broadside

been a long week at work, and i'm tired and not sleeping well, so i won't blather tonight. just getting my quick fix before i begin tossing and turning for the night.

i don't usually shoot from the side. probably because at most shows, cars are packed so close together, and too many people are milling about, i just can't get the shot. here at the show in la puente, early, i did shoot several, since cars were loosely parked together.

owner of this one, i think had met me before, but asked for a card anyway. can't remember what that red thing reflected on the side was, but it vaguely looks like a bow.

persistance

second show from sunday, out in la puente. hot there, few clouds. decent size parking lot cordoned off for what was hopefully a good show. i got there around start time, maybe a little early. there were already vendors set up, and some cars, a couple of clubs, with my favorite old cars.

this chevy was out in the middle by itself, so i took advantage of the situation. in the midst of different angles, the owner came over and introduced himself. said he'd met my better half the previous weekend at the bomb club show, which i missed. said he'd been given a card, had checked out both of our websites, said he'd sent an email, and was wondering about the pictures my better half might have taken and possibly promised to share with him.

well, i told him, thanks for his interest. if i receive an unexpected email, i mostly assume they talked to my better half and forward them over. he's been quite busy, and if he said he'd send pics, he will when he gets time to do it. i think the guy heard me over the speaker system playing loud music.

anyway, i kept on taking pictures. he came back over later, and said, "gonzalez?" he was remembering my name from my card, then rattled off my better half's website, and was just getting half of mine off the tip of his tongue. yes, he really had checked out our sites.

well, if you own this car, i liked this shot, and hello. my better half will have to sift through about a thousand shots from that day to see if he has your car there, so please be patient.

also, one of the volunteer security guys thought it was his car. showed me a picture of what he said was his car, same make, model and color, that he'd left at home. said he was kind of freaking that someone had stolen and brought it to the show.

motivation

saw this one at the legends show at point fermin. the owner wasn't around, but a guy who said he did the restoration on it was there. said it only took about seven or eight months to fully rework it, since the owner had the cash to get it done quickly. otherwise, he said it typically takes several years.

he did a pretty good job, i think. guess money changes everything, no?

hooch

i've shown this one before, but it really is a nice car, and i found it at the viejitos marketplace show in july, mostly off by itself, so why not show it again?

really spectacular paint and pinstriping. can't really say anything bad about it, except for that the glitter paint is so reflective, it blew out detail in spots because of the hot afternoon sun. that's mostly my fault, for not carrying a filter around or something.

it was a good show. i really need to go back through the pictures from that day. it was during the month i was watching the dog, so i really haven't posted much from there. and there have been so many other shows i've been to since then, perfectly good pictures get lost in the shuffle.

so many cars, so little time.

behind the curtain

i had stopped by the impressions show at bruce's prime rib, after driving five hours back from vegas, and before i even stopped at home. ya, i could if i want. someone had given me a flyer a week or two prior.

better half was working anyway, so he wasn't just sitting and waiting for my arrival. it was way hot outside. there were far fewer cars there than i had expected, and while it was hosted by the impressions, i don't think i really saw a car with their plaque in the window. doesn't mean there wasn't one, i just didn't see one. which is odd, as usually the host club is there in force, representing. there was a tent with their banner, so ok.

i took some shots of the few cars that were there. mostly old chevys, but there was a small cluster of low rider, monte carlo-type bouncers there. none of them were too remarkable paint- or unique-wise, so i didn't bother with any of them.

and then there was this guy. the guy that i am not stalking, from the cigar bar, from the tribe club. lol. i've been going to random shows lately, and he just always seems to be there. none of the other tribe guys, just this one by itself.

so we move in the same circles, but i had never really talked to the owner, more than maybe a hello. he was getting ready to leave, and came over and explained the what in the what the hell with the back wheel cover. the car is usually so immaculate, especially with the new paint job on the roof and random pinstriping, to see it in such a state of disarray, was just too much to pass by.

his story was that he'd driven home from the ventura nationals, and the next day was going to another show, when a block from home, he got a flat tire. and then he didn't have another whitewall tire; but he just couldn't help himself, and came to this show anyway. almost as bad as me, at a show not having been home yet after a week away.

so here it is, with the spare, and the bare nasty parts you usually don't get to see.

there and back again

so my weekend was spent on an unplanned trip to washington state. flew up to move my daughter back to cali. packed a rental truck with her stuff and filled her beater car with aquariums filled with her tarantula collection, a frog, two snakes, two geckos, and i think one with big roaches in it. i mostly drove the car, thinking i'd be better equipped to push it up the mountains without frying the engine. really hoped i didn't have to brake quickly and have spiders fly out of the tanks.

now her car, which was a perfectly good used car when she left, has been quite neglected in the maintenance department. it needs a new catalytic converter. the rotors are warped, the brakes, sort of not right; if i stepped too hard or fast on the brakes, the whole car would shimmy real bad. let me tell you, i didn't think it would make it up the mountains, nor did i think i'd be able to stop it going down the other side. magic mountain roller coasters have nothing on that trip. big roller coasters make me yawn, but this was a white knuckle ride. for two days. the things people do for their kids...they are always your baby, no matter how old, really is true, i guess.

anyway, i hope to never have to make that trip again. i'm still tired, but i can unclench my hands now. j/k. got the chance to spend a lot of time with her. she's interesting, to say the least.

ruined my plans to attend the bomb club car show, which i had been looking forward to; fortunately, my better half did not get called in to work, and he went instead, somewhat to taunt me with images of the cars i was missing; can't blame him, i do the same when he can't go to shows with me. he had a good time, and everyone was very nice to him. the club guys even let him in early because they recognized him. thanks! 

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here's one from early morning at the whittier uptown show. i think the owner was still sitting in it, and dropped it down when i set up my tripod. not a problem, shooting from this angle, you can't even see him. i think i'm just liking the black car against the red brick and wooden door.

cool as a...

the overcast sky and the color of this car make me think of cooler weather. it's been hitting ninety to a hundred degrees outside, and you just can't take off enough clothing to be comfortable. give me the fall and winter any time. love to hide under piles of blankets and sleep in late, even better with rain pounding on the roof.

naughty and nice

it was mainly the pinstripe work on this chopped chevy that got my attention. the owner told me he'd asked for something naughty, but nice from the artist. i guess he got that.

these girls were on the hood, the trunk and the roof. when he opened the back door, there was a girl there too, but more of an airbrushing instead of pinstriping, but i didn't have my camera ready for a shot of her.

it was parked near the road sinners club, but i'm not sure it was actually with them, so i apologize for not taking notes. 

here are a couple of closeups of the front and the back art.

see no evil

long day, quick post.

this is the middle of three pontiacs. i'm always drawn to their hood ornaments. each of the three cars were from different years, or at least different models, so each ornament was different.

i had mentioned them to my better half, since he likes pontiac ornaments. apparently the owners spoke to him, asking if he knew the girl with the tripod, since he carries a similar one. he relayed the message, since they hadn't talked to me. the owner of this one was particularly interested in what we shot. say something, or you may never see the pictures!

dashed dream

quick post since its late. this one is from the viejitos oc show at the anaheim marketplace.

typical scenario, where the owner asks if i'm with a magazine. typical answer, no. can see the excitement fade from his eyes, for just a moment, but since he was still enthusiastic about his car, and i liked the way the trees were reflecting on the hood, and the minimal pinstriping, i went ahead and took a picture.

maybe he'll see it, assuming he didn't wash the card i gave him, like others i've heard about.