[DeTomaso] Reflections of my photo shoot(s) with Mike Drew (kind of long)

[Asa Jay Laughton]

Nice story,
Thank you for sharing Laurie,


Asa Jay

Quoting LaurieFerrari at aol.com:

>
> Our first attempt was a couple weeks ago.  Mike  came over after the
> memorial luncheon for Grant Stockwell that was  held at the Ports o' Call
> Restaurant in San Pedro, CA.  Grant had  chosen that spot and given   
> Susan and his
> family explicit  details as to how he wanted his friends to   
> celebrate his life
> and for  all to have a great time. With sour tears, we did!  Grant even
> gave each of us a letter covered with pictures from his  lifetime,   
> apologizing
> for not being able to make the event with us as  he had another obligation.
>  Grant was just a sweet, delightful,  thoughtful, brilliant and obviously a
> very funny man. Hearing all his  friends and family members speak of
> heartwarming events from his life  was a precious tribute.  Many   
> mentioned all the
> times he called to check on  people he knew were ill or had troubles.
> Everyone's sentiments  showed him to be the remarkable man he  was.  I don't
> understand why anyone should have to suffer with  that dread disease  
>  and maybe
> someday, with the help of great scientists  and the will of God, there will
> be a cure.
> So, later that day, Mike came over with the intent  of shooting my car to
> be "Profiles Pantera of the Quarter."  His aim  was to start very early the
> next morning, before dawn, so that he  could get good shots of the pearl
> paint without the interference of the  sun.  We checked out the car   
> the evening
> before and I wanted  to go fill her up with new gas (actually some gas)
> after reading how bad  old gas is, but in going to start her up, we   
> found that
> my  Odyssey battery needed to be charged up, and so had to plug the  battery
> in the charger for a night's regenerating.  Then we  decided to go get a gas
> carrier and bring gas home by hand.  We  headed off to Target and found a 5
> gallon plastic container for  about $11; filled it up with Super Shell, and
> Mike put the gas in as he griped  about all the new safety contraptions on
> the unit that are made for CA  regulations, and made it difficult to use.
> Next we had a bite  and I put Mike to bed on the couch with lots of blankets
> and turned my heat up  for him, as I generally like it colder than most
> people.
>    Alarm rang at 5:00 am and I snuck into the kitchen without  waking him
> and made him some steel cut oatmeal w/ a dash of bran,  and sides of
> currants, bananas, almonds and blueberries.  He told  me not to   
> mention this as he
> didn't want anyone to know that he ate  anything so healthy.  Then off to the
> car to set off for our journey  of the day.  My idea was to go drive to the
> top of the hill in  Burbank, above Universal Studios, as reference, and
> where the Castaways  Restaurant is located.  There one can see the   
> entire view
> of the Valley all  the way to the Pacific Ocean on a clear day.  We arrived
> and Mike was  having me turn the car in different directions to get the best
> view without  interference from the sun.  Ooops.. one turn and I must have
> dislodged one  of the tires as at next look, the driver's front was entirely
> flat.  Mike  knew it had just happened as his last shot showed the tire
> full.   So he said there was no way to drive the car and I had to   
> call the Auto
>  Club.  Yes, surely, as any prudent Pantera owner, I have the Premier AAA
> Membership, but alas I had not yet sent in my payment for  renewal, which
> was due start of Jan.  I thought, no problem, I'll just use  a credit card by
> phone to renew.  Murphy's law, my phone battery  was also dying out, so I
> had to use Mike's phone but it was no go for  that attempt as they don't
> accept American Express.  Thus had to call back  and do a check by   
> phone renewal
> and then back in business again; the flatbed was  ordered and we had about
> an hour wait.  We sat and chatted a bit about life  in general, then Mike
> sped off in search of a restroom. As the  restaurant had not yet   
> opened, I was
> praying there were no serious side  effects from the bran I had laced the
> cereal with.
>    When the flat bed arrived, Mike was very helpful instructing  the nice
> driver, named "India" in how to place the tie downs as at  first he had
> placed one where it could have rubbed on my new and  beautiful   
> paint.  We jumped
> in and headed back to my house. En route,  Mike's radar eyes noticed a red
> Pantera sitting in a parking lot of a car repair  shop on Magnolia Blvd.
> Thus, of course we had to go back to check it  out.  Mike wanted to   
> try out my
> Vette and we headed back to check out  this unknown Pantera.  Mike, with
> camera in hand, started to take a  few shots when a man rushed out and said,
> "Hey, I don't think you should take  photos without the owner's consent."  Oh
> well.... owner was not there  but Mike had already gotten his shots and one
> of the vin  #.  I figured we were very close to Mike Mayberry's and since
> Mike's never  been there, that might be a good stop.  Sure enough Mike met
> Mike and on  their lift was a bright red Pantera that Mayberry had   
> just bought
> and was in  process of restoring.  They had a nice chat and Mayberry offered
> to lend me  one of the spares from his Lincoln in case I needed it for my
> Pantera.  The  thought occurred to the Drewaster that perhaps my Gotti wheel
> had  failed and thus caused this instant flat.  The tires gave no clue that
> they were as low in air as they were.   I shuddered at the  wheel thought
> and decided to wait for my brother Arlan to come  evaluate the situation
> later that day.
> We left the car out in my driveway.  Mike had to leave but  felt the day
> had not been a total loss as he was able to meet Mike Mayberry and  also
