Gumby

I saw this clean, slammed, two toned chevy truck at the 2023 Riverside show & go car show tucked away on a side street. We had walked around all morning taking loads of photos and we were nearly ready to return to the hotel to check out and head home. Glad I got few shots of this beforehand.

Truck Stop

I was taking a moment to change lenses at the Riverside Show and Go car show, when this slammed red chevy truck rolled up and stopped right in front of me it's airbags hissing as it lowered itself to the ground. The driver spent a few minutes talking to some of the car show staff before raising the car off the ground and motoring off. That was enough time for me to abandon the lens change and take 2 full HDR sequences conisting of a total of 18 images.

Sunrise at Chicano Park

Kathy and I arrived at Chicano Park around 5:30AM but found the area swarming with cars and people in the early morning light. We had to park about 6 blocks away. We should have arrived at least an hour earlier. We had talked about taking the train but at the last minute I found myself driving Kathy's car to the park. Oh well. I caught this Chevy station wagon rolling into the park just as the sun was rising. Normally it is not recommended to shoot directly into the sun, but I like breaking the rules. 

"If you want to make a statement, wear purple." - Baron Davis

Kathy and I went to the Azelea Festival car show in Southgate California on a recent Sunday morning. While that show is now just a shadow of what it once was, there were still about 50 very nice cars to photograph but we were done fairly quickly. So something very rare happened. Kathy asked me if I was done and ready to leave. Usually, I am the one that asks that question of her. As we were walking back to the car, she told me there was another car show being held that day in Norwalk. Not too far from where we were. It was being hosted by the Majestics Car Club and when we arrived we found about 50-75 spectacular cars parked in the Civic Center Plaza parking lot. I found this 1953 Chevy Truck parked in front of one of the store fronts and it really stood out with that highly refelctive purple paint. 

Fleetline Sunrise

The primer paint on this fleetline in no way stops it from showing off it's classic curves at morning's first light.  I shoot a lot of cars but I have to say I am a sucker for the 1947-48 fleetline. Given the choice between a 2022 corvette or a restored 48 fleetline, call me crazy but I'm going the fleetline way everytime. 

Not Fade Away

I spotted this beautiful 1940 Chevy Deluxe Special convertible sitting quietly by itself off to one side at the Pomona Auto Swap Meet. It seemed a little out of place being surrounded by cars typically considered to belong to the Hot Rod genre. Exactly the type of cars which I generally do not photograph. This Chevy was a different story. While all the cars surrounding her seemed to be ready to emit a throaty roar from their lake pipes, she would probably rather glide serenely and quietly, all grace and elegance over the well-worn pavement. Her stereo playing an oldie tune as she slowly faded from view.

Why you want to leave me?

Kathy and I..., well mostly Kathy decided she wanted to go to the bomb club car show being held in the infield of the Santa Anita racetrack. She had attended this show at the same venue in prior years, but I had never attended before. In fact, It had been a while since I had gone to a car show. There just aren’t many where we live in south orange county unless they are filled with brand new mustangs and dodge chargers. No thanks, not interested. We previously lived in Los Angeles county in a town that was ground zero for lowrider and bomb car shows and I guess I took that for granted. Now I miss seeing the type of cars I really love. So it was with very little hesitation I agreed to acompany my wife to this particular car show. We arrived somewhat late, and the horse track's infield was packed with classic cars from the 1930's 40's, 50's and 60's. In other words, back when style was king. We setup our cameras and started walking around taking photos. We came upon this flamed 1947 red chevy fleetline. In truth I readily recognized it as a fleetline but I have to confess I'm basing my guess on the year by peeking at my wife's photo of this same car. You can see it here. In all the years I've been going to car shows with my wife I've learned one thing. If I happen to be tagging along with her and If I want the best photo I can get of any car at the show, I only need copy my wife's viewpoint for her shot. She has a great eye for composition, so I figure why mess around? I normally would just wait for her to be done and then place my tripod down in the same place and take my shot. Waiting was not an option on this day, the driver of this car was leaving. His engine was running, headlights were on, and he was just waiting for people to move out of his way before departing. I was silently urging my camera to quickly finish shooting the sequence of shots I would need to make this single composite image. I finished just in time. I looked over at Kathy and she said, "Copying my shot again huh?" The nerve.

Chicano Park Fleetline

The Chicano Park car show held in Barrio Logan, adjacent to downtown San Diego is an event that Kathy and I look forward to attending each year. The San Diego area was crowded in part because the Padres and the Dodgers were playing all weekend. We took the Amtrak Surfliner train into town and rode the San Diego Trolley train from downtown to Barrio Logan and avoided all of the traffic congestion.

The neighborhood of Barrio Logan is a historically Latino area of San Diego County and the park itself has a very interesting history. Located below the 5 freeway and the approaches to the Coronado Bay Bridge, it is home to many murals painted on the concrete highway supports.

I saw this beautiful 1948(?) Chevrolet Fleetline at the show. There seemed to be fewer cars in attendance this year. Kathy and I assumed it was because of the threat of rain. This car had some cool mini-murals on the front and back bumper areas. Not sure if the wood on the sides are original to the car or not.

Rag Top Fleetmaster

Kathy and I arrived at the Southgate car show well before sunrise. Lots of cars were streaming into the parking lot adjacent to the golf course where the show was to be held. Other than the car owners there were very few people around. We kind of had our own pre-car show, car show. It was looking like it would rain any minute but it never did. I spotted this convertible 1947 Chevy Fleetmaster sitting there with its headlights on and decided to take a few images. Great looking car.

There Goes the Neighborhood

This is all going to end in tears, I'm sure of it. They opened up a liquor store right across the street from the Aztec temple in this striking hood mural I spotted at the Santa Fe Dam car show in Irwindale, California. Does this mean that all the Aztec dudes are going to start showing up at the human sacrifices hammered, three sheets to the wind? The skull-double headed arrow thing looks like it would hurt. The car's a Chevy, didn't catch the make.