Peter Behrens's Blog, page 566
August 3, 2012
Southern Colorado GMC Sierra Grande
Rocky Mountain summer afternoon sky, daily thunderstorm on the way, and wind, with leaves showing white...+ old pickup truck...makes me miss the West.This from our correspondent. Michael C. Moore, who has work in a show opening this week at the George Lawson Gallery in LA:"This wasn't the best to be seen in La Veta, but old trucks are ubiquitous over there and I'll find some more in a week or so when we go back...
"...In other news, for four bucks [with "contents"] in Walsenburg yesterday."--MSM
"...In other news, for four bucks [with "contents"] in Walsenburg yesterday."--MSM
August 1, 2012
'49 Fargo, '73-'87 Chevrolets & lonesome blue sky Saskatchewan
From our man in South Saskatchewan:
"Respect your elders. Absolutely nothing fancy about any of these trucks, but you've got to love them anyway. The crazy Wall Of Tractors is just on the edge of Ponteix, Sask., close to the water tower...and a 1949 Fargo over in Kincaid, Sask., half an hour east. This truck is just a few months older than I am. The current owner told me that it was his father's truck and it has been in the family since new." --AE
all images©2012 Alex Emond
"Respect your elders. Absolutely nothing fancy about any of these trucks, but you've got to love them anyway. The crazy Wall Of Tractors is just on the edge of Ponteix, Sask., close to the water tower...and a 1949 Fargo over in Kincaid, Sask., half an hour east. This truck is just a few months older than I am. The current owner told me that it was his father's truck and it has been in the family since new." --AE
all images©2012 Alex Emond
July 30, 2012
Texas Chicks Diss Novel
The O'Briens makes Book Riot's July 2012 Great Summer Reads List
“The O'Briens is a major accomplishment” — New York Times Book Review
PB interviewed by Jacki Lyden on NPR
“The O'Briens is a major accomplishment” — New York Times Book Review
PB interviewed by Jacki Lyden on NPR
July 29, 2012
The Salesman & the '64 Rambler: The Last Ride
Autoliterate: "I remember that chrome salesman marching off to work on the Rambler. Do you have a photograph of him on the car?"AE: "Frayed knot , Peter. I'll send you a shot of it's last voyage ...being towed by Blake out to the compound [in Banff]. It wasn't running or registered and the place where I had been storing it kicked me out ...I was broke and decided to let it go. That was a mistake, but we all live with a few regrets. Wish I still had it. I had just removed the ornament."
Both photographs Alex Emond ©2012
July 28, 2012
1956 Buick & American Road
from Rob Simonds: "My work still takes me west every summer and I have a habit...of taking pictures of trucks along the way...I'm about to start my drive west tomorrow and I thought I'd share a few with you from last year."--RS
1956 Buick- Sonoma, CA
1966 F-100: Napa, CA
F-100, Nevada City, CA
Lifted Chevy. Cheyenne, Wyo.
July 27, 2012
Chevrolet C10 Marfa, Texas
Pinto Canyon RoadTruck used to belong to City of Marfa. There's one like it--but a longbed--in a scrapyard out near the airport. This one was reasonably well-preserved for a truck that had been on the city payroll for twenty-six years or so. It has a 305 motor, despised by hotrodders--but I'm not. Ricky Rojo rebuilt the transmission last year. It runs a smooth 70 mph on the highway between Marfa and the skateboard park in Alpine. We drove the truck from Marfa down to Big Bend in January. Longest truck trip this year was to Odessa, in March, when I was interviewed on the local CBS channel about my new novel The O'Briens. Odessa was maybe three hundred miles r/t, and no problems. Hector Sanchez painted it in April-May 2011, during last year's terrible fire season. Hector is a volunteer fireman, and I think he was pulling some 24-hour days on the job, but he still got the truck done.
July 26, 2012
The unwritten history of work
I like old mechanics' toolboxes : if they are good they seem to last forever and I like the wear of them, the sense of a history--the hours of work worked into them. This one belongs to Michael Moore in Northern California. This link will take you to some earlier autoliterate posts on toolboxes...
Maine Lobsterboat, 1976 Chevrolet truck
One of the spring rituals was getting our sailboat ready for launching. Scout spends the winter at Bill Grant's boatyard in Sedgwick; when I was slapping on a bottom coat back in June there were still a bunch of lobster boats at the yard, getting ready for action. There's something tuned and form-follows-functional that I admire about the blocky, workaholic lines of the 1976 Chevy truck and the swooping, graceful sheer of a Maine lobsterboat.
