Peter Behrens's Blog, page 184

AL's 1959 Pontiac Catalina thing

For a lot of reasons the '59 Catalina was the car where it all started for Autoliterate. But we've already posted about that. Try our search widget for 59 Pontiac and you'll see several. Today's photos are from a piece in Curbside Classics.

1993 Chevrolet Caprice and Mercury Colony Park

Someone's doing an hommmage to last-gasp Large Cars of the Nineties. I found these two beauties--a Chevrolet Caprice and a Mercury Park Lane--next to each other on a Cambridge evening sparkling with streetlight and drizzle.

Beemer repaint

This car has been repainted since we saw it last. Posted an original 2002 from 1968 a few weeks ago. Nimble is the word that comes to mind. 

 

1975 GMC Sierra Grande Naskeag Point

 

High tide at Naskeag. Lobstering mostly done, except way offshore. Several people are dragging and/or diving for scallops. More about the truck here.

1953 Ford F-100 on the block

 This one's on the block this week at BaT. Friday's post was an F-100 of this era in Brandon, Manitoba.

1956 Ford F-100

 

Dave Inglis and I grew up across the street from each other in Montreal. Shared a love of cars from way back when. I remember his first, a '68 Mercury Montego. Not exactly hot, but a car, and I recall a nonstop road trip in the Merc from Brandon, Manitoba to Montreal. He found the Ford in Brandon. Here's a post on an F-250 from the same era.

2008. Dodge Magnum

A rare sighting in Cambridge, or anywhere. They didn't last long.  I liked them, which is often the kiss of death commercially. The last American station wagon? Sort of a dad-wagon, in concept, I guess. At least you wouldn't lose it in the grocery store parking lot which must happen a lot with Outbacks, especially in New England.

Charles Custer, the American Road Trip and the '49 Ford

You know on AL there is nothing that interests us more than the extraordinariness of the ordinary. That's why we feel we've stumbled on treasure with these Charles Custer photographs, taken by a Chicago lawyer on a series of road trips in the early 1950s. Custer used an Agfa box camera. We heard of the work  thanks to the photographer Bill Burleson, who learned of them from Jason Burlingame.You can learn more about Custer and his photographs here..

Alfa Romeo Spider

 

From Jonathan Welsh: "I loved today's item on Volvo 240 wagons, which also were preferred conveyance in Montclair through the 1980s and '90s. Such classics! Saab Turbos and BMWs challenged for the title off and on but the Prius eventually took over about a decade ago. Today it's all crossovers and luxury pickups in these parts. Kinda boring. There are exceptions, though.
"This mid-1980s Alfa Romeo Spider turned up at a Montclair NJ body shop. If it is a customer I'd say it has received high-quality treatment. Looks great. Many people recall the earlier "round tail" Spider from "The Graduate" and Alfa marketed Graduate-badged models like this one from '85 through '90. Over its decades-long run, the Pininfarina-designed Spider evolved with occasional increases in engine size and tweaks to its overall shape. Sales in the U.S. ended with the 1994 model."AL: here's a '86 Spider out in Manitoba.

International Harvester R 110, puis un Fargo One-ton

 

from Alex Emond in southern Saskatchewan: "Complimentary colours. International Harvester and the blue Fargo. On the road to Gravelbourg."AL: Ils parlent français là-bas. Fransaskois?More Internatiionals: a KB.