Peter Behrens's Blog, page 553
December 8, 2012
Oh, Houston
This from our man in Santa Barbara, Vincent Stanley, currently on the road book-touring with The Responsible Company: Lessons From Patagonia First Forty Years.
"Knowing you're such a fan of this style, I present an unretouched photo of this statue of George H W at Houston airport. The boluslike object over his shoulder is supposed to be his coat.
"Cheers from the homeland." -VS
"Knowing you're such a fan of this style, I present an unretouched photo of this statue of George H W at Houston airport. The boluslike object over his shoulder is supposed to be his coat. "Cheers from the homeland." -VS
Carlife Refuge, Black Rock Desert, Nevada
From Michael S Moore, our man in the Black Rock [that's the Desert, in northern Nevada, not the Building in NYC] :
"In the seventies I was making drawings of abandoned vehicles which eventually coalesced into a couple of print projects - "Abandoned Cars", a handsomely boxed set in 1973 as well as some subsequent miscellany that never became more than individual small editions, occasionally hand-tinted. Back then there was still an impressive amount of rusting iron scattered unobtrusively all around the desert, causing no harm, but while I was at it I had some cards, maybe even stationery, ironically [I thought] printed up for the "Cactus Patch Soup National Abandoned Carlife Refuge" [Cactus Patch Press was what we called our basement silkscreen operation when we weren't calling ourselves the "Art Bandits"]. I never considered the relics to be in any way endangered, but as historic and increasingly remote ghost town junkyards were inexplicably bulldozed and set afire in later decades it began to seem sadly prophetic.
Zenobia Dodge, Wall Spring National Abandoned Carlife Refuge, November 2012"All this apropos of the vehicles disappearing from Pershing County, a lamentable situation discovered earlier this week; I asked the BLM about it---[" Unfortunately, yes people are taking the vehicles for scrap metal. Steel is at an all time high, $200 ton, and some people have taken advantage of the price. Any object over 50 years old has some cultural protection afforded it under some of the federal regulations. If you notice any people taking objects off of BLM land, don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks for the inquiry.
Zach Million
Park Ranger
Black Rock Field Office"]
"So the Carlife Refuge idea may not be so ironical after all, and it now seems I am, however inadvertently, implementing it, beginning with the Ford sedan that rested upside down outside the remains of the original Parker Ranch house. When we began resuscitating Parker Ranch and Wall Spring in the mid-nineties I had it moved and enshrined in the old corral on railroad ties, which became the beginning of a physical manifestation of that long-ago premonition...
"Some years later we dragged my little flatbed trailer down the desert and snagged what remained of the WWll Dodge north of Pyramid Lake [across from Zenobia siding on the long-vanished Sand Pass - Fernley RR line] that had been on the original stationery as well as one of the first drawings [1971].
"I recently augmented the remnant with a set of Chevrolet fenders that weren't used on my '45...
Given the current disappearances I'm considering taking the trailer over to Vernon and gathering up the few pieces that remain for the new Abandoned Carlife Refuge....just don't tell anybody.
"The fact that renegade scrappers are erasing this history just breaks my heart." MSM
"In the seventies I was making drawings of abandoned vehicles which eventually coalesced into a couple of print projects - "Abandoned Cars", a handsomely boxed set in 1973 as well as some subsequent miscellany that never became more than individual small editions, occasionally hand-tinted. Back then there was still an impressive amount of rusting iron scattered unobtrusively all around the desert, causing no harm, but while I was at it I had some cards, maybe even stationery, ironically [I thought] printed up for the "Cactus Patch Soup National Abandoned Carlife Refuge" [Cactus Patch Press was what we called our basement silkscreen operation when we weren't calling ourselves the "Art Bandits"]. I never considered the relics to be in any way endangered, but as historic and increasingly remote ghost town junkyards were inexplicably bulldozed and set afire in later decades it began to seem sadly prophetic.
Zenobia Dodge, Wall Spring National Abandoned Carlife Refuge, November 2012"All this apropos of the vehicles disappearing from Pershing County, a lamentable situation discovered earlier this week; I asked the BLM about it---[" Unfortunately, yes people are taking the vehicles for scrap metal. Steel is at an all time high, $200 ton, and some people have taken advantage of the price. Any object over 50 years old has some cultural protection afforded it under some of the federal regulations. If you notice any people taking objects off of BLM land, don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks for the inquiry.Zach Million
Park Ranger
Black Rock Field Office"]
"So the Carlife Refuge idea may not be so ironical after all, and it now seems I am, however inadvertently, implementing it, beginning with the Ford sedan that rested upside down outside the remains of the original Parker Ranch house. When we began resuscitating Parker Ranch and Wall Spring in the mid-nineties I had it moved and enshrined in the old corral on railroad ties, which became the beginning of a physical manifestation of that long-ago premonition...
