autofantasia's photos with the keyword: aluminium

You don't need to have spent a great deal of time browsing my photostream to know I'm daft about cars, especially when you see my username. The fascination really kicked off in the late Seventies when I bought the first ever issue of 'Street Machine' magazine, which was all about the hot rod and custom scene here in the UK. Ever since that day I've dreamt of having my own custom car or hot rod and for a while I hoped I might even become a mechanic, which would have made that dream easier to achieve. Sadly, I've never been able to afford to buy that hot rod and I never did get the opportunity to become a mechanic. These days the closest I get to achieving either dream is working on my old Scirocco, but it's far from being a hot rod and my mechanical skills fall far short of what I'd like them to be. Still, what is they say ... when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! I took this photo for the latest Sunday Challenge which had the theme Tools of the Trade ... using manual focus . I found this week particularly challenging as being a short-sighted spectacle wearer I nearly always have to rely on the automatic focussing capabilities of my Nikon D90. Although there is a dial on it which you can set to allow for eyesight deficiencies, I'm afraid the adjustments are only minor and not sufficient to compensate for my own shortcomings in that area. So for this challenge I had to use the live View screen mode, which meant I could supposedly wear my glasses and focus the image as seen on the screen instead of through the viewfinder. However, I have to say I still found this rather difficult and had to discard lots of shots, but I'm fairly happy with this one. I resisted the temptation to do any sharpening or clarifying in PP as I thought that would kind of defeat the object of the exercise. All I really did in the way of processing was to tweak the Brightness/Contrast levels, before converting it to Black & White and then resizing it for uploading.

Yet another unused shot from earlier this year, which was taken for The Sunday Challenge when the theme was metallic . It was never used, but nearly had an outing when the theme was numbers , but lost out again - that time to the shot I took of the clock face at All Saints Parish Church in Northallerton.

Another unused shot from earlier this year, which was taken for The Sunday Challenge when the theme was metallic . I came across this pile of barrels stacked up in a corner behind the High Street in Northallerton and liked not only the colours, but the shadows and brickwork too.

Yet another nearly shot from a Sunday Challenge gone and yet another that I was considering for the metallic week.

Three men no doubt trying to decide exactly what that funny little car is!

The Pembleton captures the business-like looks of a classic 1920s open top sports car, but is actually a recent introduction to the kit car market. As with most kit cars a single donor vehicle is required to complete the car, most commonly a Citroën 2CV, although this one is BMW powered, and it's claimed one can be completed for as little as £1,800. The chassis is ready to accept the all major components and in no time will be on its wheels. The body panels are cut from aluminium using the patterns supplied. Long or short-wheel base 3 or 4 wheel chassis are available and all incorporate a steel frame around the cockpit. You can find out more about these exciting little cars by visiting the sites listed below: www.pembleton.co.uk www.thepembleton.org.uk