My favorite thing to do at the Mecum Spring Classic vintage-car auction is move in close to the cars’ details with my camera. At the Mecum, you can get close enough to the cars to touch them! (But please don’t; they don’t belong to you.) If I were to see these cars in museums, they’d be well behind velvet ropes and out of range from my macro lens.
1950 Hudson Commodore. Meet the hood ornament of my favorite car at this year’s auction. When photographing chrome straight on, you always make a cameo appearance in the photograph. Can you spot me?
1949 Hudson Commodore. A step-down Hudson from the previous year was on hand, too. It was every bit as nice as the ’50 I claim as my favorite; I just liked the ’50 in yellow better than the ’49 in pewter.
1956 Studebaker Commander. The strong typography on this car’s decklid drew me right in.
1966 Plymouth Belvedere. I am amused by the stuff automakers used to tack onto cars – things that could easily be broken off, like this period Plymouth logo.
1964 Studebaker GT Hawk. Studebaker’s last logo was startlingly modern, and still looks good today, even in hood-ornament form.
1969 Dodge Charger 500 SE. I always thought these fuel-filler doors were wicked cool. The current Dodge Challenger has a fuel-filler door that evokes this design.
1965 Ford Falcon Futura. I really enjoy the badging on vintage automobiles, all chromy and colorful. Futura was the top trim line on Ford’s compact Falcon.
1950 Buick Roadmaster. Dynaflow was Buick’s first automatic transmission. It was engineered for smoothness, I hear, but at the cost of power. That earned this tranny the nickname, “Dynaslush.”
1935 Buick Victoria. I am amused by how many hood ornaments on 1930s cars feature stretching women.
1965 Volkswagen Bus. Ok, so this isn’t a close shot. But I enjoy this perspective on the 21-window experience.
1956 Ford F100. Finally, this badge from a Ford truck. Lightning and gears, baby, that’s what trucks are all about. Seriously, I just like the colors in this one.
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