Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Richowens on August 07, 2012, 02:52:29 pm
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(http://richowens.smugmug.com/Cars/Car-Show/i-HRT6VGm/0/M/DSC4093-M.jpg)
1956 Mercury Montclair
(http://richowens.smugmug.com/Cars/Car-Show/i-tVn7pVP/0/M/DSC4119-M.jpg)
1965 Chevrolet Impala
(http://richowens.smugmug.com/Cars/Car-Show/i-R8FDfg6/0/M/IMG1130-M.jpg)
1963 Chevrolet Impala
(http://richowens.smugmug.com/Cars/Car-Show/i-88cPnZ9/0/M/DSC4125-M.jpg)
1964 Pontiac GTO
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It's probably time to add another forum to The Art of Photography: "The Car Corner."
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For me, the pinnacle of the yank tank was the 1950s - and possibly even the 40s.
There was such diversity in style and detail between the marques which all seemed to single out a slice of the market and produce the goods to appeal to that particular market sector. I forcibly restrain myself from saying 'NICHE' because I don't really think anybody saw through quite as much BS back then.
How is this relevant to a photography thread?
Well, from where I sit, it seems that the same homogenous veneer of conformity that has stricken the automotive industry has also plagued photography.
Kina sad, I think.
W
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It's probably time to add another forum to The Art of Photography: "The Car Corner."
Wherever, it's a damned nice idea: the subjects were often works or art in themselves. I tell you this: it's a zone where the U.S. simply wins hands down. From the zero war years until possibly the Ford Consul but definitely the Fords Zephyr and Zodiac and Vauxhall Cresta of the mid- to the late 50s, the U.K. was stuck in the swamp. We certainly had some great stuff before that, but afterwards, just as we were starting to build again, we fell prey to the brilliant strategies of the indigenous commies who used the wonderful weapon of mass inertia to gain control of unions and then, with the magical power of the mass vote, murdered the car business for us as it was being reborn. Even the best of the best was lost and what remains today is owned by India, Germany, Japan and the U.S. Our sports car industry fared no better; indeed, most of it vanished without anyone noticing.
This makes me both very sad and just as angry, but it changes nothing. What makes me just as annoyed is that 'programme' called Top Gear where three grown men run around like congenital idiots or hyperactive schoolboys, and are shown not just in their homeland, but all over the world. What the hell does a show like that have to do with cars? It's about as relevant to cars as the tv news is to news.
Off to bed. Family going home tomorrow, so maybe I'll try to find some nice wheels to shoot here. I know that some exist, but access is the problem...
Rob C
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Russ,
I didn't start this thread looking for any kind of approval from you. I don't give a damn what you think of this thread, my post or my photos.
I have as much right here as anyone else and it IS NOT your forum. I know the photos aren't any kind of art, just record happy snaps of what I saw
at the car show. I posted them for Rob, or anyone else who might enjoy old cars.
Rich
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Thanks for the piccies, Rich. It always amazes me to see how great paint used to look many years ago. I have a thing for black cars, for some masochistic reason, and washing them when the sun goes low and permits me to do so is frustrating, because the black looks wonderful when I walk away chamois in hand, but by morning the dew and dust have ruined my best efforts (no garage went with the apartment, indeed, none exists anywhere near it). My latest little bus, a Fiesta, is also black and when I first shot it it had a lovely gloss; now, a year and a few months later (I think) it's lost that completely and never shines as it used to when new. Worse, the water-based paints seem to be far softer and scratch at the slightest accidental touch of a fingernail at the door handle. But the body warranty is longer...
Metallic paint. I think it works very well in some colours but not in balck; my Fiesta was only available with black in metallic, and I really don't like the effect much; it looks cheapish and not as good as a solid black which, for some reason, appears to have more presence, more solidity and visual feel (just like a black Nikon F2 Photomic;-D) though I actively discourage touching!
Anyhow, I like your shots and I really wish I had the chance to visit one of those concourse d'élégance events which, sadly, are thousands of miles distant from here.
Someone once posted a shot here on LuLa of a '59 Coupe de Ville that he used to have in California; I've forgotten who it was, but if you read this, could you please post it again, now that we have a slot?
