Peter Behrens's Blog, page 573
May 5, 2012
takes a girl to drive a truck
I think she bought those boots in...New Hampshire.
Nova Mar Vista
Saw this Nova (1970) on a walkabout, rainy spring day, Mar Vista, L.A.
The Dodge truck has posted before, but every time I see it--in Mar Vista--I want it.
Another Mar Vistan. 3/4 ton. 1972? For sale, too,
May 4, 2012
My Brilliant Careerism, part 14
The Michael Silverblatt/Bookworm interview that I taped in LA a couple of weeks back was aired yesterday, on KCRW. You can find the podcast here. We both admire the films of Terence Malick. Michael is passionate about books, and a "Bookworm" interview really is a conversation.
My new novel The O'Briens has gone into a second printing. The Canadian paperback is out (in Canada). And Random House has just done a new printing of my first novel, The Law of Dreams.
I'm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina this morning, heading to Winston-Salem this afternoon. This evening I'll be signing books, 6pm-9pm at the Associated Arttists Gallery Hop event in downtown W-S. Tomorrow I'm reading at Barnhill's Books in Winston-Salem, 5pm.
Of course while in Southern California I kept an eye out for machines, and came across this brilliant pair of Impalas, '63 and '62, in Santa Barbara.
My new novel The O'Briens has gone into a second printing. The Canadian paperback is out (in Canada). And Random House has just done a new printing of my first novel, The Law of Dreams.
I'm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina this morning, heading to Winston-Salem this afternoon. This evening I'll be signing books, 6pm-9pm at the Associated Arttists Gallery Hop event in downtown W-S. Tomorrow I'm reading at Barnhill's Books in Winston-Salem, 5pm.
Of course while in Southern California I kept an eye out for machines, and came across this brilliant pair of Impalas, '63 and '62, in Santa Barbara.
May 3, 2012
rat rod: the 1945 Chevrolet pickup
I love this 1945 Chevrolet pickup, which belongs to Michael S. Moore. Rebuilt with a rat-rod aesthetic: unfinished look; bare essentials. Meant to be driven, not merely shown. And Moore proved that by driving the machine from Colorado to Califoria in the winter.
"Built by James Gardiner of Brokenlight Customs in Berthoud, Colorado, over the winter of 2010 - 2011.
" it was sufficiently together to drive from Berthoud to California in February of last year...I flew to Denver, picked up the truck the same afternoon, and left the next day after James made some adjustments to the linkage. First night, over the Rockies, was spent in Fruita, CO; I then crossed Utah and stopped in Ely, Nevada.
"Third day crossed Nevada, stayed in Reno, visited friends and set out for California only to have 80 shut down by a blizzard...
"...while I was breakfasting in Truckee...the truck's too low to for chains so I snuck into California over Yuba Pass...below 5500' it rained, all the way to the Bay Area." --M.S.M
"Built by James Gardiner of Brokenlight Customs in Berthoud, Colorado, over the winter of 2010 - 2011.
" it was sufficiently together to drive from Berthoud to California in February of last year...I flew to Denver, picked up the truck the same afternoon, and left the next day after James made some adjustments to the linkage. First night, over the Rockies, was spent in Fruita, CO; I then crossed Utah and stopped in Ely, Nevada.
"Third day crossed Nevada, stayed in Reno, visited friends and set out for California only to have 80 shut down by a blizzard...
"...while I was breakfasting in Truckee...the truck's too low to for chains so I snuck into California over Yuba Pass...below 5500' it rained, all the way to the Bay Area." --M.S.M
Shades of Gray
I'm on the road, book-touring with my novel, The O'Briens. Last night I read the The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC; the night before it was Dogstar Books in Lancaster PA, and the night before that I was reading and talking at Highland Park (NJ) Public Library. Tonight is The Flyleaf in Chapel Hill NC and tomorrow I'm part of the Associated Artists gallery-hop night in Winston-Salem NC. Barnhill Books in Winston-Salem on Saturday afternoon.
The photo below is from Princeton NJ, which seems about the most prosperous town in the world. It certainly is a handsome place. I had a great lunch at Teresa's in Palmer Square, recommended by the manager of Labyrinth, one of the great independent bookstores. In Princeton--as in all precincts of upper-middle class America, these days--most of the cars (let's say 90%) were in that very narrow color spectrum that runs all the way from silver, through gray, to black. What does this signify, do you think? What happened to American exuberance, not to mention big red Buicks? (Or Fords: see my previous blog, on Ford's Styling Brochure of 1956)
Go to, say, a golf club. Look at the cars in the parking lot. (But 70% won't be cars; they'll be SUVs). Report back, please, on the percentages of silver-to-black-to-gray. It's dispiriting.
