Contax and Cars

[Paul Taylor]

Stopped in at a local car museum - with my Contax RX w/ Contax Zeiss 50mm F1.4 and some UltraMax 400.

Contax RX - Ultra400 -CSC41-1862 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Contax RX - Ultra400 -CSC41-1863 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Contax RX - Ultra400 -CSC41-1865 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Contax RX - Ultra400 -CSC41-1857 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Contax RX - Ultra400 -CSC41-1860 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Contax RX - Ultra400 -CSC41-1858 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

 

[Bill Brown]

You'd certainly be stylin' driving one of those cars. The instrument panel on that next to last shot sure brings back memories. More metal just in the construction of the dash than in many new cars.

 

[Paul Taylor]

You'd certainly be stylin' driving one of those cars. The instrument panel on that next to last shot sure brings back memories. More metal just in the construction of the dash than in many new cars.

Thunderbirds of that generation had one of my favorite instrument panels.

I spent ~20 years restoring classic cars, building hot-rods and race cars so luckily I have gotten to drive about every desirable classic car someone could think of. I would always laugh when someone asked me what kind of cool car I own - and the response always was "I can't afford anything like what I build...." lol.

In they heyday of car forums - I had a few that I would post pics weekly from my personal archives of cars I built or worked on, and/or projects I was working on at the time. I think have somewhere near 75k pictures during those years.

 

[Bill Brown]

WOW! That sounds amazing. But I know it was a lot of hard work. Do you have one build that still stands out in your memory? My brother-in-law was a car fancier. He didn't restore or build, just own. One was a T-bucket, I think that's what he called it. He also owned a couple classic Rivieras, a few 60's Vette's and a beautiful white cougar at one time or another. Just to name a few.

His all-time favorite though was a 1966 Ford Fairlane. If I remember correctly he told me only six were ever built like it. He paid $1600 for it off a car lot in Muncie , Indiana. I was in Elementary school at the time. What I remember was it felt like a drag racer just sitting at a stop light. He could pop a wheelie in all four gears. From the factory it had all racing clutch and Gary knew how to speed shift. I know I'm probably not describing it correctly.

When he married my sister, a little 5 foot petite girl, they ended up selling the car because she couldn't really drive it. She tells how she would grab the steering wheel with both hands and then pull herself forward with all her might in order to push in the clutch.

Gary has always remembered that car with great fondness and sadness that they had to part. About 5 years ago my sister came across a wallet sized photo of Gary in that car. Gary had carried that photo in his wallet for many years so it was in very bad condition. She contacted me about restoring the photo and making a new print that she could surprise him with for Christmas.

When I got the photo I knew it was going to be a real challenge. The emulsion was cracked and lifting in various locations and the general surface condition was horrible. I started by gluing the emulsion back down and doing a surface clean-up before scanning. Then the real work began. Most of the complex restorations I do take about 8-10 hours but this one took me about 25 hours. It was a labor of love for me. Gary has been like a second brother so I wanted this to be as near perfect as I could get.

I'm not a car restoration specialist so there are probably some small details I didn't get just right but Gary didn't care. He flipped out when he opened his gift of the matted and framed 8"x12" print of his car. He thought he had lost the original photo so this was a complete surprise. This is the only car restoration I've ever done.

 

[Paul Taylor]

Great job on restoring the photo!

I too owned a '66 Fairlane for a while, it wasn't anything too special and was pretty rough around the edges but was fun to beat on.

I have been fortunate enough to be involved in many memorable builds and related activities.
Some of the shops I worked at over the years :


This was the first shop I worked at, and there was just the owner, myself, part time retired guy, and a paint/body guy. We did full rotisserie restorations as well as repair.

We would find rare and desirable cars like this (440 6-Pack manual trans 'Cuda) :

4 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

And after thousands of man hours, they would be this (yes, it is the same car.) Meticulously restored to exactly how they left the factory. We even duplicated the amount of "orange peel" and overspray it would have got at the factory:

DSC01783 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

DSC01784 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr


It was a small shop, always busy with amazing cars :

DSC05544 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Cunningham C2R
IMG_20160414_195556 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Always a good day when you are working on / prepping two real Cobras (one small block, and the the other is 1 of ~32 "narrow hip" big block" cars.) The big block cars was also an unrestored "survivor" that got regular, hard use.

DSC00361 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

In this pic is a 1 of 1 as configured Hemi Cuda, 1 of 2 Super Bee, 1 of 6 GTO Judge ram-air convertibles, and the corner of a Buick GSX. This group of cars was part of a collection of ~32 immeasurably amazing cars. All the signs - those aren't reproductions.

DSC02295 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Real GT500, GT350R, Unrestored "survivor" Boss 429, and others...

DSC00197 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

While working at this shop, for the first time I had a car I was involved with in a magazine - and it was a double whammy as I supplied the pictures.
DSC04730 copy by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

After this shop got hit hard by an economic downturn (it survived!) and I was laid off I took a couple years working in a different industry - but found myself at another shop.This shop was a bit of a "crap" shop unbeknownst to me, as the owner wasn't particularly honest and most of the other employees were subpar :

20150408_163743 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

However due to my skill I got all the neat stuff, like this Riley. I was the only person on staff who could drive / work on pre-war, european, or could be trusted with high end stuff.

