Peter Behrens's Blog, page 570

Or Gallery, Vancouver. Mitsubishi and VW vans.

Walking to work in Vancouver this morning: this wall belongs to the Or Gallery, on Hamilton Street in the West End.
People here say it's the first blue sky day in weeks. Everything is pretty green---the West Coast rainforest--so I believe them. One thing you see a lot of in Vancouver and on the Island are these gnarly little 4WD vans, usually Mitsubishis, imported from Japan, righthand steering  and all.
And British Columbia has always been a protected environment for VW vans of all vintages. It ought to be a UNESCO World Heritage zone for ageing veedubs.

49 Mercury & 57 Chevrolet

I guess  the 1049 Merc and 1957 Chevy are the classic duo of hotrod-dom. Certainly the most done cars: you could make it a trio with a '32 Ford. It's difficult to come up with a fresh take on these vehicles but Dan Picasso in Texas--and a guy in Alberta whom we don't know--certainly have.


from our West Texas correspondent, Dan Picasso:
"I put this together for Rod and Kustom magazine-  remember magazines?-- in '06.  Based on a 4 door sedan, 4-inch chop, Plymouth business coupe C pillars, Kelvinator- style tailgate swinging aside, Cadillac sombreros, flathead, 97s, so on and and so forth. Wish someone would build it!"--DP
Check out another Mercury truck that Autoliterate came across last summer in Nova Scotia. Speaking of the True North, Alex Emond found the downsized 1957 Chevrolet in Banff, Alberta.
"I know that these 57 Chevys make you snore but this one is worth a double-take. Some guy with a lot of skill and time managed to shorten this car by a quarter and make it look seamless._--AE 

Launching a Cape Dory 25 in Maine

Scout went into the Benjamin River last Monday, at the Sedgwick Town Landing. Bill Grant set the mast, we rigged her pretty fast, then splash. Having a boat in the water is like keeping a hand in the poker game: no one wants to sit around and just watch. I spent a few afternoons this week getting the engine on (6 hp Nissan outboard) and various etceteras, like sails. Tuned the rigging a bit, with help from Teke Wiggin, Today sailed from Benjamin R. up Eggemoggin Reach to her mooring in Center Harbor. Beautiful blue sky day, SE wind 10-12 knots.

1951 Pontiac Rat

Our Alberta/Saskatchewan correspondent Alex Emond met this monster'd Pontiac at a show n' shine in Banff last weekend. I like the basic paintwork and the restrained style of the car. It may seem strange to be talking about "restrained" style when you're on 4 tires that large but the rattish Pontiac pulls it off, somehow. Canadian understatement, eh? It works.

At the same show: not sure what this rig is, or was. A late 30s Chevrolet 1/2 ton?
A

1964 Willys 4x4

from our Nevada correspondent:
"October 1978; my 1964 Willys 4x4 panel truck outside Gerlach, NV.  Last year of the old body stye, it had the Buick six that was to go into the super-ugly Wagoneer that debuted the next year, which made it quite quick.  Warn hubs, overdrive... it woulda/shoulda been a keeper but I rolled it on the Bay Bridge in 1979....thirty four years later I'm 20 miles the other side of that mountain behind Gerlach and the kid in the window is about 20 miles SW of Kandahar, Afghanistan until September." --MSM

Jeep Station Wagon at Blue Hill Garage

                                                                                         photo Isla Miller©2012Went on a fishing trip with my father in Quebec in 1966. The guide had one of these. Forget the fish, all I wanted to do was drive the Jeep.

The Mack Truck in Sedgwick

Spent some time at Bill Grant's Boatyard in Sedgwick, Maine this weekend, getting Scout ready to go in. Everything at the Boatyard looks well-used and ready to work. I like Bill's new/old truck with boat-hauling trailer.
I got a coat of bottom paint on Scout & hope to have her in this week.

Bill's boom truck is usually down at the Sedgwick Town Landing, stepping masts, but he is putting up a new boat shed this week--he works fast--so he's using it at the Yard.

Now, that's a Mack with  patina.

Marfa Truck Series #1

I like June, and appreciate the wild green of it here in Maine. Spent 15 years in Santa Barbara where June is a gloomy month, often. No rain, lots of white-sky fog: what they call 'the marine layer'. Not what we in downeast Maine think of as fog. Here fog is grey cottony-misty stuff floating over the road,  smelling of Fundy, and everyone drives with headlights on. Maine June: shedder lobsters, poppies going wild, lupine, jungle green everywhere. Then I started thinking of last winter in Marfa, where the light is so sharp, the air so dry, and the Detroit iron (mostly) rust-free.

L'autogrill

Every home should have one.

1982 F-250 Work truck Cloudcroft, N.M.

This from Don Culbertson, our Franco-Texan West-of-the-Pecos correspondent:"Hou la la, ca, c'est une work truck! Found this treasure outside of Cloudcroft, New Mexico on a road trip. 1982?or thereabouts ford 250, the ranch bed is newer than the truck: welded flatbeds are a recent trend in farm/ranch trucks."