Yesterday I made a pilgrimage to LeMay’s annual car show. Here I am talking about the one held by LeMay Collections at Marymount (2025a) rather than the other local venue, America’s Car Museum (2025). I haven’t been to the latter place in years because it strikes me as being too expensive and snooty.
In contrast, the LeMay Annual Show is a car-themed party for regular folks (LeMay Collections, 2025b). There’s lots nostalgic music, fair food and memorabilia for sale, but I mainly go there to take photos. In recent years I have focused on cars that are up for auction as well as those that local collectors display.
A good 80 percent of the original car photos that I post at Indie Auto were taken at a LeMay event. Thus, I am grateful that they continue to put on the event despite all of the challenges of doing so.
This year’s car show — the 47th annual — had somewhat fewer vehicles that I hadn’t seen before. However, I used the opportunity to retake some photos that had not turned out very well in previous years. What I typically will do is swap out or add new photos when I repost an existing story.
This year my goal was to test out taking videos in addition to still photos, but I found that I didn’t like doing so. I prefer to take the time to set up a shot. Perhaps I just need to get used to moving the camera.
Have we entered the era of on-the-spot ‘authenticity’?
I noticed a number of attendees who walked around with a video camera and offered commentary while they filmed. It will be interesting to see what they post.
Perhaps because I see myself as a writer rather than an on-air performer, I would rather take the time to think about what I want to say than ramble on in an impromptu manner. Alas, perhaps that’s the new thing: on-the-spot “authenticity.”
In recent years I have been making more of an effort to take interior photos once I realized that you were allowed to sit inside cars up for auction. And this year I spent more time with my iPhone than my regular camera because it is easier to maneuver. The downside is that the quality of the photos isn’t usually as good.
I am getting to the point where it is time to buy a better camera but I haven’t yet come across good sources of information from photographers who specialize in autos. So if you know of any useful links, please pass them along in the comment thread below.
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- America’s Car Museum; 2025. Accessed Aug. 31.
- LeMay Collections at Marymount; 2025. Accessed Aug. 31.
- ——; 2025b. “LeMay Annual Show.” Accessed Aug. 31.
Is that an FC Jeep in the above photo?
Yup, an FC-150. A very nicely preserved vehicle. I think I finally have enough decent photos to do a story, but I still need to do some research.
Your wrote today about needing source materials. I have a reproduction of a Forward Control Service Manual, originally approved for printing by Willy’s Motors that you may reference if it would be helpful. The FC-150 is one of my dream rides and have had this manual for probably 50 years. No Jeep, just the manual.
Thank you, Samuel. Is the manual online?
It’s a printed book, here on my desk. I’ll mail it to you if you’d like to check it out. It might not be useful for your research, but it’s fun to review.