This shot shows a 1936 Cord 810 S/C Phaeton which was on display at the 2009 Concours d’Elegance car show held at Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan. I’ve always been attracted to the Cord, particularly those from the mid 1930’s. I love the design elements, particularly the ‘coffin’ nose and the exposed exhaust pipes. The car just has great lines and exudes class.

I originally posted this image on Flickr shortly after the event. A couple weeks later I was surprised to receive an e-mail from the owner! His daughter had seen the picture on Flickr and had told her dad. One of the highlights for me about this car was the unique color. …

Every year I look forward to the Concours d’Elegance car show held at Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Each year this car show brings in over 200 classic cars, many of which are rarely seen in public. This year was the 30th year the event had been held at Meadowbrook. For those unfamiliar with automobile history, Meadowbrook Hall was built by Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband Alfred Wilson. Matilda was the widow of John Dodge, one of the founders of the Dodge Brothers Company which was later sold to Chrysler. Hence, this location is a very appropriate place to hold a car show.

The shot you see above is from a 1963 Thunderbird convertible which was on display as part of the Motor Muster held at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Not much more to say really, I just liked the simple pattern created by the fake vents. Minimal processing to produce the final image.

This shot shows the drivers side engine ports of a 1937 Cord Beverly Sedan. The car was part of the Classic Car Club of American (CCCA) automobile show held at the Gilmore Car Museum near Kalamazoo, Michigan. I’ve always been a big fan of Cord automobiles. They have wonderful interior and exterior details that are fun to explore, but sometimes difficult to capture in a photograph. When shooting at car shows, it is sometimes difficult to get a good shot without annoying reflections, harsh lighting, etc.

I took this shot of a classic automobile dashboard at a car show held at the Gilmore Car Musuem in Hickory Corners, MichiganThe museum has a terrific collection of cars spanning the decades, and they also have some nice special events. I’m attracted to older cars, particularly those of the 30’s, because they have such wonderful design elements. This dashboard to me just oozes craftsmanship and design.

This shot of a Saleen S5S Raptor was taken at the 2008 Concours d’Elegance car show held at Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan. This show always has an excellent collection of both vintage and new automobiles. I’m looking forward to this year’s show.

I love taking pictures of classic automobiles and so I took a short road trip to the Gilmore Car Museum to attend one of their outdoor classic car shows. This shot shows the hood ornament, or ‘mascot’, of a Pierce Arrow automobile. I was lucky that the car was parked next to another car with such an interesting color, since it gave me a nice background. I think the blue goes quite well with the chrome of the figure and the gold of the arrow. I used a long lens to get a very narrow field of focus, but my preference would be for more of the figure to be in sharp focus. Maybe this year…

This image was taken in the Depot Town area of Ypsilanti, Michigan. I was visiting the area to attend the annual Orphan Car Show held nearby. As I was walking to the show, I saw this sign. I really liked the vintage character of it. This part of town has some really nice old buildings and many of them have been rehabilitated. I took this shot with my 70-300mm lens on my Olympus E-3. Processing was fairly minimal.

This is a close-up of the hood ornament of a 1952 Pontiac Chieftain automobile. This car was at the Gilmore Car Museum for a car show. I used my 70-300mm (2x crop factor) lens and a small aperture to make sure the background was blurred out. Processing was minimal, although I tried to bring out the head and downplay the color of the car itself.

This is another in a series of ‘photo art’ images which shows some of the front side details of a 1936 Auburn 852 Phaeton automobile. The ’36 Auburn was designed by legendary car designer Gordon Buehrig and exhibits many interesting touches. I’ve always been attracted to the Auburn’s and Duesenbergs with the chrome exhaust pipes coming out of the side of the engine compartment. To me these exhaust pipes give a feeling of power to the automobile. This particular automobile, when new, sold for $1725, which is roughly equivalent to $26,000 after adjusting for inflation. Pretty good car for $26,000.