Peter Behrens's Blog, page 405
July 6, 2015
BMW 1600
Lots of bright cars out for the 4th of July. I don't see many beemer convertibles of this era, and certainly not here, in the only monosyllabic state of the Union. I'm guessing the era, not being an aficionado, but would say 1969. Others will know. Great design makes poor design look overwrought, and unnecessary.
July 5, 2015
July 4, 2015
Not Quite a Sleeper: 1966 Plymouth Fury
With a 383. Always liked the cut lines on these cars. The 4 door sedan edition was the standard vernacular Montreal taxi of the era. This car's for sale, too. Find out more at B-A-T
July 3, 2015
1959 Country Squire
I hope you're as ready for the 4th as this guy is. From Vintage Roadside Someone is driving this 1959 Ranch Wagon around Switzerland.
July 2, 2015
Surf City: Santa Cruz and the VW bus
from Colin Washburn: "Classic Santa Cruz, where these VW's are still pretty common."
July 1, 2015
Chrysler, Just West of Cadillac
Today is Canada Day. We used to call it Dominion Day. A holiday ought to celebrate an idea, right? Like Independence Day. I wonder what our (Canadian) idea is?John Ralston Saul, in A Fair Country, "argues that the famous 'peace, order, and good government' that supposedly defines Canada is a distortion of the country’s true nature. Every single document before the BNA Act, he points out, used the phrase “peace, welfare, and good government,” demonstrating that the well-being of its citizenry was paramount. He also argues that Canada is a Métis nation, heavily influenced and shaped by aboriginal ideas: egalitarianism, a proper balance between individual and group, and a penchant for negotiation over violence are all aboriginal values that Canada absorbed. Another obstacle to progress, Saul argues, is that Canada has an increasingly ineffective elite, a colonial non-intellectual business elite that doesn’t believe in Canada. It is critical that we recognize these aspects of the country in order to rethink its future."Notes and photos from Alex Emond, on a Saskatchewan trip, back in early May:
"I spied this 1925-ish Chrysler from the road and went onto a farm property to take these shots. There wasn't anyone around, because its seeding time ... anyway , it's a grand old car , crank start and all . You wouldn't have to take off your Stetson to drive this regal ride . This was just a little west of Cadillac (Saskatchewan). "-AE
I'd say an original, or very close to. Wonder where it's been in 90 years? Was it one of the scout cars Capone's crew of gunslingers drove, escorting whisky trucks across the 49th parallel? My uncle, Staff Sgt Billy Lillis, in charge of the RCMP detachment at Medicine Hat, Alberta in the ninetween-twenties, was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the Force for being too friendly with bootleggers. I have the transcript of his trial. After his discharge he hit the skids and ended up a janitor living in a rented room above a pool hall in the Hat. Buried in the Catholic cemetery. No one in the family ever knew what became of Uncle Billy. On a research trip twenty-five years ago I walked into the bar of the Canadian Legion in Medicine Hat within five minutes I was talking to a gent who remembered "Wild Irish Billy" and his wild blue eyes.
June 30, 2015
Boatyard 1954 Chevy.
One of my favorite Maine cars. Great attitude.
Michael Heizer's City.
In 1972, Michael Heizer began construction on the massive installation known as
City
in the desert of Lincoln County, Nevada. 
Thanks to Scott Dorrance for the heads-up on Michael Kimmelman's piece on Michael Heizer in the NYT last month: " “City” ... may be the most ambitious sculpture anyone has ever built, one of those audacious, improbable American dreams, at the scale of the West, conceived for the ages. More than a mile long, “City” is a kind of modern Chichen Itza in the midst of Garden Valley, a pristine, lunar stretch of stark and unspeakable beauty, an hour’s bumpy drive from the nearest paved road..."
There's a show--his first in years--up for a few more days at Gagosian in NYC: 18-ton slab of granite named "Potato Chip" and a 12-ton rock of iron ore called “Asteroid.”