Rob C
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Well boys... car sharing time... :-) Not a black one Rob...nor an Americal car - but she still is a beauty...
Penny - our 1923 Vauxhall which was driven by Max in 2010 from Peking to Paris Peking to Paris Website (http://www.pekingparis.com/pp2010/index.html) ... and then by our son James and Max from London to Capetown. London to Capetown Rally Website - (http://www.londoncapetownrally.com/route.html) and James Blog for their journey from London to Capetown (http://www.pennytocapetown.com/) (Links for those who are interested).
Julie
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Hi Julie
Black's nice with certain body shapes, and awful with others, too. Perhaps the least exciting colour, apart from beige, must be white. My wife used to hate silver cars - possibly because her brother and sis-in-law always have silver Mercs, but her take was that they all look as if the owners couldn't quite afford to get them painted at the factory... I'd have risked that, but the problem was the price of the cars, not the paint option. I used to justify holding off by quoting the service prices for the marque, which are scandalous, however many pennies you might have in your hip pocket. My excuse now is that I'm not going anywhere (that I'm aware of), and that big cars are stupid in little towns with alleys and 'streets' built to confuse invading corsairs. (That trucks frequently frequent them to deposit building materials for 'reformas' is neither here nor there: I don't have a truck.) A further one that I pull out of the mind, on and off, is the one about protecting the kids' inheritence; that makes me look cool and responsible - perhaps I should relax and just stay with it.
I see from your shots that rivets are big in your life; very industrial and very strong! Good thinking.
;-)
Rob C
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The car as beast of photographic burden:
Bruce
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And yet two more car shots...I love old cars, new cars, inbetween cars...
These are two 1931 Model A's, a touring sedan and a coupe:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5238/7389732952_021a1ec0a8_o.jpg)
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5321/7389520062_5e3a5502f5_o.jpg)
Curious, Walter, but what is relevant to a photography thread? Well, easy answer: photography. Is it art photography? It could be though in most of thsese instances probably less art than glitz and glitter, but still, to me photography is a recording of a time or event or of a setting. Old cars in new setting seem to fit into a lot of photographic genres. As always, it is a matter of personal taste as to what to look at and what to ignore. Personally, I'd love a Car thread.
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Chris-
I'm sure these refurbished cars are in better paint condition than they were when they were new. On the first shot, the one with the flag, the top of the hood seems to be in British Racing Green, as found on some Jaguars, whilst the mudguards are black or very dark blue; can you remember if those were the actual colours or just an effect of reflected/mixed light?
The deep, deep paintwork on the lower shot illustrates what I find so wrong with the look of the bodywork on my current Fiesta: regardless of colour, it will always look like tin. I sort of wonder if the paintwork on old cars just looks solid, or that it really is solid because of the possibly high number of coats, or just because the metal is thick. (In the 50s, in the U.K., you could buy a paint to produce your own fake whitewalls... says a lot about something.)
It wasn't only photography had a Golden Age!
I think that's what Walter was implying in his comment about relevance to photography - how contemporary photography is as bland and devoid of personality as are most new family cars, but I don't presume to usurp his right to correct me if I'm mistaken!
Rob C
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Since this seems to be the 'new' classic car thread...
These are all from the recent Jaguar Concours d'Elegance here on the island...
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8285/7751169082_5bb29cb6af_o.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7139/7751171040_48a8859731_o.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/7751172340_61d3a06dd1_o.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7120/7751175206_66a868674a_o.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7109/7751181180_82ecc8b71b_o.jpg)
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8305/7751184990_79c095ed47_o.jpg)
Mike.
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Thanks for posting, Mike.
There are two which instantly grabbed my eye: the 2nd shot - Blue Chrome and then the 4th one, Feline Fork. I think they both capture the spirit of what these kinds of pics are probably about: preservation of classic features that seem to be on a slide to contemporary invisiblilty. I especially miss the sense of glamour in a good piece of chrome, Yes, there have been several nighmares in chrome, no doubt, but well handled it brings areas to life. I think that the secret is to avoid the look of too much weight - as ever, it's back to design!
