Can
you see what they are? Can you see what a problem it will be to photograph a mirror-backed
display case? In order to eliminate a reflection of the camera/photographer I
set up off-center and made the box "square" with Photoshop's crop tool.
The principal deleterious effect is seen in distortions like the VW van's skewed
shape.
Top shelf, back
row: a small, old school bus that might be near 1:43, or maybe 1:48; a
UPS truck, definitely smaller-scale than 1:43, but certainly brown; a little
red (farm) wagon; a Corgi "Forgotten Heroes" WWII-era 6x6
like I drove a few times in the Air Force.
Front row: ditto, a 4x4 Weapons
Carrier, like the one that served as a squadron taxi at Little Rock AFB
(Way I remember it, you caught the detail of taxi driver for a week, every ninety
days or so. I learned to drive it without using the clutch or gear lever, gauging
and adjusting engine speed with my left foot and kicking it out of and into gear
with the right. One time I was showing this to Jerry Lavelle as we arrived at
the chow hall, and the right-foot function was not successful. The engine died
when the front wheels came up against the parking curb, and I acted as if that
were the way it was planned. "Isn't that convenient...?"); the
very, very nice (but too big) built kit model representing the Dart I used
to tow the MG Tourer
to a number of racing events; an MG Tourer by RAE of Great Britain, tan
interior, but otherwise pretty much like the '67 I bought and raced and sold to
Dennis Didier. The RAE model
is excellent, and expensive, so I haven't had it out of the case, which has a
screwed-on lid.
Middle shelf, back row: the roof of a Dinky (?)
1957 Chevrolet San Diego County Sheriff's car in distinctive Sheriff-John
green; Gamda Sabra late Corvair coupe in distinctive uglier green; Ford
CHP car.
Front row: looking at the Ferraris on the transporter:
those are three variations on the early-50s 375 Formula One theme. Blue: Rosier's
Alba-winner; red, I've forgotten; white, the Grant Piston Ring
Special, an unsuccessful Indianapolis pretender some of whose history you could
learn at Tam's Old Race Car Site, under a "Mystery Car" thread; Corgi
318 Lotus Elan S2, a good model in a goofy not-quite-blue, not-quite-green
metallic; Corgi 319, Elan S2-like coupe, not as good a model, but it comes
apart, if you like; a nice 1:64 car carrier whose manufacturer I have forgotten
(Play Art?), loaded with a 1:64 model of the delightful #98 Willard Battery
Indy roadster. There are larger versions of this one around, and I'll eventually
get one, I hope.
Bottom shelf, back row: rare Castrol give-away
Jaguar on a rare 1:43 hauler that was probably intended for a sprinter
or other small-oval racer; a double-decker bus with my surname on the other
side, here mostly in tribute to the wonderful early-40s rides around Los Angeles
in a similar vehicle; that twisted VW bus replaced by the van in Cabinet
One; the very small scale '49 Buick with opening hood, also displaced from
CabOne; cheap diorama of a 550 Spyder in a service station (I can't help
it: I like those Spyders, probably as a direct result of Ken Miles' having done
well with the early ones.).
Front row: cheap Chrysler 300 Buck Baker
racer, an impulse buy that I haven't seen the possibility of repeating; Adams
Probe 16 reputed to have been Alex and the Ultra-Violent Droogs' transport in
A Clockwork Orange;
John Day model of a Talbot-Lago racer that must have an interesting history.
What few bits of info I have found seem to indicate it was convertible from sports
car to formula car. I won an unbuilt kit of this model, and it is missing the
fifth wheel.
I will extract larger views as I have the opportunity;
you can expect to see individual photographs as time and skills allow. My ambition
is to make pictures like those 43guy
Vern B. uses in many of his eBay auctions, with backgrounds and accessories appropriate
to the subjects. |