14-Vehicle Light Painting
We’ve got a great story to share about an amazing 14-vehicle light painting project and how it came to fruition! Joannie and I have recently returned from a fantastic trip to Florida. The whole trip came together because of a great guy named Steve.
We met Steve at Back to the Fifties at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds last June. (As a side note, we will be there once again this year.) Steve took one look at our light paintings and told us that we just had to come to the Cars on 5th Concours in Naples, Florida. Well, it’s not exactly easy to get into car shows like that, so we told him that if he could make it happen, we would love to be there!
We were excited at the possibility of exhibiting at such a prestigious car show, but people say things to us at shows all the time. Many times, it’s just small talk, and nothing happens. Well, not this time.
A few weeks later, Steve got in touch with us to say that he’d contacted the guy who makes things happen at Cars on 5th, Tom O’Riordan. Soon after, Tom emailed me to tell us that “we were in” and he would contact us in the fall with more details. (On another side note, we’ve been told that we’re invited back in 2026, too!)
We were going to Florida!
Cars on 5th Concours in Naples, Florida
The 21st annual Cars on 5th Concours was held on Saturday, February 8th, on beautiful 5th Avenue South in Naples. This amazing event is organized by the Naples Chapter of the Ferrari Club of America. It is the largest annual one-day event in Naples. Hundreds of luxury vehicles were there, including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Porsches, and Corvettes. All of them are on display along 5th Avenue South and the surrounding area.
Joannie is meeting with a potential client at our booth during the 2025 Cars on 5th Concours in Naples.
In addition, there were 25 Ford GTs on display, as well as 16 classic Porsche 356s in 2025!
While seeing hundreds of amazing cars up close is super cool, the main purpose of Cars on 5th is to raise money for a wonderful cause: St. Matthew’s House.
Raising Money for St. Matthew’s House
For over 35 years, St. Matthew’s House has been helping Southwest Florida residents in need. Its mission is to ensure that no one experiencing hunger, homelessness, or addiction is alone or without a pathway for their journey. They help people get back on their feet with meals, shelter, and life-changing rehab programs. It takes lots of money to do that.
Enter the Cars on 5th and the Naples Automotive Experience.
The previous fund-raising record was $1.7 million. This year, $2.7 million was raised! This money can serve 2 million meals or put 60 people through life-changing rehab programs. Wow!
The Jetport Reception
Not only did Tom invite us to show our light painting photography at the Cars on 5th Concours, but he also asked us to be a part of the Jetport Reception, held the night before, at the Northern Jet Hanger at the Naples Airport.
A candid photo of Joannie was taken during our set up for the Jetport Reception that night.
This was one of several events that helped to raise all that money for St. Matthew’s House. Guests at the Jetport Reception got to indulge in luxury and excitement and enjoy a thrilling lineup of exclusive cars, jets, auction items, and surprise entertainment. That surprise entertainment was an appearance by “Mr. Car Guy”, Jay Leno!
Jay Leno and Tom O’Riordan on the big screen during the Jetport Reception.
All of this happened before we even thought about creating Steve’s 14-vehicle light painting!
Hitting The Road in “The Enterprise D”
To get everything we needed to display our light paintings in Florida, air travel was simply out of the question. That meant loading up “The Enterprise D”, our 2023 Honda Odyssey. And we do mean LOADED!
Here’s the “Enterprise D”, all loaded (and we mean loaded) and ready to go to Florida!
In addition to our Light Painting tent, tables, sample prints and books, and display stands, we also brought all of our light painting gear and camera equipment! And, of course, we had our regular luggage, as well as our golf clubs, in there as well.
The plan was to do a couple of light painting projects that we have lined up in Alabama and North Carolina on our way down to Florida or on the way back home. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. All of the fun below-zero weather we had in Minnesota was leaking its way to northern Florida. With nighttime temps in the teens and twenties, we were not able to do either of those outdoor projects. They will now happen later in the spring or summer.
Steve’s Amazing 14-Vehicle Light Painting
Well, now you know how and why we were there. Now, here’s the rest of the story, more specifically about this cool 14-vehicle light painting that we created for Steve.
