The Emperor Photos
The Emperor Drawing - A photo imported into AutoCAD, traced, exported into a photo editor and colorized.
Emporer's New Shoes - After almost nine years it was time for something different. A set of 16" Drag DR-19 wheels in Gun Metal shod in 205/45 Yokohama S-Drives.
Klickety Klack Covered Bridge - On a trip to northern SC we discover an actual covered bridge. It was built a mere 12 years ago and goes nowhere
Halloween - The Emperor bares his Vampire Teeth in an attempt to scare the trick or treaters as they walk down our driveway.
Hot Rods - My car parked next to co-worker Sherman Ward's '35 Ford.
Paris Island - While visiting Beaufort, SC for a Drive-In movie trip with the Miata Club we did a tour of Paris Island Marine Corp Depot where the oaks are hung with Spanish Moss.
Bradford Pear - This is a field behind the middle school and in front of the high school in my neighborhood and it is ringed with Bradford Pear trees. I wanted to catch the blooming trees at their peak with a bright blue sky in the background and as you can see, I failed on both accounts.
Speedometer - For 2003 Mazda went to cream colored gage faces in the Miata. This looks real good with the lighter, parchment colored interior for the LS. The black outlining of the numbers is a nice touch.
Azaleas - Over the last 5 years the city of Aiken has under taken a major beautification of all the main roads coming into town. They have done extensive plantings in the medians and I for one am happy to have my tax dollars gone into this project as they make nice backdrops. 🙂
Hay Rolls 2 - In downtown Columbia there is a parking lot that houses an outdoor art cluster. This picture is of only one section of a farm scene mural. On the other side of the lot there is a building that has a giant mural of a tunnel that appears to go through the building. At the other end of the same lot there is a leaning 50' fire hydrant that is gushing water!
The Dirty Wall - The back of a random Aiken Shopping Center.
Eye Catcher - This highlights most of the interior mods I have done to the car. The very first, even before I drove it off the lot, is the Voodoo pearl shift knob. An EJECT cigarette lighter from a local company called MGW. To the left of the lighter is a small JDM pocket, nothing goes in there, but it looks better than the passenger side air bag switch it replaces.
Flaming Tree - On the front lawn of the Aiken Standard are several of these Maple trees that are glorious in the fall. Having failed in an earlier attempt at an autumnal background with a trip to the western SC Mountains, turns out just around the corner wasn't too bad.
Lina Rosio - Down a small side street in the small town of Abbeville, SC there are several of these posters painted on the wall of the buildings giving almost a European feel.
Edgefield Post Office - I've gotten hooked on taken photographs of Post Offices. It is all the fault of postalgallery.com, the Postal Gallery Database whose idea it is to capture a picture of every post office in the US. They wanted something of yours in the photos, so I put the Miata in there.
Parking Garage - While we were in downtown Columbia the other day I decided to drive into a parking garage near a medical center. I wanted to drive to the next to the top level, so I could look down and take an overhead picture of the car. There was no fee for parking, but the guard at the gate wasn't too sure about my explanation of why I wanted to be in his garage.
Roberto Hernandez Stadium - 12-year veteran and two-time Major League All-Star, Roberto Hernandez, donated a sizable portion of the funds to build a brand new state of the art baseball facility for the USC Aiken Pacers. Quoting Roberto, "Maybe there will be another Roberto Hernandez to play at USC Aiken. If it wasn't for this school, I would not be here today."
Steering Wheel - Some have grumbled about the size of the Mazda logo in the middle of the steering wheel. While it is larger than earlier cars, it is not really out of line. After all they did build the car...
Dead End - Showing of the new Calvin & Hobbes sticker I had made up. We actually had the same sticker on the first Miata we owned, but when that car was traded in on the '95 it couldn't be saved. We always wanted to replace it, but never could find the sticker anywhere, but now through the magic of the Internet, anything can be had for a price.
Caricature - This is my new car as rendered by Dave Scott. Bet you wish you had one, huh? You can, just go to CarArtz.com. He does other cars besides Miatas too.