A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
31 July 2015
One of the benefits of living in California is that seeing vintage automobiles on the road is not a rarity. We don't salt the roads so cars last. There are the restored gems, of course (like everywhere else), but there are also the preserved family sedans, boat-sized rag tops and raspy sports cars of another time.
We don't know the owners of the two cars featured in today's slide show. We simply ran across their pride and joy parked in the street as we walked around. That made it easier to photograph them than if they had been barreling up the road. By the time you identify what you're seeing, they're gone.
But these beauties posed. They're quite different but, for us, they're a pair. A 1960s Chevy Impala and a 1970s Lancia Scorpion. An American muscle car and an Italian sports car.
They'll take you anywhere but mostly they take you back.
That Impala is a Super Sport model, vintage 1966 if we had to guess. The 327 cubic inch small block V8 complements the frameless windows, raked windshield and Corvette-style fender bulges of its classic Coke bottle styling.
The Scorpion owes its name to Chevrolet, in fact. In Italy, the Pininfarina design was called the Montecarlo but Chevy had already used the name in the United States. Hence Scorpion, which was sold only in 1976 and 1977. There were fewer than two thousand of them.
We have our own version of that duo.
We gave you a peek at our Rumbalino, a 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Veloce. And below, we present our favorite photo of the family sedan (which saw us through a few high school proms), a 1966 Chrysler New Yorker.
They'll take you anywhere but mostly they take you back.
There's probably no better illustration of that than Another Peek at Margaret Dunning and Her 1930 Packard. "The Packard was over 80 years old, noteworthy enough," James Schembari writes, "but it was Ms. Dunning who, at over 100, charmed fellow car collectors and judges as the pair traveled across the country, making appearances and winning awards, including one at Pebble Beach in 2012 when she was 102."
In addition to the video there's an 11-photo slide show of Ms. Dunning and her Packard, whose oil and plugs she changed.
And if that doesn't take you back, it's probably just because you haven't been yet. When you have or if you have, these time machines will. Guaranteed.