Peter Behrens's Blog, page 489

The Marfa Apache: 1961 Chevrolet Apache 10

There are a bunch of Apaches running around West Texas. In fact we've seen them all over the West in the last few months: for example, in the Flint Hills of Kansas And we know of at least one now living in Brooklyn. I learned to drive standard on a '61 Apache when working on the GH Ranch, Sundre, Alberta.
 This plumber's truck has been on the job in Marfa for half a century.
 

Model A Pickup, Marfa

Driving into town after being away a year and a half, I was glad to see the Marfa old truck herd seemed to be thriving.  Made me want to start strategizing an old truck round-up....because old trucks are one interest that seems to span the various socio-economic-cultural divides in Marfa. Deep Local trucks, Hipster trucks, People-From-Away trucks.....I'm thinking: pick one day of the year-- let's say in February, when it's just starting to get a little warmer---and round 'em all up, say around the beautiful courthouse square. On a sleepy Saturday afternoon, maybe before the Spring Break crush.  Do some barbecue, and then have a panel of judges (off the top of my head, let's say it includes ex officio the director of the Chinati Fdn., Judge Cinderella Guevara, the Roman Catholic pastor, the QB of the Marfa HS football team, Lonn Taylor, and 1 very serious-minded truck person) and let them fight it out to select the Numero Uno Marfa Old Truck of the Year, and a runner-up. Serious Prizes. And maybe there'd also be one more category: The Truck The Donald (Judd) Himself Would Have Chosen.
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1967 Ford F-100 Valentine, Texas

Valentine is a speck of a town in Jeff Davis County, in West Texas.  Three things you need to know about Valentine: 1)Sacks of mail get posted from the PO in the second week of February 2)there's a dentist in Valentine, and dentists in far-West Texas are scarcer than mountain lions 3)what was the third fact? Oh Yeah. Prada Marfa is in Valentine. And so was the handsome old Ford which caught my eye, driving in from El Paso (and Maine) in the slant of evening light.

Italian Pickups and Don Culbertson

from Don Culbertson, the medical man of Marfa:
"During the summer of '13, I was looking for the European version of the quintessential truck. Trucks are a universal phenomenon because we all have to haul stuff.  Trucks tend to be larger then their neighbors on the road, they are rough handling, durable pack horses. Yet they are built to scale: trucks are small in Japan, grow some in Europe, finally make it big in Texas."--DC
[note: Don's Italians here. Others coming--ed.]
1. The classic Venice truck. 2. Near Bologna 3. Piedmonte  4, 5. Fiat Pickup. 6,7. Umbria

1950 Chevrolet Thriftmaster Panel Truck conversion

from David Branch:
"Took these when I was home--Richmond, Va.--for Christmas. I've never seen such a conversion before. Looks period to me... Couldn't see how it was fitted out... Mexican blankets everywhere. Harley stickers, late-model pickup seats... Otherwise pretty spartan. Kinda wanted to see inside, kinda glad I couldn't..."--DB

BB & the 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe, Pinto Canyon Road

See the Maine girl's eye on West Texas.

1955 Chrysler 300

Close to being the first muscle car. Plenty of zoom, and Exner styling. Something about the front end reminds me of a Volvo 122. This car lives in West Texas. It would be a fun ride on the Pinto Canyon Road.
Oh I wish I was in Texas
Movin' on a steady road

Autoliterate Truck of the Year Winner

This year AL discovered machines in Holland, Germany, France, Cuba, Colorado, Maine, Texas, New Mexico, Los Angeles, Northern California, Santa Barbara, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Oregon, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Nevada, and Central Asia. Maybe by now you've figured out our aesthetic, which favors solid originals over restorations, and doesn't mind a little faded paint, and a couple of dings. There's just something grabby about the gestalt of honest old trucks: maybe they remind us of the toys we had as kids. There's also something wonderful about driving old trucks (anywhere but Interstates): for one thing, their crankiness and sometimes bad manners demands that the driver PAY ATTENTION, and paying attention is our basic rule for living "the life engaged"---PAY ATTENTION: DIG IN: LIFE IS A ONE-WAY TRIP.It's ridiculous not to be aware of the environmental impact of choices. Driving a cranky old gas-sucking carbureted truck....does that make sense? I'm not sure how it balances out, but in all my life (and I am and always have been a gearhead) I've only owned 6 vehicles--and of these I still own three. I buy 'em old, I take care of them, and I keep 'em forever.  The newest vehicle in the fleet (and the only vehicle I've ever bought new) is a 1997 Volvo 850 wagon; the oldest is the 1975 Sierra Grande pickup. In the middle there's the 1986 C10 Chevrolet pickup. BB drives another 97 Volvo 850 wagon. I maintain them in good shape and I'm not asking Detroit or Wolfsburg or Toyota City to crank me out a new machine every four years. The philosophy is buy and hold---if it's solid, who cares about "new"? New gets old. Old gets classic.Anyway the Truck of the Year was  not well-organized: next year will be better, with a shortlist and a simpler way of voting. This year's T of the Y is being "proclaimed" by the leadership in more or less North Korean style, with minimal input from the population. So if you hate it....well. Write and tell us why. The "Wurlitzer" Chevrolet---1941-46--has everything we like. Don't know this truck's pedigree but saw it one morning en route to teach a class at Colorado College. It looks original, and sound, and that paint job is hard to beat. What's under the hood, and does it run? Not sure, but if it doesn't, it  ought to. Love to see a truck this handsome going down the road.

Autoliterate Truck of the Years Runners-Up: Texas Gypsy & 1975 GMC K20

2 machines from very different ends of the truck spectrum. The first is as yet unclassified: we're referring to it as the Royal Meteor because it has Meteor axles and a piece of chrome on the snout that says Royal, probably not original. Looks to me from the early 1930s. Read more here. If you can ID this truck, let's hear it, please.
I saw this truck one morning in Colorado Springs and it has stayed with me. Okay, I like GMC/Chevrolets of that era, when they are done right, which few of them are. No vehicle has been more billet-ed. But this is a rugged old 3/4 ton 4WD ranch truck, everything basic and rugged as hell. AL's idea of an old truck. More here.

Task Force Suburban: Marfa 1959 Chevrolet Apache 31

We flew from West Texas back to Maine. It was -4F degrees when we arrived at Portland Jetport. Cold fog was blowing into the baggage claim area every time someone opened a door. Welcome to Maine. Our flight was late, so there were no cabs. Took a half hour for one to arrive. A very calm, very cold Somalian driver. We got home at 3am. The thing is, we like living in places that are very hard to get to (it's one reason why we can afford to live in them), so travel days are always arduous. Can't complain. No matter how it's sliced, a flawless trip Maine-to-Marfa is 14 hours. Right now I'm looking out at mid-tide on Casco Bay. This cove is not quite frozen solid, but almost. And I'm thinking of our friends back in Marfa, and our little adobe, and some dusty trucks...and that West Texas light.  This truck one of the Task Force-era Chevy trucks: we've found others in Marfa. More in the Marfa Truck Series a while back. And Bill Burleson owned one in Banff.