Spotted: Just Lucky

Most of the cars I've seen on the street are easily spotted, photographed and identified. Others take a bit more work to capture (evading the owner chasing us, using long telephoto like a new car spy photographer, etc.)

In this episode of Spotted:, I have chosen a few that took some effort to capture, and a couple extra photos for your viewing pleasure. Like this:

"Why not?"

If you live in paradise, an have extra motorcycle laying around, put in a sweet, foil-wrapped post, weld your motorcycle to it, spiff up the mailboxes, and "Bob's your uncle".

We also got distracted by this mailbox -- think, you too can convert your boring mailbox into a semi-tractor with chrome exhaust stack.

Moving along, this Ghia undergoing restoration (we presume) is behind two other cars and was watched like a hawk by an elderly lady doing laundry. So I did a telephoto job on it, with this result:

About 10 minutes later we were driving up a steep road, I looked to the left and saw the rear end of the Ghia (my location is indicated above by the star, which BTW was Not on the Ghia's windscreen).

Here's the car from that lucky random angle:

I know the following shot looks quite simple to achieve. Car, curb, camera, caught it! However it earned the award of "Most Pissed Off Driver Behind Me".

Wednesday, 11am, quiet morning ... I was sitting there, in the Volvo this time, just gazing at the Checker with a silly grin on my face. Lovely big house, big Merc behind it, swank neighborhood. Then suddenly there was a fierce honking, a squealing of tires, and a swoosh as someone who had apparently rolled up behind me, swept past on the right with a shout. He ran the stop sign and shot across the next block out of sight. Hmm.

Perhaps he heard something on the radio that got him mad? It couldn't have been anger at me blocking his lane while I was lusting after this boxy old car, could it?

No, I think not. Who would NOT like to have this car, Eh?

(I can remember when Pastor Paul came to our church. He'd been a Christian missionary in Pakistan {not a very safe place, even in the 60's} and having a large family and small budget, bought a surplus Checker cab in NYC, threw his 6 kids in, and drove to California. Lots of events happened around that car, but it came to an untimely end when one of his sons, too young to be driving, rammed it into a tree up at church camp in the mountains ... having liberated the keys from his dad's briefcase. And I being the Youth Director at the time... Ah life, you can't make this stuff up)

I might have been there for quite awhile in the street. Gazing into the past, at the Checker.

This is another middle-of-the-road stop for a picture. Earl Scheib was famous for cheap paint jobs. I hadn't seen one of his paint shops for a long time. And here was one with an old truck, a bunch of silver cars (do bright colors still cost more?) and a strikingly bright building. So I stopped in the middle of the road (there was a center turn lane) as one does, and took a couple pictures. I got assaulted verbally by some street people for doing so. As if they had any right - that's the pot calling the kettle black!

I'm not sure what an infra-red quartz finish is, but it sounds impressive. And now that I think about the incident, I recall that the paint shop is across the street from the County Mental Health Services HQ and Medical Marijuana Card Certification Office.

Speaking of that, I have had another flashback, this time via Google:

Hardly a resident of Southern California was unaware of Scheib's folksy, "Hi, I'm Earl Scheib" television commercials. He promised to paint any car for $29.95 (a price that steadily edged up over the years to $119.95). Although car owners in some locales consider repainting a car an abomination, Scheib had decided in the 1930s that Southern Californians would welcome an affordable way to spiff up their much-loved vehicles. Scheib, who saw the possibilities in cheap on late-night TV ads, starred in his commercials. This prompted imitations such as "Go See Cal" .

His commercials made him an enduring symbol of Southern Californians' devotion to automobiles. They also made Earl Scheib a pseudonym for low-cost jobs in a variety of fields. Scheib and his company were hounded by county district attorneys and the Federal Trade Commission, who doubted his claims. Only a few colors were available for the special price, they said, and the price was not special because it was the everyday cost, not a markdown from anything higher.

"It is my sincere opinion," Scheib wrote The LA Times after one debacle with the FTC in 1963, "that $29.95 is a special price as we have not raised our price in 27 years, still giving the public their choice of any color."

He changed a word here or there as various authorities cracked down on his popular advertisements. But he said the minor changes would not affect his sales, and they did not. Scheib's enterprise spread coast to coast in 40 states and over 200 outlets.

Earl Scheib died 25 years ago, at 85. His chain of stores lives on.

We didn't suffer any harm over this next car, but as we were stopped (by a road worker) waiting for a tractor to pass, I took some photos. Later I realized how shabby the house is, even in contrast to the car.

We have seen some incredibly varied neighborhoods and I am more thankful for all the blessings we enjoy, since starting on these expeditions.

At the other end of town, yesterday we found this nice Land Rover. Patina like that can't be sprayed on. You have to earn it. And the discretely positioned rocks under the front tires are a bonus.

What was the challenge in this photo?

Not visible in my shots is the house across the street with a "For Sale" sign in the yard. My wife wanted to open the front gate and check it out, as the house appeared empty. I didn't need to investigate to tell her that we couldn't afford it. She said "Even if you sold all your watches and all the cars?" Yes, dear. Even then. Here's a drone's eye view; it's the 5-bedroom, 5-bath Spanish-style place in the foreground:

It does have a huge garage on the alley though, along with an unimpeded view of the city ... one can dream, can't one? But best not to be jealous of another's good fortune or possessions.

We went on later to La Jolla where we stared, gaping mouths, "gobsmacked" at a residential construction site. It looked like they were drilling another tunnel to France. But it turned out the owners were "slipping a big parking garage" underneath their tennis court! So that's 24m by 11m (78x36 feet) which I think could hold about 24 cars give or take. Or a couple million watches.

There are a few places in the world where you could find a black Rolls Coupe.

But not many places where you could find one on the trailer and another one just driving along, 3 minutes later, 6 blocks away!

Oops, I guess my wife missed that car, or was dreaming of lying in the sand.

We didn't see that many interesting old cars in the high-rent district, to be honest. But this Corvette was a nice find:

Exposed, but safely gated.

On our way home through the beach neighborhoods we did spot 2 interesting cars.

This is yet another Impala SS, this time in a metallic (non-stock) red, and personalized license plate.

an early SS, by the look of the plate.

And a two-tone Buick Regal T-Type Turbo. What a sweet looking car. Although perhaps a bit of a mismatch between the outward appearance and the powertrain. "A fine engine looking for a decent chassis" is the way one period reviewer put it.

Mine was black, all the better to look like a GNX, and to hide the flecks of tire rubber that were always getting thrown up on the lower rear fenders ... BTW this is the first T-Type I've seen in years wearing its original rims.

Have a great day. Can you take some more tomorrow?

Cazalea

Automotive

Spotted: Just Lucky

Spotted: Just Lucky

From this batch....

Lovely Rolls Coupe...

Lucky man

No, getting a standard rental car... [nt]