Peter Behrens's Blog, page 28

Athens Vehicle

Eva H.D. photo

The Range Rover, early 90s

  First saw one of these in England, Christmas, 1973.  For the first ten years (1970-80) they were 2-door only, and quite utilitarian.Started seeing them in Montecito, CA mid-1980s by which time they had become larger and fancy. We posted a 1992 4-door Range Rover from NJ a while back.

Texas Beach Fiat

 

Markus Anstadt spotted this rarity at a beach community near Port Aransas, TX. "Golf carts are bigger." Henry Behrens caught another Jolly near the beach at Pietrasanta, in Tuscany.

Jaguar XKE

 

Eva H.D. caught the Jag in Camden Town. (That's London, not Maine.) This Jaguar Mk II was for sale a while in New Hampshire. We have posted on Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and the XKE.

1973 Ford F-600

From Reid Cunningham: I ran across the F-600 outside a shop in Franklin. NH.  The sign is a bit faded–maybe the owner is open to bargaining. This F-600 is still smaller than the current, bloated, Ford F-250 Superduty, and, while smaller, will carry more, and do much more work.  A fast sanding, a quick coat of Rustoleum paint with a $20 Harbor Frieght spray gun, and this would be good for many more years of work while still being a handsome truck. 

Here's an F-600 raticalized by the Pacheco Bros., in Trementina, New Mexico. A lobster-hauling F-600 in Maine. And maybe our favorite, "Delphinium", in Sedgwick, Maine and same era as today's post.

MGB-GT Down South

 

From Greg Phillips in Apalachicola, Fl. "More Southern metal.  This was taken completely apart and reassembled by a retired attorney whom I met recently.  The engine has been bored and has a supercharger.  Horsepower is 180.  Cabin is soundproofed and beautifully upholstered.  He said it cruises great at 80 mph.  I learned how to drive in a '65 B and that performance would be unheard of in a stock B.  The  hp increase without adding appreciable weight is remarkable."

AL: Here's an MGB-GT AL met in the Netherlands a while back. And here's an MGB in NH And a whole passel of MG's.  Then there's the "white sports car" referenced in this Peter Behrens short story, The Smell of Smoke, which was, truth be told, a 1964 MGB.

1993 Ford F-250, West Texas

 

David Branch photos

Studebaker moderne

The truck was somewhere between Downeast Maine and Franconia, NH. Studebaker always had moderne sensibility. Check the chrome ornaments and  insignia. We have posted a restored and refined version of the Studebaker pickup here. Also, a 1955 Studebaker truck from Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, which is in the Flint Hills, where we found that Speed Shop in Strong City, KS

Studebaker snow.

 

I can't remember, but that looks like Saskatchewan or southeast Colorado.

1964 Dodge Dart (+ push-button transmission)

Slow, bare green spring seems a long way off but it will happen. We found the Dart in--I think–Bath, Maine a couple Aprils ago. And here's a Dodge Dart Pioneer from only a few years earlier but a different era  when Chrysler was still deep in Exner/Batmobile style.This time of year in downeast Maine the days have their own sharp and plangent beauty...