Palmer Square, Princeton NJ
The photo below is from Princeton NJ, which seems about the most prosperous town in the world. It certainly is a handsome place. I had a great lunch at Teresa's in Palmer Square, recommended by the manager of Labyrinth, one of the great independent bookstores. In Princeton--as in all precincts of upper-middle class America, these days--most of the cars (let's say 90%) were in that very narrow color spectrum that runs all the way from silver, through gray, to black. What does this signify, do you think? What happened to American exuberance, not to mention big red Buicks? (Or Fords: see my previous blog, on Ford's Styling Brochure of 1956)
Go to, say, a golf club. Look at the cars in the parking lot. (But 70% won't be cars; they'll be SUVs). Report back, please, on the percentages of silver-to-black-to-gray. It's dispiriting.
Palmer Square, Princeton NJ
Ford Styling brochure, 1956
Dan Picasso sent these images from a Ford Story of Styling sales brochure of 1956.
1. "From the beginning the styling of your new car's interior parallels the development of it's exterior. These two styling phases must proceed together to assure pleasing integration of inside and outside appearance--so necessary now that glass areas are larger and cars are lower, making interiors more visible than ever before. Fashion and color specialists, textile designers, plastics and paint technicians and craftsmen in many fields constitute the interior styling team"
2. "Seat contours are developed for both comfort and smart contemporary effects. Arrangements of fabrics, leathers, carpets and plastic and metal ornamentation are planned fro dramatic tasteful harmony.Color beauty and high interest are everywhere in the studio where your car's interior is designed. Scores of artists are seen sketching, painting and modeling their concepts of the advanced comfort, convenience and and safety features that will lend still greater pleasure to your motoring."
3. "On display are groups of textures and colors that may never before have been combined, but are strikingly beautiful together. the best of these new ideas will find their way into the car that is being designed for you. + In the interior studio the styling process is much the same as the exterior studio. Design ideas are developed as full-size clay interiors, modeled in fine details by studio sculptors and either painted to simulate new fabrics and trims or covered with the fabrics themselves. Stylists keep always in mind the specifications set forth in the original plan and 'package', for their are certain critical interior dimensions that allow no deviation. These include basic seat and instrument panel measurements to assure that you will have ample head, shoulder and leg room. The "package" further specifies the locations of door handles, window regulators and arm rests+ Periodically each detail is double-checked, to make certain that the instruments will be visible to the driver, that the steering wheel and controls can be comfortably used and that no annoying reflections will be caused by the sun or by the headlights of other cars."
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1. "From the beginning the styling of your new car's interior parallels the development of it's exterior. These two styling phases must proceed together to assure pleasing integration of inside and outside appearance--so necessary now that glass areas are larger and cars are lower, making interiors more visible than ever before. Fashion and color specialists, textile designers, plastics and paint technicians and craftsmen in many fields constitute the interior styling team"
2. "Seat contours are developed for both comfort and smart contemporary effects. Arrangements of fabrics, leathers, carpets and plastic and metal ornamentation are planned fro dramatic tasteful harmony.Color beauty and high interest are everywhere in the studio where your car's interior is designed. Scores of artists are seen sketching, painting and modeling their concepts of the advanced comfort, convenience and and safety features that will lend still greater pleasure to your motoring."
3. "On display are groups of textures and colors that may never before have been combined, but are strikingly beautiful together. the best of these new ideas will find their way into the car that is being designed for you. + In the interior studio the styling process is much the same as the exterior studio. Design ideas are developed as full-size clay interiors, modeled in fine details by studio sculptors and either painted to simulate new fabrics and trims or covered with the fabrics themselves. Stylists keep always in mind the specifications set forth in the original plan and 'package', for their are certain critical interior dimensions that allow no deviation. These include basic seat and instrument panel measurements to assure that you will have ample head, shoulder and leg room. The "package" further specifies the locations of door handles, window regulators and arm rests+ Periodically each detail is double-checked, to make certain that the instruments will be visible to the driver, that the steering wheel and controls can be comfortably used and that no annoying reflections will be caused by the sun or by the headlights of other cars."
