Car Photograph of the Day: Valet Ballet by Phil Waters

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

The Denver MCA boasts something that most museums don’t have: a 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle parked on its nose outside the building. I’ve been trying to shoot a worthwhile photograph of this fine sculpture by Gonzalo Lebrija, entitled Entre La Vida y La Muerte, but I just don’t have the boss camera skilz to do it justice. Fortunately, I know a guy who does.

The Chevelle still has the engine, transmission, interior, the works, and appears to be in pretty good condition. Was it worth removing a solid classic Detroit car from street duty in the name of art? I say it was worth it; 425,300 Chevelles were built for the 1968 model year, so it’s not exactly rare, and Lebrija’s sculpture has thousands of non-car-freaks contemplating one of Detroit’s best designs.

Top photo credit/copyright, © 2011 Phil Waters Design


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Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Bill Owen Bill Owen on Mar 15, 2011

    I am slowly building a great collection of black & white automobile photos and this is the style of photography I admire and display. Murilee, will Phil Waters sell autographed prints? I'd love to purchase one. Thanks.

    • Murilee Martin Murilee Martin on Mar 15, 2011

      Yes, he's a pro photographer so I'm sure he sells prints. Email me for his contact info.

  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Mar 16, 2011

    this fine sculpture

    Cool idea but I'm not sure that taking a stock car and mounting it on its nose constitutes sculpting. Sorry to be a curmudgeon but there's more artistic effort and skill in one of my granddaughter's refrigerator drawings. Somehow I think there's more to art than taking something someone else made and putting it in an unusual situation. But then I'm a stuck-in-the-mud who thinks that artists should be able to do representational drawing.

  • Syke Kinda liked the '57, hated the '58. Then again, I hated the entire '58 GM line except for the Chevrolet. Which I liked better than the '57's. Still remember dad's '58 Impala hardtop, in the silver blue that was used as the main advertising color.
  • Dartdude The bottom line is that in the new America coming the elites don't want you and me to own cars. They are going to make building cars so expensive that the will only be for the very rich and connected. You will eat bugs and ride the bus and live in a 500sq-ft. apartment and like it. HUD wants to quit giving federal for any development for single family homes and don't be surprised that FHA aren't going to give loans for single family homes in the very near future.
  • Ravenuer The rear view of the Eldo coupe makes it look fat!
  • FreedMike This is before Cadillac styling went full scale nutty...and not particularly attractive, in my opinion.
  • JTiberius1701 Middle of April here in NE Ohio. And that can still be shaky. Also on my Fiesta ST, I use Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires for the winter and Bridgestone Potenza for my summer tires. No issues at all.
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