Peter Behrens's Blog, page 83

Pinstriped Work Truck Chevrolet 2500

  We have posted before on Boston Truck Language, specifically pinstriping. Here's an earlier De Roma truck. And a pinstriped Ford F-350. Examples abound. Seems to us a Massachusetts thing, often Italian or Irish...do you see it much in other cities? I don't remember it being an LA or a Montréal thing.

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1968 Volkswagen Beetle, Type 1, Brattle Street.

 

There is a Beetle herd in Cambridge, Massachusetts and we posted a bunch of them, such as a 1967 Bug a couple months ago. Also see our post on the man who made the Beetle huge. And did you say Karmann-Ghia?

Wes Davis, "American Journey"

 

from Christoph Irmscher's WSJ review of Wes Davis' American Journey. “The trouble with driving,” observed nature writer John Burroughs, “is you have to keep your eyes glued to the road all the while.” He had been skeptical of those new machines, their propensity to fill “the land with noise and hurry.” But things changed when in January 1913 he received a free, brand-new Model T from none other than Henry Ford himself. Yanked out of the 19th century right into Ford’s modern mobile utopia, Burroughs was soon zooming around as if he’d been doing nothing else his whole life.
"His eyes, though, were anywhere but on the road. His complimentary car, claims Wes Davis in his jaunty book “American Journey,” gave Burroughs a “magic carpet ride” through nature, fast-tracking him into a paradise of rural delights: “A golden border of dandelions to the roadsides, the apple orchards a mass of pink and white bloom, the fragrance of lilacs streaking the air.” But Burroughs’s dalliance with the Model T wasn’t uncomplicated. On one humiliating occasion, hoping to park his car in the barn, the naturalist lost control and shot out the building’s back, saved from a tumble down the hill only by the flywheel that had ground itself into the floor. But such calamities didn’t keep Burroughs from joining the vehicle’s maker on a series of well-publicized road trips that, to his delight, also included the famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison..."Autoliterate: We posted Senator Eugene McCarthy's Model T poem a while back. And a one-family Model T in Saskatchewan. We met several Model T's in Canyon, Texas.

Early Nineties Range Rover, Cambridge.

 

From Yona Shapiro: Seen in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Range Rover was introduced in the US in 1987–after it had already been around, in the UK, for seventeen years. It was marketed as the Range Rover, pure and simple---no model name, or series number. This nimble 2-door edition is from the early 90s.

AL: we posted a '92 RR in NJ a while back. And every now and then we catch a Land Rover on the streets of Cambridge; or in a backyard in Wassenar, NL.

1941 Dodge, Harvard Square

 

Henry Behrens caught the Dodge. Compare to the 1940 Dodge sedan barn find we posted a while back.

The Beauty of the Hull

It's the sheer that does it. That swoop from bow to stern. Saw her on Deer Isle, while heading down to Stonington. That's Isle au Haut--aka, Aisle a Ho--rising to the south. 

 

1949 Dodge Wayfarer

 

From Alex Emond: That enormous trunk! A salesman car, a two seater--maybe 3 in a pinch. Slightly cartoonish but it resonates for me. This car was for sale in Redcliff, Alberta a whileback and I guess I blew it by not even inquiring about price. I would open up the trunk and split the bench seat so I could sleep aboard. Vanlife, indeed. The ultimate sick fantasy would restomod it but keep the look. Cool , in my humble opinion. There's one for sale in Hemmings Yesterday afternoon I drove close to Lake Louise and took a stab at the mighty Mount Temple. I used to climb it, now I paint it. More welcome rain today. Fresh air, green everywhere. Things are good . 

Autoliterate: we posted this original 1940 Dodge sedan a while back.

      More welcome rain today . Fresh air , green everywhere . Things are good .  Cheers , Alex

First-Gen Ford Bronco

 

From Yona Shapiro: "Parked by Sebago Lake, in Maine. A first-gen Ford Bronco, finished in Calypso Coral orange. This particular Bronco is subtly customized with different wheels, and a few other changes. Perfect summertime cruiser."

Autoliterate: we posted another first-gen Bronco, from West Texas. Another first-gen in Portland, Maine. And here's a 1978 Ford Bronco we caught last fall.

1970 Mercury Comet

Better know as the Ford Maverick. We've posted this car before, but it looked great on a green-gray rainy spring day in Cambridge.  HEre's a 1962 Comet from Vermont. And a 1964 Comet Caliente from Saskatchewan. A 1964 Comet Caliente was at Motorland a couple years back.

 

Ford F-250 Cambridge.

 

A large wheelbarrow? Maybe we're stretching a point. Wheelbarrow trucks are small, plainspoken, utilitarian. The Ford F-250 is many things, but not small. Rare to see that single seat cab, though--except in coastal Maine, where lobstermen have single-seat trucks and use the longer bed for hauling traps.