Still Postponing 2018

aka I’m off script, doing junkster instead of tugster…  This is like hitting the snooze button for another few precious minutes of sleep.

Besides,  I found this wall of old Detroit steel, some painted up like bricks in the wall.  Scrapping is a necessity, but here’s to preserves like this.

Given some pesky dark ghosts annoying me, I’m buoyed by playfulness here,

just scrappable cars piled up and painted

a splash of spring colors in winter.  Too many other places of scrap hint at the terror that left them there; that’s not here.

 

Someone had fun here once.

Let’s sport about . . .

let’s sign on with a program to get this year going . . .

All photos by Will Van Dorp, whose time in the grove teaches resolve that distinguishes us from bears, turtles, bees, and other critters that hibernate; as well as learning that his preference is for shooting outdoor painted or rusty metal rather than feathers, scales, rock, stars, skin, or fur.

Related:  Here’s a place to add to the must-visit list.

Let’s Postpone 2018

I went to bed early, never heard all the hoop-la, and see no need to change calendars yet.  I’m sticking far inland in the grove of the tree of knowledge.  It’s not that I have bad feelings about the new year;  rather, I have no feelings, no expectations, no resolve.  Eagerness might come tomorrow, or aging may have stifled it forever, obscuring the ways ahead as pine needles have these once-fine automobiles,

only a hint reveals here or there.

Maybe in a few days, after I put the new calendars up, things’ll get as defined as these shapes.  Identify this beauty?  Answers follow so that you can guess, that is, if you want to linger in this grove, as I certainly do.

Wandering in this grove, I’m looking back to get a sense of going forward.  And what I really see is what Jacek Yerka can render.  I even posted a grove car photo referring to him back almost six years ago.  You’re guessing the make and year of these machines, right?

Some of these shapes I can recall and associate with friends now lost, and

others challenge my memory.

Some could be dusted off and running in less than an hour,

and others . . . maybe need cutting loose from the vines, and

then some  . . . have been doomed by clueless work, ill-informed priorities.

More soon, if Will Van Dorp, who took these photos, decides he can postpone 2018 a bit more and stay in temporal limbo.

Oh, Here are IDs, at least my guesses, skipping over the truly unidentifiable, imho:  1953 Studebaker 2D Commander, 1953 Buick Roadmaster, 1961 Buick LeSabre, 1961 Borgward Isabella, 1938 Ford firetruck, 1941 Ford Deluxe

 

 

Chugster 3

The parrot on my shoulder has started informing me the market cannot bear much more of these old jalopies, so here’s the last installment for now.  Speaking of jalopies, that’s a word I deliberately chose not to use until now.  Anyone know the origin of this word?

The vehicle below . . . puzzles me in its origins as well.  I’d call it a Cienfuegos rat rod, Cienfuegos being my port of entry, where I took all of the photos in today’s post.   And as to the identification, I’m just guessing, so I might be slightly off on some.

Here’s the first car I had a chance to look at close up.

1949 Chevrolet

 

1956 Chrysler and 1956 Chevrolet

 

1950 Chevrolet

 

1951 Ford

 

1985 Kamaz

 

1958 Pontiac, and that’s a gas station in the background

 

1950 Plymouth

 

1956 Willys

 

1952 Chevrolet

 

1952 Buick, with the portholes recently bondo’ed in?

 

1957 Plymouth Belvedere

 

1958 Chrysler

 

1956 Dodge followed by the ubiquitous 1970s Lada

And a personal favorite from my time in Africa . . . any one guess?

???

And here’s the final shot in the series, the commonplace Chevrolet but with a pearlescent paint job, which doesn’t show that well on this photo.

Almost all photos by Will Van Dorp, who was auditioning as a car show model above.  Think I have a future?  I saw a very efficient “booth babe” (someone else’s term, not mine) at the NY Boat Show last month;  she had more guys checking out the products at this particular booth than at any other booth.

In contrast to the photos of the cars in Cuba, here are a few from my hunting ground in the Georgia woods.  See them all in the camouflage?

I saw no Hudsons on the tropical island, although I did some a few Studebakers and even one Corvair.

And as you’ve seen, Buicks were plentiful, with or without portholes.

That blue sedan–five photos up–is a Peugeot 404 from about 1970.

And finally . . . jalopy . . . here’s the origin of the word, and here’s that location.

By tomorrow, chugster hopes to dive back into the water and re-emerge as tugster; either that, or he risks getting bit by the parrot who serves as chair of the board.