Texas DeLoreans - Rusty at The Game Preserve
Rusty's DeLorean can often be found parked outside of his 80's arcade, The Game Preserve, in the Woodlands, just north of Houston, Texas. The car stirs up the same sort of nostalgia as the pinball machines inside - and every passer-by during this portrait session felt compelled to get closer and see the car for themselves. Touching a DeLorean, for most people, is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
And with every curious spectator, Rusty gladly talked to them like they were the first to show interest in his DMC 12. I'm finding that each owner knows that ownership is much more than possessing a vehicle, it is spreading joy and preserving a cultural icon.
The portraits were a mix of digital and medium format film shots on a Hasselblad 500cm. We got some shots as an established business owner, and also channeled Rusty's inner-teenager.
The arcade was founded by Rusty and some arcade machine-collecting friends as a way to share their passion/addiction with the public. The Game Preserve is $15 on entry with unlimited games for the night.
I returned to play in the arcade recently and I completely lost track of time - by the end of the night I'd played only a fraction of the games in the place, including Street Fighter, Qbert, Virtua Cop, some early wooden pinball machines and (don't tell my kids) Fix it Felix.
