Peter Behrens's Blog, page 141

1986 Toyota Land Cruiser

These trucks have a calm and utilitarian demeanor. We spotted this unit on a bright, cold winter day in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  I suspect these Land Cruisers were more reliable than the contemporary Land Rovers; I could be wrong. And Land Rover's aluminum body was perhaps a better bet than Japanese steel. We caught an earlier edition Land Cruiser  with a serious rust problem in Cambridge. And posted another Land Cruiser of this era from the Bay Area a while ago. Another FJ55 was on the block at BaT a while back. Also at Bat: a stunning fj45.  Here's a 1990 Land Cruiser we spotted in Inman Square, Cambridge. And a 1978 FJ40, posted from Colorado.

 

VW on the PCH

 VW Bus on the PCH.  Jens Ochlich photo. Prints for sale at PurePhoto

Land Rover Defender, Cambridge (Massachusetts)

  There are several Land Rovers buzzing around Cambridge. We're not up on the nomenclature, but here's another short-wheelbase LR that posted a while back. And a 110...and another.

1964 Pontiac Catalina

  You know we have a thing for Pontiacs from 1959-69. This one's on the block at Hemmings.

Mary Louise Geering and the 1985 Buick Skylark

From Mary Louise Geering: "Here is the scoop on my 1985 Buick: I got it from my Aunt Barbara in 1997 with only 26,000 miles on the odometer. She had bought it new, and it was kept garaged in West Virginia for 12 years. I got it as a cream puff and then drove it in Brooklyn, NY for 19 years, which was quite a change of scenery for this baby. It ran great all those years - getting 28 mpg on the highway - and made countless trips to Boston, Buffalo and New Jersey as well as forays to Kentucky, Mississippi and Omaha. By its 29th year it was looking pretty grubby with lots of rust above and below.                   "So, for its 30th birthday I decided to give it a facelift. "I painted it sky blue with a 1 and 1/2" brush with my custom mix of Rustoleum. The first coat was a little pale, so I gave it a second coat with a deeper blue. My friend Ted reconstructed the grill and did the Bondo work as the fumes make me sick. We got most of the rust off with naval jelly and then I got to work with my little brush in his yard out on the North Fork of Long Island. I drove it looking pristine for a year and got lots of waves, smiles and requests for photos. "Then, unfortunately it met its demise as I was corralled in fast-moving traffic over a raised manhole in Soho where they were grading the street. There should have been hazard cones, but honestly the street should have been closed as it was a land mine. I knew the resounding "crack!" was probably fatal, but it still ran like a tank albeit louder. I had planned to drive to Buffalo and decided to have my mechanic to take a look. He found a broken engine mount, cracked oil pan, twisted subframe, mangled exhaust, and cracked bell housing resting on the engine. It was deemed unsafe to drive and too rusty to attempt repairing. Alas, it was the end of an era! I donated it to the Humane Society through an auction house. I also filed a meticulous claim against the city of NY which resulted in a $750 payout, which seemed pretty good to me after all the damage and years and mileage. It had about 190,000 miles. I don't know for sure since the odometer broke at about 110,000 as well as the speedometer. My father was incredulous that I could drive all over with no spedometer, but I told him it was like riding a horse since I've been driving for 42 years."

