RANDY'S RING AND PINION CALENDAR FEATURES BOB KROPP'S SUPERBIRD

Photos and text by Bob Kropp

One day a friend, Dave, with a cool 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, sent me an email saying that Randy's was looking for cars for their new calendar and he thought our car would make an impression on them.

They wanted two photos of each car submitted, so I picked two of my favorite ones and sent them in. The next day, their art coordinator wrote back saying, "Hell yes, we want a wing thing!" They sent us a form to sign giving them rights to use the car for their advertising.

A date was set in late May of 2010. We were asked to come to a sound stage in a nearby suburb of Ballard, where the photos would be taken indoors. The weather was not perfect, but not so bad that I would not drive the car the sixty miles to the sound stage, as anybody who knows me, know that all I need is an excuse to DRIVE the Bird! All the other cars arrived in trailers and the head photographer was amazed that we drove there. My friend, Bill and I wiped the car down and then went inside to see what we were to do next.

Kevin was in charger of the shoot and said for us to get the car inside the building which was no small task. The passageway was very narrow and they had to jack the rear end of the car up and set the tires on dollies. They hand-maneuvered the car into position to get it through the doorway. Once inside there was plenty of room to maneuver the car into position.

Randy shoots fifteen cars at a time, five each day for three days. There are three models and they use two per car, so sometime in the future, the car may appear in another calendar with the second model. Randy's spares not expense and they do a first-class job of taking care of the cars and the owners. They supplied a brunch and we all sat down and talked cars for the lunch period.

The first model, Diana, was dressed in a '50s style look and the second, Aliza, was dressed in a Daisy Duke style. They shot pictures for about two hours looking at each one on the computer and then if not what they wanted, they would delete it and shoot again. At this time, we were allowed to take our own photos of the actions, but could not use the flash mode. I took about twenty pictures at this time. When it was all said and done, I received a disc with 245 pictures they kept.

On the wall was an event log. Just like in the calendar, we were dead smack in the middle. I think they really, really wanted the Superbird there.

The car was then over-laid into a backdrop they chose. I do not know how they choose the back drop of which picture they used as we were not part of that. Randy takes the girls to the SEMA show in Las Vegas and they autograph the calendar and posters there. Needless to say, when they get back i want to get more calendars and posters!

It was a BLAST and now that the car is done it is getting the notoriety that it deserves. I got more good news, as the Superbird was picked as the #1 car in the O'Reilly's Automotive Parts Employee Internet Car Show and appeared in their calendar for 2011. Two calendars in one year! I'm glad to see that other people recognize how great these cars are.



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