keep on...

yay for ruby's in whittier. first night of the season was as busy as i'd ever heard it was. saw wonderful cars driving away...though i don't think they were turning them away. designated spaces were full, so there were several parked in the middle of the aisle and on the ends of the islands. i think a handfull parked in the next row over; 24 hour fitness probably doesn't appreciate that.

i had to go home first to get out of my work clothes and get my camera gear. threw it all in the trunk and started driving. i was probably about 5 blocks from the show when i realized my tripod was still at home, and had to turn around and go all the way back. it usually stays in the trunk, but i've used it so much the past year, the legs had become too loose—actually starting to slowly slip down as i used it. i'd taken it into the house so my better half could adjust it. he'd tightened it up the week before, then had to do an unexpected business trip to san fran. one of the legs was so tight, i couldn't do the low down shots.

he'd had to use some special wrench and it was too tight for me to fix. had to wait for him to get home and do it. blah blah blah, anyway, i'd forgotten to get it from the corner of the room where he'd left it.

like i said, i was not disappointed in the turn out. just a little bummed about there being so many people, and of course getting there late, more open hoods.

i've seen this truck several times in various places. never very satisfied with the shot or location. here it was again. earlier i'd walked by it, as it was too crowded with people and the car next to it. but  when i went by this time, the car next to it had gone, so i had more room to play with.

sun was starting to set, cars were getting that glow. really the picture i got from the camera was pretty good on it's own, but i did  tweak it slightly to play up the details. i like it anyway.

siblings

these two could be brother and sister, so different, yet so similar. i suppose the truck would be big bro, watching over his little sister. and she's so hot. party in the front, no junk in the trunk...ehh, no trunk. lol.

i know i talked to the owner of the hot rod at this show; gave him my card and he commented that he had the same last name. i think he was one of the vendors, so probably the truck belongs to the company or partner. too much of a coincidence otherwise.

of course, i wished the hood was down, but couldn't resist the hot rod, so what the hell.

sunset kisses

 did you guys see the sunset last night? wow. and it just really popped this truck, in spite of the matte paint job.

almost missed this bunch of chevys at the very back of the lot at the broiler. i was about ready to pack it up, but was waiting on my better half, who was playing with a lensbaby on his camera and chatting up another truck owner at the front of the lot. i always keep half an eye out for anything new driving into the show. you know what i mean—when you hear them before you see them. usually happens right after i've packed my gear up, only to be forced to decide whether or not to pull it all back out.

so this handful of cars drove through...there were no empty spots up front...it was happily busy for a change. some of the best stuff can be found in the back lot because they show up later. only complaint is the lack of lighting at the back, especially if its getting dark and i'm on my own.

anyway, i got several shots of these cars with spectacular skies behind them. i'll have to post them eventually. getting late now, so you'll have to settle for just one.

keep on truckin’

so when i got to chubby's early last friday, this truck was one of the bunch of cars already there. guess he really wanted to pick a good spot. yet another of the latin gents squad, he was waiting for his buds to show up.

i took a bunch of shots, different angles. shocker here...it has hydraulics, and of course he angled it up on one side, so i took some more. unfortunately, shooting from the other side wasn't so interesting, so they all pretty much look like this, except for a couple from the front.

anyway, i liked this one best out of all of them. he moved the truck later, and perhaps it would have been a better spot, but i didn't take anymore of it...my memory card was getting full, and there were other cars to take. another time, another shot.

how could you leave this behind?

so check out so cal tribe member's cars: reine's 1960 cadillac coupe de ville; danny's 1959 chevy impala; and ron's 1963 chevy suburban. was this back before they started their club? i dunno. they usually are together whenever i see them.

this shot from the broiler, in july. the back end is just delicious. below is a shot from a long time ago...actually the first time i ever visited the broiler...but with the tire thinga-ma-bobber on the back, and i don't know why i never posted it before now:

while the wheel thingy is designed to blend into the lines of the car, and is all chromed out, as well as serving to hide an ugly spare tire, it just kills the curves of the trunk. i vote for leaving it off, it's more pleasing to my eyes. but then, it isn't my car, so do what you want. lol.

<begin rant>

i stopped by the broiler tonight. second time in three weeks. big disappointment in turnout. two weeks ago i didn't even bother to get out of the car; today, i figured since i drove all the way out there, i might as well take a few shots, since i was in no hurry. only a handful of cars, and one that i really wanted drove off just before i got back over to it. high fives to the diehards that were there. thanks for saving me from another fruitless drive.

one of the owners said it's too cold. well, what a bunch of wusses. put on a coat why don't you? at least it wasn't raining. sure i know tomorrow is turkey day, but that was no excuse for the other week. and it doesn't only happen at bob's now; just about any evening show, except the one in garden grove is pretty sparse. didn't seem to bother you all last winter. 

i think i'm just torqued up because the holidays are coming and they are my least favorite time of year, with forced good will and smiles, and i hate going shopping.

so i'm mostly going to have to hit the weekend shows during the day or sift through my hundreds of pictures i've taken this past year. could be worse.