IMG_20161118_225948 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

I also took it upon myself to finish builds / restorations at this shop that had been languishing as the shop owner bilked the owners out of money. It would really anger him, but he couldn't fire me as I was the only guy he had that did good work and brought in money. Since the quality of my work was high - it occasionally gardned features in magazines and books - like this '66 Truck.

20170708_110240 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr


This Shop was the last one, and it was a high end custom / hot-rod shop. We had 3 paint/body guys, 2 build guys (one of which was me,) 1 repair guy, and two fabricators. In this pic there are 8 complete builds by us, and 5 cars in for work / repair / maintenance. Like all shops in this industry - they don't pay well as the owners soak up the profits, don't have benefits (paid time off, medical insurance, etc) and if you are good - you are overworked. When I left this shop, the other build guy did as well (and he was the best I have ever seen at this stuff) and the immensely talented painter.

DSC03856 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

20190807_172321 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

20190918_165540 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

20180524_123807 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

This Pontiac Acadian was a full build, and one of the last cars I was involved with at the shop before a career change. This was a high 6 figure/low 7 figure build for those wondering.

20190502_123449 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

20190502_123422 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

20180425_163233 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

This Corvette I build for 'Vette Magazine when it was still around. I think I was in every issue for nearly two years.

20190620_164300 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

20181116_112014 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

I also got roped into other magazine / publicity builds - like this '32 Ford truck for Street Rodder magazine.

20180607_075906_HDR by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

20180524_123807 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

'40 Ford I was heavily involved with :

20190828_143744 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

I would also be tasked with sorting out other builds. We would occasionally get "completed" builds from other shops, and they would be unsafe and/or disasters. I got a reputation for being able to sort these things out so I usually had one or two waiting. This Corvette for example was an absolute disaster of body work, electrical, and mechanical problems. I had a ton of hours into making it a safe, reliable and fun car for the owner.

20180205_120558 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

'32 Ford I was involved with, and probably the last car I worked on that was featured in a magazine (Hot-Rod Magazine.)

20190626_165524 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

Also, while I was doing this - I had a backlog of work I was doing "on the side" for the local vintage datsun enthusiasts. For about three years, I always had a Datsun in the garage getting something done. From simple things like jut finishing details, all the way up to full re-wires and complex mechnical work.

DSC03920 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

 

[Bill Brown]

Paul, Thanks for that amazing over-story and photos. We have a lot of similarities in our career stories. I've always been the behind- the- scenes guy producing the billable work. I've produced numerous photo exhibition works for various photographers over the years. Most recently I was honored with the opportunity to produce a 21 image photo work for a Dutch artists' 50 year retrospective exhibit now on view at Hamburger-Kunsthalle Museum in Hamburg, Germany. In 1975 the artist, Bas Jan Ader, died during an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 13' sailboat.

This 21-11x14 image piece titled "Flower Work" has not been reproduced since the artist created an edition of 3 in 1974. Only two are known to presently exist and neither is of exhibit quality. Using reference photos of the original prints created by the artist I worked to match his original vision for this group of images. The estate and the curator at the Museum, Brigitte Kölle, were very pleased with the final set of prints that now are on display. Here's a link to a 'Reel' posted by the estate:

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

This is the final piece on display in Germany.

I've been given digital files that others have worked on and have to bring them back to a useable state. At a basic level I'm a production artist who gets the work out. At a deeper level I work to elevate each piece to its' full potential. This seems to describe you as well.

So many of these cars were part of my everyday life, I mean they were around. One of my friends had a Hemi Cuda, orange/black with hood pins. I remember being on a country road and he had that car up to 110-20. I'm not for sure I ever rode with him again. He was wild and crazy but ended up becoming a career police officer.

I remember going to a dealership in Lubbock, Texas to see the Super Bee and a Dodge Charger Daytona. I was more conservative in my driving so my "dream" car was a Datsun 240 Z. I still have the original dealership promo folder that I picked up when I went to look at it. Never owned one but I still love the look. I ended up with motorcycles from the age of 14. Never owned a car until I got married at the age of 28. The white Dodge Dart was my wife's car. I haven't ridden bikes since the late 1980's.

Thankfully my wife has always provided the insurance with her steady jobs and allowed me to pursue my art. I couldn't have done it without her willing sacrifice. Thankfully still healthy but I'm operating at a reduced pace these days.

It was great to read a little of your story. Thanks again.

Here's are a few of my original pencil works. I was a big drag racing fan back in the 1970's and I used a color photo as reference for the top fuel drawing. Rendered with a #2 pencil. I was 19 or 20 when I drew that. The Ford Model A was inspired by my future wife. Rendered with an assortment of pencil lead grades.





My everyday work is for Dallas portrait photographer https://www.johnderryberry.com/ We've collaborated for 35 years now. My other client is a small family owned lab, Photographique, in Dallas. I've worked with them since 1985.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

You seem to be pretty handy with a pencil Bill!