gold member

ok, i'll throw this one up, if only to make fun of it, and because its the only picture i had ready to post.

ya, its a custom hot rod by hinkle's hot rods. but shit, too much blingy goldness. i was looking for the crystal chandelier on the inside. i guess its just too much for my taste.

i did like the pinstriping on the center of the wheel. missing the usual nerf balls in the pipes, but there still seems to be some type of foam filler there anyway. 

i believe i've reached the point that i have to backup and remove old stuff from my hard drive...only ninety-two gb of space left. ya, sounds like a lot, but i could fill it easily by going to a few shows and posting up a dozen or two pictures.

i'll probably do that this weekend. maybe finally get around to upgrading my applications too. or, maybe i'll do the usual, and find any excuse to go out to a show...

why hide it?

when i go to that rare, larger show, i try to remember to investigate the side streets. if there's time. if it's not too hot.

sure a lot of the best cars, and those who think they have the best cars, are out on the main drag [hey gary from riverside], but its more crowded there as well. people wanting to stand thisclose to your car for a picture of themselves and their fantasy cars, or just because they need something to post on whatever social media site. or little kids, that are barely restrained from putting their sticky fingers on the paint, or trying to sit in the seat.

and there's the pissing contest of whose hood and/or engine is bigger/louder/shinier/more original than the next guy's, and oh, how many can get'em up. a lot of the old guys need a little help. i mean they use a bar or stick to hold the hood open.

so i'll wander over to where there are not so many people, or where there seems to be some shade. i am usually amazed at the jewels people hide off in the corners, and off the center of attention of the main street.

for all i know, they've been out all day, and they, too are trying to just take a break and cool off. otherwise, i just don't understand the why of being a wallflower? or maybe i do understand, only way too well...

new life

here's another of the few images i took from the showlow's st hilary show. don't really pay attention to low riders unless they have some exceptional, eye-catching something that compels me to stop.

there weren't too many at the show, at least that i noticed, being lost in a reverie of old chevys. i liked the artwork on this one, and that it was low enough i didn't curse the day for not bringing a ladder to get it. per their facebook, the club has reformed from a long ago disbanded group.

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so i took a week off with my better half, on a road trip from san diego to sausalito, with stops in between, celebrating our fifth anniversary. makes it difficult to post without a computer, and from an ipad or iphone, formatting is a bitch. i managed to only post once while on the road, and have since fixed what was screwy with the previous car post.

i did check for car shows, but only found one near us in san diego, and didn't want to drive over to oakland for another at the end of our trip. i'll post a few pictures from san diego soon.

taking the day off to sleep in and take care of laundry, etc., after the eight hour drive home yesterday. not looking forward to going back to the office tomorrow. it's always such a shock to get back into the swing of things, that we really only take time off once a year or so. i think they managed to get by without me, but hopefully they missed me anyway.

here's a shot from pacific grove, up by monterey, at sunset. nice, but needed some clouds or something. it was very windy, other than that, a pretty average sundown.

on the down low

i guess its cool to customize a car and install hydraulics or airbags or windbags or whatever you call it. you can make them hop, bounce, dance, sit on three wheels, and slam to the ground. i seriously doubt this one would ever bounce; it would mess up the beautiful lines too much. leave that to the low rider guys.

then there's my dad. drives my sister's mid-90s nissan quest. no hydraulics at all, yet he's had it up on two wheels. only way to explain the broken motor mounts. no idea what he was doing or where the hell he managed to do it. sometimes a man's heart is a deep well of secrets. or maybe he just forgets stuff.

how much is too much?

i gotta think there is a point when one should stop. think michael jackson and his face nipping hobby, until his nose was practically falling off without the tape on it. what's the point of tweaking your face, if you're always covering it up with a mask?

i think there was a time, that this car would have been just fine. new upholstery, more than enough decorative vents on the hood, along with a chromed grille and wheels. that would have been nice and clean.

but it seems like a crazed pinstriper got set loose on this puppy, and went mask crazy with his mad airbrush skillz. and the glitter bomb. so much stuff globbed on, that there seems to be bubbles and creases on the paint. what causes that? a build up? almost like the decals we'd put on model airplanes as kids, and didn't squeeze the air out from underneath. you can kind of overlook it because the darker patterns distract the eyes, but still...wait a minute. is it just one of those car wraps, poorly applied, with some mad photoshop skillz killin it? that would be cheating, now wouldn't it?

could be worse. could be a honda with a big whale tail, all lowered in the front and all pimped out, windows tinted black. and an engine that sounds like the squirrels are going full tilt on the wheel that doubles as an engine. and big ass speakers in the trunk and sub woofers in the doors, rendering the passengers sterile with the sonic boom of the crap rap playing inside...oh, sorry. thinking of a car i passed on the street not so long ago. pfft.

