Hanging at the shop is a male ritual. Its a thing we just do. Of course this was the third time the head gasket blew. It wasn’t the head as suspected but the block, and while we had the motor apart we really should change the rings since three are broken and how bout some new pistons, and that lower timing chain is really loose, and that motor mount..and lets not forget the girl friend who keeps complaining how loud it is, so, okay, it only has the resonator, and it growls really loud, and while the cars in the air we should put a rear muffler on…. And for some reason I like all this. Now I didn’t just watch, I worked. I’ve got stains on my jeans, dirt under my nails. I smell like gasoline. Benny turned the key and it started. First try, it sat there and ran for 30 minutes, it got all warm and comfortable. Then it sat, cooled and I took it around the block, don’t go over 3000, don’t go over 3000, I wanted to, but we had just spent 2 days working on this thing and I’m not gonna break it. Now over the years I noticed how our relationships always include the shop. This is Benny’s shop. This is the best Alfa shop in LA. For 17 years I’ve been coming here. My Dad’s been here. He was visiting from Atlanta and “asked’ to go there. Where do our girlfriends pick us up from. 3 past girlfriends still ask “How’s Benny?” So I tell my current love she has to meet Benny, it just right, and she answers “What for? I don’t drive an Alfa”. 

What a car! I was in Detroit well actually the Milford Proving Grounds shooting the new ZR1 for Motor Trend. It was sooo much fun, and yes it was hard work too. This car is fast. I was there during the press event. They do a complete show and tell with the engineers and designers. There was a complete chassis there where you could see how all the parts worked, very cool stuff. I started by shooting the cover shot. It needed to be a four wheel drift shot in vertical format, so the car had to be really sideways, I started with a long lens and it just felt detached from the action so I put a shorter lens on and got a lot closer. I had the car drift past probably 20-30 times, the problem was the tires were soo sticky they would catch in the middle of the drift and pitch the car right off the track, and usually right towards me with the camera! I did a bit of jumping out of the way but thats all part of the challenge of getting a good shot. After we nailed that I shot in the high banked turn. Again a very cool image, very much like James Garner in Grand Prix. At that point it was pretty dark and everyone was going home, sunset in Michigan is not until 9:48pm, you can shoot forever. The next day it was more of the same. I hear people say they think the Proving Grounds are boring but I don’t see how, we have an entire racetrack to ourselves to do whatever we can to create fantastic images. I would go back there anytime to shoot. And the staff at GM was so nice, well we were shooting a supermodel. The guys really did a super job for a fraction of the Ferrari cost, lets see Ferrari make a car like the ZR1 for the same price point. 0-100mph and back to 0 in 11 seconds, thats fast, 0-60 in 3.4, 0-100 in 7, I believe. If I could only get my Alfa to go that fast!

I shoot a lot of Corvettes. From modified ones like the Lingenfelter to Z06’s, to even the stock ones. I shoot them doing 200mph or chasing them with helicopters in the desert. Vettes are cool. Later this year I’ll be shooting the ZR1 and posting soon will the Bostrom Brothers on bikes and Vettes in northern California. Since I’ve got so many pictures I thought I’d create a section on my website just for them, so check it out at www.evankleinfilms.com under Corvettes. Enjoy!!!

0-60 in 3.2 seconds. I think that’s fast enough. We were testing and shooting for Motor Trend down in El Toro. Even the guys from Top Gear were there. There are plenty of runways to extract high speeds from these types of cars. Now this GTR looks very unassuming. When I got there in the morning I wondered what makes this car so special. I’ve seen lots of cars, with lots of big motors, yet all wheel drive and twin turbo’s make this fun, and reliable. When I think of twin turbos I think of the Maserati Bi-Turbo. The Maserati was petite in a very modern classic kind of way, with that luxury interior, but reliability and cost of parts, forget about it. The Nissan was quiet, never got warm and was full of plastic. It definitely came from an animation cartoon, sculpted angular arch’s and Speed Racer buttons on the steering wheel. It looked as though it was the next evolution of the rounded 90’s Supra. It went fast, it stopped very well, it drifted around the figure 8 if desired or just stayed planted. But only you and people in the know will it as a beast. If I had large sums of fun money would I buy one?….hmmm, I’m a classic car kinda guy, I’d get an old 308 and save the rest for repairs. I’d like to see car companies provide us with a 20 thousand dollar toy. GM was getting close with the Solstice, and GXP. Miata’s are 30 grand…and the Lotus Elise, I parked my Alfa Spider next to one, I looked down into the car, it’s tiny, yes its fast, yes it looks cool, yes it handles, just stretch it out a bit, I get pushed daily by SUV’s that don’t use their mirror’s and cell phones….so 80 grand for a Nissan?, Will the motor fit in a 240z? now that would be cool. Check out my website, I’ll have images up that correspond with the Motor Trend release, www.evankleinfilms.com

My website with lots of car pics!!: www.evankleinfilms.com 

Last week we changed all the filters. Rear gas tank fuel filter, the large fuel filter just before the spica pump, the filter inside the spica pump, engine flushed the oil and put in a new oil filter, and cleaned the injectors. Also the valve cover was leaking so I pulled it and put a new gasket on, and stripped and repainted the valve cover, looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. When the cover was off Benny noticed the exhaust side of the head wasn’t getting much oil, so we pulled the cam to find no grove under the cam cover near the chain sprocket. This grove allows oil from the block to pass and lubricate the cam, since these are 11mm aftermarkets thats probably why theres no grove, so we machined one in, as well as groving the cam block. We cranked the motor over, and before our eyes oil appeared from around the cam, mission acomplished.