Steve stopped by to see us at our booth during Cars on 5th. While he was there, I asked him (ok, maybe begged) if we could see his garage while we were down in Florida. The day after the show, Steve was so gracious to have Joannie and me at his place for a visit on our way back to Fort Myers. We were staying there with our good friends, Wayne and Sally, for a few days.
The Visit
Joannie and I both thought that this would be a quick visit. Boy, were we in for a big surprise! It seemed like we were there for about 15 minutes, but it was more like 3 hours (it could have easily been longer)! Steve’s garage is truly amazing! Steve is a great storyteller, too.
Joannie always looks great, but she looks even better in the 2024 Chevrolet Z06 Corvette Coupe 3LZ!
Most of the art, memorabilia, and the many items that he has on display, and the vehicles themselves, have a story. Steve kept showing us around and talking about everything that we were seeing. He was so kind with his time that afternoon. I wanted to stay longer, but we’d already taken a bunch of his time.
Before we left, I offered to create a light painting for him so he could see just what goes into creating our artworks. Steve agreed, and a date was set for the following Thursday afternoon. Since it would be created inside, we could photograph his light painting project during the daytime. That turned out to be a good thing as we ended up being there for about 9 hours!
The Stars of the Show
I had a real dilemma.
At our visit, Steve told me that I could decide what I wanted to light paint in his amazing collection and garage. I had a difficult time sleeping the next couple of nights, trying to decide what to create. Every one of the vehicles in Steve’s collection is worthy of a light painting of their own.
Joannie looks great in blue, especially when it’s a blue 1957 C1 Corvette!
Steve kind of bailed me out on this one. When we arrived to create the project, I shared a couple of my ideas, he suggested having several vehicles in the image. Once we were done positioning them for the shoot, the final number ended up being 14! This would be the most ambitious light painting project that we’ve attempted, vehicles-wise!
As a side note, the previous record was 8 vehicles, 5 cars, and 3 motorcycles, which we created for Dave just last fall! Here’s the link to take a peek at that beautiful light painting project.
So, without further ado, let’s feature each one of Steve’s vehicles in the order that we light painted them.
Light Painting the 1957 C1 Corvette
The light painted photograph of the amazing 1957 C1 Corvette!
This stunning 1957 C1 Corvette has a 283 CID/270 horsepower Chevrolet Engine with Dual Carter 4-barrel carburetors. It’s immaculate paint job is factory Artic Blue with Silver Coves. It has a Beige Interior, and it has a Beige Convertible Top. It is 1 of just 137 Corvettes built with this color combination.
The full restoration on this beauty, and the next Corvette, was done by Kiss’s Classic Cars and Collision, Inc. in Newport, Minnesota.
Light Painting the 1960 C1 Corvette
The finished light painting of Steve’s 1960 C1 Corvette, a 2-time Triple Diamond Winner!
With a build date of January 1960 and Production #10261, this wonderful 1960 C1 Corvette has a 283 CID engine with Dual 4-barrel carburetors. It’s painted in Factory Ermine White with Sateen Silver Coves and has a stunning red interior. It has 100,000 original miles and was restored in June 2011 using 98% original parts by Kiss’s Classic Cars and Collision, Inc.
This Stunning 1960 C1 Corvette is a 2-Time Triple Diamond Winner!
The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) gives this award. To be eligible for the Triple Diamond award, a Corvette must meet the following criteria: NCRS Top Flight, NCRS 4 or 5 Star Bowtie, Bloomington Gold Certification, and Bloomington Survivor. The Triple Diamond award is considered the ultimate achievement for Corvette owners.
Light Painting the 1965 C2 Corvette Coupe
Here’s the light painting of the 1965 C2 Corvette Coupe.
This fantastic Nassau Blue 1965 C2 Corvette is an all-original car with only 10,000 actual miles on it! It has a 327 CID with 300 horsepower and an automatic transmission. It also has factory air conditioning. A unique fact about this car is that it was ordered without the radio option!
Light Painting the 1969 C3 Corvette Coupe
Steve’s 1969 C3 Corvette Coupe, all light painted and ready to go!
Another all-factory original, a 1969 C3 Corvette with a Cam Am White exterior and a stunning red interior. This baby has a 427 CID engine with 345 horsepower and a rare Turbo Hydra-Matic Automatic Transmission. This was a very rare engine and transmission combination in 1969.
