Star car, 1920s

There were British and American marques with this name: the American was assembled by the Durant Motors Company between 1922 and 1928 and sold as the Rugby in British Commonwealth countries.

1960 Seagrave fire truck of the L.A.F.D.

Velocar trike, England, late 1930s

"I say Jeeves, this is a lot more fun than driving that Bentley."

1953 EMD advert

1954 Bedford Utilecon

Ideal for the family with 5 kids.

1955 Austin A90

1968 Austin 1800

"The car of the century" - no modesty here.  The Sydney Opera House was clearly well advanced by this stage although it didn't open until 1973.

traditional river transport in Brazil

Plus some traditional housing.

'you won't believe it, but I've found a transpress nz book'

metre-gauge steamers in Brazil

dashboard garden

Alvis saloons, 1920 and 1955

1955 Vauxhall EIP sedan

early GMC battery-powered truck with chain drive

1955 Dodge Fargo truck

from Paris to Bordeaux by the Chemins de fer de Paris à Orléans, mid 1890s

Only 8 hours 30 minutes for the trip.  Today you can do it in 3 hours 16 minutes on a TGV, although you will want to leave from the Montparnasse station rather than from Austerlitz.

1957 Renault Dauphine poster

ships at Funchal, Madeira, art, 1935

Created for the Norddeutscher Lloyd ship line.

'I like reading a book'

cars outside the National Theater, Budapest, Hungary, 1960s

We think the one in the foreground is a Skoda 1101.

Omega Cycles poster, France, mid 1920s

Kerr Stuart 0-6-0, Ocean Beach Railway, Dunedin

Dating from 1929, now preserved at this museum.  Info about it and the museum is here

Marshall Islands vintage car stamp art, 1997

'20th century - Dawn of the Automobile Age'

Pacific Electric car on San Pedro, L.A., 1960

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This quaint corner turret, often seen on old buildings in central Europe, but rare anywhere else, is still there.

1947 Ford coupe

by train to see Halley's Comet, Australia, 1986

A photo of Halley's Comet taken at the time (source)

It may seem a little odd excursion, but away from the pollution, haze and lights of cities, the night sky in the cloudless Australian outback is an impressive experience.

1950 Commer Avenger bus of the NZR Road Services, Westland

Body by NZMB. See our books for more.

trams in Hastings Street, Napier, early 1920s

For more, see earlier posts and our books.

Pozzo race circuit, Italy, poster 1927

'all right, one photo and then I'm back to my transpress nz book'

1972 Chevrolet bus

A brochure for Spanish speaking countries.

the 'Bremen' from 1938/1959

Four screw turbine ship. 32,335 gross register tons, length: 212 metres, breadth: 27.5 metres, speed: 23.5 knots, passengers: 1,122.  Flagship of Norddeustche Lloyd, biggest and fastest German passenger ship.

This was built in 1938 by Chantiers et Ateliers de St. Nazaire in France, named Pasteur. She was purchased from Cie. de Navigation Sud-Atlantique in 1959, extensively rebuilt and renamed Bremen, In 1970 the ownership became Hapag-Lloyd after the merger of NDL and HAPAG. In 1972 the ship was sold to Chandris Lines, Piraeus, renamed Regina Magna,  Eventually she sank while being towed to scrappers in 1980.

It's called reading a book

weird tourism poster, Mexico, 1940

Quite cryptic this one: a topless brown woman with a rather hostile expression raises her arms against a mountainous landscape with a steam train in it, proclaiming in English (so presumably aimed at Americans), "For the same victory!"

The same victory as what?  And what does sightseeing in Mexico have to do with it?  This was the first full year of WW2, but America wasn't in it until December 1941, and Mexico wasn't in it until 1942.

realistic scenes with real buildings and model classic cars

new Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith wants to save the 'Capital Connection' train

In fact according to this stuff article it is at the top of the new mayor's list of priorities.  The local Member of Parliament for this area also wants to see the train continue.

Geoff Churchman's views on the issue, and a nice pic, are here 

50 years of Wigram aerodrome expo card

As can be seen, the base dated from 1917, named after transport and air force pioneer Henry Wigram. The RNZAF left in 1993 and the private aerodrome was closed in 2009. Since then the site has been developed for housing by the Ngai Tahu iwi under the name Wigram Skies. The historic control tower and hangars remain as they are heritage protected buildings. and the RNZAF museum, Air Force World, remains.

the alpine railway town of Modane, France

FS class E636 locos (see earlier post)

Situated at over 1 km in altitude, this town is close to the border with Italy and both road and rail have tunnels known as the Tunnel du Fréjus, see earlier posts.  Freight trains from both France and Italy can be seen in the yard here and a changeover of electric locomotives from the 1,500 Volts DC of the system in this part of France to the 3,000 V DC of the Italian system.  It is also on the route of TGVs from Paris to Turin (and Milan).  The town's population was 3,400 in 2012.