Charlie Beesley’s interests don’t just run to old land-speed racers, as one might assume from seeing the pictures of the Kenz and Leslie 777 streamliner that he shared with us last week. Rather, he’s been collecting vintage photographs for years, many of which he displays at Reservatory.net, almost all of which come sans context.
I’ve got somewhere around 50,000 at this point, maybe 20 percent of which is motor related. Cars, trucks, buses, boats, airplanes, trains, tractors; if it has a bit of style, I’m interested. I’m also keen on various social aspects of the automobile, from the ability to go places and do things that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise, to the vehicle aging process, to how the personalities of cars and the owners posing proudly beside them sync up. What I’m supposed to do with the accumulation has not been determined at this time. All I know is, I need more.
Thus, we get scenes like the above Rambler in a flood (or is that a stream, with a waterfall in the background?), which would fit in well at Black and WTF.
The border of this one shows a date of September 1942, so we assume the giant turnip came out of the young lass’s victory garden. The Airflow, Charlie noted, has been reduced to playing second fiddle.
Finally, for now, what Charlie calls the Plordolet: “The personalized Ford Mainline seems to have acquired a ’55-6 Chevy hood ornament and inverted ’51-2 Plymouth badge.” The photo appears to be prompted by a Californian couple’s first glimpse of snow, though where they encountered the white stuff is anyone’s guess.
Thanks, Charlie!