Mark Miremont
Apr 5, 2009
While I’m sure that many readers have spent time drooling over Mark Miremont’s lovelies after we posted his article last January, we wanted to flip the script and talk to him about his other lovelies – the cars in his garage. Ever since my early life crisis when I worked relentlessly fabricating fixtures and roughing out parts for my dad’s bike, I’ve stalked Mark’s hot rod work. He tells me that he “just makes [the cars] fun to drive”, but I think anyone can race them, not everyone can take them apart, make them faster, give them a growl and finish them off with a paint job like Satine. That takes precise talent, and you can watch it all here.
What is your favorite car that you’ve built?
Well for sentimental reasons, I like the ‘56 Cadillac “Satine”. I built her for a girlfriend from Copenhagen so I could teach her how to drive when she visited me in NY. But the most rewarding restoration has been “Lucky”, the ‘55 Cadillac Fleetwood. I found her outside of Vegas and moved out there last winter to bring her back to life. She had been sitting there in the desert for several years, but in quick order I got her running and pounded out the dents and brought her down to bare metal, then painted her gold metal flake and had an amazing pinstriper, Zorac, go nuts on her. I was driving her down the strip within 6 weeks of finding her.
Did you name her “Lucky” because of finding it near Vegas?
Yes. That and that the ‘55 Fleetwood is the car most closely associated with Elvis and “Lucky” was his character’s name in the film, “Viva Las Vegas”.
What would be your dream car?
There are a few high end cars that I would like to be a caretaker of for a while: I’ve been obsessing over saloon-styled bodies like the ‘56 Hooper bodied Bentley, 1949 Delahaye 165 and Jaguar Mark IX. But more practically, I love 57-61 Studebaker Hawks. A ‘61 Silverhawk was my first great car and I sold her to finance a film and I have never been as happy behind the wheel since. So I am focusing my search on a Studebaker hawk. I’ve done some designs that involve chopping the top and I know it would be an amazing result. It’s hard to improve on Raymond Lowey, but it can be done.
How do you split your time between the cars and photography?
There’s no conflict between them. Neither is a full time occupation. I go where the inspiration is at any given moment. The work finds me and I just go with it.
What camera do you shoot with?
Nikons. Film for the figurative work and portraits and digital for snapshots. I use the lowest end consumer cameras they make. Cameras aren’t very important to my process. A good painter could make a masterpiece using house painting brushes and a good writer isn’t going to be stopped when using pen and pad instead of a laptop. They are just tools used to materialize visions.
Why do you think you’ve become so popular over seas?
I don’t know.
Advice for emerging photographers?
Its the same advice I would give anyone doing anything: Do what you love.
What’s your favorite leisure activity and why?
I don’t have any leisure time because I do what I love and never clock out.
See more of Mark’s photography on his website.
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My dream car is the Porsche 911 or the new Nissan GTR. those cars are really great.”‘;