Attended the second night of the New Castle Cruise Nights this past weekend. Held in downtown New Castle, 7/1/10 – 7/2/10, this event ran concurrant to the Back To The 50′s show that was also taking place in town at Cascade Park. Many cars present I saw at both events, and from talking to some of their owners, many make it a point to attend both as the atmosphere is completely unique to each event. Truth be told, I think the Cruise Night is the better of the two because it’s more open and has somewhat of a festival feeling to it. This year it also seemed to have more spectators and the ones there seemed to be having a better time. Same for the car owners too, based on what I heard from those I spoke to.

In any case, this year I went more to relax than to shoot, so I decided to try an experiment and took my ’63 Konica Auto-S with some 200 ISO print film instead of my usual gear. Lightweight and easy to use, the Konica caused no stress at all, and with its fast f1.9 lens and excellent low-speed handheld capability, let me shoot well into the evening. Considering it’s 47 years old, it did a bang-up job. Sharp, clear pics with excellent contrast and color, minimal distortion, and a nice vintage feel that went well with the cars, especially since many were contemporary to the camera in its day.

Here’s the gallery link for the full set. I only shot one roll because it was late and it got dark fast, but that’s enough to give a feel for the show. Definitely, I plan on shooting another show with this camera; I’m thinking the Steeltown Shakedown would be an awesome match-up for it!

First up, the Roswell Rod, a featured vehicle at the show. Pretty old school future rod like I liked when I was a kid.

Next is this beautiful Chevy vintage roadster, and yes, it really is that blue.

Last, we have this sweet 1959 Chevy Apache pickup owned by Jim Pastor. Love the yellow!

First up is this incredibly original 1950 Studebaker Starlight dragster built by Anton Lanesky. To me, this is the most original car at the show, and probably my favorite overall. I spoke to Anton for a bit before I shot it and he told me he built it all on his own, and when it came time to paint it his wife mentioned it looked like an airplane, which ended up being the inspiration for the paint scheme. Well done I say, and an absolutely awesome ride!

Next is this most impressive twin-engine dragster built by  the Roseville High School auto shop, Roseville, MI. Very sweet, and I would love to see this make a run.

To anyone who shows cars at these shows, you’re really doing a disservice to your ride and all the hard work you put into it by using those flags. They just get in the way and are so distracting, your vehicle suffers from it and lessens any impact it may have to your viewers. And another pet peeve as well, no more spotlights, pleeeease!! They wreak havoc when taking pics and can even do so to the point of making a quality picture of your vehicle impossible. Anyway, I know there’s reasons for these items, but it’s just a bit frustrating as a photographer to see such beautiful vehicles hindered by an inconsequential item like a plastic flag.

The full gallery is here, and here’s my picks for this post’s highlights – ratrods!

Being this is the final post from the show, I’m including the slideshow for the full gallery, as well as my final highlight picks – this time some rockin’ rat rods courtesy of the Pittsburgh Drifters Car Club. I hope the pictures were enjoyed by everyone, I know I had a great time shooting and posting them. See you again in a few weeks!

RAT ROOOODS!!

Today’s highlights are of a pristine 1956 Chevy showcar. A different beast compared to the drag cars from prior installments, but still a work of art nonetheless. Enjoy!