Thursday, July 24, 2008 – Mystery Cars

The big auto companies do street tests of new models out here in Los Angeles, usually a year or more before the car is shown at an auto show and then put into production. So now and then you see something very odd, a car in full camouflage rolling down the street – wrapped in dark plastic and clad in irregular panels to disguise its shape, with sensors and odd gizmos in odd places.  These two, photographed by today's passenger – Bob Patterson, hanging out the window with the Nikon set on autofocus – were tooling down Laurel Canyon Boulevard near Studio City.  No idea what they are – it's just something that happens out here.

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site. 

Technical Note:

Photographs after March 3, 2008, were taken with a Nikon D200 – or a Nikon D70 when noted. All previous photographs were taken with the D70. The lenses used are (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto, or (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. Photography here is modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  The earliest photography in the archives was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik