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The official photo blog of J. David Buerk Photography.

Katie's Cars and Coffee: April 28th, 2018

It's been almost two years since I visited Katie's (though I thought I went last Summer, however don't have any pictures from it). It was nice to get out to a car show again; I went to the Ferrari Club of America Spring Thaw last week, but Katie's has offerings from every make, model, era, and style, so I find it more enjoyable.

A friend of mine is borrowing a tilt-shift lens for fun to learn how they work, so this time I brought along my under-loved TS-E 90mm f/2.8; Canon's first tilt-shift lens ever, first introduced in 1991, and the world's first telephoto length 35mm tilt-shift lens - at 90mm, this lens is designed for tabletop product photography, such as foods, but I've found use for it as a portrait lens, and in my wedding photography for capturing wedding rings. As it turns out, the lens my friend was borrowing was Nikon's 28mm f/3.5 PC, which only features a shift adjustment; no tilt - the PC stands for Perspective Correction. Perspective adjustments via shift are useful for architectural photography; any focus plane effects you see in the photos below are tilt only, as I don't have use for shift in these types of images, plus the effect of shift on this focal length has very few useful applications.

The RTR Mustang was a spot I almost missed.

The heavily modified 350Z got a lot of attention. While it's not my taste, it was well built. I gathered that this is an example build for a local performance garage (there was a matching Ford truck also at the show).

Algonkian Regional Park

After Katie's, we met up with Imran and decided to go to Algonkian Regional Park to at least enjoy some of the nice weather, and play with the 28mm f/3.5 PC (Great Falls was too packed). I still have not been hiking since reconstructive knee surgery in October, and this was also a good warm-up / test, since Algonkian is just a simple dirt path. There happened to be a 50 mile / 50K / 10K / 5K race sponsored by The North Face going on while we were there, and the thought of such a distance alone makes my knee ache. I had pushed myself running a 5K the day before (my limit right now seems to be two 5Ks per week), so my knee was already hurting before we even got there. Though for day-to-day I am 100%, athletically my knee is still recovering.

2018 Ferrari Club of America Spring Thaw

Spring has sprung (hopefully for good; no more freak April snow events please!) and that means cars and coffee events are about to pick up. Kicking things off for the year is the Ferrari Club of America's Spring Thaw; a chance to get the cars hidden away in the garage over Winter out and stretch their legs some.

The Testarossa was one of the cars that got me into cars; as a child, I had a 1:18 size red Testarossa toy car - this is my earliest memory of a specific childhood toy.

The Ferrari Testarossa is one of the most iconic cars for both Italian sports cars and the 80s as a decade. Although it wasn't the only Ferrari in the show, many people remember the Testarossa from Miami Vice (although I am slightly too young to fall into this demographic).

Like most cars, the Testarossa underwent updates every few years; these small incremental changes can drastically change the value and desirability of a given example. The very first Testarossas only had one mirror (distinctively mounted on the driver's side roofline), but this changed to a standard two-mirror design a few years into production.

The 512TR was the first major update to the Testarossa, and is often the most sought after model of Testarossa due to the increased power output and usability upgrades, such as improved clutch and shifter engagements. The 512TR can readily be identified by spotting the facelift front foglights, updated wheels design, and black engine cover / third brake light (US spec). You can see some of these design differences between the standard Testarossa and the 512TR, including the changes to its flat-12 engine, with the two versions parked side-by-side below.

(I still have never seen an F512M (the Testarossa's final version) in person.)

I am by no means a die-hard Ferrari fan-boy, but the 599 with its flying buttresses has also always been a favorite; it's a direct successor to another favorite of mine, the 550 Maranello, and going back a few more generations, the Testarossa again (I like grand tourers, if you haven't figured this out yet). Originally an aesthetic feature with the bonus of aerodynamics, the flying buttress introduced by the 599's design is now an element included in almost all modern supercars, such as the new Ford GT, BMW i8, and numerous McLarens, to name a few.

Of course the F40 is another icon of racing history; I arrived past the start time and missed a second F40 parked next to it.

Fun fact; even though there were almost 10,000 Testarossas produced and only 1,315 F40s, I have seen more F40s in my lifetime than Testarossas.

Like most kids, I had an F40 Hot Wheels as a kid.

Somehow a few other cars made it into the Ferrari show; a Maserati GranTurismo, a Porsche 911 GT2, a McLaren MP4-12C Spider, and a... Miata?

