i swear i had a toy car that looked similar to this when i was a kid. it was purple and came with a little plastic rat fink, and who usually "drove" the car in my kid play. he was the shit.
this hot rod '23 ford model t (guessing) is the shit too. check out the detail on the engine here and here. this guy either loves this car or really needs to get some. maybe that's the point?
been working too many hours, and hoping to make it to the broiler tomorrow...
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...
not bad. not bad at all. found these cars at fatburger's in orange yesterday. small show, i suppose because there are no raffles, trophies or other razzle dazzle. just locals enjoying each other's camaraderie and showing off their rides. at least its honest pride and ego strokes.
the owner of the '31(?) or '32 (?) ford hot rod stopped me twice, to particularly make sure that i checked out the backside—not his, the car—where i found this. the car was painted in fine glitter paint and was clean as can be. showed the guy my book and gave him my card, since he asked about my photography. so, i will assume he'll see his baby here...what do you think?
the 1941 chevrolet happened to be the same one i saw at garden grove main street show in april. the owner was sitting in the back seat of the car with the doors open. i had a small picture of the main street photo and asked if it was his car. at first he didn't think so, but i pointed out that someone must be driving around in a similar car, similar paint job, and same license plate. anyway, he said the car has been used for weddings, parties, and hollywood events. easy money, you've earned it with this baby. very nice.
never got a shot of the truck on its own, other than this bit here. thou art very plain, but i like your fuzzy dice.
i see this car at a few shows almost every week. finally got a shot that i like. would have been better if the hoods were down on the other cars, but oh well. not gonna ask them to close them because they're ruining the picture of this other car, especially since i didn't take pictures of those two. hoods up, cameras down.
guessing by the radiator that it's a 1929 ford model a roadster. i like the reflection in the window. just now noticed it while writing this post. yes, there were hooters girls milling about, serving drinks and food to the participants, and posing for pictures.
check out my husband's version from the broiler in downey here.
this 1957 ford thunderbird was spectacular. spotless. wow. this was on an overcast mother's day in trabuco canyon at the classic chrome car show at friends bar & grill.
i heard the owner telling a small crowd of admirers that he'd won seven best-of-shows and that he doesn't bother to enter anymore. well good for him. doesn't need the ego strokes any more...he knows it's da bomb already. lol.
anyway, he's got my card, so maybe he'll see it here for one more hurrah.
this was a sweet 1964 ford galaxie 500 at flabob airport's fly and drive show way out in riverside last saturday. owner was very proud of his baby, kept polishing it and brushing the dust off. it was kind of a windy day, but the light was just perfect for pictures.
he explained about the manufacturer's plate on the front...says they're hard to come by with numbers that low. had found it at a swap meet or somewhere, and that he just puts it on for the show. you gotta do what you gotta do—first i've heard of that. guess it adds to the authenticity or old-timey feel? maybe adds to the overall collectability of an old car.
i remember i asked him if he thought he'd win anything, as they were announcing last calls for votes. he didn't think so. maybe he figured there were other, better, more popular cars. as i mentioned before, i hung around for the awards, and doggone, if he didn't win a trophy after all. good on ya.
i had to go to riverside today. as long as i'm out there, i might as well hit up a car show, right? only one i could fit into my schedule was a small one, the fly and drive car show, held once a month at flabob airport. tiny little airport = tiny little show? there were maybe 30 cars there, half muscle cars, half older cars. good enough for me. had maybe 10 to 15 trophies to hand out too, as well as raffle prizes.
i don't think they get too many photographers with tripods, but at least they didn't ask if i worked for a magazine. seemed like an older crowd, just more curious about me. those that did talk to me were very nice.
most of them had their hoods open, and if you've been reading my blog for long, you know how i feel about that. if the owner was there, they mostly jumped right up and offered to close it for me. thanks so much!
anyway, enough blathering. this was a gorgeous ’62 thunderbird. i believe this was the second time they had attended the show. lovely paint job. had a thunderbird ghosted on the hood, though i didn't quite pick it up in this shot. might as well have painted a target on it, as it seems the birds kept aiming at it and the owner had to wipe it off several times, which he joked about quite a bit.
anyway, i hung out for about an hour or so. long enough to see who got the trophies, and this was one of them.
i am sometimes asked this question when people see me down on the ground, right up next to a car with my camera. the answer is obviously, taking some pictures. really. lots of them. i think this year so far, i have taken over 10,000 images, and of that, several thousand are just from car shows. i easily take more than 300 a show, and that is not even taking pictures of every car there.
so then, you may wonder why i do not have that many cars posted here or on my flickr site. i want them to look better than your typical snapshot. if that's what you want, there are other websites to visit where people just basically upload their camera cards.
these cars are rolling pieces of art and history, and i dig them. so i try to capture what i saw, which one exposure just can't do. (exception: the close up macro images i usually don't do a thing to — nothing beats a prime lens, baby.) this takes disc space, time and some work. but i think it's worth it. contrary to what some may think, i'm not adding anything to the images, though i do sometimes get rid of a shadow or a light pole, and i will touch up your paint chips. i'm combining multiple exposures into one image, to get all the detail i can, to match what my eye sees at that moment.
let me show you this average shot of a car:
before
it's just kind of...a car. and a shot you see every day, albeit, i took it from down low, which isn't the average point of view. now here is what i get from doing my thing, and more interesting, thanks to the sunset:
after
some may wonder how i choose what i put up here on tweakedpixels.
this 1932 roadster was at the dove canyon show, at the 'friends' sports bar back in march. i've also seen it at fuddruckers. took this shot right before the owners called it a day. looks like it would be fun to drive, but what a mess it would make of your hair. lol.
thinking about going to pal joey's dream car revue tomorrow in santa ana. took quite a few pictures while i was there last time, and have bumped in to more than a few of those cars at other shows (not literally). nice people too. i'm so tired today...been a long week at work...just looking through some of my older pics. nice to have so many to choose from, and so many waiting for processing...sometimes i wish it would rain more often.
check out this awesome 1958 thunderbird from tonight's downey show at the broiler. it was pretty clean, if you didn't look too long at the bumpers. had a little gnarly rust going on, but nothing that took away from the lines of the car. got a shot of the back end as well...maybe some other day.
not a lot of variety or cars i like to shoot tonight. figure between the rain last night and the chill in the air, a lot of people stayed home. still nice to get out after sitting in front of my computer all day at work.
that guy on the left thought i wanted a picture of his butt, since i was on the ground. no thanks. lol.