I had business in Indianapolis’s South Broad Ripple neighborhood not long ago, and it was one of the first sunny and sort-of warm days of the spring season. I had film (Kodak Tri-X) in my old Nikon F2, so I took it along and went for a photo stroll after my business was concluded. As you can see, SoBro (as it’s nicknamed) is tightly packed with homes, and people park on the street.
I would love to live in the city – real city, not the suburban-style subdivision I live in now, even though it’s within the city limits. Strolls through my little neighborhood almost never bear CC fruit, because suburbanites generally park their cars in driveways and garages. That’s why so many of my posts feature cars in parking lots – I have to wait for the lurking CCs to be out and about before I can photograph them. I would love to live on a grid of streets with sidewalks, allowing me to walk to the store (or the pub) and along the way snap a few classics that are truly curbside.
And that’s how I came to find this Dodge A100 van, this quad-cab F350 (which has a ’73-’74 grille but ’78-79 badging), and this early fourth-gen Camaro. They were just sitting there, ripe for the picking. The A100 was the most exciting find – I can’t remember the last time I saw one. The F350 is the brother to this truck I wrote about before. The Camaro isn’t as exciting as CC fodder except that it looks to be bone stock (except for the bra and maybe those wheels) and in good original condition, a rarity among Midwestern Camaros.
The Artist-In-Residence at OldDavid land approves of your black and white photography. She never comments on what she sees over my shoulder, but this really caught her eye. No small feat, as she has an M.A. in Fine Arts/Photography, and her own local studio. I cannot remember when I last saw a flat front van, either. With the engine cover off, you had good access with the Dodge. Has another car ever had cooler wheels from the factory than Camaro? I’ve seen those 80’s five spokes on full customs and they looked great, as do these.
Heh, I think it’s the charm of Tri-X. These aren’t really artistic shots; they’re just snapshots. Here’s a whole set of b/w photos I took with various old cameras in my collection.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/sets/72157644116941354/
Damn, Jim, you have an eye. I cannot remember the last time I saw an Agfa or a Retina – must be 40 years. The unique homes are eye-catching, especially the adobe look and the gambrel roof. I envy you guys who have a knack for composition. I can’t always remember to get my finger off the lens. Thanks for the backstage peek.
I know exactly where this is, and have seen that A-100. I have wondered if it was the same one I wrote up some time back, but I don’t think so. Interesting stuff seems to come and go there. When driving through, I have usually been too busy to start cruising streets to see what else might be a block or two away, but have not found the time.
I love the black and white photography. At one time, I had access to an old Polaroid that shot only B&W, and it took some beautiful pictures. Then, I got a point and shoot 35mm and tried some B&W film in it and the results were not good – sharp and harsh, not soft and lustrous like classic B&W photos should be. I took several on that roll at the 1989 Indianapolis Auto Show, where I recall being enamored of the new 89 TBird.
I’ve been noodling around more with b/w film lately. It’s been fun.
I used to work for Peapod delivering groceries. I hated going to Broadripple because of the traffic and all the cars parked on the street.
The guys in the office just see distances on a map so they give the drivers however long it “should” take to make their delivery without factoring in traffic. If you go during rush hour it can take 15-20 minutes to go a mil or two.
I believe the combination of that grill with the emblems high on the cowl instead of low on the fenders make the F-350 a ’77, IIRC.
Quick, somebody run over the other site and tell Murilee!
A100 Dodges are very rare in NZ you can imagine my surprise wheeling my 50 tonner around a tight turn intersection and seeing one in bright orange parked wrongside of the road facing me no pic unfortunately I was kinda busy and it was gone on my return trip some 3 hours later so it was a running example.
I liked the Dodge. I’m trying to figure out the wheels: are they off a late model ride or are they just hubcaps?
Good eye. I hadn’t noticed them until you pointed them out.
I really like the posterization in all three pics. It creates an original darkroom look and feel. Plus seems closer to 60s/70s offset printing quality. They don’t look like modern B&Ws. Overall, they look from the early 70s, and the Camaro from the deep future. Cool!
A GF and I set up our own dark room in Iowa City, and developed and printed our B&W photos, shot on a Yashica twin lens reflex camera. But I was more into shooting people rather than cars back then.
That A100 looks mighty familiar.
I know you don’t mean to, but…they way you say “I was more into shooting people” combined with the fact that you had your own darkroom makes me think of the main reason all those shady guys “back in the day” would’ve had their own personal darkrooms…to develop photographs of a “personal” nature.
The photo with the 1970s Crew Cab F-350 and mid 1990s F-Series could easily pass for the late 1990s. Those kind of house windows existed back then right?
Love the photos, and I always love flat-front vans and old crew cab pickups. I know what you mean about walking. My neighborhood actually looks like this and people nearly kill each other over parking spots all the time, but I’ve already walked around it a million times and it’s always the same cars. Need more transients living here!
Slightly grainy B&W makes me think of early indie films, and these exact type of cars would have been typical background scenery in most of those movies.
Good shots – especially the old Dodge van. I’ve shot a lot of B&W over the years, and I always liked the different view of the world it offers. It makes you pay more attention to light and shadow, and a good B&W photo has a texture to it that you don’t get with color. Though I shoot mostly digital now (and use the software on our computer to make a photo B&W if I want to) I’d still like to grab a few rolls of Kodak T-MAX or Ilford FP4 and put my old Nikon FE back to work.
The bigger question is who developed the B&W film? Extremely hard to find a place local wherever one is. So did you 1) do it yourself which I do, 2) find a place local, or 3) send it 1000 miles away?
Just curious being a film buff with over 200+ cameras and 400+ rolls of film. I’m still bummed that I can’t use all the rolls of Kodachrome 25 and 64 I have left over.
Sorry for the late reply; hope you see this. I use The Darkroom (thedarkroom.com) and Dwayne’s Photo (dwaynesphoto.com) to process all of my film.
Gimme that A-100. Im a Mopar freak with a soft spot for windowless shortie vans…. That could be a LOT of fun if modified properly!
The fact that most residences don’t have driveways, and that interesting cars can therefore be seen parked on the street, is one of the fun things about my neighborhood (Fan/Museum District in Richmond, VA). Plus, with a lot of students and a lot of visitors about, the auto-scenery changes frequently.
That, and having restaurants/pubs/entertainment within walking distance is pretty great too. (I could walk to the grocery store but I’m too lazy to want to carry the bags back…)
Great photos, also! Love that crew cab F-series. Don’t see many at all that age!