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April 28, 2012
One morning in Maine
Have been enjoying a brief spell at home, in between bouts of book-touring for my new novel The O'Briens. Today a gorgeous springtime Saturday with a stiff NW breeze blowing I'd say just about 20 knots steady: kind of cold. But when we went down to Center Harbor there were already a few boats in the water.
Boats like this Friendship sloop (below) were rocking on their moorings. Blowing white horses out on Eggemoggin Reach.
I went into town yesterday afternoon to sign books at my favorite store, Blue Hill Books.
And was happy to see The O'Briens on the list.
On Monday I hit the road for NJ, PA, NC, and Toronto. Book tour events schedule is up here.
April 27, 2012
1937 Ford Woodie in Brooklin Maine
We're on a run of woodies lately. This one from last summer, at Sean McKay's shop, Affordable Performance, out on the Naskeag Road in Brooklin, Maine. Sean is mostly a Porsche guy but there's always room for a woodie. The WoodenBoat School is just down the road. So is Brooklin Boatyard. We know all about wooden vehicles around here. (Is a sailboat a vehicle?)
April 26, 2012
Surfing Ruined My Life
I was in Southern California on the O'Briens Book Tour last week. Woke up early one Sunday morning in Santa Barbara, in a guest cottage up on Mission Ridge. T he night before had read & talked at Project Fine Art Zone. Went out looking for breakfast stuff. Ended up at Gelson's Market on Upper State Street. Coffee, grapefruit, croissant. (Having grown up in Montreal, it still troubles my delicate frenchified ear to hear Americans pronouncing the 't' in "croissant").
Caught this woodie in the empty Sunday 8 a.m. parking lot, at Loreto Plaza.
Chevrolet. Say 1937?
Is it woodie, or woody? Anyway, I've always wanted one, but they belong to a different old-car market than the one I inhabit. I favor old plain-jane trucks. These are what I can afford on a novelist's salary. Would need to add a few zeroes to go woodie. My Santa Barbara pal Frank Mariani knows everything there is to know re. restoring and maintaining these wagons. Autoliterate featured a 1932 Ford woodie a couple weeks back.
Today, in Maine, I saw a PT Cruiser with vinyl faux-woodgrain on the body. Something about "history being repeated as farce" crossed my mind. Was that Marx?
Meanwhile, I have been promised transportation via 1965 Ferrari from my book tour date in Winston Salem NC next week to the Virginia International Speedway.
Caught this woodie in the empty Sunday 8 a.m. parking lot, at Loreto Plaza.
Chevrolet. Say 1937?
Is it woodie, or woody? Anyway, I've always wanted one, but they belong to a different old-car market than the one I inhabit. I favor old plain-jane trucks. These are what I can afford on a novelist's salary. Would need to add a few zeroes to go woodie. My Santa Barbara pal Frank Mariani knows everything there is to know re. restoring and maintaining these wagons. Autoliterate featured a 1932 Ford woodie a couple weeks back.
Today, in Maine, I saw a PT Cruiser with vinyl faux-woodgrain on the body. Something about "history being repeated as farce" crossed my mind. Was that Marx?
Meanwhile, I have been promised transportation via 1965 Ferrari from my book tour date in Winston Salem NC next week to the Virginia International Speedway.
April 25, 2012
Volvo P1800 For Sale
On the apparently endless The O'Briens booktour, I spotted this Volvo P1800 for sale at a small garage near Bridgton, Maine. Don't know if it is still there. And I don't know if it was listed anywhere on the web. It seemed a very clean survivor. There was one patch of rust on a fender
but otherwise everything seemed solid. And amazingly, original. Especially the interior. Dusty, but all there.
The p1800 looks like it has spent a lot of time hiding in a barn and it certainly doesn't seem to have encountered many Maine winters. Asking was $3K. The seller seems to think it a 1969 but I would say 1967; not that I'm an expert on these sweet little Swedish machines, but it has no side marker lights and I think these were mandatory starting 1968. How trainspotterish of me to know that.
Okay I must wedge in another shameless book plug. There are 2 videos of me holding forth on my new novel The O'Briens: one is an interview I did with Jeff Glor of CBS, and another is one of the Writers Talk About Writing series produced by my US publisher, Pantheon Books and available on youtube. I'm having an extremely bad-hair day in the CBS interview.
