Category: Old Cars
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Auto typography
Every May I go to the giant Mecum Spring Classic muscle car auction held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. It is one of the top-five most favorite things I do for myself every year. I spend many happy hours there wandering around the old cars, and I take hundreds of photographs. I especially love to move…
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Carspotting 2012
As a certified car nut, I love to come upon old cars still on the road. After realizing last year that I’d photographed several, enough to make a blog post about it, I decided this year to make a point of photographing the old cars I see. I had no idea how many old cars…
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Getting close to classic cars
Color. Reflection. Shadow. Tone. Line. Angle. After four annual visits to the Mecum Spring Classic muscle-car auction, I am beginning to get a good feel for these photographic elements when I move in close to the cars. I’ve had some good luck in past years, but this year I feel like I relied less on luck…
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Cars I’d only ever seen in pictures, which I now present to you…in pictures
When I was a car-crazy boy, I spent a large amount of my allowance on car magazines and books. My favorite book was the Encyclopedia of American Cars, an exhaustive look at virtually every automobile ever made on these shores. My copy was from the 1980s, but the publisher updated it periodically through the early…
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Captured: 1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX hood ornament
The Mecum Spring Classic is a huge muscle car auction held every May at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. This is the Spring Classic’s 25th year, but only my fourth year attending. It is one of my favorite events of the year, as it brings together two of my most favorite things: cars and…
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Captured: Bug light
I’ve adored the original Volkswagen Beetle ever since I saw the movie Herbie the Love Bug as a small boy. I’ve always wanted one! They were common as pennies until about 20 years ago, which was about the time I came close to buying a Karmann Ghia – a Beetle with an Italian body. I couldn’t scrape…
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Carspotting
I love old cars, and whenever I see one still on the road I try to take a photograph. These are the old cars I spotted in the wild this year. I met a friend for breakfast in the spring and this 1964 or 1965 Plymouth Barracuda was in the parking lot. I was looking…
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Elements of classic cars
My love of old cars is certainly enough to drive me to the Mecum Spring Classic auction every year, but I also go because it gives me a chance to practice my photography. You can walk right up to the cars, close enough to touch them – though out of respect for the owners, I keep my hands…
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Living vicariously through wealthy car collectors
If I could I’d own a house with a twelve-car garage, each bay filled with a classic automobile. I’d drive around all the time in my various cars – posh prewar grand tourers, spry little sports cars, tall-finned and chrome-laden coupes, at least one ginormous 1960s cruisemobile, and a couple old pickup trucks for good…
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When a classic car is not beautiful to behold
I used to love to sit on my parents’ front stoop and watch the cars go by. I counted the Impalas and Furys and Galaxies that were so common during my 1970s kidhood. I got a special thrill from every Mustang and Camaro, and I even grooved on the ubiquitous Beetles. I still love the cars…
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Captured: International farm truck
Though I’m a lifelong Hoosier and have lived in Indianapolis for 16 years, I’ve been to the Indiana State Fair exactly twice. I always figured the fair was mostly about the midway, and rides just aren’t my thing. But I’m always looking for fun things for my sons and I to do, so we made…
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My favorite cars from the auction
These are the cars I liked best at the Mecum Spring Classic car auction, in no particular order. I’m not sure what struck me about this 1970 Pontiac Catalina. Maybe it’s my irrational love of station wagons. Maybe it’s that this one wears its black paint so well. Maybe it’s the “400” badge on the…