Proof nature says it's Spring:

Sterling Supercars: March 11th, 2017

Last minute I decided to swing by Ferrari / Maserati / Alfa Romeo of Washington in Sterling, Virginia for the Cars and Coffee that has been known as DC Exotics and more recently SterlingSupercars. I've been to this Cars and Coffee once before; I don't frequent this one as often as others since it focuses exclusively on modern exotics, and other local car shows are more eclectic. That being said, it's still a cool show to visit, and since it's sponsored by the (exotic) dealership, it's probably the most upscale cars and coffee event in the area. Even if the focus is on Ferraris and Lamborghinis, being held at their dealerships, the atmosphere is just as welcoming as any other cars and coffee I've been to.

I showed up at the tail end of this show because I decided to go last minute, but there were still some cool rides there. I even got to sit in a new Alfa Romeo Giulia.

After the show, I headed out to Sonic in Winchester for lunch, and we came across Dirt Farm Brewing by chance on the way back. On a whim we dropped in to check out one of the local breweries we keep hearing about, and got flights. I'm much more into wine than beer, and I only found one I liked.

Katie's Cars and Coffee, November 2nd, 2013

It's been quite some time since my last visit to Katie's, but now that I've wrapped up some client shoots I've had waiting, and am back in the area after several trips, I decided to stop by Katie's. There were some interesting additions to be seen; until last weekend, I'd only seen one C7 Corvette Stingray in the wild, out at Leesburg Outlets of all places. It's clear that the takeover is imminent, because there were 5 C7s that I counted at Katie's this past weekend - I wouldn't be shocked if there were more. It won't be long before these beautiful cars will become commonplace, and, well, not shocking anymore, like most Corvettes (sorry Corvette lovers... it's true. But don't be sad; Ferrari has quite a few models that are the same way. Let the flames begin...). I think it looks good in silver, but better (evil) in black. The Corvette finally has been given a proper, though long overdue, refresh.

With the time change, Cars and Coffee began wayyyy before the sun was up, but this also prompted some folks to show up a bit later, and run Cars and Coffee a bit longer. Even given the Daylight Savings Time change, I think most people missed seeing the Shelby GLHS, and Washington Nationals Right Fielder Jayson Werth arrive in his lifted F-250. This was the first I can recall seeing a Carrera GT in person.

This street rod and Toyobaru are what I love about Katie's; it's about car enthusiasts coming together to appreciate car culture, young and old, stock and modified. Katie's is very Come As You Are. Anything and everything can fit in.

And the most Jalopnik-ist car ever goes to?...

...and yes, it was a diesel.

"Ohhhhhh shit.... OHHHHHH shit! Shit, shit, shit! Ohhhhh shit!... Awwwwwwwwwwww......."

This thing died pretty hard; note the black smoke as the engine says it's had enough. It got trailered home... but not before the amazing reactions of the two gentlemen riding it.

This blog post has been republished by J. David Buerk onto Oppositelock. For the full set of photos, view the album at his Facebook Page. All photography is by J. David Buerk, and is copyrighted All Rights Reserved.

Katie's Cars and Coffee: May / June

I recently attended two Cars and Coffee events; one on Memorial Day Weekend, and the other on Father's Day Weekend. Cars and Coffee is a weekly car show event sponsored by Katie's Cars and Coffee in Great Falls, Virginia. It is completely free, as it is more of a free gathering celebrating exotic and / or classic car heritage. Though it is a small event, located in the heart of Great Falls (an upscale suburb of Washington, DC in which many very expensive cars call home), it has national attention, and often guests will drive hundreds of miles just to participate and grab a Saturday morning coffee while sharing the car culture.

Memorial Day Weekend, 2013:

One of the more interesting cars on hand (at least to me) was this Corvette powered Miata. The owner who converted this Miata cooly placed an LS1 badge on the fender.

The notable car for Memorial Day was the original Briggs Cunningham; an extremely rare car; only a few were ever built.

Father's Day Weekend, 2013:

For Father's Day, I decided to surprise my Dad and take him to Cars and Coffee. He's never heard of it before, and I didn't tell him where I was taking him. He certainly didn't realize we had a weekly car event just a few miles from home.

As I pulled in, he got excited when he saw some Cobras in the lot, but thought they just happened to be parked there. A moment later it was "Oh my God! Look look look look look look!!!" when he had spotted the Arial Atom I parked beside. I think it was when he saw the Diablo VT next to the Atom that he realized it wasn't a coincidence all these cars were in the same place. I know he loved going to this!

This true track Ferrari garnered a LOT of attention once people realized it had shown up.

Another cool little gem was this Miura S. Probably under-appreciated by most who saw it, this car was number 1 of only 140 produced, and is valued in the $500,000 - $800,000 range.

Upon leaving, people were still puzzled by the clearly Corvette based SV 9 Competizione - myself included. This Italian redesigned automotive costs almost $100,000, is powered by an LS3 Corvette engine modified to output 450 horsepower, and is just one of 1,000 made.