what's up?

nubby

plymouth

you should really see this one in person. its pretty phenomenal, especially the paint job. the body paint is reminiscent of those marblized bowling balls at the newer alleys.

this is from the viejitos oc annual show, but i did see it previously, down at chicano park, under a bright, hot sun.

viejitos shows get a good turn out, lots of variety in cars, and are meant to be family friendly. even their rap performers use no profanity at all. contrast that to the show in san fernando...save that for another day.

and there's a pretty interesting airbrush job on the trunk. car club members as skeletons.

plymouth

very clean

chevy impala

as i've said before, i don't much care one way or another for the newer cars, the bouncers, the low riders. they've mostly lost the classic curves of the bombs and such that i love. but i can appreciate them. 

this one was pretty clean. interesting pinstripes and metallic applique. the trunk was closed when i got down to shoot the picture, but the owner said wait, and popped it up. i guess it adds to the shot, showing the scroll work back there.

now if i'd only shot it from the back...in the trunk was all the chromed out apparatus to make it go up and down. i'm guessing he doesn't take this to the supermarket.

leadrag

mercury

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.

more candy

chevy impala

a lifestyle car is most always a delight to the eyes. pinstripes, airbrush, candy colors seem to be their modus operandi. i walked past this one earlier. thought i'd seen it before and/or the light just wasn't hitting it right and/or it was surrounded by people.

on the last walk around this field, walking past from this direction, i had a change of heart and took this shot. i can appreciate a good paint job. and hey, look, no one paying it any attention. perfecto.

just realizing that it was the same car i saw last summer at the san fernando show. but not that surprising. nice to see it out in the open, and not crammed in with a bunch of other cars.

jesse’s girl

1953 chevy bel air

while wandering around the show, we passed through this group of cars. i was shooting the pinstripes on the back of this one, when the owner came over and asked what we do with the photos. so, since he seemed really interested, i took a few shots of his car, while he pointed out the finer points of the monte carlo next to it.

i liked his car. a pale yellow, with tan pinstriping, just a touch on the hood, and a little on the back end. not too much, not too little. he says their club mostly goes to the bigger shows, in several states. mentioned one coming up in laughlin, nevada next month. says it's a good show, lots of cars. i'm trying to remember how hot it gets in nevada in may. already thinking about going to vegas in september and it is usually smoldering then.

normally, i wouldn't shoot the monte carlo, but it was the details that really blew us away. etched metal on all the chromed surfaces, custom leather interior, airbrushing and pinstriping. really impressive. here are a few of the details:

monte carlo interior monte carlo leather detail leather and airbrushing leather and airbrushing leather and airbrushing metal etching metal etching

winter

work in progress

winter is a time of desolation and cold. a time of sleep and anticipation. less sunlight. 

pfft. it was in the 80s yesterday. tomorrow maybe 65°, followed by rain tuesday and wednesday. california is just a confusing place. seasons are all screwy here. but i don't think i could ever go back east to live anymore, though it might be fun for one year.

but then, i wouldn't have so many choices of car shows to visit anywhere else either. i would truly have to hoard up cars for the winter if i lived anywhere else.

well, i'm no squirrel, though i may be nuts, and i already have so many cars to choose from in my digital garage, i sometimes wonder why i keep looking for more.

i saw this one pulling in last weekend in lakewood as i was packing up to leave. the primer covered ghost. i hadn't gotten a shot of it then. i figure that many of the cars i see at the smaller shows i frequent, eventually will be back. or i will find it at another show. or i will be haunted by them, as i drive down city streets, and often see stuff driving the other way. here it is a week later, at the hooters show in anaheim. glad to have given this show another try. there were plenty of cars to look at, a plethora if you'd prefer.

i imagine in the spring and summer, this location is a bitch to get to and/or park at, being in the backyard of anaheim stadium and down the street from the pond/honda center. 

not sure if it is any one particular model of car, or chopped up pieces of things. i kinda think its something of a '48 chevy or so. i guess i could have asked the owner, who was hovering around nearby (not literally, or he would be the ghost). he never said a word, and eventually went somewhere else. this was my favorite of the shots i took. no people walking through, no posts sticking out randomly. the bare, stripped down trees, behind the bare, stripped down car. makes me look forward to the spring, and seeing this car again, as they continue to work it up, to a spring of its own. i suspect it may take a bit longer than it will for the trees.

