FeaturedFord TalladegaMercury SpoilerMercury Spoiler II

Art of the Muscle Car; Part One

In late 2008 we had the pleasure of having three of our cars photographed by Peter Harholdt for his book Art of the Muscle Car which is currently available on Amazon and other bookstores. When you pick this book up, and trust me you will; you will wonder how all those beautiful pictures of the legendary collector cars were taken.

Art of the Muscle Car; The photo shoot.

It all started when I received a phone call from a representative of Motorbooks (www.motorbooks.com) about photographing some of our cars for a new muscle car book they planned to publish soon. We have had cars photographed by them before for use on a calendar and some shots in a book; we also have had magazine and TV photo shoots. They are always interesting and also stressful. I often fear that every little flaw I know about on the car will appear like a wart on Sarah Palin’s nose.

David Newhardt did the text and Peter Harholdt did the photography. If you are familiar with the book, Art of the Hot Rod, you will know that the quality of the muscle car book is terrific!

art-of-the-hot-rod.jpg

Peter and his assistant showed up to shoot three of our cars and I was blown away with his portable photo studio. It took an hour or so to set up and another hour to stow away when he was done but the results were outstanding. I have included a few of my shots from the day so you can see the behind the scenes activities.

Car Photo Shoot

They erected their portable photo room in our driveway in late fall with leaves falling all around.

Car Photo Shoot

Car Photo Shoot

Peter showed me the digital images of what he did that day and I was amazed at the quality of his work. He focused on the light and reflections to achieve images you would otherwise never see.

Car Photo Shoot

Peter Harholdt is also a car guy and a full on artist. Racecar driver, artist, and more!peter-harholdt.jpg

His self designed portable photo studio is contained in a 5th wheel trailer. I have seen the photo guys at car shows take your car’s picture and frame it for you before you leave. For the most part they are photographers but not artists. I have experienced outdoor photo shoots with stills, action, and video. I am always impressed with the quality of the images of these professionals, but Peter’s work transcends the ordinary car photo and turns it into real art. He is an artist and he gets to see some of the best cars in the Country. How cool is that?

Car Photo Shoot

All of the photos appearing in the book were shot in this same contraption in driveways and garages all over the Country!

Car Photo Shoot

Car Photo Shoot

We are beyond honored to have three of our cars included in this masterpiece.

Car Photo Shoot

Car Photo Shoot

Click Here to see Part 2 for our review of the finished book!

Richard

Some of my first and strongest memories from my childhood relate to cars. I still remember when things happened based on what car I was driving at the time. I grew up and lived in Iowa for nearly 40 years before moving to Southern California and now live in Tennessee. I was a Corvette fanatic for years but then re-discovered vintage American Muscle. My wife, Katrina, and I decided we wanted to focus on unique and rare muscle cars. After a lot of research we fell in love with the Ford Blue Oval Aero Cars. These were only built in 1969 and and aerodynamics became an important part of winning races. The only purpose of these limited production cars was to win NASCAR races using the Boss 429 and 427 power plants complimented with a special, wind cheating, aerodynamic body. The Ford Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II are terrific and historic cars. This site is devoted to these car and their owners past and present. We provide an Online Registry for recording the long term history and ownership of every remaining Talladega, Spoiler and Spoiler II.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

Check Also
Close