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on another note, my better half finally got a call on wednesday, with the opportunity to get into LAX and shoot pictures of the shuttle, up close and personal, before they moved it out. ya, we know a guy...

any other day, he'd have been there, no question. but it was our fifth anniversary, and told the guy, on this day, he just couldn't. of course he didn't mention it, until it was too late to go. i would have told him to go ahead, or else take me with him. errr. figures he'll see it at the museum eventually, and we'd seen the one out at dulles before. guess he has his priorities straight. i think i'll keep him. happy anniversary d.

everything old is new again

i'd never seen one of these before, at least that i can remember. dropped to the ground, it was hard to decide which point of view would be best. i have a front view, that i like, but it doesn't give you a sense of how low it was, so i'll show you this one instead.

wish the three dudes had moved out of my shot, but they persisted in just standing there for more than five minutes, so i just said screw it, and shot away. maybe that was the whole point of staying there anyway. at least they aren't being dorks and making faces.

miss the light? uhh, no.

i went to a couple of shows on friday, which i have not been to in at least a year. because frankly, they were sucking donkey balls. i'll give a show a couple of trys before i decide it ain't worth the drive for either the number or variety of cars, or else just the people and/or vibe. and with the price of gas spiking thirty cents in a day, i guess i should get more picky.

on fridays, there are at least three shows i used to hit up when i got started. and all are basically on my way home, so it worked out. the one in garden grove used to be pretty huge for a main street show, until the local businesses, the show organizers and cops squeezed out the bad boys, and then pissed off a lot of the car owners.

that was the first one i stopped at. not much has changed in a year. pretty much the same diehards there. not as many cars as before. the latin gents were there, and i did take time to shoot their cars, because they're pretty sweet. i'll post some of them eventually.

then, for whatever reason, i decided to give the elks club in buena park another shot. i'd been there a couple of times a year ago. where i found quite a few of the deserters from garden grove. i also shared the story, here somewhere, of my parking in one of the grand poobah's spaces, getting told to move it, and how that wasn't very welcoming at the time. that, and the fact that there warnt much there.

forward to yesterday: the lot was packed, lots of hoods down, no one really bothered me, and surprise, surprise, several of the viejitos were parked out in the back along the wall. mind you, i had just spent the previous sunday at their show in fullerton, but i'm always happy to see the cars in new locations, at a different time of day.

ok, it's getting late, almost midnight, so i gotta wrap this up.

i took a bunch of shots of their cars, then went off to take others up by the entrance. as it was getting later, and closer to raffle time, everyone gathers in the middle of the lot. so i went back over to the best cars, as the sun was starting to go down. it was awesome, because, no one was around to get in the shots, and i could pretty much do what i wanted.

there was one old guy (it's an elks lodge after all) who walked slowly by, who remarked on how i was losing the light. i told him, i certainly wasn't, and i was going to be getting my best shots right about now. wonder if he'll see them when i post them.

thinking i should have stayed a bit later, but this will do. and i came thisclose to going to ruby's as well, but i had to eat, and figured they'd be about done when i got there. so now i probably won't make it there until their last show of the season at the end of this month.

this car was/is for sale. i know how to get hold of him, if you're interested.

the ’burb

ya, ya, i've posted this one before. i have no problem reposting cars, when i think i got a better shot of it. or just because i can.

in this case, a different location, time of day, and light. and it's so early, there's no one around. booyah!

orange you glad i posted today?

duke of earl

i did a lot of shooting this weekend. had lunch with my better half, who had to work all weekend, then decided i'd finally go check out this show in riverside. yep, riverside. no reason to go out there anymore, since my kid graduated, but there are a few shows that i did enjoy, that i will definitely make the drive for again.

as i said, i'd never had time to hit this one, which is in the evening, once a quarter the guy said. out at riverside airport, adjacent to a hanger. they actually advertise it as a sock hop, and folks showed up in 50s costumes, and the dj only played songs from the 40s and 50s. there were several marine and army planes around, and for a hundred bucks and three hundred bucks, you could get a forty minute or more ride in a couple of the planes. damn things would fly by real low and twist in turn right near the crowd. thanks buddy. don't make a mistake.

anyway, there were about three dozen cars, at least before i left. a lot of chevys got passed by because the hoods were up. there was only one car i'd seen before, so that was nice. i may not remember the owner, but i do remember the cars. actually, i did remember this one owner only because he made some joke at a show a year before. maybe i'll post his car sometime.

hey gary from riverside (not the other one i do not like out here) why weren't you there with your chevy? i bet you would have closed your hood like last time.

nuff boring story. i gots to get some sleep. long day today.

i liked this merc that drove in. pretty simple. drove in, parked, and dropped down. and didn't open his hood. also, got the plane there in the shot, just before it took off on a another charity ride. now, if it only had a hood ornament, it would be perfect.

opposite day

is this thing a ford of some sort? driver sits on the passenger side. so did he customize it or import it? interesting in it's simplicity and its hydraulics. inky blackness really reflects the sky overhead; just wish it was more natural light than of the fluorescent variety for illumination.