Caught this handsome wagon on US 1 in Wiscasset. Just the name "Yeoman" speaks to a culture let alone marketing strategy that no longer exists: i.e., appeal to the frugal, plain-and-simple aesthetic and pocketbook. Now, it may seem odd to call a giant finned behemoth like this wagon 'frugal', or 'plain and simple', but in the context of the day it really was as basic a family roadster as was possible in '58. Wagons are so much more appealing than the minivan or SUV, I think. I like the Chevys of 1958. Pontiacs of '58 were okay too, but the Buicks and Oldsmobiles of that year were monstrous. Saw a nice 1958 Chevrolet Biscayne in Ellsworth Maine around Thanksgiving.
Trucks, cars, highways, landscape, good writing. "You cannot travel on the path, before you have become the Path itself."
PHB
- autoliterate
- 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.
Monday, January 13, 2014
1958 Chevrolet Yeoman Station Wagon
We were in West Texas earlier this month and maybe mentally we're still there--it was 70F degrees in Marfa today. But meanwhile, even up here in Maine, old metal happens.
Caught this handsome wagon on US 1 in Wiscasset. Just the name "Yeoman" speaks to a culture let alone marketing strategy that no longer exists: i.e., appeal to the frugal, plain-and-simple aesthetic and pocketbook. Now, it may seem odd to call a giant finned behemoth like this wagon 'frugal', or 'plain and simple', but in the context of the day it really was as basic a family roadster as was possible in '58. Wagons are so much more appealing than the minivan or SUV, I think. I like the Chevys of 1958. Pontiacs of '58 were okay too, but the Buicks and Oldsmobiles of that year were monstrous. Saw a nice 1958 Chevrolet Biscayne in Ellsworth Maine around Thanksgiving.
Caught this handsome wagon on US 1 in Wiscasset. Just the name "Yeoman" speaks to a culture let alone marketing strategy that no longer exists: i.e., appeal to the frugal, plain-and-simple aesthetic and pocketbook. Now, it may seem odd to call a giant finned behemoth like this wagon 'frugal', or 'plain and simple', but in the context of the day it really was as basic a family roadster as was possible in '58. Wagons are so much more appealing than the minivan or SUV, I think. I like the Chevys of 1958. Pontiacs of '58 were okay too, but the Buicks and Oldsmobiles of that year were monstrous. Saw a nice 1958 Chevrolet Biscayne in Ellsworth Maine around Thanksgiving.
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