badger

saw this special deluxe at the fleetline fest. better half also managed to get this far in the parking lot, and spoke to the owner. asked him about the badge on the grille. since my better half seems to never post anything much anymore, i will take the opportunity to relay a short story here.

and of course, a week away his details are getting fuzzy.

guy found the badge on what was left of a grille in a junkyard. pulled it off and took it up to the office to ask how much it was.

dude in the office didn't even know what it was, and wasn't sure what to charge. better half can't remember how much he paid, but probably undervalued, since the dweeb didn't wait for the manager to get back. online, they seem to go for a couple hundred bucks, in the original blue velvet gift box.

says the historical value is in that it was an item chevrolet would give to employees / salespeople / owners that served in the war...one of the world wars, not clear on the first or second. i'm thinking more like the first.

also said the shades over the headlights helped to mute the glare of the lights from enemy aircraft that may be flying overhead. why give them a target?

anyway, some of the badges i see on grilles are quite interesting, and i'd never asked the why or where they come from, but my better half has no problem chatting people up, so he usually picks up these little tidbits of trivia.

top down

back in the grind at work and already overflowing with deadlines. that's why i hate taking vacations, the coming back to the office. 

took a long walk when i got home from work today. we walked about six miles a day on vacation, so it's the usual, let's keep it going when we get back. i suppose it will last a week or two. less, if the weather doesn't cool off.

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another from last week's fleetline fest. my better half didn't even get over to this side of the building, so didn't see it. very nice.

i like shooting dashboards of convertibles...always looking to update the header on my page. different steering wheels, dials and the different fonts they used to use...it's a designer thing, i suppose.

this one seems to be real wood fitted in there. and this one had yogi bear and dashboard jesus together...which is more useful?

fleetline fest

i really love fleetlines. saw a flyer for the fleetline fest online, while we were out of town. just back late last night, so we got up late this morning...didn't hear the alarm...or we would have been out earlier.

over at k1 in gardena, where i usually check out the old memories harbor area shows, i knew the parking would be limited. wondered how many fleetlines they would manage to jam in there, plus vendors. you would think whatever the number it would be enough, right? 

funny thing was that, in with all the fleetlines, there was other stuff. deluxes, special deluxes, bel airs, trucks... and maybe it was just the locations, the backgrounds, the surrounding cars with hoods up, but i have quite a few pictures of other stuff that i quite like, better than the fleetlines that i went for. all good. i like the old cars, so i'm pretty happy in spite of that.

this car was really nice. i've never seen it before, which is great. awesome paint job.

wasn't so happy with how damn hot it was. as one of the guys said, supposed to rain the next couple of days, shake and bake weather. i'm not ready to go back to work after a week off. especially up a bunch of floors in a tall building, parked in a parking structure. kinda have to not think about that when you live here in cali.

didn't stay too long. couldn't take the heat, forgot the suntan lotion, and don't tell my doc that i was out pulling my bag around with a cracked rib. didn't hurt, but kinda sore now.

tangerine

i don't like oranges, tangerines, cuties, citrus, you name it. i'll drink orange juice, but just can't chomp down on that pithy, grindage of the fruit. especially the big oranges, with the white scum coating the good part.

but i like the orange on this impala. around back of the k1 sports, at the old memories harbor area show last june. little newer model than my fav, 1959, but this is quite nice anyway.

wrong photographer

my better half mentioned that he'd received an email from someone looking for pictures of his truck. said my better half had taken pictures of it at this show in gardena, and he wanted a copy cuz he's selling it or something.

there's been a few back and forths about it, and it didn't sound like a happy ending in their exchange.

for one thing. my better half has never gone to a show in gardena. that'd be me. twice now. don't know how he got the email address in that case. 

there's always that second consideration my better half mentions a lot. a lot. he thinks they're scared to ask me. he's my middleman. he's my cheery side. i'm dark and twisty. he compares me to wednesday on the addams family...i wanna be perky...but i'll scare the other kids if i smile too fake-like.

he gets random requests like this once in a while. and most of the time, when he mentions it to me, ya, it was me they should be asking.

so from what he told me, i think it's this truck. i have a back end view of it too, but it was pretty tight, so it looks a mile long. it looks too green on my monitor. not how i remember it. guess i'll have to tweak it and tone it down.

so, boo.

belle aire

ah, the cooling overcast is burning off here, would that it would stay about longer.

long day. i'm tired, so won't burden you with my blather tonight. 

bevy of chevys

ok, one more from the old memories show, then i'm gonna put up a few from yesterday's solitos show.

i think all of the cars in this shot are old memories' cars. i liked the "patina" on this one. evidence that this isn't the original hood ornament either.

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oh, and happy father's day to my dad. he mostly can't hear what i say anymore. i think i'm on a different frequency...to which my better half would probably agree...so i'll just write it here, since i know he peeks once in a while. i'll take him out to dinner in a couple of days, when it isn't so crowded at the restaurants. i don't follow the holiday rules anyway.

celebrate your parents everyday. who knows how much time you will have them. i hope they know that i love them, though we have a tough time saying it to each other. stiff upper lip or something.

plain and simple

rather like when cars don't get all the bells and whistles that muck up the lines of the car.

last shot before i left the old memories show. sun was high and i was melting.

it is quite nice when the car is buffed to a fine shine. just don't like how it always captures my reflection as well as the lovely tripod.

more to come

i received a request to see some of the club's cars from last week, so i'll post a few. been very busy, and was out of town, so i've been unable to get back to the pictures until now.

first picture i took of the day. up at the front. hard to miss a red car, so i didn't. sky was so wonderfully overcast this early, but soon burned off.

i'll add a few more tomorrow.

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by the by, i must share that i've had some pictures accepted for the orange county fair again. six to be exact, but only a couple that i had really hoped, and the rest, as usual, no rhyme or reason why they like one over another. and not all car related. as a co-worker said when i told her..."yay, i get to play where's waldo looking for the others..." sorry riverside gary, they didn't choose yours...or yours, armando.

i'll just add any others down here at the bottom.

like a moth

made it out to the old memories harbor area's second annual benefit show in gardena. had been there last year, and really had a good time, with lots of cars. happy to report, same good attitudes, and, i think an even better show. organization was good, lots of wonderful cars and clubs represented. any worry that the ink and iron show would take away cars was unnecessary.

many of the guys remembered me from last year, which was nice. they were all very enthusiastic about the turn out. really nice bunch of guys. and happily, they didn't seem to mind letting me in early. i arrived just before a long line of cars pulled in. i'd seen them assembling down the street in an empty parking lot. almost stopped over there first.

was still overcast and cool at eight am. wanted to get in as many shots as possible before the sun burned through, and started to get to me. i was having a really good time. even better when i discovered there were some very big fans inside the k1 sports building, and that helped a lot.

up front were a couple of rows of the host club's cars. spent a good bit of time with those. pretty stoked that there were so many of the classic cars i love all around the show.

i got a lot of good pictures. i'll start with this one, because its off in the corner, and no one was wandering through the shot. beautiful car. not sure if or which club it belonged to, since i don't remember seeing a plaque.

i know it's a good show when i run through a camera battery, and still want more. yep, i'm the moth, i can't help myself...

i'd stayed for four hours before i knew it. needed to find some lunch and there were still cars driving up as i was leaving, arguing with myself on whether i should come back for more, or get home and get stuff done...flipped a coin...and went home.

looking forward to next year...great show!