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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Monday Escape: Not giving up on autumn just yet

Surely your correspondent is hardly alone in being distressed by the way autumn and Thanksgiving are trampled in the Christmas creep/rush. Fall is the favourite season of many, yet it seems we’re expected to ignore it in the name of Christmas busy-ness.

Isn’t that a shame? And I’m a summer woman, through and through!

I know today is December first, and thus really and truly the start of winter, but let’s take a few final moments to enjoy autumn: the rich fragrances, the sight of falling leaves and the delightful crunch of them underfoot, copious amounts of sunshine combined with an awakening nip in the air, the last glorious riot of colour meant to tide us through the dark, grey stretch of winter now shouldering its way in. Shall we?

Riverview Florist, Alone

In a now-quiet Ohio Valley steel town—right around the corner from the famously abandoned car dealership—stands a building so grand for its purpose, it’s difficult to believe it was simply a greenhouse and florist. The English Tudor-style building is so very handsome it seems to have been plucked from one of Britain’s verdant fields and plunked in the centre of fields of concrete instead; that it is flanked by massive, overgrown greenhouses made it an even more outstanding sight.

This is not the original Riverview florist and greenhouse headquarters (nor the last); that caught fire in 1935. The Tudor edifice in my photographs was designed by East Liverpool architect Robert Beatty, with the admonition he include pieces of the old greenhouse building—specifically, charred beams rescued from the ashes of the original. These Beatty integrated into the French doors leading to the greenhouses. Presumably, there they remain, future success built, as it nearly always is, on the success of the past.

You’re probably thinking this enterprise must have been at least a little successful for such an impressive structure to serve a florist & greenhouse during the Great Depression, and you’re right. It’s such a marvellous story, too!

Monday Escape: America in Autumn

Timing is everything, as we all know. Zipping down one of Ohio’s many country roads, I spotted this “Frank” doing its work in the fields. There wasn’t even time to hop out of the car—but I’m still very happy with this shot! A fine stroke of luck. All the shot is missing is a kindly-looking middle-aged farmer, proudly surveying the activity on his farm (he’s probably the fellow driving the harvester).

Also, random internet user tip….Have you been glaring angrily at your computer due to its not performing correctly? As in, you’re unable to post to Flickr, your blog, or even see letters on webpages?

Reinstall the browser. You’ll save yourself two full days of frustration and re-booting your computer thinking it is the one responsible for your problems.

*blush*

Have a beautiful Monday, all!

Monday Escape: All-Original 1932 Packard Eight 900-Series Roadster

Here we have another stunner spotted at a Packard show. She’s all-original, even the paint—impressive for an automobile that’s nearing her 100th birthday. The ’32 Packard 900-Series is a very rare automobile; despite its flashy design (note the “shovelnose” grille) and its accounting for nearly half of Packard’s sales that year, the nearly-astronomical average price of $1,800 combined with the high cost of manufacturing the beautiful body resulted in the design’s being dropped by ’33.

This “Shovelnose Grille” makes the 900 immediately identifiable.

Packard sold just over 6,700 of these in its attempt to survive the Great Depression, which killed many great nameplates (including fellow “royal” luxury automobile marques Pierce-Arrow and Peerless). I’m not sure how many remain, though one did sell for over $100,000 in 2013. This particular Packard Eight 900-Series is a gem indeed—not only is she glamourous from nose to tail, the car has only logged 64,000 miles since her first owner in Connecticut to her fourth and present owner (so far as I know). Of the mere twenty-two coupe roadsters in the world’s Packard Club, this is the only one ‘living’ in Ohio.

It’s safe to say the man or woman who bought this 900 would go on to buy another Packard—while Packard led all luxury manufacturers with 33.6% of all car sales, Packard could really boast when it came to its returning customers; ninety percent of Packard buyers came back for more. As the old Packard slogan went: Ask the man who owns one.

Perhaps the first owner of this car listened to Jack Benny’s radio program, which had its debut in 1932—or perhaps, stopping along some quiet country road, the owners heard from a restaurant waitress or farmstand owner that the Lindbergh’s baby had been kidnapped, mourning for the American hero and his family even as they prayed Charles, Jr. would be safely recovered (alas, it was not to be).

Friday Fairlane Taillight Indecision

Rocket, B&W

Just a quick post today, since there’s much going on today (as always this time of year, with the harvest coming in). I’m sharing with you an example of something that happens to me often—I finish a photo two different ways, often quite different, and can’t decide which I like better! 

Columbus’ T&OC, the Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad Station

As part of my continuing effort to photograph Columbus’ architecturally significant buildings, abandoned or otherwise, I today offer you the very handsome Toledo & Ohio Central railroad station, or the T&OC, as it is called by natives. This marvellous place stands on Broad downtown—surely no one could drive by the first time without at least wanting to stop and take a closer look! This is the only remaining Columbus station, the last jewel in a crown that once held three. Designed by the well-regarded Columbus architecture firm of Yost & Packard (some of their buildings here), the T&OC was built in 1895 for the Toledo & Ohio Railroad. Though I know you are thinking “Asian design!” just as I did, the architects stated that it is actually based upon French and Swiss feudal architecture.