what's up?

cha dude

vw bus

someone explain to me why its some kind of sacrilege for a vw to show up at a car show. they segregate themselves to their own gatherings. i've seen one little posse over at a mcdonalds in downey, shunning the broiler, but that's been a while.

my ex pimped out an old bug once. it was pretty cool—new upholstery, but no seat belts, with lightning bolts two-toned on the inside doors; new paint, which he let me pick the color, kind of a faint wintergreen, which i've seen on some of the newer models. he had a big ass chromed engine installed in the back, that was way too loud, and some big, fat chromed wheels.

he even let me drive it. until the cops pulled me over, not because he'd lowered it too much, but because the windows were tinted too dark. seriously. had to remove it, which he wasn't too pleased about.

he later sold it to some kid, who probably took it to some shows and claimed he'd tricked it out himself.

that was the car project after he'd gone all awesome with a chevy van. he'd just finished it off with some real sweet chrome wheels, then decided to take me to a springstein concert at the coliseum back in the day. never park a shiny awesome car on hill street in LA and expect to find it when you get back. cops found it later, stripped down to the skeleton. he hadn't insured it. duh. he told me he cried when he went to see it.

anyway, most of the vws that do timidly show up at shows are pretty poor examples of the species and should stay hidden away under the rock they crawled out from under.

i made an exception for this one. i'm sure it was the paint combo that caught my eye. my old boss, who was my sister's mother-in-law, used to drive one of these, but she lived out in huntington beach, so i guess that would be a given. hers was all faded, but this one seems to have aged pretty well.

my better half can do a pretty good imitation of a vw bug in a swimming pool, laying on his back on a boogie board. lol.

beater

1964 plymouth barracuda

my hand hurts. i think because this chair is all wrong for this desk. threw out my old chair, and switched it out for this one instead of throwing it in storage with all the rest of my stuff. and this desk gives me splinters in the thigh when i wear shorts sitting here. well, it's not my desk anyway, but i definitely need a different chair.

i digress. don't know why i liked this car. wouldn't typically shoot one of these, but maybe it was the beat uppedness of it.  or the faded color. whatever.

it's my mother-in-law's birthday, so i gotta go. looking forward to the whittier uptown show in another week. anyone going?

viejito

1949 chevy 3100

this seems to be the kodak moment spot in this lot. if you're in this club. here's your car, there's your banner. don't remember seeing this one here last time.

you know, when you go to a lot of shows, you start remembering the cars, which ones you've seen, which ones you've shot and where, and would this be a better picture than the last one... i walk past many very nice cars, even with the hoods down, if i don't think it would make a better shot than the last one i took of it. or if it's very similar to one i've already taken.

i really should start finding the owners of cars, and get them to pose in the reflections of their cars, much like my nephew there on the door.

i shot the sheriff

1938 studebaker commander

i went to ruby's for about an hour this evening. wasn't really in to it, but went anyway. needed to stretch my legs, after another busy day at work and 10 hours of sitting on my ass.

was bright and sunny when i arrived, but the sky got gloomier to match my mood. if it had started raining, it would have been so much better. not that many cars this evening.

spotted the guys from the tribe, saw his car, but didn't see the ring leader, and by then didn't want to get voted off the island, so i didn't interrupt their party.

this was the last car i shot. teenager inside was told to make the siren blare a couple of times while i was close by, so thanks for that. a guy said it belonged to his friend, and asked about my pictures, so he wins the prize and gets it posted tonight.

reflected

chevy wagon

i liked the car; hated the rims. loved the reflection in the window.

not much going on at the broiler again. too few cars to keep my attention for long. did see several guys i've gotten to know a little over the past few years. nice to see them again.

my better half came along with the nephew. not sure if he's wanting to spend the time with me or really wanted to take some pictures. they were going to go bowling afterwards, but apparently the lanes were all full, call back in a couple of hours, thanks for nothing. guess after i get this post up, he gets to spend more time with me like he wanted to anyway. >:)

it happens

chevy

so i did get out to a couple of shows today. stayed at this one in fullerton for a couple of hours, and ran out of time for another in santa ana. i'd been to this one back in december, when they had a toy drive. that was crazy packed; this one, not so much. but to make up for that, all chevys, in years i love.

most belonged to the orange county viejitos, especially since they sponsor it. my better half came along for the afternoon, with his nephew. i'd told him about this show for several months, but hadn't been able to get back to it until today.

he missed a bunch of cars out in the back of the lot, because he was shooting a lot of cars up front. also chatting with the club members. i guess one of them asked if he could take a picture of the group, so before we left, they were called out to pose.here's my shot of them setting up.

there were so many nice cars, as always, i have to just pick one to start with, and run with it. this one was parked up by the entrance. i like it a lot. not sure if it was the color or the model or what, but here it is. maybe i can talk my better half to go back again next month.

after this one, we drove over to lakewood, arrived before official starting time, and parked in the shade. we checked out what was already there, and waited for about half an hour to see if anything else interesting would drive in. knowing that there are several other bigger shows going on, didn't expect a whole lot more to show up, so we just left without shooting a thing. it happens.

bottle rockets

1959 cadillac

as long as we're talking '59s and back ends, why not one of these. love'em. those red tail lights remind me of the water rockets my little bro and i would shoot off when we were kids. but on a cadillac, they're just double double awesome. and fins...

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anyone know if the viejitos are doing their monthly show off brookhurst anymore? thinking of stopping by. i could actually hit up 4 shows tomorrow, if i was feeling ambitious, but it's more likely just going to be two. and i'm running out of space on my hard drive. time to burn off past years' images to make some room.

talk this way

1959 chevrolet impala

these cars were one my original favorites when i started playing with cameras again. it's the fins. the curves. like a manta ray. i can appreciate a nice back end—can't you?

not quite sure, since one of the guys in this club didn't respond to my email yet, but i think this one might have won a first place trophy for most original. i suppose my reply to his inquiry is sitting pretty in his junk mail. someone go ask him if this is the one.

gotta go to dana point tomorrow for work stuff. any car shows going on down there? haven't really been to the beach in a few years. maybe i'll stop and fry on the sand.

oh, maybe i could go deep sea fishing. my better half has to work, and he wouldn't do that anyway. don't think i've been since my daughter was little and thought she was saving the anchovies by grabbing them out of the tank and throwing them back into the ocean. all i know is the sea lions next to the boat really enjoyed the free lunch.

walk this way...

lifestyle candy

the continuing saga at work of too much overtime, and not enough sleep. today, i'd intended to go to the broiler. left work a half hour later than normal—told them i just was done for the day, i am fried—and headed out.

what a difference thirty minutes makes in the traffic. i was screwed, mainly because someone had decided to occupy the same lane as another car on the freeway in santa ana, so went surface streets. normally it takes about forty-five minutes to get home; took two hours, and after sitting all day, followed by a long ride home, i just couldn't bear to drag my butt to the show. telling myself i'll go to ruby's on friday. most of the work will be done by then, so shouldn't be a problem leaving on time toward the end of the week. and the tradeshow will be over by mid next week, so i can get back to posting more regularly too.

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here's a beauty from the SFV show. there was a plethora (a plethora?) of cars, and many clubs were represented. i've loved these candy colored lifestyle club low riders since i first saw a bunch at the uptown whittier show a couple of years ago. hoping they'll show up again next month.

they had a bunch of their cars parked under the shade of the solar panels. kinda mutes the colors, but not by much. saa-weeeet. and i'm an id...forgot to note what kind of car this is...lincoln? chevy? buick? whatever.

only got a few other cars—which i'll get to eventually—because of the heat, but i hella wish i'd stayed and got so many more. next time...