Between the 12-hour days and lack of internet access yesterday, I wasn’t able to post an update from Texas. Well, in the interim I’ve shot 7 cars, six of them in comparos.
First, one caveat: it rained, yesterday (Friday) and today. More yesterday than today, but it resulted in some creative stagings of of cars.
Friday morning, we put together the fabled SS comparo, a 1935 SS90 vs. a 1939 SS Drophead. They really do make a great comparo, because in ‘36 the car was fairly radically resisigned–new OHV head, new suspension, lots of stuff. For you Jaguar buffs, this is JPA 520 (Pebble Beach 2002) and BUF 695, which has worn the same registration since new. In your face, NUB 120!
We also sent Goldie off, and while I helped install the kid suede and mink seats, I did not get to sit in them. I’ll make that up on Sunday, when I shoot it for a feature, too.
After all that, it was off the little-known Munday [sic] collection.
There, I shot details on four cars for today’s comparos: What I call the “Dual Cowl Phaeceoff,” a straight-eight ‘31 Imperial LeBaron DCP vs. V-8 ‘33 Cadillac Fisher DCP. Comparo number three is “Hemi vs. Fuelie,” a ‘56 DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman sport coupe vs. fuel-injected ‘57 Bel Air sport coupe. If you’re betting, I’m liking the Bel Air in early returns.
Cadillac V-8
Imperial straight-eight
1956 DeSoto Fireflite V-8
1957 Chevy fuelie V-8
Saturday dawned overcast, so while Steve and Scott from the Munday Collection jockeyed the Full Classics into an indoor location, we headed out to see Bill Parodi’s tasty selection of high-class muscle. I’d been planning on shooting his ‘73 SD-455 Firebird, but Musclecar Enthusiast got to it ahead of me–it’s an Austin-area publication. I did get a ride, and Bill easily got rubber throught third. Jeff Snyder is going to put it on his rolling dyno soon, and that should be interesting.
Anyway, after an early-morning conference with Muscle Machines‘ Terry McGean, we took out Bill’s ‘71 Charger R/T, a 440-6, four-speed car. That was fun, we spanked it hard. Throwing me the keys and telling me to have fun will make me your friend. I’m coming back for Bill’s Hemi Charger.
I finished up–with five or six more hours with the Munday comparos. I’m not sure what I think about the indoor Imperial-Cadillac shoot, but I know I’m happy with how the DeSoto-Chevy one came out.
Tomorrow, it’s Keels & Wheels in the morning and Goldie in the afternoon; Monday, an A-M DB2 and whatever else I can scrape up. This humid 90 degree weather is getting old, though.