Just more classic cars…

I’m still around, just busy with various things, mostly my car photography work. Due to their reflective nature, classic cars take a lot longer to work on than photos of other things; even if I’m able to position myself to get the shot without my own reflection, distracting (and sometimes distressing…) reflections of other people and things are often absolutely unavoidable.

Also often necessary is the removal of specks and splotches of dirt, random smudges, and dead bugs from what should be a smooth surface. The Surface Blur feature can sometimes help here, but usually only the smallest specks are whisked away; manual correction of larger blemishes is, though time-consuming and a little tedious, the best way to rid a car of it. Spending an hour or more simply removing such things from the side or back end of a classic car is not at all uncommon!

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Abandoned Ohio Chrysler Dealership

“The Watcher”

My post about signs in doors on Monday tempted me to post photos I took of an abandoned car dealership (as “Five Star” is from that series), and though they’re autumn photos, since I may have whetted your whistle it seemed kinder to simply go for it today.

They’re older photos (as often happens here), but I am proud of my work, and let’s be honest: an abandoned car dealership with cars still inside? It’s the stuff (some) dreams are made of. To be honest, looking at the photos, it’s kind of hard to believe I took them nearly four years ago next month (and we will not discuss September’s approach—don’t you dare!)

I first read about the East Liverpool, Ohio Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth-Jeep dealer in Jalopnik. It was not at all far away from where we lived in West Virginia at the time, so off Hubby and I went to check it out; trust me, no vintage car buff could resist that kind of lure…least of all yours truly.

“Mystery”

Monday Escape: Apparently, this is called a “Dagmar”

 

Or so a fellow classic car buff was excited to tell me, and I’ll buy it. A lifetime of loving these rolling beauties and I’d no idea!

A very reflective dagmar on a Packard 400.

“Dazzling”

We actually own a dagmar (though not the car to go with it just yet)—found it at the same tiny antiques shop behind which this (dagmar-less) ’55 Bel Air hid in a garage:

100 Years of the (Chevrolet) Bow Tie

Despite my having actually worked for Chevrolet in Detroit, the 100th anniversary of the brand’s famed bow tie logo (in July) somehow passed me by. Happily, it’s never too late to amend that sort of thing—and share some gratuitous classic Chevrolet and even neon sign photos—is it? Not for a vintage car-loving gal from Detroit, it isn’t!

“Not Monday’s Child”

There are several stories about the origination of the famous logo, and even the brand itself isn’t ashamed to throw them all out for our consideration.

I feel as if we need a big old George Takei “Oh, MYYYYY” right now. Don’t you?

William Durant, credited with designing the logo for GM’s most successful brand, said he’d seen a bow tie pattern in the wallpaper of a French hotel in 1908, immediately recognized its value as a car nameplate, and actually tore away a piece of the wallpaper to keep for future reference.