The Wandering Minstrel

I photographed this classic 1964 Pontiac GTO convertible outside the local auto parts store. It was clean inside and out and the top appeared to be new. Nice.

Clickable image.

I saw this shiny ‘28 Ford on my way to the dentist this morning (just a cleaning). I wish that I could have got a better picture, but the Better Half, who takes way better pictures than I do, was at home. I had to settle for taking the photo through the tinted windscreen with my little Canon A710IS. I used the image software to apply a slight magenta shift to compensate for the greenish tint. Clickable image.

I thought that the classic car photo opportunities would dry up once we moved to Wickenburg. Well, it looks like I was wrong today as we passed through the old downtown district where this beautifully restored late 40’s Chevrolet coupe was parked. This is a beautiful car! Clickable image courtesy The Better Half.

By the way, the old miner and his burro behind the car is part of the free self-guided historic tour of the old part of town. If you’re ever in town, stop at the Chamber of Commerce and get the tour guide.

The Better Half snapped this as we drove past a home where a couple of very nice classic hot rods were parked in the driveway. Both early Fords. Clickable image.

Last week, I posted USED CARS about a vintage car lot in Quartzsite, AZ, about 12 miles past the Arizona border on Interstate 10. This trip, we stopped to check it out, as promised.

The business is really selling prefab buildings, but all over the lot are vintage cars and trucks. There is even a WWII Halftrack Army Vehicle parked in front of the establishment.

Clickable image - 1959 Chevy El Camino, 1955 Pontiac Chieftain and a 1957 Mercury Montclair, courtesy The Better Half.

The cars, although well preserved by the arid climate, were not in really good condition. To bring them up to showroom-new condition would require a lot of tender loving care and, of course, a significant investment in time and capital.

In spite of that, wandering through this ‘mothball fleet’ of automotive history brought back a lot of memories of the old days when cars and trucks were made of steel and Naugahyde.

Yesterday, we had a classic encounter of the rod kind when we passed this beauty. Clickable Image courtesy of The Better Half.

The Better Half and I were out among ‘em today running a couple of errands. As we headed down the road to go to the recycle center, this very nice Model T Ford passed us. Man it was shiny too - all the chrome and paint just gleamed - even under the marine overcast skies. Clickable image courtesy of The Better Half.

This bunch of vintage cars is along the frontage road just off of I-10 in Quartzsite, AZ. The Better Half and I are going to make the extra stop and take advantage of the classic cars photo-op.

The first two times we pass through Quartzsite this year, The better half took these photos out of the SUV window as we were doing the speed limit on the interstate. She took the clickable image above on our May trip to Arizona. In June, she took several as we passed through including one that I cropped down into a clickable panoramic image that shows the collection covers a large car lot.

Once we get to Quartzsite on our next trip to the Big W, we’ll get off the first exit and check out these old cars up little closer.