Absence of Color

MG TF, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A gorgeous black MG TF, in the rain. I took this at a car show that saw a perfectly sunny forecast turn damp. To the entrants' credit, they all just rolled up the windows and stayed out there. Shooting cars in the rain is one of my favorite things, and shooting classics even more so. The interplay of water and chrome, the patterns flowing along bodywork, add an extra, and often rare, dimension.

This is almost in black and white-the only colors seem to be in the taillight and window. Yet, in black and white this doesn't look right.

Open Road

Open Road, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Old interesting car? Check. Sunset? Check. Clouds? Check. Grassy field? Check. Country road? Check. It's almost like a recipe for a cool photo, or just a really awesome moment.

To a T

Sunday Picnic, originally uploaded by William 74.

MG's T series cars are almost archetypical old fashioned sports cars, from the tops of their fold-flat windscreens to the bottoms of their wire wheels. The most famous variant is probably the 1947-49 TC, which was a gentle evolution of the pre-war TA and TB models, and was one of the first foreign sports cars to be widely exported to the United States. The TC is often considered to be the car that started America's love of sports cars, as it's mix of open-top motoring, tidy handling, and low-ish price made it a popular choice. The T series continued using this simple formula, through the TD and TF models that finished the series' run in 1955. By then, the model was seriously out of date, though, and couldn't compete against newer, more modern rivals from companies like Triumph and Alfa Romeo.

This happens to be a TD, a '53 if the plates are anything to go by. I like to see older cars on display with appropriate accessories. This one was well turned out, with a tartan travel blanket and a Harris Tweed flat 'at on the passenger's seat, that age appropriate license plate and British tax disc, and an impressive set of picnic baskets on the luggage rack.