flame thrower

only a few more weeks until the season when there is literally at least one car show a day. car gluttony. car-razy. car happy = carappy? whatever.

i think it's been hinted to throttle back on how many shows i hit up. shall we just say my better half is very patient with me, and i should probably throw more time his way. but, hey, he does work a lot of overtime, so what else am i going to do? i really hate going to the gym, and at least this gets me out and about, hauling around a tripod.

speaking of upcoming shows, this flamed beauty, and it's hot rod companion (can't really see the flames on it from this side) were at the foothill ranch show last june. was a bit overcast, and not as broiling hot as it got later in the summer there. i can't be sure, but i think this chevy has also been over at fuddrucker's once in a while, and i think it might even belong to the pinstriper guy who comes out once a month there in the summer. i'm sure someone out there will let me know ifn i'm misguided...you always do.

flamed trifecta

well i might as well make it a complete triumvirate of flamed vehicles with this motorcycle. i don't often bother with them, but i do make exceptions when i'm bored, or the opportunity arises for a decent shot of them.

found this one back in april at the foothill ranch show. parked near the raffle booth, and probably belonging to one of the people running it. i think it was the red glitter paint with the sun hitting it that made me take this shot. if i remember correctly, the owner even moved another bike out of the way.

hot day, hot rod

i missed the previous show at foothill ranch because i was out of town, and being they only do this one once-a-month thru october (i think), i didn't want to miss it again. turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, and lack of a crowd reflected it. there were maybe about 10–12 cars, instead of the usual 20–30. half had the hoods up, and i walked right by those, which mostly were 56/57 chevys. too bad.

i only bothered shooting about 5 of the cars before sitting down in the shade to wait for it to cool off and see if anyone else was going to bother to show up. one of the organizers told me they were going to pack it up early because of the heat. don't know if they decided to hold the raffle prizes and trophies until the next show or not, because i didn't stay too long after hearing that.

anyway, whilst chillin' in the shade and packing up my gear, the owner of this '31 coupe stopped by to chat. he'd noticed me shooting his car, and was interested in what i was going to do with the pictures. gave him my card. i know he peeked at my blog, because he is one of the brave few who actually bothered to email me — thanks randy! hope you like it.

strike a cord

at the foothill ranch show, i was told that this is a very rare car. internet says it was only sold for a couple of years before the company went out of business. well, it also says "it's regarded as one of the most beautiful cars ever built" – i guess that would be in the eye of the beholder – it's shiny and expensive and stuff, but it seems a little clunky to me, compared to some of the other "elegant" cars of the same period. i can imagine darth vader driving this one around, but i don't know why.

the owners were very nice. i didn't stay to the end of the show, so i wonder if they won any of the trophies or whatever.

i just love the weather lately. overcast skies make the pictures more dramatic, or at least tone down the harsh reflections. and the chill in the air, while it chases a lot of the cars home early, allows me to keep taking pictures longer into the summer, so i'm happy.

crazy for his mercury

i see this guy and his car a lot. usually drives up and immediately pops the hood. well, if you look in, the engine is really clean and chromey, dual headers or whatever those things are called. even has some matching pinstripes going on, but that isn't what i want a picture of, though i did take a few.

maybe he noticed that i walk by most cars with the hoods open, or maybe someone told him (there were a couple of other guys chatting him up), but he offered to close it this time. great. he stayed in his chair, so that's him on the right. everyone say hi to him when you see him.

he did leave the hood down the rest of the time i was there. came back to his car later, while he was gone, took a few more shots, with palm trees in the background; better shot, but the sun was really heading down, and i showed up too much as a long shadow across the pavement, which kind of messed it up.

oldies but goodies

finally made it out to the foothill ranch show yesterday. quite a few cars that i've seen before, more that i haven't. overall not that big of a showing for a once-a-month thing. anyway, i enjoyed myself and everyone was either friendly or indifferent.

the couple that owned this car came right over to talk with me. they'd seen me before at a couple of other shows, and had lost the scrap of paper that had the link to my website on it. damn, i really need to spend an afternoon setting up a business card and ordering them...i'd just rather spend the time working on a picture. :)

i admit, you'd have to introduce yourself to me a couple of times before i remember you—i'm more likely to remember your car and which show i saw it at if i took a picture of it.

well, since they asked and were very enthusiastic about my portfolio, and apparently i had shown them the previous shots in the camera, here is the shot from yesterday, and what do you two think? i do have a couple of other shots from a previous show, just haven't gotten around to doing anything with them yet, and thought maybe this one was more interesting anyway.

oh how does it get so late...i stayed at work too late today. night!