What better way to celebrate the end of the week, than with a car show on a Friday evening? Or for those of you like me ( my wife describes me as car obsessed), how about encountering a car show totally by accident? Well, that’s exactly what occurred last Friday evening, as my wife and I were driving home after going out to dinner.
As we were exiting the mall, I spotted a coned off section of the parking lot that appeared to be full of custom cars, classic Chevrolets and hot rods, all in close proximity to the Ruby’s diner (http://rubyscruise.com) located towards the west side of the mall. Since my wife had some shopping to do for her mom, she dropped me off so I could check out the cars, and would return when she was done. So off I headed into the middle of this unexpected, surprise (at least for me) car show. As I made my way through the aisles of the parking lot, checking out the diversity of cars in attendance, I realized that I recognized several of these cars from other cars shows. And just when I was wishing I had my camera with me, my wife drove up. By the time we arrived home, I had decided to grab my camera and head back to the car show before I lost the remaining daylight. Within 15 minutes, I was back at the mall, with camera in hand, ready to capture the cars gathered for the evenings event.
One of the most unusual and obvious features on this car is the engine; in this case, the owner chose to install a 401 cubic inch Buick “nailhead” motor as seen below.
After walking around the car multiple times, shooting it from a variety of angles and focusing on specific details, the owner approached and we struck up a conversation.
Parked just up the row at the opposite end, was this black 1963 Lincoln Continental, as noted by its license plate.
The black paint on this car was flawless; every surface smooth as glass and acting like a mirror, reflecting all of its immediate surroundings.
Located just across the row, was this stunning example of a true American classic; a flamed, chop top Merc. And what was even more amazing was that this car appeared to have been driven to the event, and not brought in by trailer.
Every surface and detail on this car was flawless, and obviously a lot of time and effort had gone into the building of this custom show car.
But even cooler was seeing that the owner actually drives this car, and had brought it to the show to share with others; a true celebration and tribute to the Southern California car culture.
And its ultra clean engine compartment.
So should you find yourself in Whittier on a Friday night (from May through October) with some time to burn, just look for the Ruby’s Diner in the Whittwood Towne Center, and you will be rewarded with a local car show that weekly celebrates some of the nicest hot rods, classics and muscle cars from throughout the Los Angeles and Orange County areas.
This entry was posted in car shows / special events, Hot Rods & custom cars and tagged 1932 ford highboy, Automobiles, car shows, Cars, chop top Mercury, hot rods, photography by digitaldtour. Bookmark the permalink.
My friend, I just cannot resist..I have to Reblog !!
This post is a departure from the type of cars I normally shoot, but I think just as cool as the sports cars I have featured up to this point.
I’ll be interested to see what other feedback I receive in regards to this departure.
Thanks again for you continued support and for the reblog.
Reblogged this on Av on cruise control.
Thought these cars looked familiar. Saw a beaut of a hot rod yesterday going up Beach Blvd as I was heading down and figured the driver was headed to Ruby’s.
I’m embarrassed that it took me so long to find out about the Ruby’s car show. I’ve also found it interesting to see the diversity of cars present over the past two weeks.
Amazing shots. A really cool selection of cars. Being from Australia we don’t see many/any of these.
I like this departure, it’s clear you love your porkas but you could probably take photos of a rusty el camino and write enough about it to keep me interested!
Hello Australia…thank you for the feedback.
And I’m glad that you liked this departure from my regular blog content.
Awesome cars….wow!!!My husband builds, designs, custom paints, does ground up frame off rotisserie restorations on whatever the customer wants from antique cars to hot rods to street rods to muscle cars to four wheel drives to trucks and pick ups to classics….resto mods and etc. etc. etc. He does it all in house for the customer. It has been a learning time for me to see what goes into building custom cars:) Love your photos and blog:) you can see our web page….www.holtonsecretlab.com We are in OR.
I now have your husbands website bookmarked and will do the same for hotrodcowgirl.
I enjoyed reading your post about your recent car show trip, and your photos of the silver Ford F-100 truck, and the blue custom Ford bronco.
My roommate in college had a 1973 bronco, but nowhere near as nice as the one you showcased. It must have been difficult to part with it, as you mentioned in your post.
Thanks again for the feedback and website information, and I’ll look forward to reading your future postings as well as following your husbands ongoing projects.
The black 1963 Lincoln at the car show was amazing, but very cool to hear that you will be restoring a 1961 Continental; they are one of the true classics of the 1960s.