California Streets: February 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1992 GMC Typhoon

This may at first glance look like a garden-variety GMC Jimmy, but it's so much more than that. Where the regular Jimmy was an off-road oriented SUV with an unfortunate reputation for its rollover risk, the GMC Typhoon was a romping, stomping, turbocharged, all-wheel-drive beast of a performance truck. It's a curious vehicle, developed at a time when performance cars were anything over 200 horsepower and no one had built a fast truck in decades. Then General Motors unleashed a pair of shockingly quick compact trucks based on their S-Series platform. They were a regular-cab pickup called the Syclone, and a two-door SUV called the Typhoon. They sported a turboed 4.3 liter V6 producing 280 horsepower, 65 more than a V8-powered Mustang GT of the era. (According to Wikipedia, some stock Typhoons have actually produced over 300hp). All this power was put to the pavement through a 700R4 4-speed automatic transmission and AWD system with 35% front/65% rear bias. The trucks also featured upgraded suspensions, brakes, and a self-leveling rear suspension. It was unlike anything else available at the time, a truck capable of doing 0-60 in 5.3 seconds while taking the kids to school. The Typhoon was built from 1992 to 1993. Only 4,697 were ever built.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Volvo 122S Station Wagon

Another interesting case of a foreign manufacturer copying a successful design is Volvo with its Amazon line of cars. Their split grille, single headlights and slight tail fins were inspired by 1950s Chryslers, albeit scaled down quite a bit. The design is also said to have been inspired by a Kaiser that somehow made it to Sweden (but I haven't seen very many Kaisers that looked anything like a Volvo Amazon).

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Datsun 510

A number of Japanese manufacturers got their start or became successful by copying proven formulas from other companies. In the case of the Datsun 510, Nissan Motor Company copied a BMW. Specifically, the "New Class" series of sedans and coupes introduced in the 1960s. They were trim little cars, powered by four-cylinder engines and rear-wheel-drive. The Datsun 510 was introduced in 1968, but didn't become popular in the United States until 1969. It featured clean and handsome lines penned by Teruo Uchino. To this day I still think the 510 is one of the better looking Japanese cars. US models were powered by Nissan's L16 1.6 liter four-cylinder producing 96 horsepower, coupled with a 4-speed manual or 3-speed automatic. The 510 was available in coupe, 2- or 4-door sedan, or 5-door wagon body styles.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1961 Cadillac Series 62

This blog has featured many brands of old cars, but until now there have been no Cadillacs! How can this be? Chalk it up to their rarity, value and the general lack of street parking space that make it difficult to own, drive and store a vintage Caddy in urban areas. That, and San Francisco's famous undercarriage-scraping hills.

50 California Street Sightings

That's right, this blog has reached fifty vehicle features. It's taken a long time, and there are many more to come. Thanks to those of you who read my humble little board and give me a reason to keep updating it.

Without further ado, a recap. Links to each feature are provided below. Just click on the vehicle you want to view.

1946 Dodge Power Wagon