One thing about the older Alfa’s is the lack of interior lights. At night you come to the car, open the door…and nothing, I wanna see some light, I wanna see that wooden steering wheel and that cool dash, and the door panel reflectors…how come there’s no light inside of those? Well I had some spare time and set about to change all this. Using the door switch’s I put 2 interior lights under the dash footwells and drilled out those door reflectors and put small fixtures inside of them. The result? Very cool stuff. Now lets say I go out with my lady and get the door for her, the cabin illuminates quite nicely and the little red door light looks fantastic, I’ve thought about wiring the rear view mirror light as well but the switch is of such poor quality I can feel a slow short that will leave me stranded… yeah, imagine that, being stranded in my sportscar with a dead battery, at least its not Lucas!!

 Somedays I love the Alfa, here in LA its a great car to put the top down and race through traffic, since its so small and efficient its a great car for all my location scouting, and then there are those days….I’ve replace the gas tank sending unit 3 times, the pump inside twice, it never gives a clear indication of how much fuel is in the car, which of course leaves me practically stranded when it starts to sputter as if the pump is failing. Its so frustrating!! Last week my Alfa Guru Benny, at Jons Alfa Romance, had a two piece exhaust manifold, we both looked at each other and smiled. I took it over to a local machine shop and had them sand blast it clean, then took high heat paint and gave it a nice coat of silver. Back at the shop I had it off with the new one on in about and hour or so, it started raining and I had to bring it inside. We stuck it on the lift to get to the underside exhaust bolts, and replace the sump guard protector, I bottomed out one to many times causing the guard to push itself onto the oil pan allowing vibration to be felt throughout the car, we’d tried bending it, but the poor guard was beat, and everyone else in LA, beware when exiting out of the pretty new Santa Monica parking structure at the Civic Center, its like falling off a 1 foot curb, with out the guard my beautiful finned sump would of been crumbs…does anyone in the city ever test these things? Anyways, with the new manifold, and only one middle muffler installed the Alfa flew. And noise? well, the grin factor was so high I didn’t care about the noise, at least people get out of the way now!!! We also put on a super cool looking set of vintage CIBIE european headlights., and orange taillight inserts. I’d really like to get a set of chrome bumpers from a 74 spider, if anyones got a set please let me know! As for the fuel sending unit…we’ve got another used one to try, maybe this time!!………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Since we all love cars I thought I’d add a post about my car as well. I run a Silver 1978 Alfa Spider as my daily driver. I did a full bare metal re-spray a few months ago, When the paint came off it revealed a body that was in perfect condition, no rust, no dents, no bondo! I removed the rubber side moulding and the car looks very clean. I’ve put sport springs on, running yellow koni’s in the front, and bilsteins in the rear, and have put on a rear sway bar that runs from trailing arm to trailing arm on 195-60-14’s tires. The car sits nice and handles like a go cart.I’ve kept the Spica injection and put in hotter cams, rebuilt the motor, and valves, a more straight thru exhaust and rebuilt the gear box and so many things I’ve lost track, but since I run the car everyday there is always something small to tinker with. This car is great!!

Last week for Traction magazine I shot the Heico Sportiv Volvo S80. Volvo’s are starting to become cool again. This was the 2007 SEMA showcar. The exterior was painted chrome, but more towards brushed aluminum in luster. Everything about this car had been modified. The complete interior was blue leather, everything!, dash, seats, headliner, even carbon fiber center consoles. I shot the car in Irvine at the PAG facility, very graphic, and very pleased. The large entrance windows got full sun in the afternoon which in turn threw giant shadows on the opposite wall. Very cool stuff! Check out my website for more pics, and Traction is on the newsstand, yeah, thats my Cover too! See it at www.evankleinfilms.com 

Recently I’ve been working with GM on online magazine projects. I’ve been shooting film and video and have been really excited with the results. They are lifestyle pieces about people with Chevy products and how they use them. I went to Texas to shoot Kerstie Allen, female rodeo champ. We spent a day at her ranch putting her, the Silverado and the horses thru the paces. Not only did we come home with great images it really was nice connecting with people across the US. Jason Whitfield races Cobalts. We went to his shop and the Irwindale Speedway knocking out some hot runs on the dragstrip. We did camera mounts, and some cool portraits. Look for the new issues coming out soon. I shot other stories in Memphis, and Oregon, and I think what really makes this special is that its people doing what they love. I love shooting these stories, visiting other people, hearing what they have to say, kinda puts it all in perspective. We all have to follow our passions. You can see more pics at my website…and a bunch of Vette’s too!!! www.evankleinfilms.com

