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.

Monday, February 28, 2022

Flying Pontiacs

 
All 1960s. We've posted before on this species, like this Ventura flattop



Sunday, February 27, 2022

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Ford F-150 Lightning; Ford Reportedly To Spend As Much As $20 Billion


From Mason Bissada's piece  in Forbes
"Ford reportedly plans to invest as much as $20 billion more towards its shift to electric vehicles over the next five to 10 years by revamping factories around the world to produce battery-powered cars..."

Friday, February 25, 2022

Bubbletops vs Flattops

 

Body by Fisher ads, 1959. Bubbletops vs flattops.

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Tesla Giga: The Mother of All Factories?



 from Fred Lambert's piece in Electrek:                                           "In 2020, Electrek first revealed that Tesla is going to build its next  Gigafactory in Austin. Later, it was confirmed that Tesla acquired over 2,000 acres of land around the Colorado River east of the city. Two years later, Tesla has now built a giant building for the main factory at what is now called Gigafactory Texas..

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

The K Car

 From Jonathan Welsh: These may be among the most reviled rides of the last 50 years but hey, the K-Cars really did save Chrysler, which sold millions of them from 1981 to 1989. Well, a little government intervention and a big dose of Lee Iacocca also helped. This clean example surfaced in New York's Greenwich Village.




Monday, February 21, 2022

1960 Pontiacs

 
'59s are really our thing but the 1960 Pontiac works, too. Found one in a barn in Maine a while back. Here are some flattops and bubbletops...







Sunday, February 20, 2022

1959 Willys Jeep Station Wagon 475




Caught the Jeep a while back at Blue Hill Garage, Blue Hill, ME. A 1953 Willys Jeep Station Wagon was for sale in Calif. a while ago. The photographer Winky Lewis caught one out on Deer Isle.



 

Saturday, February 19, 2022

1959 Pontiac, Car of the Year

            

I wrote an essay about the '59 Pontiac steering wheel.

                

Lovely small schooner. But...are the sails sheeted in? Looks like she could catch the breeze. 













Friday, February 18, 2022

Hot Cars

A cargo ship packed with Porsches, VWs and Audis is burning and adrift in the Atlantic, somewhere off the Azores, after she was abandoned by her crew. "The 656 foot-long Felicity Ace roll-on/roll-off car-carrying ship caught fire in the North Atlantic on Wednesday as it carried cargo, including Porsches and Volkswagens, from Emden, Germany to Davisville, Rhode Island. At the time of the fire’s outbreak, the ship was sailing 90 nautical miles southwest of Portugal’s Azores, according to a statement on Wednesday by the Portuguese Navy.."  NewsNPR

 

Times Sq Bustlers

 

     Times Square Bustlers.  Bill Burleson photo ©2022          

Thursday, February 17, 2022

1979 Chevrolet C-10

 

Texas is a fine place to find an old truck. The further west you go, the better it gets. Less rust. You do need to watch out for baked plastic, cracked rubber, and dried-out everything. 1975-79  is out favorite sub-era of the Squares. This baby's on the block today at BaT.

1963 Chevrolet Biscayne 409

 

You know we like sleepers. Which AL will define as High School-Principal Cars with secretive, unexpected oomph. Chevrolets of the early Sixties are classics of the genre, usually packing a 409, like this 1963 Chevrolet Biscayne which is on the block at Hemmings this month. Here's a 1964 Biscayne sleeper we caught in Colorado a while back...and a 1963 Chevrolet Impala 409 we came across in Downeast.

Ernst Haas: Manhattan (and a 1956 Ford)

 

Ernst Haas photo