Classic cars, antique cars and sports cars ... and the incredible people who own them

Recently I’ve spent some time around cars -- vintage, classic, sports, etc. -- and I’ve had the opportunity to photograph them all.

Cars are interesting subjects to photograph, but the stories that come from the owners of these cars make them all the more interesting to me.

The first of my car stops was a classic car show/cruise night on the Historic Woodstock Square with my family. As we walked around, we happened upon Ken Ehrenhofer and his 1920s-era fire engine. He very kindly invited my girls to hop into the engine and shared some stories about the restoration process.

Ken told us about a Model A Ford swap, and he invited us to this semi-private event. I wasn’t sure if we would fit in with a group of Model A and Model T collectors. It seemed a bit out of our league, but Ken was so kind that we thought we’d make an attempt to check it out.

Ken is the director of membership and pubic relations for the national Model A Restorers Club and a regular contributor to The Model A News magazine. I was honored that he invited my husband and I (and our children) to come see what this event was all about ~ even though we weren’t part of this Model A club.

On the property of 40 Horse Farm, I saw some historic Model A automobiles and even took a ride in a Model T Ford. I learned a little about this man’s life, but I learned a lesson in humility. As we walked through his office, he showed my husband and I memorabilia, awards and some photos. “This is me and Mike Ditka. This is me and the Bishop. This is me and Tom Hanks. This is me with my daughter. This is me with a group of high school students…”

“Wait, um, can we go back to you and Tom Hanks?” His car was a featured car in Hanks’ Road to Perdition. I got to photograph that car.

Ken Ehrenhofer's Model A featured in Tom Hanks' Road to Perdition.

But he was equally as excited about his car being a part of a high school group’s movie – The Key of Capone – and he had a poster size picture of those actors. And that is what Ken chose to highlight on our office tour.

Ken also let us see some of the remodeling underway on his property – antique cars awaiting paint jobs, Model As ready for brake jobs, a huge vintage bus that Ken won at auction, the Model A that Ken went cross country in with his brother and his friends when they were college students … there was a lot to take in.

Also at the swap, I met a lawyer from Chicago who has taken his very young children to Canada in the family Model A. I met a gentleman who uses his Model A as his primary car. I learned a lot about what modifications owners have made, but I learned even more that what I had anticipated as being a very select group of car owners actually were very willing to talk about their cars and were extremely friendly even though we weren’t part of the club. One swapper even gave my children a Model A Ford hubcap and a nameplate ~ he explained that everyone has to start somewhere, so we could start building now. Actually, my husband has been lusting after Model A's now....

That article ran here: http://www.thewoodstockindependent.com/September-2016/Woodstock-Man-Hosts-Model-A-Enthusiasts/

Not but a few weeks later, there was another local car show. I swung by with my camera just to take some pictures, but as I spoke with some of the other exhibitors, I thought there might be a story there, so I called my editor and this story ran. You can read it here: http://www.thewoodstockindependent.com/September-2016/Churchs-Third-Annual-Car-Show-Draws-Crowd/ 

Again, it was the people behind the cars who really drew me in. One gentleman spoke at length about how he restored his Super Bee to its original color – one that was so unique there were only about 17 cars produced in that color. He was a U.S. Veteran and shared a unique story about his career and holding true to his word.

One funny story from that day, though, is that I had been shooting a lot of blue cars {as evidenced by my photos}, and I happened to mention to one of the owners that I remembered shooting his Bonneville earlier because I really like blue cars. It was a running joke on that side of the show that if you didn’t have a blue car, you wouldn’t get an interview. That obviously wasn’t true, but we all had a little laugh over it.  

Overwhelmingly, I experienced such kindness and gained so much knowledge through these events. More importantly, I learned that, despite what club you belong to, most car-owners are genuinely willing to let you in ~ as long as you are open to stepping outside your box and are willing to listen and to learn.

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Classic Cars on the Historic Woodstock Square: 

The Model A Ford Swap

Redeemer Lutheran Car Show

Life is fleeting; reckless kindness

We don’t know when we will take our last breaths. We won’t know when the person who means the most to us will be taken. We merely must trust in the plan and live with kindness, knowing that life is fleeting.

This week, I have been consumed with grief. My best friend’s mother passed away rather unexpectedly. She was a woman who never was afraid to speak her mind. It never bothered either of us that I was Catholic and she was Jewish. She loved her grandkids, and it was over children that most of our conversations were spent. This weekend, I attended her memorial service. To see my friend in such pain and to not be able to do anything but hold her and sit with her was heart-wrenching. As the traditional Jewish Mourner’s Kaddish was prayed, there was an emphasis on the legacy left behind. There is a legacy. There is a legacy in her husband, in my friend and in my friend’s children. Her legacy lives on.

Last week, during the intermission of a truly delightful musical, my husband learned his aunt had passed away. My husband has a large family, and, as so many large families find, as the extended family expands, the gatherings become fewer. When my husband and I were young and dating, I remember a large gathering of aunts, uncles and cousins at my future mother- and father-in-law’s home. I remember meeting (for the first time) his aunt who was so lovely and kind. We didn’t see each other often, but I will always remember her smile ~ that smile lit up the entire room. It was incredible and genuine.

Seeing her family, her husband, her five children, her dear granddaughter … I know they are hurting, but there isn’t anything to say to them. There is nothing that can ease the pain of this loss. This family walked the walk of faith alongside her. They lived this summer with passion and courage, and they stood by her in her last moments. Tonight, they gathered together – strong, courageous and broken. Amidst the brokenness, this wife’s – this mother’s, this grandmother’s – courage and strength will live on. I saw it in the faces of her children, I felt it in the arms of her husband, and I experienced it in the eyes of her granddaughter. She will live on in each of them, and it is her love and her smile that will flourish long after these days of mourning pass.

And then a dear friend from theatre and the skating rink lost her beloved mother. Her wake and funeral still lies ahead. I never knew her mother, but I know my friend. And I know this loss also is devastating. But this friend was given the opportunity to care for her mother, to comfort her and to be the hands and feet of Jesus to her. We are not all given those opportunities. Sometimes loss is sudden. But my friend, she was the caretaker for her mother for quite some time. She was the epitome of a loving daughter. She balanced work, personal life and care-taking with grace. She made promises to her mother, and she kept them. In her, I see goodness and steadfast faith.

So, with a heavy heart, I remember that life is fleeting. Like the hummingbirds that flit here and there with a heightened sense of urgency, we must live our lives with that same hummingbird sense of urgency.

In the midst of deep sadness, in the midst of tears, in the midst of these deep-rooted faiths, I have witnessed women whose lives were lived with love, passion and courage. Their legacies live on.

Inspired by their love, passion and courage, I am reminded to live my own fleeting life with joy and to live this life with kindness ~ the sort of reckless kindness that pushes you to check on others, to reach out to assist those you don’t know, to smile at the people whom you do not know, to ask the difficult questions of those whom you do know and to do the difficult deed of being there when the being is difficult. 

Be kind ~ be recklessly kind.