<end rant>

have a happy thanksgiving anyway. lol.

nice tail

well, it's halloween time. it had also been the day to dress up for prizes and what not at work. used to be one of my favorite holidays, but the last few years haven't really had the time or money to think about a costume. being that i've been at home sick, i've had plenty of time to consider things, but no energy to put something new together. so i dug into my box of old costumes.

one thing about being sick is that you have no appetite, so i've lost a few pounds, though not enough to get back to what i used to be. anyway, i got back into an old leopard costume i'd worn in high school, though i filled it out a bit more than i used to, it was still doable. 

went to work, where at first i didn't see anyone else dressed up. for some reason, they like to keep their costumes a secret until the competition begins, so i was the only one for a while. people were having a difficult time talking serious business with me, while looking at my cat face paint job. that was pretty funny.

no, i didn't win anything, mostly because i'm too shy to walk across the stage and strut about fabulously, so i didn't enter anyway. but lots of people liked that i had the nerve to dress up.

i drove straight to the ruby's show after work. it was the last show for the year, so i expected it would be very busy. i was not disappointed. lots of cars. at first i didn't see too many people dressed up, though it had been announced at previous shows that there would be prizes for costumes and decorations. took a bit of nerve for me to get out of my car, but i said screw it, and went about my business.

yes i did get stared at, and i really had to ignore that or i'd just turn around and leave. funny how juvenile some of the guys are – one guy pretended he couldn't read something on the hood of a car, wanting me to bend over for a closer look. nah, didn't give him the satisfaction, but he did have the balls to try asking me again, even after i told him from where i was what the thing said. nice try, little boy.

whatever, get your jollies my friends. at least other people started showing up, and i wasn't the only one in costume.

i delivered a couple of prints at the show, so i really did have a reason to be there anyway. the owner of this black chevy saw one of the prints his friend bought, and i guess he liked what he saw. he asked me to take a picture of his car. here it is...what do you think?

there were guys with cameras there, of course, so i suppose a picture of me will pop up somewhere eventually, or maybe i'll post one here after i'm over the trauma. you can always squint real hard at the front bumper and see me behind the tripod, as always.

found nemo

so i'm getting over my cold. they've let me back in the house, but i'm staying away from my mother-in-law — not because of the stereotypical reasons; she's wonderful, but doesn't want to catch anything respiratory at her age. missed the ruby's show; was supposed to take a picture of someone's car, and didn't have any way of letting them know i wasn't going to make it besides not showing up. now there's only one left for this year. tried to get my better half to go take shots for me, but he ended up working late. hoping to hit up a car show tomorrow or the one in foothill ranch on monday, if it doesn't rain as promised.

——————

another member of lifestyle car club, this 1949 chevy truck was found at the whittier uptown car show back in august.

i think these guys do their own painting and pinstriping; one of the guys (the owner?) was touching up the pinstripes on this when i went by it later in the afternoon. devil in the details? nope, just little roses, down by the wheels.

sweet, swirly and fun, the curves of the car and the color theme just make me think of clown fish, but in a bad ass kind a way.

deliverance

well, i'm back. had an excellent week hauling myself around d.c. missed my cars though. already had missed a local car show outside of town, so of course, while cruising through museums, i was on the prowl for them.

now i have to tell you, i do hate taking pictures of cars indoors, especially at museums. same reasons i haven't bothered going to the big car shows here: too many people; artificial light and/or ugly ceiling from low points of view; limited manueverability to find the perfect shot; not allowed to use a tripod; etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

when i was a kid, we lived back behind mt. vernon, so got to visit the smithsonian museums fairly often. my dad would mostly march us to the buildings on the mall. so i had some memories of where to look. i remembered the american history museum having a hall of transportation: a vast room with 3 or 4 full-size trains of various time periods, with the associated smell of smoke and iron; and a room with lots of cars from lots of time periods.

well, its all been redone. the giant trains are gone, except one, and so was the smell. the cars were limited to about 5 or 6 models in silly dioramas, and despicable conditions for getting the shot i wanted. screw it. i got them using a small, flexible gorillapod tripod thing, but i probably will never bother posting them, i dislike them so much.

if you get farther out from the mall, you can find some interesting things. i found this old ford postal truck in the u.s. postal museum of course. i didn't catch what year. the amazing thing was that i could use a big tripod in there now — couldn't do that last year. not a lot of traffic off the beaten path. and apart from the bars to keep you off the thing, you could almost get a 270 degree choice of angle around it to shoot from, only because they have a modern truck behind it at an angle.

really was great to get away from work, but i missed posting. i'll stop boring you now with tales of my time away, since the rest has nothing to do with cars.

gumby!

just kidding. the color of this is a bit more turquoise than gumby, but i think of him anyway when i see this truck. so friendly and curvy and fun. and what the heck are those dingleberries hanging on the rearview mirror...they look like mexican pastries. why? why?

the owner of this truck is one of my favorite hecklers at this show at ruby's and also at spires. his truck also snuck into the picture here, with his ratty chair too. really he's nice enough. sometimes likes to pretend he's my middleman making a sale, running the price of a print up. come on man, you're gonna scare the straights.

gotta go...someone waiting for me >:)