FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (13.2mm, f/7.1, 1/800 sec, ISO200)
There is one place I always have to visit when I’m in Palm Springs. The Palm Springs Car Auction.
It’s almost like on open air car museum. Beautiful American cars from the time before the oil crises. The cars of “The Streets of San Francisco” or “Kojak”. The cars of all those awesome car chases.
The cars of squealing tires even at very low speeds. The cars that so easily exploded and went up in flames after minor accidents. The cars that I never saw in real life but they still are the cars of my boyhood. I can only image how cool it must have been to grew up in the 70s in the USA when those cars filled the streets.
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (20mm, f/7.1, 1/100 sec, ISO500)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (24mm, f/7.1, 1/80 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (21.9mm, f/7.1, 1/600 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (20mm, f/7.1, 1/1000 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (24mm, f/8, 1/80 sec, ISO200)
Under all those great cars my favourites are the Cadillacs and the Lincoln Town Cars. This time they had a turquoise Cadillac with turquoise interior and a white vinyl roof.
While not exactly my type of colour I still think that is is seriously cool car. I never rode one of those but I guess that’s a good thing. I suspect that they are much better to look at than to ride but I could be wrong.
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (15.1mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (13.2mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (11mm, f/8, 1/80 sec, ISO2000)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (15.9mm, f/8, 1/110 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (24mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO500)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (24mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO320)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14.5mm, f/5.6, 1/1800 sec, ISO200)
I’m surprised that there seems to be a constant supply of those cars from the 60s and the 70s. I don’t think that you will find the same amount of car from the 60s and 70s in Europe. You can see still some of them around but not too many.
I think there is one main reason why there are still so many old cars in surprising good condition in the South West of the USA: the climate. The warm dry desert air simply conserves those old precious cars like climate controlled museums protect their paintings.
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (15.9mm, f/5.6, 1/105 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (12mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (20mm, f/5, 1/80 sec, ISO200)
I know that I wrote here before that someday I will take home one of those beauties but it will never happen. Those cars look our of place today even in the USA but they look downright ridiculous in Europe where the streets are narrow and twisted and parking lots are so tight that even my Volvo SUV gives me headaches.
But compared to those gigantic Cadillacs and Lincolns my Volvo is a compact car. Let’s face it: These cars are dinosaurs and they will never come back. Times have changed.
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (19.1mm, f/5, 1/220 sec, ISO200)