Peter Behrens's Blog, page 548

1954 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery

These photographs came from William Kirk Moore and were shot in Calif., don't know where exactly. There was one of these for sale at Hemmings. A project car, as they say. Looks like surface rust to me. Except that nibble on the hood. Most of these SDs, when recovered, tend to get way over-restored. Is there a way to freeze-frame the rust; not get rid of it, but stop--or pause--it? Then do everything underneath. So she rolls. But let the car show its 59 years of exposure to America.

Peugeot Pickup à Paris

From our observer: "This pick-up can be seen all over the Latin Quarter. I thought it looked nice with the snow. It is so unusual here! A pity I didn't get there last night, when people all over Paris were throwing snow balls."--I.C.

Ice Biking

There's been a cold snap in the Netherlands this week. The wind is howling out of the east--off the frozen steppe--instead of the usual warm wet wind from the west, off the Gulf Stream. Some canals have frozen which gave my NIAS colleague, the intrepid Guido Goluk, Kerouac's Dutch translator, a smooth trip home to Amsterdam. He's biking in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan this summer.

Land Rovers, part 7

Fiat 500

There are still a herd of these trucking around the Netherlands. I remember in Rome watching people park in tight spots by lifting them up by the front bumper and nudging them in. And it astonished me how many Florentine cops could fit into one 500.

The tea party & me

Bridge Street, MontrealI've been getting a flurry of Tea Partyish emails since my "Irish Famine" review appeared in last Sunday's Washington Post. They know how to zero in on a micro-target. Meanwhile, I'm reading and talking about The Law of Dreams and The O'Briens tonight at an event organized by the Canadian Embassy here in Netherlands.
Baggot Street, Dublin

Citroën Deux Chevaux & 1959 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery.

The little tradesman van is about the most ubiquitous of euro-vehicles. Kind of a euro take on the good old sedan-delivery.

Wouldn't these make a lot of sense for a lot of Americans, as an alternative to the pickup truck with cap, or the big vans? The little old Citroën Deux Chevaux is the classic of the genre, but everyone makes them, and they are everywhere. Efficient and nimble: a good idea for urban America, anyhow?



Throw in some glass, a door, and rear bench seat, and you've got a station wagon. These are popular as well.

Sleek: the Bugatti Type 57 & Citroën Traction Avant

"Sleek" is not what AL typically asks for in a vehicle: the 1951 Chevrolet pickup is perhaps our ideal set of wheels.
Nonetheless, the 1934 Bugatti Type 57 here at the Louwman Museum  in the NL was an eye-popper. Aluminum body on the Type 57 frame. 135hp (less than my Volvo) Top speed 155km/h.
The Europeans at their best tend to do "sleek" rather well, for example the Citroën Traction-avant.
Apologies for the chopped-off photo of the Bug (below):  I was wrangling two 6-year-old criminals doing their skillful best to get us banished from the museum.

Mercedes 407D in the Jordaan

Can't imagine wheeling this unit around Amsterdam, but somebody does. It's not much smaller than the average apartment in the Jordaan.

F-2 Ford

AE caught the F2 in Calgary.