J.Ukrop submitted a new blog post: Right Place in Another Time Continue reading the Original Blog Post
So... Perfect example of this... Kevin Lee and I were cruising around Kansas City in my '38 about 15 years ago. It had to be under 20-degrees that day - certainly too cold to snow and definitely too cold to leave the house unless you absolutely had too. As a result, the streets were empty and there was plenty of room to drive a 500hp plus car using as much asphalt as we pleased. At some point, we drove down an alley in downtown and noticed that smoke/steam was billowing from every manhole. I grabbed my old Nikon F3 film camera, hopped out of the car, and took two quick shots: I've ridden both of these photos like a bad horse since... I mean, I've posted them on the HAMB more often than Bass posts his roadster on Instagram (joke - god, I love that car). But I still love both of these shots. And this is one of those rare instances where I think film actually did a better job than digital could have simply because film forced me into the settings I used.
If you didn't know one could mistake the founder's pic as an overheating situation. In Joey's pic, I'm diggin the house almost as much as the car. I have a 'thing' for mid 60s stuff and it includes architecture as much as cars and trends of the time. Sort of goes to my view of the last of our days, the end of the front engine dragster. Film rules, and I always liked the shots where only a couple pipes would show fuel burning as they stage vs all of them with a longer exposure. Is it really superior? Who cares? There's a vibe to it that will probably be lost to time before we check out, but then that's another thing about this stuff that we might not want the whole world to appreciate. If that means I'm a tradition snob I can live with it...
One thing I've noticed in the retro pics, even in TV and movies that are set in an earlier period, is that you will see 17"+ rims on muscle cars. As I'm sure y'all remember, this didn't really become a thing (at least in by 'hood) until the late 80s or early 90s when the euro/tuner influence started to seep into American hot rodding. For example, I was watching "Halt and Catch Fire" set in the early 80s, and in the background was a 70-71 ish Charger, lowered, on 17" or 18" 5-spoke ARs, pro-touring style. Maybe it was just my 'hood, but the car on those wheels seemed really out of place for the era. In the early 80s, this car would've been on 15" 5 spoke Cragar S/Ss with skinny low profile tires in front, the tail waaay up in the air on air shocks, and 10" wide meats in the back sticking 4" past the wheel openings.
Good pic, Joey. It used to be- there was a time not all that long ago- when cars like this one in the pic were everywhere. Now I hardly see them at all. We can argue endlessly about wheel/tire combos, stance, rake and countless other details, but in the final analysis none of those details matter. Similarly, we can discuss film vs. digital. What matters is, "Do you care about the subject in the picture?" While the early Ford period correct pieces we see on this site and in, say, Rodder's Journal, are works of wonder- as are the products of today's finest photographers- your picture in the post evokes strong emotion in its own right. And isn't that what good art is supposed to do?
The ONLY thing that comes close to dating that pic is the lack of maintenance on the gutter and roof line of the house!
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