dready art ‘billys endless summer’ – 36×13 – image

I was looking for a vehicle to do a thing for some people from a place – the right car, when a road trip we had taken, on a visit to canada, when I was a yute – from victoria bc to the calgary stampede came to mind – there were  10 of us, I think, 4 adults and 6 kids … there was a camper in the bed of a pickup truck and a safari wagon with the boot made up as one large bed: memories fade, eh, and I was young young, 7 or 8, maybe, but i guess the adults slept in hotels/motels/holidayinns while we kids fended for ourselves in the ‘rough’.

the calgary stampede was cool …

when we first, as kids, arrived in belize, a country where there were no paved roads outside of the big towns – and even then I think more as a way of keeping down dust rather than as a nod to modernity – I was surprised to see that the roads weren’t filled with pickup trucks and 4×4 s, sure there were some, but the majority of cars were ford sedans and station wagons … sure there was the odd chevy, but this was a country of old fords and it was a mercury station wagon that met us and took us 2/3rds of the way across the country to the blancaneaux lodge in the mountain pine ridge, via the ranch at mile 5 …

‘nothing lasts forever but old fords and natural stone’ …

I think that the Parisienne was an only in canada ‘model’ name but certainly the ‘safaris’ were everywhere in gm/chevy/buick/oldsmobile/pontiac brands … and they’re cool in their kitch-ness, their 70’s-ness, and big and suit the surfer scene … i don’t even remember what kinda car we went to calgary in and why i didn’t chose a mercury marquis as the car of choice ’cause jah know I sat in enough of them … maybe the shape of the wood sides!

give good wood!

bless …