Light Painting the 1993 C4 Corvette Convertible ZR1
Here’s the light painted 1993 C4 Corvette Convertible ZR1. What a stunning color!
With beautiful Aqua Metallic paint and a white convertible top, this 1993 C4 Corvette Converitble ZR1 has a 405 horsepower engine with the acclaimed ZF 6-speed manual transmission. This tranny was standard in the ZR-1 in 1993.
Light Painting the 2013 C6 Corvette Convertible – 50th Anniversary Edition
The light painting of the 2013 50th Anniversary Edition C6 Corvette Convertible. Just a wonderful automobile!
With a 427 CID engine that puts out 505 horsepower along with a ZF 6-speed manual transmission, this Artic White 2013 C6 Corvette Convertible is a stunner! It also features a Carbon-fiber splitter and a kick-up Decklid spoiler to complement its cool two-toned blue convertible top!
The 50th Anniversary Edition interior features Alcantara on the steering wheel and shift knob with Mulan leather door panels and a leather dashboard. It runs on ZR1 Michelin run-flat tires, stops quickly with six-piston brakes, and rides smoothly on Magnetorheological shocks.
Light painting the 2016 C7 Corvette Convertible Z06
Here’s the final light-painted photo of the 2016 C7 Corvette Convertible Z06. Sweet!
The 2016 Corvette Z06 Convertible had an original MSRP of $87,520. At that time, it was one of the fastest road cars in the world. With a top speed of 195 mph, it could go from 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds with its 650 horsepower engine and Hydramatic 8L90 eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters.
This hot Corvette has a Torch Red exterior with an Adrenaline Red interior. Sweet!
Light Painting 1933 Ford Sedan – The “Gangster Car”
There’s one more Corvette to go, but we light painted it last. Up next is Steve’s “Gangster Car”!
The light painted vehicle shown below on the left is a 1933 Ford Model Y. This 4-door sedan is pretty much original on the outside and the interior, but it now has a modern drivetrain featuring a 350 CID motor with an automatic transmission and air conditioning. Just plain cool!
These two are amazing as well! Here are the light painted 1933 Ford Sedan and the eye-catching yellow 1953 Chevy Five-Window Truck. Very cool!
Light Painting the 1953 Chevy Truck
On the left in the photo above is a stunning 1953 Chevy. This one stands out in a crowd! Steve’s bright yellow truck is formally called a ’53 Chevy Five-Window, with the original straight 6 engine and 3-speed manual transmission. This awesome truck is just beautiful, both inside and out!
Light Painting the NASCAR #24 Shell
Hanging from the ceiling is NASCAR Number 24. This is the shell that was part of a three-part display of a NASCAR race car in the museum at Charlotte International Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
Steve sent me the photo of NASCAR #24 (now on display in his garage) when it was on display at Charlotte International Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
In the display, it went up and down, showing the safety framework, along with the chassis and engine. It’s a replica fiberglass body signed by none other than Jeff Gordon himself!
Here’s NASCRA #24, autographed by Jeff Gordon, as well as Steve’s racing suit that he wore when he tracked at Brainerd International Raceway!
Steve’s Driver’s Suit
The driver’s suit that you see in the light painting above is the actual one that Steve wore when tracking (not racing) his Porsches on Brainerd International Raceway (BIR) in various Porsche Club events. He tracked a 1986 Porsche 944 and, later, a 1989 Porsche 944S2. Steve claims that was about 20 years ago, but I think that was just last summer, right, Steve? 😉
For those of you who don’t know much about BIR (that would include me), the Brainerd International Raceway is a road course and drag strip racing complex in the city of Brainerd, Minnesota. The complex has a 0.25 mi drag strip and overlapping 2.5 mile and 3.1 mile road courses. The complex also includes a kart track.
The BIR Performance Driving School is also located there. It is open to the general public and anyone 16 years of age or older with a valid driver’s license.
The Trio in the Back Row
The next three amazing cars were unfortunately delegated to “back-row” duty. Each of these fine automobiles would make for fabulous light-painted photographs all by themselves, but they happen to be in the rear of this image. That certainly doesn’t mean that we didn’t give them some attention that night!
