Riff Raff Riot - 10.9.10 (Part II)

Moose Lodge, Greenlawn, NY

Details, details, details. Since there was no rain pouring down, I had more time to notice the customizations. There were pinstripers there personalizing everything from headlights to radiator covers.

This Ford Ranchero was (almost) panel painted:

Being half-in and half-out of shadow, this car was insanely difficult to photograph. Highly customized and about an inch off the ground with a gorgeous matte purple paint job. A dream car, for sure.

Detail of the dash:

The most forbidding rat rod ever...

While invited to, I didn't test out the faux fur lined back of the Shagin Wagon.

Bobby painting "Fujimo"

After four years of art school, I still couldn't draw an such an elegant arc free-hand. Amazing.

I worked up the nerve to ask Bobby to touch my my Holga camera that I had detailed last year. He did, and added his own embellishments.

I might not have that dream Mustang yet, but I've got the coolest Holga ever.

Riff Raff Riot - 10.9.10 (Part I)

Moose Lodge, Greenlawn, NY

It seems that every classic car show I went to this summer, the rain followed. I finally caught a break this past weekend with a bright sunny day. "Finally!" thought I, "No photographs of cars with raindrops!" Well, the glaring afternoon sun created a whole new set of issues; glare on chrome and harsh shadows. One good thing, though, is that the reflections were fantastic... and hey, no shots of cars with raindrops.

Believe it or not, only one '57 Bel Air showed up. There was, however, a red Nomad wagon from the same year.

This rat rod looked like it had been shot up. A LOT.

An award-winning tribute to Bonneville Salt Flats...

...signed by George Barris.

Plymouth hood ornament:

Gorilla Monsoon's Dodge Magnum - he did all the work himself:

A close-up under his hood:

Detail of a '63 Cobra. It's a kit car, but it wasn't any less hot:

Custom cycles:

Local rockabilly bands played throughout the day, and in between, there were raffles (I won tickets to roller derby, thanks!) and a hula-hoop contest.

In the evening when the cars left, the party went inside for more entertainment. This is Barry Ryan's Rockabilly Express...

...Adam RealMan swallowing progressively longer swords...

...and Big Daddy Deluxe...

...with pin-up girl and chanteuse extraordinaire JRocket joining them for a song.

I had to head back to Queens with my friends, so I sadly missed headliner Robert Gordon.

Part II really will be posted soon with more photos concentrating on the custom detailing. I haven't decided if the rest of the photos will end up on Flickr or SmugMug, so I'll post that link in the next installment.

Woodward Dream Cruise - 8.21.2010

This was my first year at Woodward, and while I expected a lot, I was overwhelmed. I was surrounded by (mostly) classic cars - I didn't even want to blink. In the minivan with the rest of the crew, conversations were never completed; in the middle of a sentence, one of us would yell, "Holy cow, look at that." Heck, we never even made it as far as Pontiac. In spite of the rain that persisted throughout the day, I walked around, shot, walked around some more, shot, watched the cars cruising, shot, was happy to not get hit by cars crossing the street because I was ogling another car, shot, passed a Chevrolet executive on Woodward, shot, shadowed the writer... shot... you've got the idea. Most of the hundreds of photos that I took were for the client, but a few outtakes that they didn't use follow.

A high performance Gremlin. Gremlin? Yes, Gremlin:

This guy likes his RAM Hemi so much he got the logo inked on his leg:
Overheard walking around some classics: "I wonder how much total horsepower is on this field today."
Yeah, every car blog got a shot of this '57 Bel Air stretch limo - but it's cool, so I'm posting it:
A Back-to-the-Future replica in the field of DeLoreans. (Thank you, rain, for the blurry blob in the middle of my shot.)
This Camaro is for you, Kim Larson. It's a '67, is that what you wanted?

Ingenious. Plus, you know you'd make fun of him mercilessly if he was on a Segway.
I was in love with this silver metallic '57 Bel Air:
There was a group of seven or eight Monte Carlos; there are four here, and the others were across Woodward. These men's cars were beautiful. After they finished drying their cars, the second part of their group drove across Woodward and they all pulled out together to cruise for the rest of the afternoon.
Detail of an engine on a classic 'Stang:

The whole classic Mustang. This car is very, very important. Why? Because this is the exact color that my Mustang will be when I get it. Minus the engine that I can't see over. The owner was nearby, and I dared not lick it. (C.E. Murphy, on the off chance you see my blog post, this one's for you. Well, it's for me... but I'll share it.)
Batmobile - need I say more?

Kaiser Darrin's Clara Bow grille:
Spectators! The rain didn't keep them away from pulling up chairs and watching the cars cruise by all day.
As Murphy's Law goes, the sun finally came out right before the day came to a close:

I think I'll go for the whole week next year. I have to go back - I want to make it to Pontiac.