Pre-Stage Part One

This morning saw the first Pre-Stage car meetup, at the Marin Civic Center (a Frank Lloyd Wright masterwork I should add). Anyway, it's an offshoot of the Breakfast Club Rally vintage car rallies, and I have completed number of events over the last four years. Unlike the BCRs, this is just a meetup, with no organized drive attached to it.

Free posters too! Beautiful Speedster at the aforementioned Marin Civic Center.

Rain and an overall damp forecast may have very well kept a number of cars away this month, but there was still an abundance of amazing vehicles to check out. Here are some of my faves, alongside some photos I liked. Oh, and speaking of photos, I had packed a couple of film cameras, but was having fun using the α7 IV and didn't bother going back to the car to switch over to analog. The SRT-Super and Nikonos II did go for a ride.

Pretty nice how the two hard cases fit in nearly perfectly in the S2000's trunk well.

First up, the favorites. Unsurprisingly they were both green as well as German. Come to think of it, they'd make for the perfect pair of vintage cars to own. At least in my brain's fantasy garage.

Of course the interior was nice, but the windows were up.

And the very close runner up, with an even nicer interior as well as no windows getting in the way. 

Oh, why exactly is the hood up?

Oh, that's why. The GM LS is probably pumping out double of what it did when it rolled out of Stuttgart some fifty or so years ago. 

So-called resto-mods are hit-or-miss in my book, but this one was a hit, with no pretenses to keeping it original, yet leaning deep into some era-appropriate fabrics on the more modern seats.

That mobile phone...

Wonder what car that rear seat frame came from.

And now some random shots that I like. 

Until next time, Pre-Stage.

First Roll Thru the FE2

I found this heavily-patinated but functionally solid Nikon FE2 very affordably priced at a local camera store, and paired it with a budget Nikon E series 36-72mm zoom. 

I'm more than pleased with the results, shot with Kodak Ultra 400 film, December 2023. The setup produced images far better than what I was expecting. Here we go...

Obligatory #firstoftheroll:

Second shot, just firing away in the backyard:

Tomales, California and the surrounding area:

Unfortunately the shack at Nick's Cove just burned down last week, due to a guest overloading the wood burning stove:

Monte Rio, California:

Yeah, the van is not quite in focus. Oh well. 

Random sign, Railroad Square, Santa Rosa, California:

And Buddy's camper:

And a BMW 2002 in Sebastopol that I have been trying to buy over the past few years, having left notes as well as tracking down the owner of the vacant property and writing them a letter. No response:

And now to Colorado and a walk in my mom's neighborhood:

And back to Mom's:

Even though I have a few other cameras that I have yet to run film through, I am eager to get the FE2 out again.