TGIF Mixed bag

THE UNGAINLY POSSE 

Today will be the catch-all to round up the random extras that gather in my phone. Expect no theme except perhaps that these are all ungainly and/or large vehicles.

First up is a very handsome Citroën H-Type van. Since it has a single pane windshield as opposed to a split screen I can tell you that it is from 1969 or later.

I see this parked around Brooklyn as a driving advertisement for a cafe that sits perched under the elevated J train over on Broadway in Brooklyn. I've never been inside, but their van is sure nice!

The only other things I know about these cool little corrugated lunchboxes is that they were always front-wheel drive, and that the little headlights are the same as those used on the tiny 2CV. These vans were built from 1947 through 1981 with almost no changes whatsoever; a feet similar only to the VW Beetle (and some miniscule-production British cars such as the Morgan 4/4 and Bristol Blenheim).

Next we'll take a diversion on the short bus! Yes "Charmin Betsy" was parked on a far corner of Greenpoint recently with Oregon plates and modern hippie vibes. The painted title has the apostrophe after Charmin' on the back, but as it's missing on the front I can only assume Betsy's soft and squeezable like Charmin.

I have no idea what I'm doing trying to identify anything about a bus, especially a particularly odd one such as this; it looks a little too square and a little too wide, and those round lights are just floating in those huge square expanses next to the grill. With the exception of the rounded roof this looks to be a horrible design of anti-aerodynamic brickishness. The fact that they painted it an approximation of Brick Red is wholly appropriate.

 I gave up and asked Wikipedia what it thought, and it pointed out that this model (the Blue Bird Mini Bird) was favored by those who transported special-needs children due to it's massive interior dimensions. Now I feel crummy for dissing it's boxiness, but whatta ya gonna do?

There is something heartening to see that some folks are still living the '60s dream, even at $4.00 per gallon gas in a vehicle that probably averages about 9MPG.

Let's take a momentary jaunt over to one of the loneliest corners of the horrifically polluted Newtown Creek to admire the Pontiac Fiero mired in the sludge. Sunroof model, nice!

We'll wrap up today's post with something I couldn't help but snap if only because someone managed to parallel park it in Brooklyn; the AM General Hummer H1.

Chet from Weird Science would drive this today if he could afford it. These are incredibly capable off-road vehicles, and have the undeniably cool CTIS, or Central Tire Inflating System, which is that odd rectangle off center of the middle of the wheel. However, I was just pleased this epic reassurance to manliness was parked in front of the Twinkle sign! Sometimes real life is better than the script.

 And there we have it!