Peter Behrens's Blog, page 520

Dick Nolan, Truck Driving Man

Dick Nolan, the Johnny Cash of Newfoundland, sings Truck Driving Man on youtube.

Truck Driving Man & a 1949 Chevrolet one-ton

From our man on the prairies, Alex Emond:
"Sometimes the more restoration that goes into a vehicle, the less funk and soul you have left. Same for all kinds of old stuff ... leave the thing alone unless it won't run or drive safely... 
"I don't think I'll ever run out of old trucks out in prairieland.... I've got Bob the Roofer poised to redo the roof on my old garage  and here is his '49 Chevy, which you have seen before, but not in my yard. Sometimes, when he is working alone he tows the beast so he can use his late 80's pick up to get around in, while the Chevy gets loaded with old shingles. The old tire sign is on the outside of Ray's Auto and Tire, in Ponteix. Ray was the current owner's dad. The monster truck/grain hauling behemoth is the modern successor to the 5 ton grainers that you see everywhere."--AE

Marfa to Maine

1957 Chevy to the levee

Okay I'm not a big fan of restored classic-classics from the Fifties especially tri-5 Chevys but this '57 Bel Air added some sparkle to our Fourth of July parade.

1912 Lozier

That's Lo zee aye. Thought it was French. Not. The cars were built in Detroit in the brass-lamp era. Massive and expensive.

Jaguar 4.2

Was out at Sean's car shop on Naskeag Road. You know, across the street from the cemetery...
...next door to the church...
...there's a 1964 Jaguar saloon, with a 4.2 XKE engine, waiting to be restored.

Mercedes Benz 230 SL, Loring Timing Association, and The Problem of Nostalgia

Stopped at Affordable Performance, Sean McKay's car shop on the Naskeag Road (across from the cemetery, next to the Beth Eden chapel.) One of the first machines I saw was this spritely Benz. I'll post later on the beater 1995 GMC that Sean is psyching-up to run at Loring Timing Association's 2.5 ex-airfield strip this weekend, way up in The County.  Zooming old airstrips: boys, this is going back to gearhead roots of the mid-late 1940s, when abandoned airfields (and California dry lakes) were the early venues of our kind of racing. Speaking of roots, have a look at the current issue of Hot Rod for a profile of the last 50 years of making things go faster. On the other hand: back in the May 2013 issue HR ran a sharp piece by David Freiburger on the problem of nostalgia ("Nostalgia: Getting Old?"). The problem may be bigger than billet.

1966 Ford F-100 shortbed

From our man in Miami, Javier Reyes. (" I was a little bummed about the shadow cast by the awning of the guarapo ((fresh pressed juice from sugarcane stalks)) bar.But other than that, the pictures came out okay"--JR) .
The turquoise suits the town. I'm saying '66, but I'm never able to calibrate Sixties Fords precisely. I like everything but the whitewalls. In Colorado last March, Autoliterate posted another Ford, same era, same color, but an F-250.
                                                                     all photos ©2013 Javier Reyes

My Brilliant Careerism, part XIV

"The source of a writer’s potency is mysterious, unpredictable. For novelist Peter Behrens, the hunt was long and circular, beginning with his youthful flight from a middle-class upbringing in Montreal, followed by decades when he did everything else but remember the past, until it was time to double back and sift through family lore for two magnificent novels that have established him on the international literary map..."
Globe & Mail (Toronto)

p.s. the TL cover photo, by Jarrod McCabe, was part of a road trip series posted on AL in Dec 2011-January 2012

1932 Ford Model B (woody)

This car used to make the trip from Lawrenceville NJ to Blue Hill ME every summer. Now it lives permanently in ME with the original owner's grandson. Previously posted here.