"Some years later we dragged my little flatbed trailer down the desert and snagged what remained of the WWll Dodge north of Pyramid Lake [across from Zenobia siding on the long-vanished Sand Pass - Fernley RR line] that had been on the original stationery as well as one of the first drawings [1971].
"I recently augmented the remnant with a set of Chevrolet fenders that weren't used on my '45...Given the current disappearances I'm considering taking the trailer over to Vernon and gathering up the few pieces that remain for the new Abandoned Carlife Refuge....just don't tell anybody.
"The fact that renegade scrappers are erasing this history just breaks my heart." MSM
December 6, 2012
Belvederes
from our man in Banff, Alex Emond:
"I was just looking at that Belvedere Wagon on Autoliterate and remembered this specimen. This is from late spring , just on the edge of town. Ponteix, Saskatchewan, that is. It has no rust nor obvious damage...
"That name, Belvedere, reminds me of that cartoon, Belvedere Bulldog.
"There is a lookout on Castle Mountain (Banff Nat'l Park) that the French half of the sign calls Belvedere Castle...
"And there used to be a (Canadian brand of cigarettes called Belvederes.
"Probably is some long-forgotten DooWop group's name, too. "In The Still of the Night" by The Belvederes. Complete with a fire in a 45 gallon drum."--AE
"I was just looking at that Belvedere Wagon on Autoliterate and remembered this specimen. This is from late spring , just on the edge of town. Ponteix, Saskatchewan, that is. It has no rust nor obvious damage...
"That name, Belvedere, reminds me of that cartoon, Belvedere Bulldog. 
"There is a lookout on Castle Mountain (Banff Nat'l Park) that the French half of the sign calls Belvedere Castle... 
"And there used to be a (Canadian brand of cigarettes called Belvederes. 
"Probably is some long-forgotten DooWop group's name, too. "In The Still of the Night" by The Belvederes. Complete with a fire in a 45 gallon drum."--AE
December 5, 2012
Paris, Winter Light, & a Lamborghini Gallardo
Went to Paris to do a reading at The American Library of Paris and to meet my editor at Editions Philippe Rey who will be bringing out a French edition of The O'Briens next year. Never have been in Paris so late in the year but ever since reading Moveable Feast way back when, with the Master's evocation of Paris in cold weather, I have wanted to experience it....not exactly winter yet, but close. I was lucky to get the sunshine, not common this time of year. Apologies for the lack of old iron in these. I happened on a Lamborghini photo shoot in late afternoon, but most of my day was spent in the 7ieme arrondissement, where old trucks are not.
Advanced Design Chevrolet Truck
from our main in the prairie provinces, Alex Emond:
"Last week I pulled into Tompkins, Saskatchewan just off the Trans-Canada to take a break and walk the dogs. This old blue truck hasn't moved far, lately. I like the way the tumbleweed is packed into the grill. Looks like the old hall on Main street has been converted into a gun range. Not likely to happen back here in Banff." -AE
"Last week I pulled into Tompkins, Saskatchewan just off the Trans-Canada to take a break and walk the dogs. This old blue truck hasn't moved far, lately. I like the way the tumbleweed is packed into the grill. Looks like the old hall on Main street has been converted into a gun range. Not likely to happen back here in Banff." -AE
December 2, 2012
Autoliterate's Amsterdam
Walked around the west end today---Westerpark and the Jordaan--with BB, HBB, and our friend Guido Goluk, Dutch translator of "On the Road". A blowy, windy Dutch day with wonderful complex skies that kept changing every few minutes: sunshine, cold rain, more sunshine.
December 1, 2012
Love, Inertia, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Stance
Found out about this from MSM. Have a look at the video. Obession, art, autophilia.
"Love, Inertia and the pursuit of the Perfect Stance" is a project that celebrates the pursuit of a dream and our long romance with automobiles. It is a story about a labor of love that honors craftsmanship and the gratification that comes from customizing a piece of history into a work of art. Over the past 3 years I have been meticulously transforming a 1963 Ford Falcon Deluxe Club Wagon into a fully street-legal sculpture..." Shawn HibmaCronan
