Peter Behrens's Blog, page 434

1951 Chevrolet 3100 (for sale)

Up for auction at Bring a Trailer.

Clean Swiss 1940 Chevrolet

Photograph by that amazing Swiss guy.

1962 Land Rover Series IIA, 109 Pick-up

For sale, too. They're asking $28k. What would you rather have--this truck, or a new Hyundai?

Bogus Roar

These trucks remind me of bodybuilders. Overdeveloped. All muscle, no style. Mentally fragile."Stomp on the gas in a new Ford Mustang or F-150 and you’ll hear a meaty, throaty rumble — the same style of roar that Americans have associated with auto power and performance for decades. It’s a sham. The engine growl in some of America’s best-selling cars and trucks is actually a finely tuned bit of lip-syncing, boosted through special pipes or digitally faked altogether. And it’s driving car enthusiasts insane..."                                                                  --from Drew Harrell's piece in the Washington Post(Thanks again to Larry Nordell for the heads-up on this )

Texas C10 Chevy, Michelle Shocked, and Stan Wells. "I learned to drive on those East Texas red clay back roads..."

                                                                                                             all photographs©2015 Gustave Schmiege Thanks to photographer Gustave Schmiege for these. We're not that familiar with East Texas. Sure looks a lot greener than West Texas. Michelle Shocked came outta E. Texas and wrote a great song about it: here's a Stan Wells cover of Shocked's Memories of East Texas, with a video featuring....trucks.
A pristine version of this C-10 was for sale in York, Maine last year...


















  

Larry Hayden: Emblematic Ranchero

 

Larry Hayden on auto emblems: "I grew up around used car lots, taxis, junkyards, drag strips and racetracks so the subject is dear to my heart. When putting this project together I realized how much each of these emblems, marques, medallions, crests, crowns, badges and scripts work  as an emotional shorthand, a touchstone that conjures a first, lasting impression; often a longing that won't let go. Just seeing "409" under crossed flags on the front fender of a '63 Chevy transformed an ordinary Impala into a chariot of the gods. These fragments, signs, symbols of character, quality, potency and rank, succeed in a way that an image of an entire vehicle often cannot. I love these things. They trigger an emotional and aesthetic response of deep resonance."The book is in progress. Scott Vile of the Ascensius Press is the designer. The photographs and (minimal) text are mine. The title of the book is 'Emblematic' "--LH

Backstreets of (Switzerland)

This from the Swiss guy's site. Man, those streets are clean.

55 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery (Antelope)

From Alex Emond: "Checkez-ca, toi. Much handsomer and plainer than the boringly iconic '57s...this machine has fewer frills, bells or whistles. If someone had, sa , an extra $12 grand, they could turn this into a real nice, nonsense-free, vehicle. It's in fair shape, but it needs help. This was in Swift Current (Saskatchewan). I swear that anytime I go there for " supplies " I see a few more vintage trucks or cars. It's like the gift that keeps on giving . Today, for you Peter, I'm going to throw in some antelope, just to remind you where this is.  Adios!" -AE 

David Mason poem: Fathers and Sons

   

Fathers and Sons  Some things, they say,one should not write about. I triedto help my father comprehendthe toilet, how one needsto undo one’s belt, to slideone’s trousers down and sit,but he stubbornly stoodand would not bend his knees.I tried againto bend him toward the seat,
and then I laughedat the absurdity. Fathers and sons.How he had wiped my bottomhalf a century ago, and howI would repay the favorif only he would sit.
                           Don’t you—he gripped me, trembling, searching for my eyes.Don’t you—but the wordwas lost to him. Somewherea man of dignity would not be laughed at.He could not seeit was only the crazy dance that made me laugh,trying to make him sitwhen he wanted to stand.

                           -David Mason
           from DM's Sea Salt: Poems of a Decade,           2004-2014  (Red Hen Press 2014, used by permission)

Helena, Montana: a Terence Corrigan photograph

                                                                                                         ©2014 Terence Corrigan/Independent Record
The photo was with Corrigan's piece on John Moore's car/truck collection in the Helena Independent Record. Thanks to Larry Nordell for the heads-up.