Foto February : Eric's Mustang

Little did I know when I was kicking around the idea of this Foto February thing that I would get to photograph two classic Ford Mustangs. I'm like a kid in a candy store around cool cars. It's silly really.

Eric, one of our first grooms from back in 2001, asked me if I would like to go for a little drive in his 1967 Fastback. Nothing fancy, just a half day trip down the notorious "Dragon" looping over Tellico Plains via the Cherohala Skyway. Heck yeah!

Eric's Mustang is a work in progress. And a labor of love. And his daily driver. He bought the car 20 years ago with the dreams of turning it into a real show car, but time and life happened. It bounced around a little in his family and sat un-driven for a while. But when he recently lost his company car due to cutbacks and needed a second set of wheels for his family, he decided to get the old girl out and get her running again. No sense in buying a second used car when you've got a perfectly good one in the garage. He's done a lot of work to it and, even though it looks pretty dang good from the outside, the Mustang still needs more cosmetic work to make get it back to it's former glory.

But missing trim pieces, torn seats, and absent door panels aren't what make a car a car. It's that connection between man and machine and the road. The growl of the motor. The rumble and jolt of every bump through the aged suspension. The whistling howl of wind through long dry-rotted seals. About the only thing that can get a person closer to being one with the open road is a motorcycle. Take the idea of riding a soft, smooth, mortuary-quiet Lexus and flip that on it's head.

You have a sense of being alive when riding in a car like Eric's. A sense of living on the edge. Maybe it's a testosterone thing, but there's something to be said about that marriage of man and machine, in harmony, blasting down country roads.

We started off on the Dragon. And first I was bummed that the weather was a tad gloomy, but it ended up being a perfect day.

Look at that smile.

I hopped out to get a few action shots at a pull-off on the Dragon. You wouldn't believe the roar this old Mustang made as he drove around. It literally sounded like some grumpy beast coming to get me. And check out that body roll! These old cars weren't made to hit the curves like their modern counterparts. Everybody lean the other way!

In your best car impressions… VVRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!

Just like the other Mustang I shot, I was again struck by the curves. They just don't design cars like this anymore.

On top of the Fontana Dam. Hands down, one of my favorite photos I've ever taken. Thankfully we had the roads to ourselves that day so we had plenty of opportunities to play.

No tires were harmed in the making of this burnout. Okay, that's a lie. And I thought this one needed an old, gritty feel to it.

Into downtown Tellico Plains where we got some beautiful photos.

Can you see why they called it a "fastback"?

A good looking car and a good loo… well, the guy that drives it.

Rocks reflecting in the rocker panel. And I'm not usually a fan of gold on cars, but I think the accents in the wheels look sharp with that original Nightmist Blue color.

Again, those lines!

Busted.

My other favorite! The moodiness. The subdued hues. The trespassing. What a great photo (if I do say so myself)!

Eric, thank you so much for the epic road trip! Yeah, so it was only half a day and we stayed close to home, but after toting kids around in a minivan every day for the last 6 years, I'll take what I can get. :)