This past weekend saw the return of the 12th Annual Uptown Whittier Car Show, held in the midst of the current heat wave that descended upon Southern California, and Saturday’s weather was no exception. By the shows start at 9 AM, the temperature was already racing towards 90 degrees ( 32 degrees Celsius).

My first encounter of the morning was the hot rod flamed, black 1956 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia coupe race car from a local shop; Whittier’s own VW Gold MIne, as seen below…

Parked just down the street from the Karmann Ghia, was this sole representative from Stuttgart; a white 1964 Porsche 356 SC coupe.

Further down the street was this beautiful 1930s vintage Chevrolet sedan; with a visible case of extreme negative front camber…

I did overhear the owner talking to a friend about the car’s airbag suspension, thus the  extreme camber angle when the car is lowered.

Out back, the car even included a period correct, fold down luggage rack, positioned just above the rear fuel tank…

Further down the street was another classic; a Black, 1954 Cadillac Coupe De Ville (as seen below).

Hanging out with the other Cadillacs parked along Cadillac row…

Parked around the corner, and located at the far end of the street, was this white, fiberglass bodied twin turbocharged roadster (below)…

Race inspired, purpose-built interior (above and below)…

Turbocharger and polished exhaust pipe (above and below)…

Twin turbocharger symmetry (below)…

Parked directly across the street was this beautifully prepared, candy red 1932 Ford highboy roadster, complete with flames…

While shooting the car and studying some of its unique details, I met the owner who was nice enough to share some of the details behind the building of this hot rod. I learned that this car is actually a showcase for the owner’s business, which just happens to be a paint and body shop (Bravo’s Auto Body), specializing in custom paint, and that is located in nearby Pico Rivera.

Obviously, all of the body work, paint and flames were produced in-house by the owner himself, Manny Bravo. The body panels were as smooth and flat as glass, which was the perfect medium for catching reflections.

One of the hidden and easily overlooked details on this car is its quick change rear end; fortunately the owner mentioned this fact to me, so I crawled under the car to get this shot  below.

While in the process of shooting the right side of the car (below), the owner asked if I had noticed anything odd about the paint and flames on this side of the car. As I looked closer, the owner suggested l take a look at the opposite side in direct sunlight. Once I walked over to the driver’s side, I immediately understood what he was talking about. Apparently, between the painting process and the materials used, he was able to apply both the red paint and the flames in a way that depending upon the lighting, the contrast between the background  and the flames will shift.  When the car is viewed in shadowed lighting, the red background reads as a dark value and the flames appear lighter in color. However under direct lighting conditions, the flames read as the dark value, whereas the red background reads as the lighter value. Definitely an interesting effect…

Further south down the street, was this root beer brown metallic, 1934 Ford 3 window coupe.

Parked over on the west side of the street was this bright orange, 1930s vintage Ford highboy roadster, built along the lines of a 1960’s AA/Fuel altered race car, complete with a big block, fuel injected motor, and included a period correct “Moon speed equipment” fuel tank secured just ahead of the front axle…

Overhead view of the Kinsler fuel injection venturi /”stacks”…

Located further down the street was this white 1955 Corvette coupe, represented by the owner as an original condition, unrestored vehicle…

Arranged out back in its trunk was a period Coca Cola display, which included a vintage Corvette advertisement…

Parked across the street and located south of the Corvette, was this lite blue Chevrolet Thriftmaster Deluxe with canvas side and rear shades.

Located just to the north of the lite blue Chevrolet Thriftmaster Deluxe, was this two toned Tri-5 Chevrolet Bel Air / Nomad wagon…

Parked over on the east side of the street was this pristine, 1955 Chevrolet Panel in sea foam green and white, and in better than new condition…

Reflection in the side of the black 1963 Lincoln Continental parked to the left of the drivers side…

And parked just several cars north of the 1955 Chevrolet panel, was this beautiful 1963 Buick Riviera. Looking at this car brought back fond memories of my dads black on black 1964 Riviera…

The last car I photographed from the show was this amazing copper-colored, 1950 Ford  coupe; lowered suspension and complete with a chopped top, shaved door handles, frenched headlights and smoothed bumpers front and rear.  Obviously a lot of time was spent block sanding the entire body, as the finished paint simply glowed, displaying flawless, distortion-free reflections. By far one of the nicest customs in the show.

Ironically, these photos are just a small sampling of the many cars assembled for this years show. Given the huge spectator turnout, there seemed to be something for everyone, regardless of the high temperatures. Hopefully next years show will witness another collection of equally cool cars, but hopefully under much cooler conditions.

(All photos by the author)