Best Trucks of the Year

Every Man's Second Car Should Be a Beater Truck...
...that was a piece I wrote for GQ (November 2012) on buying, recycling, and using an inexpensive old truck. Don't much like the term 'beater', as it implies a machine that is thrashed and can be treated with zero respect. I like mending, tuning, and driving basic old trucks. Below, some of my Autoliterate favorites of 2012. The good thing about old trucks is that they are usually for sale. And pound for pound, pretty cheap. RUST is the 4-letter word to avoid. Surface rust is fine, it's patina. Anything deeper gets very expensive. While it is relatively easy, and not wildly expensive, to drop a new engine into an old truck, dealing with a serious rust issue can be extremely costly, and often hopeless. If you're looking for a great old truck, think--high & dry climate. Think--south & west. That's where to buy. And if you live in the Northeast, plan on an adventurous road trip, or pay a good outfit--like Safe-Way Auto Transport, out of Kentucky--to bring your baby home from the desert.

Texas Dodge

Texas Chevrolet C-10

Texas F-1 Ford

Donald Judd's Dodge. Should called it The Judge

Vancouver International

Saskatchewan Econoline

Maine/Texas GMC (with Chevrolet tailgate)

Colorado Springs International

Banff Dodge

Colorado Dodge

Saskatchewan International grainer

California F-2

Saskatchewan Chevrolet grainer

Saskatchewan Advanced-Design Chevrolet

Colorado Sprinsg A-D GMC

Willys Jeep, Colorado Springs

Dodge, Times Square NYC

Citroen, Wassenaar, NL

Citroen, Wassenaar, NL

Morris, Berlin

Chevrolet, Texas

F-250 Texas

Chevrolet c-20, Los Angeles

Chevrolet Portland ME

F-100, Saskatchewan

Willys Jeep, Blue Hill ME

Raw Material: 5-window coupe, etc.

from our iron man in Northern California, Michael S Moore:
".while waiting for my [fourth] fuel pump for the '45 I went up to Brian's Auto Salvage in the far reaches of American Canyon and scored these...

"Yeah, well... door handles and window cranks from more than a half century ago. The trip went something like this...

'63 Pontiac, sunbaked

 

63 Chrysler. Maybe? 62 Imperial

"...and then at the end this character showed up; 1930 five window [deuce grille] running a classic dual-carbed flat-head...the kind of stuff some guys [not me] make out of what they find at Brian's....

Classic Benz, Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Christmas morning. Good time for a bike ride. Always liked the 1960s grey which seemed the default color for MB of that era.

The Green Volvo of Groningen-- 1980 Volvo 440

Spent Christmas morning biking around Amsterdam then off to visit friends in the province of Drenthe, in the north. from a North American point of view bikes are the basic personal transportation device all over Holland but Drenthe is especially the bike province and we did some intense rural biking on a blowy, sunny day. NL is very very green in winter, even way up north. Boxing Day dinner en famille with our friends, outside Groningen. http://www.rug.nl/?lang=en Next morning we explored the city, a college town and regional capital, quiet after the bustle  of Amsterdam. Someone loves this Volvo 440 and takes very good care of it. Too bad Volvo, once a great solid plain-jane car,  has become synonymous with oversize leather-infested shagwagons aimed at insecure moms. Volvo is basically dead in the US. Another good car wrecked by brand-mania, thanks to the brains at Ford.

Amsterdam Bikes, part ii

We spent Christmas Eve on our bikes in Amsterdam... 

The Dutch urban bike--omafiets or opafiets-- is a wonderful machine. Sturdy and reliable, and definitely the best way I know of to get around in the city, any city, except San Francisco, where you'll need some gearing.