1964 Datsun (160 HP wheelbarrow) Santa Barbara, Calif.

And you understand we mean no disrespect when we call a truck a "wheelbarrow". The opposite, in fact.

Sized for the job, no oppressive faux-macho, functional, cheap...i.e., the role trucks used to play in North American culture until they became snorting, hulking festivals of ersatz masculinity. The Ford Tremor, for example. Even the name makes me...nervous. The Raptor...maybe they should call it the Chicken Hawk? The Ram Heavy Duty Rebel. (You know what kinda "rebel" those marketing folks are channeling---and it sure ain't today's despised campus rebels, it's the Civil War variety. Johnny Rebs, who bravely fought a war, on behalf of masters who hated them, to preserve an institution that consigned them to poverty–hey, hang on, does that remind you of anything...like, the news?

Volkswagen Type 2 Bus. Santa Barbara, Calif.

AL loves survivors. BTW, have you read our post, "He Made the Beetle Huge"?  1968 was the year of the new bus, in North America, anyway.

The Canadian Election: what's happening in Tadoussac.

Mary Behrens photo.

 

"Not a lot," reports Aidan O'Neill, writing from Tadoussac, in Québec's Côte-Nord region. "Tadoussac –founded in 1599– is clearly not at the epicentre of today's national election, one of the most momentous in Canada's history. The streets are deserted...

Aidan O'Neill photo

"There's not a single election sign to be seen. Other than the "Vote" sign at the church, one would be hard pressed to know that there's an election taking place today. And that sign might be mistaken for an entreaty to the cardinals about to take part in the conclave in the Sistine Chapel...
                  

Aidan O'Neill photo

                   
"There's been a recent redistricting, and the riding (AL: electoral district, returning one Member of Parliament) is enormous, going all the way up the North Shore beyond Sept-Iles. It's officially known as ... Cote-Nord--Kawawachikamach--Nitassinan. (Lots of Innu communities along the coast.)... 

(AL: Tadoussac is popular with European tourists who come for the pays sauvage and the whale watching.)

"I suspect Tadoussac will support the Bloc Québécois as the political default in this region is really sovereigntist. Meanwhile, all is quiet at the microbrasserie."

Aidan O'Neill photo

For more on Aidan and  Tadoussac, see our Station Wagon Family post.

Aidan O'Neill photo

Unidentified Truck Object: the COE Hauler

 

Photos from Larry Nordell in Helena, Montana. AL is trying to ID the hauler but we don't know much about this era COE's. There were a bunch of them, mostly Chevy and GMC,  that the Pacheco Brothers were seriously ratting in New Mexico. But this unit...?

1962 Oldsmobile Starfire. Santa Barbara, Calif.

 

We posted a '57 Oldsmobile Starfire made in Buenos Aires.

c. 1960 Ford F250, Santa Barbara, Calif.

We posted a 1960 F100 on the block a while back. And we posted a 1959 Ford Ranchero a while back.

 

c. 1968 Ford F350. Yosemite NP.

 

From Colin Washburn: Ford F350 fire suppression truck. Camp Mather, Yosemite National Park.

Chevrolet 3100, Colorado Springs

 

Henry Behrens caught the truck passing through the Colorado College campus. We caught another 3100 a couple blocks away. And another in the neighborhood.

c. 1985 Toyota Wheelbarrow. Los Angeles (Mar Vista)

Need a handy truck? Get yourself a wheelbarrow.

 

Barn fire and the 1932 Ford Model B Woodie

 

Sad news. Teke Wiggin's 1932 Ford Model B woodie has been in the family since 1932. Stored over the winter in a barn near the shore. On Sunday night, power lines blew down under heavy winds. Cables sparking on the ground started a fire that burned a few acres coming down the hillside and caught the barn and the woodie in its wake.

 Teke and I drank a toast to her yesterday with some 14 year old Oban, and Teke said, "Well, burning down in a barnfire on her home ground...there are worse ways to go."

Last summer, Maine Turnpike. Cadillac Hauler.

 

1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 Donk

 

From Michael Moore, in Benicia CA..."A Donk as they call them over in Vallejo [wheels as large as a donkey cart]…very cherry example on a sunny Sunday.