Peter Behrens's Blog, page 395

Boston Truck Language

Over the years I have noticed there is a particular and old-fashioned style of lettering and pin-striping used on many commercial trucks in eastern Massachusetts. This may be an exalted example of the genre. How to describe the style? I will be gathering more examples to make my point but you do see some of the elements here, notably the traditional font. with letters shadowed in a 3-D script and often in gilt. Pin-striping often frames the door, or whichever body panel is lettered--though you don't see that here. I've never read about Mass. truck lettering or seen it investigated. I'm not aware of another city or state with its own style of truck decoration, but the subject is of some fascination to Autoliterate, and we shall be investigating further. The Sullivan truck is a beauty. Pickup trucks just look better without an extended cab. What's interesting is that the lettering gives no clue as to what business, if any, M.A. Sullivan is engaged in. Perhaps he just wanted to have his name and the Suilleabhean coat of arms on his truck.

from Alex Emond, in southern Saskatchewan: "Here are...

from Alex Emond, in southern Saskatchewan: "Here are some images from Eastend (see Wallace Stegner's Wolf Willow) and just a little north-west along the Frenchman River . 
I poked my nose into the semi-ghost town of Ravenscrag . No stores , no services but tons of history and so damn beautiful .
This Fargo truck is not really that far gone ... compared to a lot of "restoration " projects ... the body is really nice . As for these other relics, from the mid-30's... they look fine just where they are .
Jack's Cafe is still going strong ... newer Greek owners but the interior still has that wrap around folk art mural with the history of the S.W. shown , from Buffalo Jump to windmills , tractors and schools. A la Grandma Moses .
There is a tiny Anglican Church tucked away on a residential street that has a lot going for it but it needs some work and soon. Hope they can scrape up a few dollars and get busy. Cheers"--AE

Paddy's Lunch. Cambridge MA

On Walden St., Cambridge. Since 1934. There's a lot of faux Irish bars just about everywhere. They are way too jolly. Paddy's embodies the authentic, almost monastic spirit of the real Irish drinking hole. Artisanal beer, or Bud in a shamrock?

1961 Dodge

from Vincent Stanley, in New York--"in a gallery window"
We posted a Canadian '61 Dodge last spring. And another from Chimayo, NM.

1952 Kaiser, Cambridge MA

 The last thing I expected to see in Harvard Square on a misty September morning was a...Kaiser. This town is tough on cars but the Kaiser was wearing CA plates. I wonder if it made the trip cross-country under power, or aboard a trailer. I've rarely encountered these cars, so this one was startling. I'm guessing the year, you can correct me. Compared to almost everything else of its American era, this K-car has a sleek, uncluttered beauty.

AMERICAN HOUSES: Berkeley Street, Cambridge, Mass.

Of course domestic architecture in Cambridge is much more varied than one early morning, early September bike ride just west of the Common can suggest. But you have to start somewhere.

The Pipes are Calling (from Saskatchewan):1946 Dodge Truck

From Alex Emond in Mossback, Saskatchewan, on the Canadian Prairies: 'I sent pictures of this truck a couple of years ago. It's a little further along now. Maybe it just needs a front bumper , or maybe it don't need no stinking bumpers.
"Oh Danny Boy , the "pipes " , the "pipes " are callin'". You can hear this thing coming. I like it. Gets about 2 miles to the gallon, frightens small children and even the cops leave this guy alone. All it's missing is a Gatlin Gun and some "angry woodpecker" mudflaps. I'd have to give it a 7.3 for style and an 8 for patina. Your thoughts? Cheers--"AE

Roadster on the Run--Maine Turnpike

1959 Morris Minor

Jim Rowland, mostly a Volvo guy,  is restoring the car at Auto Colony in Ellsworth, Maine. The frame was rusty and some of it had been sistered with...2x4s. Always pays to check underneath. Jim is also doing a Lotus Elan, circa 1967.

1971 Chrysler Newport, Maine Turnpike

We drove from Maine to Cambridge on Labor Day. Temps in the 90s, and beaucoup traffic on the road--not all of it as interesting, fleet, and handsome as this Newport. We, and about a million other people, wasted an hour in the thickened slog through the Maine and New Hampshire tolls. The real toll paid by citizens/drivers/taxpayers is not the bucks handed over but the time wasted in the slow-down  tolls necessarily create, even in this era of EZ-Pass. Over one year there must be millions of people/hours wasted in toll-jams. And when you reckon the environmental and economic cost of excess fuel burnt--not to mention the wear on brakes rotors--tollbooths are something no semi-urban landscape can afford.