1951 Mercury Lead Sled Hits the High Road.

from the NYT:
    "A customized 1951 Mercury coupe astonished aficionados over the weekend, selling for $1.95 million at the Mecum collector car auction in Kissimmee, Fla., outpacing the vehicle’s presale estimate of up to $1.25 million. The two-tone green coupe — known as the Hirohata Merc for the 21-year-old Japanese American Navy veteran, Masato Hirohata, who commissioned it in 1952 — is a prime example of the custom car scene that blossomed in Southern California at that time...'This sale is a record for a 1951 Mercury, and the highest-selling custom car that wasn’t a movie or TV show car,' John Wiley, manager of valuation analytics at the classic car insurer Hagerty, said on Sunday. 'The continuing relevance of the Hirohata Merc thrills us. A car that was customized almost 70 years ago, within the context of an emerging American art form, is still revered today.'
    "Few cars share the Merc’s pedigree. It was built by many of the most prominent names in the midcentury Southern California custom car scene, including George Barris..."
AL has posted a bunch of early-50s Mercs, some of them leaded. Here's Mercury Charlie's '51. A lead-free '49 Merc for sale in Saskatchewan a while back. A funky, faded '49 spotted in the Sierras. A '50 in Ely, Nevada. And a 1951 Mercury Monarch in Vancouver.
from Wikipedia: In automotive usage, a lead sled is a standard production automobile with a body heavily modified in particular ways (see below); especially, though not exclusively, a 1949, 1950 or 1951 model year Ford 'Shoebox' or Mercury Eight car. In the name, "lead" (as in the heavy metal) refers to the heavy weight of the body, and "sled" refers to the lowering of the vehicle, giving these vehicles the appearance that they were "slip sliding" down the highway.
Period auto body repair, by an auto body mechanic used to be achieved through a combination of re-shaping sheet metal using specialist hand tools and the application of molten lead to damaged body panels, fulfilling the role of more modern polyester fillers.


 

"Humidity" by Kate Northrop

 .

            Humidity

 

 

 

I was still a girl.  At dusk, I saw the rows of pear trees, trunks brushed halfway up in lime, running back over the hillside.  In the end

 

 

.  I turned myself into a headlight.  C’mon out, you janky misty Motherfuckers—

 

.  Drawn to change landing in a dish of change (paper clips, safety pins), I am like my mother, oh very like

 

.  Dropping, at night, toward a runway’s landing lights? Voices in the ribs of a shipwreck

 

. Amy Lord’s older brothers, I remember, jumped down, one with a boom box.  Little Feat, or some shit, carried on through the pines

 

.  (Earlier they’d been on top of the gates, getting high)

 

.  A driver lays on the horn.  The crows, gathered around a

dead crow on Sheridan, scatter overhead.  They keep returning then breaking up, returning and breaking up

.  The orchard, of course, was an order

 

.  Now we live in Laramie, off I-80, the acceleration of semis, leveling out after the descent, a constant, throaty presence

 

.  The bigger girls kept walking up the trail, then they turned, they walked back through us

-Kate Northrop

(Humidity  first appeared in Sugar House, vol. 22)

Jeep Cherokee (4x4)x4...

They come in waves. Last week it was Cherokees. The 1984-2001 edition. One of the earliest SUVs. The first three in Charlotte NC, the last in Somerville MA. Don't know much about these, but I prefer their simple style to the ubiquitous Jeep Wranglers, which all look kinda bogus and faux-manly. Here's a 1977 Cherokee for reference.BTW there's a restored 1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer on the block at Hemmings this month (photo at bottom of this post.)And let's not forget the essential original '43 Jeep--spotted last month in NYC.

 

Kate Northrop, "Humidity"

                                              Winky Lewis ©2022

             

Humidity

 

 I was still a girl.  At dusk, I saw 

 the rows of pear trees, trunks 

 brushed halfway up in lime, 

 running back over the hillside. 

 In the end

 

 

 . I turned myself into a 

 headlight.  C’mon out, you janky

 misty Motherfuckers—

 

 . Drawn to change landing in 

  a dish of change (paper clips,

  safety pins), I am like my

  mother, oh very like

 

 . Dropping, at night, toward a 

 runway’s landing lights? 

 Voices in the ribs of a

 shipwreck

 

 . Amy Lord’s older brothers, I

  remember, jumped down, 

  one with a boom box. Little Feat,

  or some shit, carried on 

  through the pines

 

 . (Earlier they’d been on top 

of the gates, getting high)

 

 . A driver lays on the horn.  

 The crows, gathered around a

 dead crow on Sheridan, scatter

 overhead.  They keep 

 returning then breaking up, 

 returning and breaking up

 

 . The orchard, of course, was 

 an order

 . Now we live in Laramie, off 

 I-80, the acceleration of semis, 

 leveling out after the descent, a 

 constant, throaty presence

 

 . The bigger girls kept walking

  up the trail, then they turned,

  they walked back through us

                        -Kate Northrop

               "Humidity" first appeared in SugarHouse, vol. 22

Dodge Power Wagon 150

Our favorite truck in Cambridge, Mass. We've had our eye on it for years.