Road Trip Ready Raccoon - Missoula, Montana

Seems I’m not alone in my springtime yen for a road trip… Another splendid Montana thing: You never know what kind of kindred spirits you may meet on an afternoon ramble! 

Prison Made (Not the Zephyr) - Helena, Montana

The 1948 Lincoln Zephyr's detailed trunk latch is pretty sweet - but just as intriguing is the vintage Prison Made license plate.
Montana issued its first “Prison Made” vehicle license plate in 1928, pulling production from costly out of state makers. 
Check out Sean R. Heavey's colourful plate sampling here in his post from February 3, 2017. 
Even though the “Prison Made” stamp was only a feature from 1939 to 1957, Montana Correctional Enterprises at Deere Lodge state prison continues to manufacture the ever-expanding variety of Montana license plates - and a host of other products that you can view here.

Zephyr Unity Lights - Helena, Montana

Like a siren call, I was drawn back to a few shots of the 1948 Lincoln Zephyr we saw at an estate auction earlier this month, in Helena, Montana, so please bear with me. 

The detail of the chrome engraving is such a thing of fine beauty - it speaks of time when careful attention to detail was more the norm. I like to think it was a more gracious time in general - a distinct contrast to the caterwauling going on in our present-day media and politics, which saddens and annoys me to no end. 

But I realize it was also a harder time for the bulk of people in our countries. Maybe that's what's missing - a drastic decline in hard physical labour and deprivatious conditions allows for.excess foolish and uncivil blather...but I digress, and so leave you to ponder the calming chrome - engraved with the one elegant word: Unity.
(Hmmm...shinier shades of the Lorax, perhaps...?)

Lincoln Zephyr - Helena, Montana

A few days after I returned home from India, The Best Husband Ever had a wild hair to jaunt over to Helena, Montana, and check out an estate auction that included numerous classic cars which had been stored in a barn for decades. 
Jet-lag stupour not-withstanding, of course I said yes! -  partly because I was intrigued as to what could induce a man who shies obsessively away from buying stuff to subject himself to an estate auction! (Turns out, he'd never been to one before....)

A good time was had by all - and we did not bring home a classic car project, or anything else, for that matter ( whew!).
(By the way, the 1948 Lincoln Zephyr V12 went for $42k or thereabouts - a little rich for us.)

Special Chrome - Victor, Montana

The Best Husband Ever spent literal hours over Labour Day weekend shining up the chrome wheels - outer AND inner surfaces - on a spiffy used car we just bought.  Good thing for his obsessive self that our rig doesn't sport the abundance of chrome featured on this classic Buick Eight Special, or he'd still be polishing away. From a practical standpoint, sometimes it's okay that they don't make 'em like they used to.

We espied this Buick beauty yesterday on an open haul trailer spanning several parking lot spaces  at Cowboy Troy's in Victor, Montana. Regretfully, I do not have details or a story on this car - our usually chatty group was very hungry and didn't even think of talking with the car's owner until half a pizza had disappeared - and also the car. (Obviously, it was really good pizza.)

So, if you have any insight on what year Buick Special sported these particularly delightful hooded cherry-on-top* headlights, please enlighten us in a comment below - and then you can update the Wikipedia entry.

(*Sorry, in this angled view you can just see the chrome housing of  little round red topper light on the far headlight.)

Road Sign, Stevensville, Montana

An old car is never just a piece of junk - it might be a restorable classic, or part of an eye-catching advertisement, or even a play-space where creative youngsters travel beyond the farmyard, limited only by their imagination. Montana has always been a land of inventive entrepeneurs, taking what they have to make something else. Given that Stevensville, Montana, is the first settlement in the state, its no surprise that the original can-do attitude is alive and well here.