I guess that if ever proof were needed, one has but to look at the MGBGT, the one with the chrome bumpers followed by the horror with black plastic bumpers. That one change ruined a very pretty car. (Okay, it was U.S. legislation, I'm told, that caused the change and not MG's misguided imagination.)
Thanks -
Rob C
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On the blue sedan, the body color and the fender colors were the same. On the coupe, the body was a deep green, quite similar as you noted to a British Racing Green with black fenders. The colors are achieved by using lacquer rather than acrylic paint. I have seen where up to four coats of a base primer are used, hand sanded between each coat and as much as 8 coats of color lacquer also hand sanded between coats and then finished with two clear coats. You can see from the end of your nose all the way to China in the reflection.
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No wonder the Fiesta looks thin!
However, I'd gues that a paint job as you describe, Chris, would cost more than my wee car. Neither would I believe any garage I know that assured me that's what they'd do for me. I would guess that it's the sort of work that only friends can achieve with any degree of trust.
Thanks -
Rob C
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Ok, I play: More car sharing...
Best
Angela
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Angela
Yet another case of a horse looking for a happy pasture? I think that if I had a garage I'd actually spend the time trying to restore something. I'd have begun with my previous Escort XRi and, by now, might have had a better and more useful car with which to do my shopping.
As it was, I couldn't get a decent paint/metal repair, never mind any thoughts of restoration. I can't count the number of times that I ran into re-repair problems with the metal at the top of the port-side A-pillar. A shame, as that car held very happy - if final - memories. It also had a relatively low mileage.
Rob C
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Some Mini Shots. Ever since my grandson has been able to push or in some way propel a riding toy, he's had a Mini. This was last Christmas' Electric Mini.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/7759185884_c0309ca237_o.jpg)
Next to his Papa's Mini:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7759186076_227b34fd7c_o.jpg)
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Russ,
I didn't start this thread looking for any kind of approval from you. I don't give a damn what you think of this thread, my post or my photos.
I have as much right here as anyone else and it IS NOT your forum. I know the photos aren't any kind of art, just record happy snaps of what I saw
at the car show. I posted them for Rob, or anyone else who might enjoy old cars.
Rich
What the hell provoked that? Sometimes people's intemperate responses to comments on this site bewilder me.
Jeremy
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Rob, this was a meeting/event featuring 'American Cars' in Mannheim, Germany. Fans and friends came with their own cars to show and be seen. The level of restoration was - sort of - mixed, but it was fun. The people attending were just as interesting as the cars.
Best
Angela
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The ponytailed and pedalpushered girl from Mannheim brings this to mind.
Behold the lovely Janet Leigh. Unfazed by a clearly difficult situation, her smile outshines the chrome. Back then we had cars properly sized for for freeform posing and suitable for every kind of frolicking. You don't see shots like this anymore. Mother of Jamie Lee Curtis.
(http://static.myarchives.net/gallery/files/9/1/8/0/2/tumblr_m7om4sui0s1qh0yodo1_1280_original.jpg)
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I remember Janet (only from the movies, sadly) as having a very uplifting and pointed set of bras; as a young lad I'd note and remember that detail. In the shot you posted she appears to be suffering from the two-stroke motor sound effect that I sometimes experience whilst walking straight after lunch on days when the restaurant has served its delightful bean salads...
Those were the days! I'd take a bra with imagination any day instead of an outright silicone fib. Not to rub it in, but what's the point? Obviously, repairs etc. are of a different ethical nature and an admirable use of surgery, IMO, but for perfectly normal people to put themselves through that for ego and false dreams... might as well take up photography; probably cheaper and certainly less dangerous.
Rob C
P.S. The dashboards of U.S. cars were always the single failure for me; too much shine and nowhere near the exquisite workmanship of, say, Jaguar or Humber. But the body-shapes were in a class of their own: aspirational. Much like the bras of the period, then.
Rob C
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Some 50s Chrome for Rob.
Couldn't resist reaching for the phone for this one.
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MG Magnette? If I remember, it was one of the saloon brands being manufactured (just) at the time Red Robbo and his loonie red army were killing off the UK car industry.
The motor group hired Farina to design, then did a UK 'take' instead. Oy veh, already; can't blame the reds for that bit of enlightened business acumen: direct management madness. But hey, that's how you design a camel. We all need a Mk. 2 camel, right?
Walter, don't you feel a sense of total freedom using your cellpix camera? I know it's limited, of course, but what it has going for it is worth a lot too.
Rob C
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Walter, don't you feel a sense of total freedom using your cellpix camera? I know it's limited, of course, but what it has going for it is worth a lot too.
Rob C
I had purchased a Panasonci GF-2 last year as a walking-around grab shot camera. It sucked so bad I thought, 'I might as well use the phone!'
I bought a slip-on adapter for the phone which has a tripod mounting screw thread and that makes a world of difference if and when it matters.
Cheers,
W
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Walter -
Tripod jacket for cellpix. Doesn't that instantly negate the value/ease factor associated with the idea of the cellphone in the first place? On the other hand, I can see the value of carrying a light tripod as a self-defence system.... Main problem I see with mine ('phone camera, not tripod), at least, is that there's no way of firing it without pressing the little area on the screen that activates the 'snap'. neither am I sure exactly when the exposure gets made: whether at the first touch, or later; the screen goes through a series of now-you-see-it-now-you-don'ts that leaves me bemused. I have discovered some shots appear to have been taken after I moved away from holding the thing in the right direction... but I can't be sure because I seldom get to see the subject clearly.
I wish folks would post a few of their own cellpix - it would be interesting to see how/why they use their cellphone cameras in the first place, instead of traditional cameras.
Today should see my blind arrive! (?). I think I might start off using it for a series on the old musos after all - at least it'll give me an idea of how the space/background work together. If I can find one that's not mounted, I think I'll look for a tranny off the 500 Series and create a black frame incorproating the two little notches on the left vertical, I think I'd find that funny. Very arty.
I've finished the Ansel letters now, a very interesting book that reveals how similar are many of us snappers in our psychology, our wishes/expectations and probably ultimate disappointments with a world with which we seek to engage and influence towards a better way of life. There's so much in the book that's worth quoting, but it would probably lead to a coyright issue.
Cheers -
Rob C
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Rob -
Are you telling us that you take your cellpix hand-held, without benefit of a really solid Gitzo tripod? I'm shocked! :o
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Rob -
Are you telling us that you take your cellpix hand-held, without benefit of a really solid Gitzo tripod? I'm shocked! :o
Look at it this way, Eric: I have the Gitzo 410 with its equally heavy bonce that tilts both ways, and I have the Samsung Galaxy portable telephone-cum-camera. I have a choice of taking one or the other to lunch - it's what the Americans call a no-brainer call. I think.
My blind background that's going to make part of my terrace into a 'studio' didn't materialise after all; I rang the shop and got the father who told me that the son (who is doing the job) has been away in Palma all day. I said okay, I'll ring tomorrow. Dad said No! tomorrow is a holiday. Which I'd forgotten. So I'm now low on cash because the banks will be closed and I never use cash machines in case they chew up my card and cause me weeks of stress trying to get it back. When my wife died, I went to the bank to cancel her card. I was using mine one day and it bounced. Turned out that the bank had cancelled my card instead. Crisis, what crisis?
I have to remain calm - the cardiologist demands this. Eric, I could write a book about how 'they' are out to get me. No wonder I don't sleep much -just get up late(ish).
It's 01.17hrs as I sit here at the computer. Been out to an evening of music and my head's abuzz and my ears are closed.
Rob C
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You don't see shots like this anymore.
(http://static.myarchives.net/gallery/files/9/1/8/0/2/tumblr_m7om4sui0s1qh0yodo1_1280_original.jpg)
And we're the poorer for it. Fabulous portrait.
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There's so much in the book that's worth quoting, but it would probably lead to a coyright issue.
Cheers -
Rob C
Surely some of those quotes must be in the public domain by now. ;)
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I've finished the Ansel letters now, a very interesting book that reveals how similar are many of us snappers in our psychology, our wishes/expectations and probably ultimate disappointments with a world with which we seek to engage and influence towards a better way of life. There's so much in the book that's worth quoting, but it would probably lead to a coyright issue.
Cheers -
Rob C
Rob,
As you are possibly aware, I am no fan of Adams' but I have read the book of letters (does that make him a 'man of letters' and they are a potent insight into a boom time in the history of our craft.
Might I also recommend that you read the DayBooks of Edward Weston. And Charis Wilson Weston's biography, "Through Another Lens".
W
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Hi Walter
Taking my courage into both hands, and in the hope that this is a legal use of quotations, I’ll venture into the AA business.
I have sometimes mentioned here that I have doubts about the advisability of ‘students’ putting themselves into such situations (of being students) for anything beyond purely technical instruction, my fear being that they will open themselves up to the direct influence of another’s mind, and lose that which was their own. I shall quote form AA’s letter to Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, May 25, 1974:
“You will note that the students of Minor White are most profoundly influenced by him; you will also note that the majority of them are NOT his peers (and are perhaps not capable of being forces in their own right). I think you might agree that a truly forceful artist will achieve a real creative success in spite of everything that may, or may not, happen to him. I think we may be all confused over the actual number of artists (or those professing to be artists) and think there are more really great ones than there are. Everything is now so slick and easy, and individuality seems to be rarer and rarer as time goes by.”
The above does not imply any shortcomings into Mr White’s abilities, in my view, just in the dangers of exposure to such a strong personality (photographic).
My last quotation from this book is this one, from a collective letter to a group consisting of the Newhalls (above) and Minor White, November 1, 1958:
“We always get involved in yaks about teaching, etc. No result but agglutinations! Really – it all boils down to the fact that Those Who Have It Will Get There – maybe you can help them get there faster. Most of the others should be going in another direction in life. It is wrong to support them doing something beyond their ken. But so many schools are founded and continue on that basis. God runs his fingers along the window-sills of the world and looks for genius–dust!…”
(Thanks again Patricia for the book – it was sure worth the effort!)
Rob C
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Everything I loathe and detest about the etiolated St Ansel right there Rob. By May 25, 1974 Adams had written books and conducted workshops and thereby accumulated an army of acolytes slavishly seeking out the tripod holes of their mentor and diligently following his every utterance as to how best to replicate the effect of his prints. The world, indeed this very world here on LuLa, is largely still caught in the vortex of Modernism that Adams espoused so vehemently. He espoused it to such an extent that William Mortensen, a romanticist, was publicly pilloried by Adams as "the Devil" and "the Anti-Christ" of photography. The world doesn't need another hypocrite on that scale.
And who the bloody hell does he think he is to suggest that it is wrong to assist people in the pursuit of their aspirations and to decide if "it is beyond their ken"?
There is something in me that says the tuition and mind games of the Adams' view of life, the world, and everything applied selective blinker-vision to many more devotees than White ever did - not to say that White was not, in his own way, cast from the same mould.
I have always taken my hat off to Sally Mann and Jock Sturges who are two Adams' Workshop students who took the basics of his gospel and then adapted it to their own unique (and individual) visions.
W
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I didn't know Sally M was an ex-AA photographer. I liked her shots of her children, even though I sometimes felt sightly uncomfortable with how the wee girls were represented: making them look older is doubtful (to me). Having a daughter of my own who, as a child, spent much time in my studios holding up cards with 4, 5.6, 8, 11 etc. on them to check how well my flashmeter of the day (a Bowens!) agreed or disagreed with processed Ektachrome, I understand how easy it might be to manipulate kids, especially one's own. But in no way does that diminish her abilities (Sally's).
Jock Sturges I have never been able to like. I just don't see where his stuff is good.
To be honest, I'm not the world's authority on older photographers because apart from having looked at a few books, I was always absorbed in the doings of the current guys of my own time. I suppose I liked to know who was shooting what, how and with whom. It certainly paid dividends for me as an out-of-towner: I would generally do castings mainly with girls who'd already featured in productions that had appealed to me as a photographer. I've not been one to believe that I can spot a good model in the flesh: it always takes a test, and since I couldn't very well do that in London living in Glasgow, I was happy to accept that if Miss A could do it with Lichfield, she could do it with me; I never felt any sense of inferiority in that respect - I knew that I would be shooting my way and not anyone else's.
My photographic 'education' was derived from the pages of Vogue, Nova and Harpers as well as from the great Popular Photography Annuals of the 50s and even, I think, the early 60s. I was never into landscape or any of that stuff at all, which is something that turns out expensive now that I live in a world devoid of models. Well, expensive in terms of not having built up any sort of life-long, basic, personal liking for other genres than women.
It seems sort of tragic to shoot things that are just so-so in their appeal to one; it takes so much time sitting at a screen... but, one has to do something.
Bedtime.
Rob C
P.S. Looking for some 500 Series shots from which to clone the borders with 'blad triangles (no luck: only have them unmounted in b/w neg) for my new proposed game of shooting musos on 35 FF digi and then printing within 6x6-shaped areas, I came across some b/w glossies I'd made here in Mallorca on Ilford Multigrade; though I hated plastic papers as well as Multigrade, they still look superior to anything I've ever produced on digital paper. And to think that I thought my digi prints are excellent... how we can deceive ourselves when avoiding confrontations with some earlier methods.
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Sleep well Rob,
And for when you awaken ....
Like you, in my days of full-on production I had neither the time nor inclination to overly worry about the past. yes, I did have an awareness, indeed and appreciation, for a few of the tall poppies but i did not have the resources of time or energy to get to any depth in my investigations or venerations.
In fact, back then I doubt anybody in the commercial world got into too much that did not relate to food on table or fruit on sideboard.
I certainly did not want to BE (or even emulate) any of them. I was happy and proud to be myself.
And it has to be said that at that time I did not venture too vigorously into 'Personal' work (as 'Fine-Art' was called back then). I admire the socks of the likes of Bailey, Penn and Avedon who managed to pursue massive non-commissioned projects while working so hard to commissioned assignments. Since I worked entirely to my own brief I used to argue that everything I did was 'Personal Work'.
I have a number of books of both Sturges and Mann and, though each is very different in their approach, I admire the work of both.
Nevertheless, Adams spawned an industry worldwide and in doing so provided a goal for many to pursue and derive enjoyment from and that, to me, is his greater legacy. I have seen early Adams prints and later Adams prints and I have long held that the poor wretch fell victim to his own hubris. The vintage prints were glowing gems at a size that one could get intimate with. The later work (some of the Museum series for instance) was money for old rope and excessively grandiose.
I guess it is worth noting, also, that the Modernism that Adams espoused was fairly localised and became known as West Coast School. It screamed in the face of the likes of Bill Brandt and the more gritty style of British photography but that is not to say that either approach is right and the other wrong.
W
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Everything I loathe and detest about the etiolated St Ansel...
And who the bloody hell does he think he is...
Bartender, no more drinks for this guy! ;D
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"In fact, back then I doubt anybody in the commercial world got into too much that did not relate to food on table or fruit on sideboard."
Yep, Walter, and I think that that's probaby still the case today for anyone with a real photographic business: there simply isn't time. I used to work bloody unsociable hours (when there was work) and many weekends. It was a strange thing: the 'phone would go on Friday afternoons with some ad agency guy pleading for prints first thing on Monday. First thing on Monday I'd turn up with the shots and then quite often later visits to the art director's office would reveal them still in their see-through envelope, untouched... rush seemed to be a one-way concept. But what could you say, No!?
The point you make about manageable size of print is valid. I have long noticed that, when I'm starting to work on a new picture, I have to reduce its size to around whole-plate (or smaller) on the monitor in order to understand what I've got and where to trim, if trimming is required. I don't have tunnel vision, and I don't think it's a question of anything like that - I think it's more a matter of being able to catch something in the mind's eye without scanning a lot. Why should it really be much different looking at pics on a wall?
Of course, I know the commercial answer to that: art's about names and square metres. Period.
Rob C
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Multi-Culturalism alive in the automotive world back in the days of the MG Magnette posted earlier this week.
Taken a while back on the iPhone:
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Lancia has ever been a mystery to me: from a marque that, in Italy at least, used to stand for expensive and prestigious cars, it reached a nadir in the UK when all imports were ended because of the rust problems that made the brand unsellable.
Ever since it appears to have continued in some minor key as maker of the 'quirky' rather than the desirable.
Strange.
But then it wasn't only Lancia had problems: I bought a Fiat X1/9 in preference to an MGB because I liked the styling as well as the practical consideration of the targa top; in less than two years I had to let it go because, not of body rust (which other owners discovered very quickly) but because of the alloy wheels: the things came with clipped on balance weights on the rims... washing them one day I discovered the effects of different metals in tight proximity with one another when graced with the added benefits of winter salt's catalytic joys.
On going back to the dealership (friends of ours!) I was told that Fiat had authorised exchange of affected wheels but that the deadline had passed: as usual, I didn't know about the offer. I couldn't trade the car in at any other dealer whose product I wanted - ended up with an Alfasud.
Rob C
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Some Mini Shots. Ever since my grandson has been able to push or in some way propel a riding toy, he's had a Mini. This was last Christmas' Electric Mini.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8440/7759185884_c0309ca237_o.jpg)
Next to his Papa's Mini:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7759186076_227b34fd7c_o.jpg)
Love it !!!
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Saw this today and it put me back into the middle of last century! I think it's based on the Triumph Herald, which was around in the second part of the 50s. The Herald was a good idea, because it was made up with many detachable panels that made repairs simple and probably inexpensive; however, funny suspension was a bit disturbing. But, along with everything else in the buyable British car market, it ended up unloved and victim of union problems, management indecision, poor materials and the resulting lack of investment to make it all work.
Speaking of poor materials, Lancia had to quit the UK altogether because it's rust problems made the cars unsellable there; Fiat's sporty X1/9 (which I had for almost two years) was similarly affected and, on mine, the wheel balance weights were clipped to the rims making metal-to-metal contact instead of being stuck there... I ended up needing to replace all four, so I sold instead.
You know, had the X1/9 been given the Alfasud 1.5 litre boxer engine and some really good metal, it would have ruled the world within its segment. So many wasted opportunities. But, encouraging to know I'm not the only one with that capability!
Rob C
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Another oldie from Ford - I used to have a black hardtop version of the XR3i; I was once failed my MOT because they said that the two spots were not set right... you'd think they could have pulled the mothers upwards or pushed 'em down to suit as they were reading them! Anyway, I took the car back to my Ford dealer and they checkd and said the lights were fine; went back to the Testing Station in Inca and they passed it, no changes made. Go figure.
Rob C
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I was going to say the same thing. In my years on various forums, there are two tools to help get sarcasm/wit/irony/your point across: clear, concise writing and smilies. Oh, and as Rob C has mentioned in previous posts, it's always good to include a good dose of sodium chloride and some reflection.
I wasn't aware of the contents of this thread until recently. I think I have some worthy additions:
Torino
(http://pcdn.500px.net/12777149/5b0d5982eb0de95f7fba63668fba83ac44b9823e/4.jpg)
Figaro
(http://pcdn.500px.net/9241511/a5472b6d5383656673873133534db8f78a069623/4.jpg)
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Some great cars and great images here! Maybe we should rename it to 'Love Those Cars' - we have threads for rocks, trees and clouds already.
Mike.
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Some great cars and great images here! Maybe we should rename it to 'Love Those Cars' - we have threads for rocks, trees and clouds already.
Mike.
That's a good idea, Mike: for a start, it would salve the souls of those with a vow to avoiding anything with the Rob C name stuck onto it!
However, as my PS computer died yesterday and I'm hoping to take it to the mortuary (hospital???) this morning, my own contributions will be limited not only by lack of material but also lack of facility.
Ironic, really: 31 years with acute no-roll-background syndrome, and almost the day after I get one the computer falls on its face, exhales and quite possibly expires.
Is there a message hidden here; is it even hidden; do I miss the naked edge; is this indeed a dagger I see before me?
Rob C