Cruise Night, Classics and TTV Photography

We have a bunch of photos from the most recent Dunkin Donuts cruise night in Tonawanda, NY up on our Flickr page here http://www.flickr.com/photos/gear4gearheads/sets/72157624122712678/ including some in the newly popular TTV style. They are NOT photoshopped (it is possible to use Photoshop to create an effect somewhat similar to this), but these are true TTV, taken with a digital camera and an Argoflex EM TLR. I did do a little photoshop editing, mainly to "flip" the photos as they show up as a mirror image on the TLR and any with words or symbols would look pretty strange if I didn't edit them! TTV, or Through the Viewfinder, is a technique that uses an old TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) camera, usually from the 40's or 50's (ours is from 1948) to produce a nostalgic and unique effect. We hope to have some of these that are not identifiable brands available for sale soon as well.

We didn't make it with Eleanor. We were wrong on the source of the noise, and are continuing to trouble shoot. We'll post updates as we have them. "They are never done". Truer words have never been spoken in regards to the restoration of classics and hot rods!!

Coffee And Cars At Panera Bread

A local Panera Bread location is playing host to cruise MORNINGS. Yes, that is right, a cruise morning! It runs on Saturdays and is a nice change from cruise nights. Especially earlier in the show season! It might be hard to make if we're going to a further show, but for a close by show, it's a nice stop on the way. We took some photos at the one that ran this past weekend and hosted them on our Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/gear4gearheads/sets/72157624074847358/ if you would like to check them out.

We did manage to take Eleanor (our 1973 Mustang Mach 1) this time. We replaced the grommet that protected the brake line and think we found the source of the squeek that disrupted our last trip. We'll have to shake her down to be sure, but since it's raining it won't be tonight! Just so I don't jinx it, I'll post another time what it was, if it was what we suspect. It wasn't the suspension!

Dunkin Donuts Cruise Night

Just got home from the cruise night and got the pics uploaded into an album on Facebook. We started off with Eleanor (our 1973 Mach 1 Mustang), but she seems to have decided to lose a grommet along the way. The grommet that protects the brake line where it passes through the inner fender apron. We decided we don't want that to rub (being important and all), so we took the daily driver. Nice night, nice people, glad that spring has sprung and brought cruise nights and car show season back with it! My personal favorite was a lovely Fairlane, with all kinds of great options, but the blue Cougar was pretty nice too! And, the tangerine orange Mustang is always a favorite. A friend of ours had a beautiful tangerine stang, built the day before Halloween (he called it the Great Pumpkin) so I always like to see those.

Check out the photographs from the cruise here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15144&id=108290459194830&saved

Au De Exhaust

What is au de exhaust? It's the lovely scent you will be wearing after taking a nice long drive in a classic car that has no floor pan plugs! How do I know? Because I'm wearing it right now. Yup, we just took Eleanor out for a drive, and we still don't have pan plugs and the exhaust sneaks in a little. Ok, a little more than a little, but it's nice out so the windows were all the way down. We took a short video on the ride http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwy5zDmXxD8 .

Ah, spring time.

Gear 4 Gearheads goes Facebook!

That's right, we have a new fan page on Facebook! You can find us here http://www.facebook.com/Gear4Gearheads on Facebook now in addition to Twitter, Youtube and of course, our blog. We plan on using it to provide updates on new additions, projects, and of course, Eleanor (our 73 Mach 1 project). We'd also love to hear YOUR stories! Gear 4 Gearheads is all about the hobby, so we enjoy reading your resto stories, your latest off roading adventures, or the cool show you just went to. We also plan to launch exclusive Facebook Fan specials in the future, so keep an eye on the site for those.

If the mud aint flyin

I mentioned in the blog post about how Gear 4 Gearheads got started back in 2006 with our original saying "if the mud ain't flyin, you ain't tryin". We decided to add it to the general section on the site instead of waiting to get the mudding and off roading section up. We love that saying and want to get it back on the site. Tearing a whole site apart, switching from using an outside vendor, and building a whole new site is a lot of work! We didn't want to keep waiting to get it back up, as the site is taking a bit longer to tweek and build than we thought. So, it's BACK! Gear 4 Gearheads is proud to offer our first saying, back and better than ever! To get your own mudding tee, visit http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/mudaintflying4x4.html or http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/mudaintflyingskull.html .

Here's the original photo that inspired the saying, which is available here http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/mud.html as wallpaper:

And the original post with the whole story is here: http://gear4gearheads.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-gear-4-gearheads-got-started.html

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Just about everyone has heard the phrase "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". For those that have bought a resto project, it's doubtful anything could hold as true.

Spring has sprung here in New York. There's still a bit of salt on the roads, so we haven't driven Eleanor yet. But we sure did start her up and warm her up! While I was standing in the garage, waiting for her to heat up, I was admiring her rear. Yup, her rear. She's got a nice one-now! I was actually on the drivers side, which didn't have a big dent but we still had to replace the skin. I just can't get over how great she looks now, and how I didn't really think she looked bad at all when we bought her.

I got to thinking other gearheads out there must feel the same about the projects they bring home. Isn't it funny how they don't look THAT bad when you pick them up? Even as we went through the process, she seemed bad, but not basket case bad. And then, we went and looked back at the photos from the beginning to now. And I started to question our sanity! I mean really, what were we thinking?! I guess we were thinking she looked beautiful to us, and it's probably a good thing too.

Here's to project cars and the beauty we all see in them!