We continue the series on walking Buffalo, from the intrepid couple who walked every day—no matter the weather—in the early years of Covid. They think (without being systematic) they walked every street in Buffalo, and many in other cities and towns, taking some 30,000 photos, shared in this series. While not usually itineraries, we hope to encourage others to “walk the walk,” to see, observe and appreciate Buffalo—and beyond. William Graebner and Dianne Bennett are also 5 Cent Cine’s film critics, here.
Today’s Photo-Essay: Cars, Trucks, Vans, and Specialty Vehicles: Old, Weird, Modified, and Junked
There was a time when I (Bill) knew a lot of car makes and models. I was about 12. Today, as a cultural historian, I have only a general sense of when a vehicle was manufactured. I can recognize the back of a Tesla, the front of an Edsel (“an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon”), and the tail fins of a 1957 DeSoto, which was in the family. When I decided to write about the vehicles we’ve seen over years of walking, I anticipated hours—days, a week—of painstaking research just to identify make, model, and year. Surprise! A.I.—just about any A.I., including Gemini, the version that comes with Google—will do the job. Click on the A.I. icon, download your photo of the vehicle, and voilà! Done! I assume that most of the identifications are accurate. Feedback welcome…