got wood

been very busy, as usual. work tires me out. trying to plan at least a weekend away, just not ready to go on a full-blown vacation, no matter that i need one. gotta figure how to fit one in. and it's big car show season. speaking of, going to peel myself off the couch today and go to the latin gents show. starts in half an hour, so...

saw this car at the viejitos/pistoleros show last week. pretty stunning. had this airbrush work on the front bumper. not a big fan, but it's probably family...or fantasy.

also had this hydraulics thing in the trunk, so i guess i'll forgo my bitching about the trunk being open.

master patina

quick post. sorry. late. tired. long weekend, though i slept through most of it. remind me not to ever do a quick business trip without padding it with arrival the night before or staying the night after. no, i do not like fewer than six hours sleep a night.

first car from the viejitos/pistoleros show last weekend. a pistoleros car. love the rusty crustiness of it. the newer, chrome wheels don't quite match, but i'll ignore them.

fire within

quick post, as i run off to catch a plane to san fran to attend a two-day business meeting. gotta come back saturday to turn in my pics for the fair. kind of a bummer, as i'd prefer to have stayed the weekend, but on the other hand...i got stuff that will be hanging at the fair. so yay. better half says i'm a winner whether i get a ribbon or not...just getting selected is enough to celebrate.

sooooo tired. too much work this week. almost thought i was going to have to get a job done before i left, but it's looking like i will have to miss part of the meeting and use the boss's computer to finish. not my fault if they miss their deadline. blame the ceo.

when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. ttfn.

time is fleeting

i went out this morning with about four hours to hit car shows before i needed to be home. i had for sure three on my list to hit up, possibly five. 

started out in tustin at enderle. haven't been there in a long time because i don't drive north past it much any more on sunday mornings. didn't get there until a little after ten. same old same old: after the prizes are awarded, people bug out. must have just missed it, and most people were gone or in the process of leaving. i got a couple of shots before leaving.

from there, headed over to original mike's. also haven't been there for a while. cadillac kings were there in force, and all of their buddies it seemed. two aisles of caddies. should have made me happy, but i just wasn't looking for cadillacs today. 

i liked the paint job on this one. the sky was wonderfully cloudy, perfect for pictures. can kind of see them reflected here too. 

i didn't stay long at this one. kind of not what i was looking for either. 

figured everyone was at the floral park home and garden show. i kinda didn't want to deal with the crowd, so drove over to where the viejitos usually have their show last sundays of the month. nope. no show. what gives? well, maybe next month.

there was a ford show over by knott's berry farm, which was only a few minutes from where i parked momentarily to decide what to do. at that point, i just didn't want to zig back down to another show in westminster or zag up to lakewood, so i headed home. had that pesky work stuff to do anyway, which was probably what was back of mind gnawing away at my fun anyway.

i did get this one, which is really what i was in the mood for, so at least i satisfied one craving:

wind in my hair, sun on my face...

i'm a bit behind on posting. several shows behind in sharing. plenty of cars for rainy days waiting in the wings.

funeral is over, family leaving town, so back to business as usual. and i have been so busy at work. so i'll post some cars from the last few shows i've been to belonging to people who talked to me, and even a few who'd admitted to knowing that i like the hood down, and could prove they'd been reading this drivel, by quoting some of my blather back to me.

here's the first from last week, when i hit three shows in one day. only took a couple of pictures at the show at original mikes in santa ana. it was so windy there, and palm fronds were falling arbitrarily. only a few cars i was interested in shooting there, but i do try to take at least one shot, when i take the time to drive out.

i've seen the owner of this chevy around fairly often, but this was the first time he'd stopped to ask about what i was doing. i liked the shadows playing over the shiny surface.

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...

tails, you win!

usually, i hate when cars park nose in, but particularly with these i give an exception — exceptions for exceptional cars. i just love the back end of some of these cadillacs. all pointy angles. did this guy add the funky tail lights from a ’59? i'm not finding another ’61 like this online.

this was from original mike's on sunday. apparently the couple that run the show had a medical emergency, so there was no raffle/prizes. and being still so cold after the rain the day before, a lot of cars didn't stick around long. gotta dangle that carrot of a prize to keep them there.

was told that there are 360° of television screens inside, so you can watch everything from the bar or whatever. well, i don't drink, and i've usually eaten before this show, so i'll take your word for it.

ain't she sweet?

didn't feel like getting up today. knew i had to go to work for a few hours, and was really dragging my ass around the house...perfectly happy to stay home. also knew there were two car shows today that i hadn't been to in a while, and there was a 70% chance of rain throughout the day.

finally decided to skip the first show, expecting half of those cars would end up over here at the original mike's show in santa ana. i arrived about half an hour before the scheduled start time, and pretty much knew it was going to be a short show. i did see a few cars drive in or by, then turn back around after seeing the turnout vs the darkening sky.

i decided if i was going to get anything, i might as well get out there before they all left. i shot several angles of this little '54 nash, and then a few of duke's ’50 olds 88 back there before the rain got started — about 15 minutes at most. i didn't want to risk messing up my remaining working camera, so packed it up pretty quick.

surprisingly, quite a few of the owners stayed, either waiting it out in the car, especially the ones with convertibles (quickly cranking the roof up), or having lunch in the restaurant. heard a few owners muttering they were glad they drove the rain car instead of one of their other cars. must be rough to have to decide which car to drive today, huh?

the lady who owns this car was one of those that stayed, wasn't worried about a little water. she related a story of someone who had taken a picture of her car up at the citadel once, with water on the ground, and a ray of sun hitting it just so. also told me it looks good in black and white. well, thanks for the info, but i'll do it my way, and i'll be just as happy as can be.

back that ass up

so i felt like crap today. went to work anyway. tons of work to do, as always. nice place to be, always busy. but at the end of the day, after driving for an hour, just didn't feel like going to a show.

so when i'm in that mood, what better to do than pick a nice car to work on and get focused. zoning out, or should i say zoning in?

this 1964 cadillac coupe deluxe was at original mikes on a very hot day at the end of may. this was a very long car, and i wished the owner hadn't backed it into the corner like this, but the front end was interesting too.

i sometimes wonder if i should 'fix' the blemishes on cars, like the chips in the paint—perfectly capable of doing so—but then that would take a little of it's personality away. at this size, you mostly don't notice them anyway, but i can see them quite well at full size, and on this one, i can spot them on screen too. can you?

so i didn't stay very long, as it was so hot out, felt like i was wearing a couple of sponges on my chest. at least the fire boys were just across the street, and at the show, should i or anyone have passed out from heat exhaustion.

rolling amethyst

i finally got the front of this car.

first saw it at pal joey's show at the santa elks club in march. i shot the back end while my husband did the other side – kind of like a car sandwich. he still wasn't satisfied with his shots, so i continued on to other cars. by the time i came back around for my shot, the owner was in the car and driving away.

and that always has been the case ever since, until last weekend at original mike's. i got there early. the owner was polishing and polishing this 1940 ford coupe. he was still polishing it when i took this shot, but you can't see him from this angle. he stopped long enough to take my card that had the back end shot on it and pocket it.

anyway, its a nice, shiny car. keep polishing...