Peter Behrens's Blog, page 102

Northwest Passage

 

Autoliterate's "Highway Home" playlist is now available on Spotify, thanks to Jessica Marsh in Halifax...One track from the original "Highway Home" list didn't make it onto Spotify: a snowy version of Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage by Eleanor Elektra & Hawthorn (Heather Scott, Talor Holland). So you will have to listen to it here--a song and a singing you won't want to miss.

1978-80 Jeep CJ5

  David Branch caught the ranch Jeep in Fort Davis, Texas.

1967 Maserati Ghibli

An Iowa mechanic has to pay $7.2 Million after allegedly scamming repairs on classic cars...see Lawrence Hodges' story in Jalopnik: " Looks like you can’t trust all mechanics. Especially when you’re the millionaire owner of a rare car collection. The Des Moines Register reports that an Iowa mechanic has been ordered to pay over $7 million after he scammed the former CEO of Angie’s List on both repairs and classic car purchases...
          "The scamming began way back in 2010. Craig Hillinger was the owner of Healey Werks Corp. in Lawton, Iowa. Former Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle took his 1967 Maserati Ghibli to the shop for restoration... (AL: don't know what a Ghibli is but it sounds more expensive than, say, Ford's Aspire.)].   "According to the suit, Hillinger quoted Oesterle a timetable of one to two years to complete the work for a price tag of “no more than $200,000.” Except that’s not what happened. Four years later, Hillinger hit Oesterle with a $1 million invoice....In another instance, Hillinger convinced Oesterle to go in on a purchase with him of an Austin-Healey 100M sports car. Hillinger told Oesterle, who gave $50,000 for the car, that it was a coveted factory model but needed some assembly, according to the complaint. It stayed with Hillinger until 2021...       "When Oesterle finally received the vehicle, he “discovered that the 100M was not a factory 100M as Hillinger had promised,” the lawsuit states.Now Hillinger has to pay up. Iowa 3rd district superior court Judge James Daane ordered Hillinger to pay Oesterle $2.4 million in damages. But the damages, which were then tripled because of Iowa motor vehicle laws due to the “willful and wanton disregard” for Oesterle’s rights. Hillinger also has to cover Oesterle’s legal fees..."Here at AL we're not really focusing on Maserati (that's a plural noun, right?) but we did post this c.1966 Maserati Sebring in Maine last summah. And a recent Grantourismo, right  here in Cambridge.

Autoliterate's Songs for the Highway Home

J.W. Burleson photograph 

Red Molly, "Vincent Black Lightning"

The Cedars, "Used Cars"

 Lyle Lovett, "The Family Reserve"

Donovan Woods, "Portland Maine"

Bob Dylan, "Blind Willie McTell"

The Pogues, "I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day"

Margo Cilker, "Tehachapi"

Van Morrison, "Raglan Road"

The Waterboys, "That Was The River, This Is The Sea" 

Bob Dylan, "Series of Dreams"

 Billy Bragg, "Way Over Yonder In A Minor Key"

Emmylou Harris, "Waltz Across Texas Tonight"

Van Morrison, "Cyprus Avenue"

Seldom Scene.  "White Line"

Eleanor Elektra & Hawthorn, "Northwest Passage"

Dire Straits, "Skate Away"

Jolie Holland "South Louisiana"

Neil Young, Four Strong Winds

Sinead O'Connor. The Foggy Dew

Townes VanZandt "Snowin' on Raton"

Shawn Colvin, "This Must Be The Place"

Steve Earle, "Pilgrim"

                                      --thanks to Bill for the photo ("Park Bar, Boquillas, Coah.") and to Alex Emond, who keeps his ear close to the ground and turned up at least 2 of these that I had not heard before. And to Colin, for White Line. The Banff brotherhood, in other words.

Alfa Romeo Spider. Newton, Mass.

 

From Reid Cunningham: An unexpected find on a late mid-December afternoon in New England. The car was in Newton, Massachusetts. The regular registration and EZPass, along the season make it likely a daily driver for parts of the year. The paint was worn through in places, and the car was worn, with some bruising, but given the age, a nice driver. Hopefully the owner will keep it away from the winter road salt.

AL: my old friend Dave Inglis out in Brandon, Manitoba has a Spider Veloce. And Jonathan Welsh caught a mid-80s Alfa in N.J. How about this Alfa Romeo Giulia at Bonneville in 1966? And, since we're speaking Italian, here's a gorgeous 1972 Lancia Fulvia.

Philip Levine, "What Work Is"

WHAT WORK IS
We stand in the rain in a long linewaiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is—if you’re
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.
Forget you. This is about waiting,
shifting from one foot to another.
Feeling the light rain falling like mist
into your hair, blurring your vision
until you think you see your own brother
ahead of you, maybe ten places.
You rub your glasses with your fingers,
and of course it’s someone else’s brother,
narrower across the shoulders than
yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin
that does not hide the stubbornness,
the sad refusal to give in to
rain, to the hours of wasted waiting,
to the knowledge that somewhere ahead
a man is waiting who will say, “No,
we’re not hiring today,” for any
reason he wants. You love your brother,
now suddenly you can hardly stand
the love flooding you for your brother,
who’s not beside you or behind or
ahead because he’s home trying to   
sleep off a miserable night shift
at Cadillac so he can get up
before noon to study his German.
Works eight hours a night so he can sing
Wagner, the opera you hate most,
the worst music ever invented.
How long has it been since you told him
you loved him, held his wide shoulders,
opened your eyes wide and said those words,
and maybe kissed his cheek? You’ve never
done something so simple, so obvious,
not because you’re too young or too dumb,
not because you’re jealous or even mean
or incapable of crying in
the presence of another man, no,   
just because you don’t know what work is.
                                                                                  Philip Levine, “What Work Is” from What Work Is (Poems) Knopf, 1991. Copyright © 1992 by Philip Levine. 

1973 GMC Sierra Grande 2500, Nevada

 

From Michael Moore, in Nevada: "Our caretaker for Wall Spring and Parker Ranch, a diesel mechanic in one of his other [concurrent] lives, showed up with this GMC last week;
1973, first year for the squarebodies he was pleased to point out [built late ’72 so really an early one], and top of the line in its time…"

Jeepster Commando

From Markus Anstadt: "I don't know the exact year but these were produced from 1966-1971. Thisparticular vehicle is parked in a residential Denver neighborhood."AL: we posted an earlier edition (1948) of the  Jeepster a couple months ago. And a 1968 Jeepster Commando in Las Vegas, NM.
                      

1958 Chevrolet Del Ray sleeper

 

You've seen this car before. We love Sleepers. Like this 1964 Impala wagon. And this 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne. The '58s always appealed to me more than any tri-Five Chevy. Other '58s from GM were monstrous, however, notably the chrome-encrusted  '58 Buick, aka  Belchfire. Check out Hometown Buick for all you ever wanted to know about 1950s Buicks. Del Rays were the Chev stripper, I think. Salesman car. Except this unit has a 4-barrel Edelbrock carburetor and 4-on-the-floor; don't know if they ever came that way from the factory; likely not. We caught a 1958 Chevrolet Del Ray sedan in Colorado Springs a while back. A '58 Chevrolet Yeoman wagon, up in Maine, and 1958 Chevrolet Brookwood wagon in Cimarron, NM.

The Law of Dreams/ La Legge Dei Sogni

 

Have you read my first novel, The Law of Dreams? Cover I like best: the Italian edition, published by Einaudi.