mirror finish

1937 dodge sedan

i went to a few shows on super bowl sunday. found this at super cruise x in garden grove. first i'd heard of it, but was told by two different people that they've done it for ten years now, every super bowl sunday. 

almost didn't go, thinking not much would be there, but the guy that gave me a flyer earlier in the week claimed there would be several hundred cars there. and i suppose there was. i got there a couple of hours into it, and stayed less than an hour. only because it was hot and there wasn't a lot of shade on the asphalt were one would want to take pictures from.

this one is a dukes car, parked in front of a business flying a dukes banner, flanked by dukes cars. they're all perfection in their own way. took a couple of shots down low and one at normal level. i like the normal one, but it shows too much of the surrounding industrial buildings and people and cars and other distractions, and this lower one shows off the hood ornament so nicely, and the sheer mirror perfection of the door just makes me happy. ended up flipping a coin to which to post, so here you go.

happy whatever

chevy

i'm baked. i mean, i spent all afternoon, to past midnight yesterday, baking stuff for family members. hope they don't tell me they're on a diet this year.

every year i make a batch of vinegar taffy for my dad. something his mother used to make for him. never knew her, but he looks forward to that stinking bag of taffy every christmas. and following most every christmas, he has to make an appointment at the dentist to have a crown replaced. until a couple of years ago, when he decided to superglue the damn things into his mouth himself. hasn't lost a crown since then.

well, this year, i had to make the stuff twice, and both times, it just didn't turn out right. sure it's taffy, chewy and soft, but this stuff should be hard, yet soft (hmmm, ahem), and it should shatter if you hit it right. i'm blaming the new candy thermometer i had to get, since all my own stuff is still in my house, where my kid is now living.

so my arms are tired from stirring batter, shredding stuff, and pulling taffy. at least i didn't burn my hands off this year. so i'm thankful for that. and my better half took his first try at pulling taffy. something about lots of practice pulling...something...that's what he said.

merciful

1960 ford thunderbird

so i hung out at the broiler for a few hours. its a different crowd now than there used to be. the vibe is different. maybe its just me. maybe its just the cold, or the holidays. i really intended to stay later than i did, but i just wasn't feeling it. 

there were a couple dozen cars there. some of the new clubs tend to gather in front of their cars and don't move. kind of bovine, just standing there. i didn't feel like out-glaring them out of the way, so i skipped them. shame.

i'd already spent time shooting cars i'd taken before. mainly, if they were in a different location, or the light struck them different than before. fricking richard's car got in a few shots, but i'll pretend it isn't there, since it doesn't exist in my universe.

sometimes, you just need to look at something differently, and it will be a lot more interesting. i've shot this one before, but i wanted to get some of the roof, then noticed the neon, then the sky, and angles and colors. just wished that the soccer mom van and other newer cars were not there, since they were hiding some other nice old cars.

this one seems to be for sale now; tiny tiny "for sale" on the window doesn't really scream that you're trying too hard.

delayed gratification

chevy impala

there's something to be said for waiting. "all good things take time." "everything's eventual." there's the an-tici-...pation. a delicious, squirrelly itch, which you're sure will never end. sort of like love.

i suppose that there are a lot of pictures i take, that will never get posted here, mostly due to a lack of time and attention. and i apologize to any of the guys who have waited endlessly to see their car here. really, if you've been waiting that long, i wonder why you've never bothered to send me an email to ask about it. otherwise, i'm left to my own devices and whims as to what i post. and i hear that a woman's heart is a mysterious thing, at least my better half has me thinking so. let me know when you have me figured out, d. 

some days, i have no idea which car i want to post, i love them all. other days, i just want to delete them all, and go in search of new cars and new shows. and then i have days, sitting here, worrying how many more can i play with before i run out of space. come on after xmas sales! i need new hard drives.

anyway. taking a break from the legends of san pedro, to post one from the other show i went to that day. i found the token lifestyles car, of which there seems to always be one or two, at some of the better advertised shows. always immaculately painted, pinstriped and/or airbrushed. this one just seems so bright and cheerful in the craptastic background of santa ana. not one of my favorite chevys, but i liked it nonetheless. why ask why?