Imagine life after war... soldiers all dreamed of it, but what about the vehicles left behind? The soft-sides still running didn't just disappear... many of them actually were camouflaged for more mundane roles in the streets of Europe. This book tells their story.

Summer 1945. The fighting in Western-Europe has finally ended and the allied 'fighting-machine' has come to a halt. This is also the case for the numerous military vehicles which had become suddenly redundant. American, British and Canadian trucks were 'moth-balled' in enormous motor-pools. However, many allied and a few German military vehicles were given a new lease of life and were transformed for their new tasks. They would find their way to a myriad of small companies; builders, garages, fairgrounds, circus's and (especially in Belgium) as 'Frietkotten', roadside 'Chippy's'.

More often than not, their rudimentary transformation was left to the local blacksmith. The result being that the original vehicle would often become barely recognisable. In the Netherlands almost all the GMC's and other vehicles have all but disappeared from the scene. However, in Belgium they could still be found on almost every street corner.

In search of these last remaining 'survivors', in the nineteen-seventies, Theo Barten and Maarten Swarts drove criss-cross through Belgium, Northern-France, the Netherlands and the Eastern-block countries. From their efforts the resulting photographs capture for posterity these unique vehicles in the street scenes of that period. Especially interesting, the hand painted signs on some of the vehicles give the photos' a truly unique atmosphere. The name on one of these signs was chosen the title of this book, 'Frituur Zorro' ('Chip-shop Zorro').

They come to life as old soldiers eking out a living on the mean streets.

Only available directly, this book is an interesting addition to post-war information.

http://www.frituurzorro.nl