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.

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Volkswagen 2nd Generation Type 2, California

 
From Michael Moore, in the East Bay: "A nice example of the classic VW bus, 2nd Edition, down on E Street of a Saturday." 

AL: We caught a bus very similar to this one in Blue Hill, Maine. And posted 1st edition Type 2 Westfalia that was on the block at Hemmings last year. Basha Burwell caught a 1st generation Type 2 in Marfa last year.





Tuesday, January 30, 2024

2 Wheelbarrows. Cambridge, Massachusetts

 

Above,  about as a basic a Toyota Tacoma as you will find, and therefore quite rare: a 2WD single cab. Below, an earlier edition 4wd Tacoma, definitely a work truck. Toyota practically owns the wheelbarrow genre, though there are exceptions.








Monday, January 29, 2024

Chevrolet S-10 Wheelbarrow

 

From Matthew Sheehey, in NoVa: "My favorite S-10 in Arlington, Virginia. It's been parked outside a shop for a few months now. My dad had the same model in green with a tan interior.
It was fun to drive, unless you got caught in a snowstorm.
Be safe and enjoy winter!"
AL: our notion of the wheelbarrow truck: modest, inexpensive, useful.
A very clean S-10 spotted in Maine a while ago.  The S-10 frame is about standard issue size for older pickups, before the genre got supersized. Here's a '34 Ford work truck on an S-10 from. And, just in case you missed it, a '46 Chevy in Santa Cruz, all original and not S-10'd.





Sunday, January 28, 2024

Basha Burwell: Far West Texas

 

Over the last sixteen years, Basha Burwell, a Maine native–see her A House in Maine, (Vendôme, 2021)–has developed a very strong attachment to Far-West Texas people, skies, roads, light and shadows. 










Saturday, January 27, 2024

1957 Chevrolet Nomad, California

 

From Michael Moore: "Caught this ’57 Nomad in the wild, which I think I sent you sometime back when it first showed up in town;When first sighted the guy had just gotten it running [still a number of things to sort out] after having trailered it back from Fallon, Nevada– the ‘middle of nowhere’ he said though I would characterize Fallon as more likely the edge of nowhere if one was to render ran opinion as to where nowhere was. Anyway, seems well sorted by now, cruising downtown Benicia, California on a grey winter's morn."
We posted a Saskatchewan Nomad a while back. You know that most '57 Chevys--except wagons and Nomads-- are not quite our thing, especially Bel Airs with fuzzy dice, but every now and then we come across a sleeper..



Friday, January 26, 2024

Yer basic...

 

...work truck. Nothing wrong with that. Ford F-250 sans all gew-gaws and faux-masculine beefcake. A plainjane city ride. The Heavy Duty wheelbarrow.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

1953 GMC 354. Big Sandy, Montana

 

We have posted many grainers over the years: farmhand trucks from the Great Plains, mostly...many from Saskatchewan. This truck, a 1953 GMC 354-24  is painted in John Deere colors, and may have belonged to an equipment dealer at one time. It's for sale in Big Sandy, Montana, about 70 miles south of the Saskatchewan border. And it's on the block this week at Hemmings.




Sunday, January 21, 2024

California GMC & Tchevy



From Michael Moore, in Benicia CA: first, a gotta-be-rare stepside GMC Sonoma, early 2000s...

..then a moderately lo-riding Tchevy 1500, c.2009.  As in, Tchaikovsky.



More triple-deckahs, Cambridge

 

The triple-decker is vernacular housing all over New England, especially in mill towns. These are all in the Mid-Cambridge neighborhood, where they started appearing in the 1870s.






Saturday, January 20, 2024

Mercedes-Benz AMG GT53

Caught by AL on a cold Saturday in Cambridge. I want to drive back to Santa Barbara in one of these.










 

Friday, January 19, 2024

1958 Chevrolet Biscayne. Maine.

This was a while back and in Ellsworth, Maine. Always preferred the '58 to the ubiquitous '57; not sure why. Maybe it was the nip-and-tuck rear lights arrangement, as opposed to the '57's more banal fins. Maybe because a favorite uncle had a a '58 Biscayne quand j'etais jeune à Montréal.