> discovered another species of the Pantera clan.  He waved as he    
> authoritively
> grumbled, "I'll be back sometime in Feb,... get some gas,  charge up your
> battery and please check the air in your tires next  time!!!!"
> Arlan came over to review the tire situation.  He brought his jack but  my
> car is quite low and the jack wouldn't fit underneath.  He had to  carefully
> use some 2x4's to prop the car up just enough to  get the jack underneath.
> Next day I took the Yokohama to Western Tire and the  guys checked it out.
> There were no nails, no tears, nothing wrong with the  tire and nothing wrong
> with the wheel either. It had just gotten  so low and when turning such a
> wide tire, had popped off the rim. I was so  happy with that news that I
> brought the guys a 6 pack as a thank  you.  It has kept the air fine and
> naturally we went and aired up all  the others to the right poundage as well.
>    So here we were Feb. 2nd.  Mike flew down again and  was to be heading
> my way.  He decided to stay at the airport for a  while to avoid the horrid
> rush hour traffic on the 405.  He called to  say he'd be a bit delayed and
> that he found the nice USO with  food etc. so he would have had dinner.
> Shame, as I wanted him to try  the Newtown All U Can Eat Asian   
> Buffet in Burbank
> where they have  incredible quality king crab legs, sushi, sashimi, all
> sorts shrimps,  veggies, stuffed mussels, steak and ribs, a Korean   
> BBQ, noodles,
>  soups, and desserts galore and all for $13.  My next call was  from Mike
> saying he got on the 101 from the 405 fine but didn't find the  connection to
> the 170 from the 101 and that he was somewhere around  Normandy in L.A.,
> that's about an hour more added to his trip.  Not his  fault though as there
> is no clear marking on the Freeway to tell that you  have to exit on a
> street, Tujunga, get off the freeway and on again onto  the 170.  No  
>  one would
> know such a thing unless you lived here, so whoever  designed the   
> freeway signs
> is definitely a "Pinhead,"  I was really  sorry for that, but in a ribbing
> way, as he always does to me, said, "Oh,  hmmm, a pilot without a GPS???"
>    At last, he arrived.  Since he had already eaten I  figured I'd take him
> for a visit to my brother's house.  There he could see  our Mom's '31
> Cabriolet that is now Arlan's and my '52 English Ford  Consul that I  
>  have stored
> there. My Sister 'n  Law, Sandra, nearly sleeping and watching TV, got up to
> say  hello.  He told me that he'd always seen her in Monterey with me but
> never  realized she was my Sis 'n Law.
> Then back home; we watched a little of the shocking news of  the uprising
> protests in Egypt, set alarms and once again put  Mike to bed on the couch.
>    Next morning we started earlier than last. This time  I only gave him a
> banana muffin I had baked!   Arlan had  suggested going up to Mullholland
> Drive where one is quite high  and there are turn-offs and beautiful views of
> the city.  Battery was  charged, gas tank full, tires all filled up, but
> car didn't want to start at first.  I was beating my  head on the steering
> wheel.  I said I was going to kill myself but Mike  said, I didn't have to,
> he'd do it for me.   I know it was the  weather because it was darn cold here
> and colder in my garage. Okay, not like  the rest of the freezing country
> with all the current snow storms, but very very  cold for here. So   
> cold my ears
> froze and I think I have a cold today.  Mike tried and bingo, she started
> up, knowing better than to  mess around with him. So we were off on our
> journey.  We found a  nice spot and Mike pulled out his tripods,   
> special flashing
> device, all cameras  and starting taking shots.  It was still dark out so
> his first shots look  like night time with twinkling lights in the
> background.  One of  the first shots, in the dark, is my favorite   
> and I've made it my
> screen-saver.  At first he tried to move a trash can to  stand on but found
> it was chained to the fence, so he was trying all  different views and
> nimbly jumped over the guard fence and was hanging  off the side of a steep
> hill. Then he went to the other side  of Mulholland Hwy and climbed   
> the mountain
> across the street. I was  quite impressed with his professionalism but was
> crossing my frozen fingers and  praying he didn't fall off the mountain or
> down into the valley below.  All  worked out, he was pleased that the shots
> came out so beautifully.  I was  so happy that I got the scenes I wanted with
> views of the entire city in the  background.   We took the car home and put
> her away.  Mike  said he was starving, so we jumped in the '96 Eldorado
> this time  and off to Dupars for breakfast, famous for pancakes and a movie
> star  sighting from time to time. Mike enjoyed the Cadillac's  cozy heated
> seats and said it was a very nice car with a great  Bose stereo and   
> suggested I
> drive it daily instead of my Trailblazer.   He has a point there.   He
> packed up all his belongings, loaded up the  Scirocco... was in process of
> getting a very big box ready to ship to  Europe. Then he made me a USB memory
> stick with all my  car pictures and was ready for departure.
>    You may wonder why there was no Drewaster curse placed upon me  this
> time around.  Well no need to fret, as there was a standing pool  of 4 inches
> of water in my newly refurbished and tiled  shower.   This time as he waved
> goodbye.. he said, "I'll be in  touch soon and go buy a bottle of Drano!"
> p.s.  Standby for my car story and lovely shots of my Pantera in an
> upcoming "Profiles."
>
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-- 
Asa Jay Laughton - sent from somewhere other than home
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