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, November 2, 2011

Alison Langley's Chevrolet C50

Enough book. Enough Canada. Enough travel. Enough poetry. Time to get the Autoliterate focus back. This blog was  inspired originally by my unrequited passion for gnarly old trucks. While visiting photographer Alison Langley last month, I noticed this wonderful machine in her driveway,


and asked Alison to consider it as a subject. She is usually out on her chase boat in Penobscot Bay, or at the Antigua Classic, taking pictures of classic sailboats, but she obliged me with these shots of the beast.


The C trucks were produced from 1967 to the late 80s in a variety of bodies: they were farm trucks and commercial haulers, medium-duty. (We're getting a bit trainspotterish here, I realize.) This one is in the period 1973-90 but my limited expertise can't get any closer than that. It looks to be in pretty solid shape for an old saltwater Maine truck.


Style? Yes, I would say so. This truck looks like a tool to do a job. No glamor to the truck or the job but a certain je ne sais quoi beauty, nonetheless. When you look at the photos you can just about hear the grumble of the engine, and feel the machinerumbling and grunting up toward second gear.
           Form follows function=true style.

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