Matt Stones book is out, and its cool! We all love cars, and we all love cool cars. Steve McQueen had the coolest. Matt recently had a press release book signing at the Peterson Museum. Steve’s first wife Neile was there supporting the book, and afterwards we had lunch together. It was fun hearing stories first hand. Steve’s Jaguar XKSS is at the museum so I had to ask her about it. Well Steve drove way too fast, he would speed up and down Laurel Canyon, passing cars in the on coming traffic lane, he would scare me to death, and the wind, it would blow my hair everywhere….I was having a deja vu, I use to drive Laurel quite frequently, always a bit too fast, and my girfriend is constantly telling me to slow down… or put the top up! funny how some things never change! And my hat is off to Matt for creating such a fantastic collection of Steve’s cars. Check out my website for a few special pics, www.evankleinfilms.com

Every now and then the phone rings…. How would you like to go to Mont Tremblant Canada to the Ferrari driving school? I stepped off the plane, inhaled a giant breath of Canadian and was off. Mont Tremblant is a beautiful mountain village centered around a lake with the circuit just minutes away. It winds thru the country side on perfect pavement. We started early with breakfast and classroom instruction, 12 gleaming 430’s sat outside waiting. I shot as the class sat patiently listened. We eventualy made it outside, and I must say how impressed I was with level of attention to the comfort and ease of the class. There were plenty of teachers and staff always there to help. And the cars! Lately I’ve been getting the feeling that all the new style of supercar was a lot of flash, the gold chain hairy chest crowd, I was wrong. These cars were taken for 2 solid days screaming around the course, skid pad testing, braking and slalom, chasing and such, and these cars were flawless. The motors never overheated, never spit or sputtered, not even a crunching gear shift. I was shooting from inside the car as we lapped the track. Accelerating up the hill, zap, zap, zap pulling without delay. These cars are fun! But as the instructors kept stressing, these may be Ferrari’s, but you are driving them, without you the car doesn’t know where to go. Great advice.

Friday was amazing, I went to the CA Speedway, It was media day sponsored by Ferrari. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I knew I had to go. I walked freely through the pits, around the stalls where the cars are prepped, chatting with the owners, drivers, mechanics,…I talked with the owner of a 57 Maserati single seater race car while the owner/driver was doing final prep before taking it out. He said he had it for 20 years, truly beautiful. As we talked a golf cart pulled up with an elderly passenger, I looked at the gentleman and thought “that looks like Phil Hill” Phil Hill used to drive for Ferrari back in the 50’s and 60’s, he was the only american to drive for Mr Ferrari, and win, and win, and win, This guy was not only cool, he was kind and approachable, so I asked “Is that Phil Hill?” ..oh yeah, thats Phil,….. I introduced myself, we shook hands, the same hands that steered so many cars, in so many races, over so many memories, I thanked him for keeping racing alive, preserving such a precious time in racing, I told him about a magazine from 1962, Cavalier, a mens magazine, with him on the cover, he remembered it and smiled, I got a picture with him too, then his son came over, Derek Hill in his race suit, I got a great father son picture too!! For a few brief moments men my fathers age approached Phil with pictures of Ferrari’s they now own that Phil onced raced, they listened like children to every word, if you love cars then you know what I mean. I hope that maybe my images can make people feel the same way. Over the course of the day I saw him move all over the track in the heat of day. He is quite a hero. Check out my site for pics: www.evankleinfilms.comSo I was pretty excited after that, and started walking toward the track when I saw the Ferrari rep, He was excited to see me and asked if I was ready for my hot laps…Yeah, I’m ready, good, you’re next!!! So I got to ride at speed in a F430…at 140mph around the speedway, it was so fast, I got pics of the speedo doing 140, it was a little shakey, but holy crap, that was fast, we exited the pits onto the end of the straightaway into the oval, got right up to speed then braked hard for a sharp left into the infield, you felt the front end sqirm as we slowed, through a series of bends and turns, at this point I was hanging on, the driver turned 3 bends into one long straight, you really felt the sense of speed, the driver was using every inch of the track, I could hear the cones and barrels whiz by my open window, and a long drifting sweeper that exits back onto the track, and yes the sweeper was lined with barrels, yes more whizzing by, and onto the straight, somehow though I think he limited the run to 140 because there was room to go faster at the end of the straight, now I’m not complaining, 140 is really quite fun… and then we had lunch, grilled salmon with assorted vegetables and salads, I really felt special, then at lunch Matteo the rep ask’s if I would like to drive the new 559 Ferrari….uh yeah!!! so we went around the race tracks access roads…saw 100mph in a split second, that was cool!!! So how was my Friday…well I’m selling my Alfa Romeo Spider, its a 1978 in fantasic shape, color silver, fuel injection, on a scale from 1-10, its a 9. I know it may only be worth 7-8 grand, but I’m asking $160,000. Well….I gotta get a Ferrari somehow.