Peter Behrens's Blog, page 142
January 19, 2022
1959 Chevrolet Biscayne Brookwood Wagon
Michael Moore photo: from the show in Benicia CA a while back. That chrome strip does say something like Impala, though. And another, below: unmistakably a plainjane Biscayne, on the streets of San Francisco. Photo pulled off the Internet.
And speaking of '59 Chevrolets, the Bel Air (below) is up on Hemmings this week.
January 18, 2022
1972? Chevrolet C20 stepside
From Reid Cunningham: "With winter and short days, the number of sightings has been slim. Yesterday however I was on a back road in Bedford NH between two errands and saw what I guess is an early 70's stepside. Unusual for a stepside it was a C20 and not a C10. Being a 3/4 ton may also account for it having the large 292 straight 6 (the era where engine displacement was displayed on the badging). Since it was in a driveway I only could get pictures from the road. Current antique plate, probably staying off the road to avoid New England winter salt (we are having a bit of an ice storm right now, hopefully they will salt soon).
January 17, 2022
Last of the longroofs
Sounds like the last Mercedes-Benz wagons are heading off into the sunset. See Andy Kalmowitz's piece ("It's Your Fault Mercedes Is Discontinuing Wagons") in Jalopnik. That leaves Volvo as the last of the euro-wagons. 
January 16, 2022
Winter, Houses, Barclay Downs Neighborhood
Southern suburbia, done in a pretty effective, modest and pleasing way. Pleasing absence of columns. Barclay Downs is a residential 'hood on the south side of Charlotte, N.C. Not as grand as adjacent Myers Park.
January 15, 2022
Porsche 911
You're right, it's not an old truck. Porsche's iconic 911 caught our eye in the parking lot of a mall here in Charlotte, NC. Malls are not preferred habitat--maybe we'd rather be out on Naskeag--but the Porsche was kinda striking. Apparently the 911 has been outsold in the past year by Porsche's electric Taycan.
President Biden, the Ford Guy
President Biden at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich.Credit...from the NYT: "At a gathering on the White House lawn last August, President Biden spoke of a future in which electric cars and trucks will be the only vehicles on the road. “The question,” he said, “is whether we’ll lead or fall behind” in the global race to achieve that vision.
"Mr. Biden has been vigorous in pushing for the end of the internal combustion engine for cars and light trucks. In August he signed an executive order that called on the federal government to do all it can to ensure that half of those vehicles sold in the United States are electric by 2030..."
AL: we are hoping to e-crate the Sierra Grande next time we need an engine swap.
January 14, 2022
Fitzpatrick and Kaufman and Pontiac
Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman did years of Wide-Track ads for Pontiac. Not so sure about the Mercury Commuter wagon at Sun Valley, below. Certainly inspired by, though.
January 13, 2022
1985 Ford F-250
Some trucks speak the language of Truck. Others--marketed and sold as trucks--speak a whole other language; call it Braggadocio. The above specimen speaks Truck very clearly. Saw it on a bright warmish January afternoon in the Barclay Downs neighborhood of Charlotte, N.C.
January 12, 2022
1972 Chevelle SS
The writer Eva H.D. caught the car in the Kitsilano quartier of Vancouver, B.C. Here's another Chevelle SS we saw in Maine a while back. And a 1964 Chevelle wagon from the first model year.
