he's a lawyer, so he got the joke right away.
ready for the uptown show tomorrow. camera sensors cleaned, batteries charged. i should get to bed early tonight, but i probably won't. i can sleep tomorrow when i'm done.
saw this t-bird in garden grove at the super cruise. it sorta vaguely reminds me of a shark for some reason...maybe it's the headlights and shape of the hood.
it was nice in the early light of morning.
harley davidson road king
found my better half chatting with some guys from the timeless classics club in the lot between the buildings, an overflow parking lot. the real show lot only had one hundred spaces available, so i'm pretty sure this area was meant for actual customers for the nearby businesses. i think the majority of the customer parking areas quickly became overflow parking for the show, and any of the paid, reserved show spaces were quickly forgotten after the tape went down.
i shot the immaculate impala my better half was standing in front of; i'd shot it previously at the majestic's new year's show at the dam. the car looks fine, but my better half and the dudes he is chatting with are too close to the front of it. i'll have to think about if i want to waste time cloning them out, or just leaving them in.
anyway, right behind that car, this bike pulls in and parks next to the wall. i'd seen it cruise by the main lot earlier. wondered if he was going to park, or just pass through. a car had just abandoned the space before he got there, so there was a big gap between the bike and the cars in front and behind. perfect for a picture, and there really weren't a lot of people in that area, only traffic to contend with.
as i set my tripod down, and started to frame up a shot, the owner offered to turn the lights on for me. awesome. thanks, i think it looked better with them on. kinda kicking myself that i didn't shoot the details of the airbrushing on the fenders and tank. flaming skulls are always fun. and love the rearview mirrors held by skeletal arms and hands.
now if the headlights had been on, and it was a wee bit darker, that could have really been cool.
i think i made a car wait while i finished my shots of this one, my ass hanging out in the drive lane, but i think it was worth his aggravation.
motorcycle
when i was a kid, there was a cartoon on after school, with a bunch of talking motorcycles. i was kinda stupid, but i watched it anyway. sort of was like the fat albert show, but with cycles. the sterotyical personalities of the group were predictable, so i'd have to say this one would be the cool guy.
saw the owner drive up and park, at the front of the show, near the datsun squad that we were busy passing by, so i took a few shots, just because it was different than the usual harleys. also because a crowd hadn't gathered around it.
dude didn't stay too long, i watched him drive away.
