Peter Behrens's Blog, page 390

Mercedes Unimog

from Guido Goluke, the translator, in the Netherlands: "... my very favourite truck: the Mercedes Unimog. As a kid I used to wonder at the promo photos, in which the Unimog cleared a ditch with the front and rear axles crossed like the bones on the Jolly Roger flag, while schlepping an immense log out of a forest. So the little bridge on one of the pictures is totally unnecessary, the agile beast will climb onto the road without any problem."--GG

Three deckahs. Cambridge Street. Behind the Public Library.

The Cambridge Public Library is a wonderful piece of architecture. The building is so sleek, so inviting, so delicious, it makes you want to go in there and read books. Excellent architecture makes human beings happy, and proud of being human. As opposed to, say, shopping malls, which always make me a little ashamed of our species.
And then these two old stalwarts across the road...nicely balanced, well-cared-for, and probably have been there a hundred years.

Dorothea Lange: Drought Refugees from Oklahoma, Blythe Calif., 1936

Look at those images of the Syrians with their kids, coming ashore, sometimes crawling ashore,  on those Greek islands. Then look at Dorothea Lange's images from California in '36. And remember Donald Trump is saying he wants to send the refugees back into the war zone.  What would he have said to this woman in Blythe, California in 1936?
Can't we send Donald back to where he came from? Somewhere far away. Queens, maybe. Somewhere way out there, past Flushing.

The Dreamboat: 1966 Olds 98 convertible

from Vincent Stanley, Director of Philosophy at Patagonia, a man with a weakness for unsustainable cars. But...49 years old, and still on the road--that's recycling, isn't it? The opposite of throwaway.

1985 GMC C15 SWB Cortes Island British Columbia No Bull

It's salty out there on the islands in Georgia Strait; also very green, by late October, after a parched summer. Winter rains haven't really set in yet, but there's been enough precipitation to restore the many-layered, jungle-green of life on West Coast of Canada. I caught the Jimmy on Cortes Island while heading for the water taxi across Desoaltion Sound to Campbell River, and the long ride home to Cambridge, Mass. via LA. Hope to be back on Cortes next fall to lead another writing workshop at Hollyhock Institute. We know a herd of these trucks in Marfa, where rust is not an issue.
looking southeast from Hollyhock beach, Cortes Island.
  

Big Red

GMC K3500 Crew Cab (1981?)

1957 Plymouth Suburban wagon (for sale)

Alex Emond saw the wagon for sale in Hemmings.

Diablo of Angels Camp: Ford

The one from Colin Washburn, in the Sierra foothills.  AL posted a Ford of this era in Maine a couple years back wearing whitewalls, which were a mistake. Skinny period (repro)  rubber and wheels look great on this machine.

1977 GMC K10, Vermont

from Erik Baier: "I found this slightly modified rig on the side of the road in East Middlebury, VT- keeping the seventies alive!"

Hot Fast and Loud in Vermont

Thanks to Erik Baier who spotted this machine outside the general store at Benson, Vermont.