Well used, vintage vehicles spotted in the Batterman's auction house parking lot.
The sedan is anchored; its tires were flat as a pancake. Right and to the rear of the sedan, a Jeep, another elderly pickup and it looks like two utility vehicles, as well, hiding behind the truck. Surely they don't drive those any of those babies onto the auction floor?
Seeing as how the Sson will be visiting next week. And. Seeing as how he plans to retrieve his Pinzgauer from T Lo, who has had the vehicle in the shop several months for a general tweaking and check-up, it seemed time to pull out those photos shot last summer when I visited mogsRus with the Sson and his wife.
Located over on Iron Springs Road near Watter's, T Lo specializes in Mercedes Unimogs and Steyr Pinzgauers and Halfingers. Definitely vehicles for the rugged outback. Owner Thilo Kass is a German mechanical engineer with over 26 years experience. And the trucks he deals in are very, very German. Four square and engineered to the nth degree.
The Unimog, with its big box at the back, reminds me of WW2 movies showing the invasion of, say, a French town with mean looking trucks with loudspeakers atop making pronouncements. In reality, the Mog was originally designed as an agricultural workhorse shortly after the war ended.
T Lo's web site explains that the Unimog is not a "slow truck" but a "fast tractor". Period. Keep that always in mind when considering a Unimog. It is extremely capable of doing things no other vehicle, including the Pinzgauer, can do. It can go over severe rocks and pull incredible loads. It is relatively small and heavy. It's pulling capacity is amazing (how about a 365 ton Boeing 747). But it's not meant for I-17 or any other high speed roadway. And you can guess about gas consumption.
This Mog (above) served as an ambulance at one time. The machine below is an open truck...
...and this modern Unimog comes complete with a working blade. Great for clearing snow in one of our bad winters.
There were also motor bikes on display, though I didn't learn much about them. This visit was definitely all about 4x4s.
Moving inside, here is T Lo's own Pinzgauer, very workmanlike...
...compared to these handsomely (and expensively) outfitted excursion models (above, below). Both were for sale when we visited last June. Wonder if a buyer has shown up for either.
Machine tools -- just a small sample of equiment in the big shop. (I could have spent several hours just photographing tools, tooling and machinery. Great subjects!)
Sson and DIL inspect the undercarriage of the yellow Pinz.
T Lo and my kids spent some long while talking vehicles while I wandered the shop, looking for pictures. A great way to spend an afternoon -- thoroughly different from the more usual Prescott event (though the car and 4x4 culture is indeed alive and well up here in the mountains.) BTW, among other things, this Wikipedia article explains why almost all Pinzgauers in the USA are 25 years old or older. All 400 to 600 of them.
Linkage: Remember Cmdr. Data on Star Trek--the Next Generation, played by Brent Spiner? Well, I was advised by my daughter that he's using Twitter to write a science fiction story, 140 or less characters at a time; of course, you have to scroll down to start the story and read each post in ascending order. After you've read what he's written thus far, wander in a different direction to see the birth and babyhood of a pair of hummingbirds. Last, great photos from the mesas and canyons of southern Utah by Rich; be sure to take a look.
My neighbor, who teaches at Prescott College, alerted me. A very poorly advertised car show was taking place at the Crossroads Center today. A car show, yet! I usually associate PC students with anti-auto sentiment, but it turned out that this was an appropriate gathering: the Arizona Mini Owners.
And what a wonderful assortment of wee cars it was! Everything from several shiny new front-opening Isettas...
...to hot sports cars from an earlier era, back when such imports were a lot smaller than any American-made vehicles. However, I just noted the lack of wire wheels on the vehicle above -- in fact, it looks like modern low-riders, which, my neighbor who restores cars would explain, make for greater safety on today's high-speed roads.
There were Subes the likes of which I've never seen...
...a mail carrier direct from the UK, still wearing its English license plate.
No indication of this car's origins, unless one went up to inspect it!
As a reminder that at one time, made-in-USA cars weren't the huge gas-guzzlers we now enjoy, a line-up of Nashes. I remember the Nash quite well -- my LH was driving a little brown Nash station wagon when I met him!
Here's another small American car that I recall from the past -- the Crosley. In this case, a sporty convertible model. And below, its engine compartment.
It turned out that this colorful coupe is a work in progress -- bright shiny new two-tone paint on the outside, but in need of furnishings as well as work in the passenger compartment (below).
When your car is a mini, an enclosed trailer is quite feasible. The owner of this unit said that his collection included five little automobiles that he has restored.
And, yes, this wag not only had his jokemobile on display but rode it about to show just how to achieve the ultimate in miniaturization. I doubt if he worries about $4 or $5 gas.
Once upon a time, there were many more gasoline stations than today. Even one in Bumblebee in a back-country Arizona desert.
Yes, the old fashioned, independent stop remains down in Skull Valley and, Catalyst reports, has been upgraded some time in the past nine months since I took this picture. However, new styles of ownership have decimated the ranks of the independents, forcing the owners to find new uses for old buildings.
Periodically, a piece of property becomes so valuable that it can pay to tear down the structure, followed by years of "mitigation" of underground oil and gas leaks. Surely it was at least five or six years that the corner of Goodwin & Montezuma Streets housed a mysterious, keep-out-posted little building engaged in purifying soils from maybe 75 years worth of service stations.
Apparently if the original building is left intact, there's no call for mitigation. In Prescott, it's easy to find locations that are obviously recycled, for example this auto detailing & car wash on Sheldon Street.
Many more, such as the UPS Store, on Gurley Street which was, after all, old US-89 through the center of town.
There's also a used vehicle dealer...
...a specialist in European car maintenance (fittingly right next door to a recycled fast food operation -- IHOP, in this case)...
...and, at the corner of Gurley and Grove, Allison's, which did try offering pumps in the 90s, then gave up in the face of competition from C-stores and Fry's down the street.
A little further on is the Arizona Wildfire Academy, housed in yet another former gas station.
Thus far, recycling this location on Miller Valley next to the True Value has not proved out. Maybe it needs to be turned into something a bit more exotic -- an antiquery, for example.
I've noticed configurations which suggest a previous life serving up petrol. For instance, the obvious drive-through at Yavapai Machine & Auto Parts, above, and the launderette on Gurley, below.
The ultimate in gas station recycling, though, is certainly the nostalgia market. I have a neighbor whose old car collectibles include a gas pump. Not to mention this pair of pumps on display at the Goodwin Street Pharmacy.
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