J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

PHB

My photo
Brooklin, Maine, United States
We own a 1975 GMC Sierra Grande 15 in Maine and a 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe 10 in West Texas. Also a pair of 1997 Volvo 850 wagons. Average age in the fleet is 28 years--we're recycling. I've published 3 novels: THE LAW OF DREAMS (2006), THE O'BRIENS (2012), and CARRY ME (2016). Also 2 short story collections: NIGHT DRIVING(1987) and TRAVELLING LIGHT (2013). More of my literary life is at www.peterbehrens.org I was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. I'm an adjunct professor at Colorado College and in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte. In 2015-16 I was a Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Autoliterate office is in Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, 2 floors above Dewey Cheatem & Howe. SUBSCRIBE TO THE AUTOLITERATE DAILY EMAIL by hitting the button to the right.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Mean Hallowe'en Machine

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men ?   Happy Hallowe'en"--Alex Emond

F-1 in the two-author town, California



from Colin Washburn in the Sierra foothills:
"Faded turquoise F1 getting a makeover. Near Twain Harte, Ca."--CRW

Friday, October 30, 2015

Biscuit

Classic Maine lobster boat profile but awfully clean. Built by Arno Day, perhaps? Or possibly down in Boothbay.


Thursday, October 29, 2015

Mercedes Unimog


from Guido Goluke, the translator, in the Netherlands: "... my very favourite truck: the Mercedes Unimog. As a kid I used to wonder at the promo photos, in which the Unimog cleared a ditch with the front and rear axles crossed like the bones on the Jolly Roger flag, while schlepping an immense log out of a forest. So the little bridge on one of the pictures is totally unnecessary, the agile beast will climb onto the road without any problem."--GG

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Three deckahs. Cambridge Street. Behind the Public Library.

The Cambridge Public Library is a wonderful piece of architecture. The building is so sleek, so inviting, so delicious, it makes you want to go in there and read books. Excellent architecture makes human beings happy, and proud of being human. As opposed to, say, shopping malls, which always make me a little ashamed of our species.
And then these two old stalwarts across the road...nicely balanced, well-cared-for, and probably have been there a hundred years.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Dorothea Lange: Drought Refugees from Oklahoma, Blythe Calif., 1936

Look at those images of the Syrians with their kids, coming ashore, sometimes crawling ashore,  on those Greek islands. Then look at Dorothea Lange's images from California in '36. And remember Donald Trump is saying he wants to send the refugees back into the war zone.  What would he have said to this woman in Blythe, California in 1936?
Can't we send Donald back to where he came from? Somewhere far away. Queens, maybe. Somewhere way out there, past Flushing.

The Dreamboat: 1966 Olds 98 convertible



from Vincent Stanley, Director of Philosophy at Patagonia, a man with a weakness for unsustainable cars. But...49 years old, and still on the road--that's recycling, isn't it? The opposite of throwaway.

Monday, October 26, 2015

1985 GMC C15 SWB Cortes Island British Columbia No Bull


It's salty out there on the islands in Georgia Strait; also very green, by late October, after a parched summer. Winter rains haven't really set in yet, but there's been enough precipitation to restore the many-layered, jungle-green of life on West Coast of Canada. I caught the Jimmy on Cortes Island while heading for the water taxi across Desoaltion Sound to Campbell River, and the long ride home to Cambridge, Mass. via LA. Hope to be back on Cortes next fall to lead another writing workshop at Hollyhock Institute. We know a herd of these trucks in Marfa, where rust is not an issue.

looking southeast from Hollyhock beach, Cortes Island.

  

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Friday, October 23, 2015

Diablo of Angels Camp: Ford



The one from Colin Washburn, in the Sierra foothills.  AL posted a Ford of this era in Maine a couple years back wearing whitewalls, which were a mistake. Skinny period (repro)  rubber and wheels look great on this machine.



Thursday, October 22, 2015

1977 GMC K10, Vermont


from Erik Baier: "I found this slightly modified rig on the side of the road in East Middlebury, VT- keeping the seventies alive!"




Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Hot Fast and Loud in Vermont

Thanks to Erik Baier who spotted this machine outside the general store at Benson, Vermont.

Monday, October 19, 2015

1969 Land Rover IIa




Mostly original, with a GM 230i straight six added c.1980.  Up for auction at B-A-T.

Aphrodite at the Brooklin Boatyard


Eric Blake's photo of Aphrodite at the Brooklin Boatyard. I remember watching her puffing into Center Harbor some years back, before her restoration. The skipper gunned her in, puffing smoke, on what sounded like, and probably was, the last gasp of her engine. She was a rambling wreck with great bones. Built for Jock Whitney in 1937 for fast stylish commuting from home, on the North Shore of L.I.,  to Wall Street. Quicker than taking L.I.R.R. and the subway.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Mad Men Buick: 1961 Buick Electra

 Early Sixties, the best years for American cars. They make contemporary American cars look frumpy. This Electra's for sale; you can learn more at B-A-T.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Lobster Yacht, Benjamin River.

Cornelia Marie, in Benjamin River. Sedgwick, Maine.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

The Ford F600 Dumptruck, E.B. White, and Brooklin Maine

I'm reading The Letters of E.B. White, the edition that was put together by his granddaughter, Martha White.  E.B. of course lived in North Brooklin, our neck of the woods. In a letter from 1939 that I read today, he mentions owning a truck. Have to track down a photo of that truck. Stay tuned.  Meanwhile I found this one about a mile down the road from the house where E.B. and Katherine White lived.