Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins

About four years ago, I got to work with Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins and Ben Smeding on an engine build project. I got to work closely with the Grump for about 3-days. He was quite an interesting character that had some great stories to tell. I even got him to laugh at a few times at some of the stories and Jokes I was telling. Here is one of the photos from that three day engine build and shoot. RIP Jenkins, you were a legend in your own Lifetime.

 

A snapshot of me hanging out with the "Grump."  

 

Lowrider Bicycles

What are you doing this winter, this January? Many people in the northern hemisphere are likely bundled up right now battling the elements and struggling to maintain their body’s core temperature. But if you were members of the Mexcali bike club, living in Long Beach, California, the only thing you have to struggle with is where to ride your bike on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Braving the balmy 80 degree day I tagged along, camera in tow, with members of the Mexcali Lowrider bicycle club. What a tough day at the office, working on this new Lowrider culture book. It’s a tough life, but somebody has got to do it.

Photography Out Takes

Most folks don’t see the amount of photos that end up on the “cutting room floor”; of course now that nearly all media is now digital there is no “cutting room floor”. What most people never get to see are the hundreds and hundreds of photos (out takes) taken that never see the light of day. Take for instance this Tech article. A pal of mine, RJ, is building this righteous gasser Chevelle. Between the hundreds of photos I took with the pin-up girl and the hundreds of photos of RJ working on it at his shop there must be nearly 500 or so photos of this particular vehicle. Of course some are better than others. I will refrain from showing all 500 (for obvious reasons), so dig these few out takes that never made it into print. Oh by the way this and three other stories, by yours truly are in the new Jan 2012 issue of Car Culture Deluxe.

Grumpy Old man on books.

Maybe I’m an old fogey at the age of 39, but I don’t want to own a Kindle or any other type of electronic book. They are not real. I like the look, the feel, the smell, the touch of real books. I like the paper, the photos, the sound a page makes when you turn it, and I like the fact you don’t need batteries to read a book. I like the fact that when I buy a book, I actually own it, it’s tangible…It’s real. I can put a book on a shelf and pick it up years later to read it, and sometimes, on rare occasions, I can find something that I placed in between the pages, say like a $5 dollar bill I used as a book mark. Can you e-book people say the same thing? I have some books that I inherited from my great grandfather, grandmother and grandfather. These books have some of their hand written notes in the margins of these books. Can you e-book people say the same?

As a kid we used to watch Dana Carvey play the role of a grumpy old man on Saturday Night Live. His character bemoaned modern progress and technology with all the flare Carvey was known for on SNL. In the words of the Grumpy old man on e-books “Flibbidy-flobbidy-floobity!”

Hey Pachuco!

My publishers, Cartech Books, have asked me to work on another book. The subject of the next book? Lowriders! So dig this amazingly beautiful ’37 Buick I shot last night at a guys shop. Noah aka “Gumby” builds classic rides for customers and has a few of his own to boot. Look for the completion of the Lowrider book in about a year’s time.

Also dig the Pachuca in her Pendleton and hat!