Peter Behrens's Blog, page 424
March 2, 2015
1947 Plymouth Plainjane
Autoliterate likes plainjanes. Especially close-to-originals. We never much went in for optioned-out gewgaw-laden chrome encrusted trailer queens. This p-j 1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe coupe (chassis 11844975) was put away in a garage 34 years ago where it seems to have remained until very recently. Largely original except for a 1959 lacquer respray in factory-correct Chevron Blue, the seller describes it as 92% rust-free and provides both written and photographed details of present corrosion. The car looks great in photos, and excluding the original vacuum tube AM radio is also said to be fully functional. It's in Grand Junction Colorado. Find out more on B-A-T. We found this Mopar line-up in Westbrook, Maine last summer.
Advanced Design Chevrolet. Haley Street, Santa Barbara
I can remember Februarys like that. Not in Maine. Thanks to Chris Baker for the photo.
March 1, 2015
February 28, 2015
Los Volkswagens de Nayarit
From Aidan O'Neill, Esq. in San Pancho:"These old dusty VWs are ten pesos a metric dozen in Mexico. While VW Beetles were produced in Mexico until a few years ago (when modern safety standards finally caught up with them after 70 years), they all seem to be fairly ratty around here. They are the Citroën 2CV -- "Deux Chevaux" -- of these parts. I think most of the good ones are being used as taxis in Mexico City."-AO'N
February 27, 2015
Brooklin Boatyard: The Frank Gehry sloop
from Bill Mayher, in Brooklin ME:
"Here is a CAD rendering of the 74' Germain Freres sloop being built for architect Frank Gehry at the Brooklin Boatyard this winter. With 100 inches of snow down and counting, she has been a continuing source of entertainment for the cabin fever afflicted crowd. And Oh Yeah! Those little black shapes will have individual pieces of glass set in them...all 862 of them. And those steering pedestals, they will be fabricated in titanium by Boeing's 3D printer. Needless to say, Frank has had a lot of input in "Foggy's" aesthetic. She'll be launched in May. Operators are standing by to take your order." -BM
(Last June we posted Frank Gehry Flips--AL)
1955 Packard Clipper Custom Constellation
You've heard me whine about winter, and the season's been a tough one here in Maine. On Wednesday 70 vehicles got mashed up in a snowy, chain-reaction wreck on I-95 just south of Bangor. Read about it in the Bangor Daily News...
Just down the road there's a snow shovel with a white rag tied to its handle, stuck into the top of a seven-foot, hardened, crusty heap of snow. A flag of surrender, I assume.
It's hard to find anything in the way of interesting trucks or cars on the snowy, salt-slathered streets and back roads of Maine, which is why Autoliterate relies on compañeros in warmer, sunnier territory to send fresh photos of old iron, with field notes. Many thanks to Colin Washburn for coming through in his usual stylish fashion with these picture-perfect Packard photos from Northern California. You've read CRW here before, on the subject of his San Mateo High career & Packards.
"Saw this dust-covered rig the other day...it drew me in. It had no identifiable emblems, so I guessed it was a Merc. Wrong. It's a PACKARD!! (That's what drew me in I assume; some kind of packard lover's sixth sense.) It's a 1955 Clipper Custom "Constellation". I think the pinstripig is stock. I saw another identical one for sale while researching this on e of the web. Sam pin striping. The red is called "Panama Red"! A somewhat weird-looking, test beautiful Packard."-CRW
