That baby's a classic!

Speaking of old vehicles, (see last post), last Summer I was visiting my sister and her family out in western Ohio and one evening her husband Jack and I jumped in the truck to search out some dilapidated barns when we came across this beauty...

There was a bunch of people hanging around outside and I asked if they wouldn't mind if I took some shots of their barn.  The woman who seemed to be in charge (at least of the kids that were running around her) said that would be fine, and folks always want to take pix of the barn.  So, while I left Jack with the job of making small talk I started snapping away.  When I rounded the corner, I saw an old Mercury sitting inside...

I went in to take a closer look.  The thing looked like it had been sitting there for years.  I took a couple of shots, trying to find the best angle, when one of the gentlemen who had been on the property said, "Do you have permission to take pictures of that car?"  I had said that I had asked permission to shoot the barn and I assumed it would be ok to shoot what was inside it.  (Never assume!).  Apparently the folks that stay in the house are renters and the barn doesn't really belong to them.  The guy said that the owner of the car wasn't around and that maybe I should go back to the outside of the barn.  He then told me that he had offered to buy the car from the owner, but he wasn't selling.  Really, did the thing even run?  It looked kinda like a wreck!  I acted sort of interested as I went back to taking shots from the outside, but I was kinda bummed.  I had only taken a couple of pictures in there and I felt I hadn't quite gotten "the shot."    The messed up Mercury reminded me of those possessed cars in those Stephen King books, like Christine and From a Buick 8.  I kind of felt it was a missed opportunity.

Anyway, I finally went back to the pictures tonight, to see if there was anything worth salvaging.  This was the best shot I had gotten of the car...

 It was ok, but it wasn't exactly evoking the mood I had felt when I discovered it.  The backlight was way too bright.  I should've taken the shot at dusk and even lit the car.  So I started messing around in Photoshop.  What I ended up with looks more like an illustration from a horror comic...

Again, I wish I had been able to take a few more shots, but I think I captured the moodiness I was hoping for and even given the car a little life.

Click on any of the pix for a bigger view!  And don't forget to visit the website at www.rixfotos.com!