Inside GM's Heritage Center

[SBK]

I recently attended an event at the General Motors Heritage Center. This is a private GM facility which acts as a sort of museum for the company. GM has around 800 vehicles in its Heritage Collection, an interesting and eclectic mix of concept cars, project vehicles, one-offs, and milestones. At any given time, there is a fraction of the collection on display at the Center, on this day there were ~180 vehicles being shown. There were several amazing and historic vehicles on display, including two of the Firebird concept cars, the Mako Shark and Manta Ray Corvettes, and the Y-Job.

Due to A/V requirements for the event, the light was particularly poor, so I reached for the largest aperture in my bag as I wanted to shoot strictly available light - my 50/1.4. On a crop body this is pretty tight for indoor car shots, but I did my best with the conditions and the gear I had on hand. In spite of what you see below, I did take a number of full-vehicle shots, but shooting the 50mm presented me with a fun challenge to take interesting photos with obvious space and foot-zoom constraints.

The EXIF data is intact in the images as posted so I won't post it, but most shots were wide open or stopped back just a bit as I was hurting for light. As you'll see in the last image, the Heritage Center has a very nice collection of neon representing it's brands and history as well, so you'll see plenty of colorful reflection in the paint and chrome of these beautiful vehicles.

I'll come back and update the thread with a link to a gallery of around 60 shots once it's complete, but I've linked to a few here for c&c. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed my day at the Heritage Center!

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-01.jpg

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-02.jpg

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-03.jpg

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-04.jpg

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-05.jpg

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-06.jpg

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-07.jpg

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-08.jpg

[RadAL]

I had the chance of seeing the mako sharks in 2003 :) nice pictures.

[Boxer_kidd]

Nice pictures, a little un-original but still nice

[sugarzebra]

Very nice series....it would be great to see more of the Mako Shark. The header/side pipe shot is great.

[SBK]

Thanks all for the feedback on the shots.

RadAL - The Mako and Manta are great historic concepts. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to check them out in person. The Firebird concepts were very cool as well, I had seen photos before, and read about them in books when I was younger, so it was particularly fun to see them after all these years in person. I hope you enjoyed your experience as well!

Scott - I have some more of the Mako - I'll post up a link when they're ready.

Boxer_kidd - Thank you for the comments, but what kinds of improvements would you suggest? I'm pretty new to this myself, so constructive suggestions are always welcome.

[Darsk47]

Hey Mark - these are great. I was in the center last week, but didn't fare as well as you did. Did you get any shots of the Buick Blackhawk? If so, please post one.

Cheers!

[SBK]

I only captured one shot of the Blackhawk, and it's not particularly good - more a simple snapshot than anything. Here it is, my apologies to the POTN Mods if I am somehow breaking a sharing rule by posting an additional image.

Darsk47, sorry it's not a better shot! :oops:

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/blackhawk.jpg

[Darsk47]

Sweet! I'd love to see that in the Woodward Dream Cruise.....

Thanks for the additional post.

[NukeGM]

Great shots, can't wait for the link :)

[PostShawn]

Nice shots. I have heard about that place. Some awesome cars in there.

[Red73]

Great pictures. Do you have any more pictures of the vettes at the center?

[peacock]

Lovely looking series of shots , interesting too ! only downside is they aint mopars:lol:

[SBK]

Great pictures. Do you have any more pictures of the vettes at the center?

Indeed I do!
(Apparently the folks at the Center have a healthy sense of humor)

http://www.relentlesstech.com/images/GMHC-vettes.jpg

Unfortunately, most of the Corvettes were lined up like "books on a shelf" as seen in one of the posted images. This didn't give much opportunity for nice shots, but I may have a couple more in there somewhere. I'll give a look. Most of the Corvette photos were of the Mako and Manta Ray as they were most easily captured during my visit to the Heritage Center.

[jdawg]

Do you still have a link to these photos? I will be attending the Woodward and have an invite to the Heritage Center next Friday. Would love to see what I can expect. Now that I know the lighting isn't so good I can prepare ahead of time.

[stathunter]

Joel---can you bring a "friend" with you?

Sincerely,
Your Friend Scott

[jdawg]

Too late....I'm stuck with my father-n-law as a guest. :mad: