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.

Rumble in the Country - 6.12.2010

Terryville, CT

I'm finally getting around to posting some shots of the rest of the cars. As I previously wrote, torrential downpours arrived in Terryville just as we did. Fortunately, a lot of people stuck it out and the sun come out... as the last band finished. In between rain drops, I took pictures. In no particular order:

Man, dog, car. What else do you need?

Car guy...

The owner's wife made him open the door so I could get a shot of the rat:

...car guys...
This owner called me over to show me the hand-painted firewall on his Ford:


More car guys!

A couple shots of Rockabilly Express - as they played, the sun finally came out.



I will put the rest of the shots up on Flickr very soon, and will link it here in my blog. If you were at the rumble and these are photos of you or your car, and would like a copy, just comment or send me a personal message - I'm more than happy to email a copy or direct you to the set on flickr when they are up.

Jeanne's Rat Rod

Luci and I got a late start leaving NYC, but thanks to Hertz and a complementary upgrade, we were finally en route to Terryville, Connecticut in a bright red Camaro. As we got close to our destination for the Rumble in the Country, it began to rain... hard. A few classic cars passed us by. Then harder... and no less than eight classics and rat rods passed. We wailed "NOOOO!"

Fortunately, a good portion of people - and their cars - stuck it out to enjoy the bands. I took pictures of cars when it wasn't raining, and quickly bundled my cameras away and ran for cover when it started back up again. All day, there was one rat rod in particular in the middle of the field with flames painted on the side, covered with a tarp.

As Rockabilly Express performed, the sun slowly started to glow through the clouds. When the band was done, there was no threat of rain, and the flaming rat rod was parked right by the pavilion, tarp removed. I went over and started taking photos. When I stopped, a woman asked me, "Now that you've taken photos, would you like a photo of you IN my car?" So I got in, and she took a couple of photos. Then she said, "Now let me tell you about my car. It's a 1929 Ford on a '32 frame - barely attached right now! The engine is a Chevy."

"That is a real wolf whistle, found in a junk shop."

"The rear view mirror is the original mirror, with the original clock. Those are my daughter's baby shoes - she's in her 20's now."

"And look... the dice add up to seven no matter what angle."

(Yours truly in the car):

Thanks, Jeanne, for sharing your car.