Old, Odd but Useful

I'm sure some people think that I am writing the titles of my blog to describe myself but today it's to describe what I saw on my ride.

Some old, odd but still useful trucks. Such as this Ford Falcon Econoline Club Wagon. Not the most stable vehicle, some had a 75 kg weight in the rear to counterbalance the driver and engine (which was between the front wheels). This one is 50 years old.

Here's the equivalent design from Dodge. (I am splicing in this photo, as I found the truck a day after this blog was posted.) Notice the generous application of self-tapping screws holding in the self-installed windows.

This clean little Rabbit diesel pickup looked pretty well-cared-for, compared to the few I have seen recently. It's a unibody design with no separate frame (hence no gap between cab and bed). This vehicle was made in VW's Pennsylvania factory starting around 1979.

The 'Eighties Jeep Commanche pickup is also a unibody, but had struts bolted under the cab to hold the back of the truck on. As described in Wikipedia:
The Comanche featured monocoque (unibody) construction, an unusual form of truck design, somewhat similar to the Volkswagen Rabbit pickup and Dodge Rampage. The Comanche has a more conventional removable cargo box like conventional body/frame design trucks. The Rabbit and Rampage are technically coupe utilities, not trucks, since the cargo bed is an integral part of the body structure and not removeable.
I saw nothing in Wikipedia about the general political leanings of Commanche truck owners. The back was also festooned with decals and stickers for Ron Paul.

Enough of that stuff. It was a beautiful day today and I stayed on the bike for about 2 hours. All the gears were used, from bottom to top, and I noticed a bit of chain noise, so time to apply some lube. I also might condition the Brooks saddle. Ouch.

Here's a scenic vista for you - Pacific Ocean in the background: