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.

Thursday, August 31, 2023

1986 Chevrolet Suburban Custom Deluxe

 

David Branch caught the demobilized Fire Dept. Suburban in way-West Texas. AL caught another F.D. Suburban over in Eagle Nest, New Mexico a while back.




Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Stephen Salmieri & the 1962 Coupe de Ville

 

Stephen Salmieri photo from current show at Joseph Bellows Gallery in LaJolla. Thanks to Craig Manning for the heads-up. We posted a 1962 Cadillac convertible a while back. And another '62 Coupe de Ville...and Danny Shot's poem Cars which we posted with a (1961) Cadillac.

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

c. 1970 Ford F-350 Project

 


Buck's Harbor, Maine. No, it's not carrying the boat. Yet. 


Monday, August 28, 2023

c. 1977 Corvette

Henry Behrens caught it on the Vineyard. We posted a Vette of this era from downtown El Paso. Never improved on the Vette c.1966, we think. Here's a 1960 Corvette we posted in Maine a while back.





 

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Shawn Colvin: Naive Melody

 

"Home–that's where I want to be  
 (but I guess I'm already there)
"

1941 Plymouth Super Deluxe Business Coupe


Thanks to Matt Dallett for the heads-up on this:

From Portland Press-Herald:
"A rosary on the dashboard. A stuffed frog in the rear window. A little American flag. These mementos were in the 1941 Plymouth Super Deluxe Business Coupe when Kaja Veilleux looked inside for the first time. The car – and, presumably, the frog – once belonged to the late U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith. Veilleux is the owner of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, and the car was part of a private collection in a town Veilleux would not disclose. This piece of Maine history will be auctioned Sunday as part of a major summer sale at Thomaston Place with a starting bid of $7,500, but the auction house estimates it will sell for at least twice that amount..." 
Here's Jim Christy's poem about a '38 Plymouth. Here's a 1950 Plymouth coupe for sale in Idaho a few years back. Maybe our favorite coupe of the era is the '38 Ford we saw in Blue Hill Maine this summer.

Saturday, August 26, 2023

1998 Volvo 960. Last of the Line.

 

It was the last rear-wheel drive Volvo and a direct descendant of the 240's we have featured so often. The car is in North Texas and now For Sale at Hemmings.  Here's a 960 wagon we caught in Cambridge last year. And you must remember this Volvo P-210!

Ford F-350 Work Trucks, cont. (One Morning in Maine)

 

We caught the c. 1980 Ford F-350 Custom at Condon's in Buck's Harbor, Maine. Maybe you know the place from Robert McCloskey's One Morning in Maine. There was a Jeep for sale at Condon's last summer.We posted this more-or-less handmade F-350 in nearby Sedgwick, Maine last year. Here's a 1950 Ford F-350 way out west. And a purposeful 1985 Ford F-350 in New Hampshire.










Friday, August 25, 2023

Why Sailing is the Next Great American Pastime

Basha Burwell photo

"...Downeast wryness is prized here, which may suggest some context for the road sign just inside our town line proclaiming Brooklin [pop. 1800] The Boatbuilding Capital of the World..."
My piece on Sailing is up at Wildsam.

c. 1988 BMW 528. Martha's Vineyard.

Henry Behrens photographs. Could be a bit off on model and date.  We loved this 1972 BMW 2002 caught in Cambridge. And a 1968 BMW 2002 here in Maine. Not so keen on the BMW i3. But how about a spry BMW 1600 convertible?



Thursday, August 24, 2023

Series Land Rover. Islesford, Maine

 

Ian Unger photograph ©2023

Maybe our favo(u)rite Land Rover is Robert Bateman's Grizzly Torque 
There is a 1960 Series II Land Rover 88 up on BaT.

1990 Volvo 240GL wagon (for sale)

 

We posted one of these last week, same color. Still on the block at Hemmings. You know how much we admire these Swedish indestructibles. See ourpost on the Cambridge 240 pack. And another on Volvoville, Massachusetts

Mercedes Benz SL 190. Brooklin, Maine.

Only car we know that looks good in whitewalls. We caught the SL190 at The Brooklin Inn. Last SL 190 we posted was in Blue Hill Maine. And how about this 1954 Mercedes Benz 220 Cabriolet?







 

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Jaguar XKE Denver

 
From Markus Anstadt: 2 XKE coupes spotted around Denver. Late 1960s to early 1970s vintage. Enzo Ferrari admired this design.

AL: Seen our post on Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and the XKE?










                                                                        

Tuesday, August 22, 2023