The light painted versions are of the 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, a stunning 1959 Chevrolet El Camino, and a 1964 Chevrolet El Camino. I would love to light-paint these three all by themselves!
Light Painting the 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL
From the left, we start with a beautiful 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL hardtop. It has a 289 CID V-8 engine with a 4-speed transmission. It shows just over 24,000 miles on the odometer, which in its condition, could very well be all original miles. From what I can tell, looking it up on the internet, the paint color is called “Rangoon Red”.
Ford’s full-size 500XL was available with bucket seats and a special console trim package called “Lively One”. Ford stated in its sales literature that XL stood for “Xtra Lively”.
Light Painting the 1959 Chevrolet El Camino
The first of two beautiful El Caminos, Steve’s ’59 Chevy El Camino, was one of 22,246 built that year. The El Camino itself was discontinued after 1960 and then reintroduced in 1964. Steve’s beauty was a complete ground-up restoration.
This one has a 383 CID small block engine from JE Motorsports, as well as a 700R-4 transmission.
Other features of the remarkable car are:
- Currie 9’ rear end
- Flaming River Steering Column
- Goodrich T/A tires
- Classic Instruments
- Vintage Air Conditioning
The stunning two-tone paint job on this car is BASF Glasurit Porsche Dark Blue Metallic over Porsche Artic Silver Metallic. Wow, just wow!
Light Painting the 1964 Chevrolet El Camino
The ’64 Chevy El Camino was the first year of the 2nd generation El Camino. This cool “Ermine White” model has L-3048 Red leather bucket seats. It features a 283 CID engine along with a 4-speed transmission. As mentioned earlier, El Caminos were not produced in 1961, 62, or 63.
Light Painting the 2024 Chevrolet Z06 Corvette Coupe 3LZ
Last but certainly not least, we have this stunning 2024 Z06 Corvette Coupe 3LZ. This model was the top-of-the-line Corvette available in 2024. The paint color is Artic White, and, as you can see in its light painting, it has beautiful Adrenaline Red Napa leather GT2 seats with carbon fiber trim.
Here’s the light painting of the 2024 Chevrolet Z06 Corvette Coupe 3LZ. An amazing car for sure! My tiny claim to fame is that I got to drive it (maybe about 25 feet) to position it in the final image.
The power plant in this baby has 670 horsepower, and all that power is handled with a smooth 8-speed automatic transmission. Among the many of its features, this ‘24 Z06 Corvette Coupe 3LZ has a removable roof that stows away nicely in the engine compartment.
The Final 14-Vehicle Light-Painted Artwork
In addition to this cool 14-vehicle light painting project, we created another project while we were at Steve’s amazing garage that day (which turned into night). I won’t say much about it yet, but for now, let’s just say it has something to do with Route 66. We’ll post the whole story about it once we get it completed.
Meanwhile, here’s the completed 14-vehicle light painting that we created in Steve’s wonderful garage!
Here’s the final image!
All told, we took 646 images for this 14-vehicle light painting, and it took 241 of those images and over 275 layers in Photoshop to create this artwork for Steve! It took about 7 hours to set up and photograph, and roughly 40 hours of post-production work in Photoshop and other programs.
More To Come!
Joannie and I also light-painted a stunning 2024 Ford Mustang GT Performance in Fort Myers before we started heading back toward home. We’ll be posting that image and its story once it’s completed.
And I also got to do a fair amount of wildlife photography on this Florida trip, too! I’ll get around to posting a story about that down the road as well.
The Movie
Lastly, we’ve created a “Build Video” of Steve’s awesome light painting project and placed it on our YouTube channel. The link is below. Please take a peek at this video; there’s a lot of cool stuff happening in just a few minutes!
If you think this project is pretty cool, please check out our dedicated light painting website at MichaelAndersonLightPainting.com. There are tons of beautiful light painted projects, including:
- Cool light paintings of construction equipment.
- Police cars and fire trucks.
- Aircraft, restaurants, and other goodies.
- Lots of Corvettes!
- Many other cool cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
- There’s even an entire page of unique light paintings that we created at weddings!
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read our post. We hope that you enjoyed it! – M&J