Peter Behrens's Blog, page 124

A Sequence of Chevys

All in Santa Barbara County and not that long ago,



 

Studebakers, etc.

  If you're autoliterate, and of a certain age, you can probably identify most of these. We found them at Motorland in Arundel, Maine.

1948 Willys Jeepster

 

This is Jeep just home from the war. Must have seemed strange to a few ex-GI's--maybe amusing--to see a bright yellow convertible edition of their ubiquitous little WWII workhorse cruising the hometown boulevards. This unit is for sale at Motorland in Maine, and there's a 1950 Jeepster on the block today at Hemmings.

1972 Pontiac Catalina convertible

from Reid Cunningham, in Milford, NH. "I was excited to stumble across this 1972 Catalina convertible. In high school I drove a 1972 Pontiac Granville convertible, a higher trim level on a slightly longer wheelbase. This Catalina, I am sure, moves nicely with the 400, likely with a 2 barrel carburetor. The Granvilles all came with the 455 and a 4 barrel, which in high school with a heavy foot would deliver single digit gas mileage. Brown is such a 70's color, but it looks great with the brown interior. My Granville had an equally 70's look, avocado green with a green interior and green top. (The same green as my mother's Whirlpool washer dryer combo of the same vintage). It did not look as handsome as this Catalina, $125 in the mid 80's got a car with rust, dents and a tattered roof patched with duct tape (but with a well-running engine once I'd replaced the coil and plugs)."

AL: Our favorite car of all time? For some reason, it has to be '59 Pontiac. Catalina preferred.

Buick Wildcat concept

 

Buick's going all-electric with its new Wildcat concept car. More at Green Car Reports. The last Wildcat we posted was 1966 Buick Wildcat up in–where else?–Saskatchewan. Then there was that sleek 1969 Buick Wildcat we spotted up in Montréal.

Willys Jeep Station Wagon, Durango CO

Sam Harper caught this Jeep in Colorado. Here's our post on Brooks Stevens, designer of the 1947-65 Jeeps. And here's a 1959 Jeep Station Wagon we found in Blue Hill, Maine, and another out on Isle au Haut.

1975 Chevrolet Suburban

From David Branch. in Far-West Texas: "This one didn’t get away. It’s a Marfa truck, also sold new here, I believe at Casner Motors. Originally owned by Bascom Webb and used among other things for trips to a family ranch in Chihuahua. Sold to Johnny Calderon who had a Spanish Rock and R&B band called Johnny and The Rockets. Was a gig truck for him, used touring Texas and New Mexico. Then sold to Joe Sanchez, from whom I bought it. He was a coach at Marfa High and drove it to away games and tournaments. It sat in his backyard for about 12 years (I actually remember it from when it was still driving around on the streets) with plans to work on it. He had the seats reupholstered and some engine work done but never drove it again. I was able to talk it off of him. It’s taken some work over the last year and a half to get it up to snuff but she’s looking sharp after a pre-road trip detail & service. I’m driving her to Virginia on Monday to attend my sister’s wedding. Gonna take a week or so and wander home. Say a prayer to the square body gods for me. See you ‘round campus."



AL note: The Marfa-to Maine 1975 C10: (GMC Sierra Grande 1500 with a Chevy tailgate). Many Texas trucks used to have dealers' names engraved on bumper. Bumpers were often dealer-installed.

Memorial Day 1965 Ford Mustang convertible

We've posted this car before...belongs to one of our son's baseball coaches. It's always a treat to see on the springtime streets of Cambridge, Mass.

Pavel Romaniko: The Nostalgia Project

 

Untitled (Accident) 2016
archival pigment print 16x20

An excerpt from the Artist's Statement in Pavel Romaniko's The Nostalgia Project:  The project "Nostalgia" consists of large photographic prints, objects, and video projections. ...The work was started in 2008 as reflection on such historical precedents. At that time the president Putin of Russia in a push to keep power increased his pressure on the country's remaining institutes of democracy, while maintaining the appearance of pseudo democratic state. Putin's grasp on power reminded of the porosity of monolithic concepts of freedom, truth and justice in still very young democratic state. Putin Russia's ruling elite seemed longingly keen on returning to the shores of its Soviet past, systematically and meticulously encroaching onto its own peoples' freedoms and liberties...

 

Jack Kerouac, Lowell and P'tit Canada

AL spent an afternoon in Lowell, Mass. this spring and will go back to dig deeper into a fascinating community. We also had a chance to visit UMAss Lowell's Kerouac archive. Lowell was a textile town, from the 1840s into 1950s when the New England  textile industry began moving down South, at first, and then offshore to Asia. French Canadian immigrants were always a large component of the labor force in most of these redbrick mills. Starting during the Civil War, emigration from Quebec and New Brunswick continued into the 1950s and 60s and faced the usual bigotry and paranoia directed at those from away. (See The French Canadian Conspiracy to Invade the United States )Cambodian immigrants settled in Lowell starting in the 1970s. (See photos of a Buddhist temple, below). Kerouac's first language was French. He grew up in a couple of neighborhoods--Pawtucketville and P'tit Canada––that were heavily French Canadian back in the day. Ti-Jean had a complicated relationship to everything, including his French Canadian identity, which doesn't really figure in his "Lowell" novel, The Town and the City. We've posted on P'tit Canadas in other New England cities like Biddeford Maine and Lewiston, Maine so have a look, please. It's a big part of New England's history that has been largely ignored.r