California Streets

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1963 Buick Riviera

2012-02-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of first-generation Buick Rivieras. The 1963-65 Rivs were a styling triumph for Buick, and this pretty blue luxury coupe is a strong example of the breed. These early (pre-'65) Rivieras lack the hidden headlights that were part of the original design, but in my opinion the fixed-light cars are the best looking. The 1965 models have a cleaner design with stacked lights hidden behind the stainless corner trim, a hood ornament and no simulated side scoops.
This car is a first-year model and is in pretty good condition. It looks a little strange though, because the rear "Riviera" script badge below the trunk lid does not belong there. On '64 cars there would be no BUICK emblems and the Riviera badge should be on the right corner of the trunk lid. If there's one detail I never liked about the Rivieras, it would have to be the taillights. They look like an afterthought, and it only got worse in '65 when they were relocated down into the rear bumper, leaving an empty void between the trunk and bumper populated only by a Buick shield badge and the Riviera script on the right side.
I encountered this example in a quiet neighborhood with no traffic, on a lovely day in May 2011. To the owner I say this: give your baby a wash and wax. It may be a daily driver but it's too beautiful to let it start rusting.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1954 Studebaker Commander

2012-02-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite 1950s car designs is the 1953-54 Studebaker coupe penned by the Raymond Loewy studio. The '53 Studebakers appeared almost completely new, replacing a body that dated back to 1947. That body reached its design pinnacle in 1950 with a bulletnose motif which lasted for two years. An unfortunately awkward restyle for 1952 introduced a split grille which was translated far more successfully onto the 1953 body. These new cars had low-slung bodies with light ornamentation that made them look remarkably sleek and modern for their time.
This car is a 1954 Commander, the fanciest model offered that year. It packs a 232 cubic inch V8 engine making 127 horsepower. It's what one might call a 20-footer or even a 10-footer, because it looks fantastic when viewed from across the street. Up close the car appears a little rough in places, namely the trunk lid and one spot under the left headlight where the paint is coming off. Apart from those details, the body and trim seem to be in good order and the interior looks mint.
It's another fine member of Stude Guy's fleet and I can't wait to see more specimens of South Bend's best in San Francisco.

Petaluma Street Sighting - 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1

2012-02-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

I made a promise a long time ago not to feature every Mustang I see. I think I've done a pretty good job of weeding out the generic stuff, but it's also resulted in a distinct lack of ponycars. So I considered it a good score when I spotted a clean red 1969 Mustang Mach 1 parked in the historic district of Petaluma. The '69 Mach 1 is one of my favorite muscle cars and this one has everything: the Magnum 500 wheels, matte black hood with hood pins, 428 Cobra Jet V8 with shaker hood scoop ... the whole car oozes aggression. For the most part it looks stock, though I doubt that the traction bars on the rear are original.
Curse the late afternoon sun and shadows, heavy traffic and the fact the owner arrived shortly after to drive off. This was a really cool car and it deserved better pictures.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1960 Volkswagen Type 2 double cab pickup

2012-02-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

I have a mild interest in old VW pickups, mainly because they're so much less common than their van or "station wagon" versions. I don't even photograph most of the garden variety Type 2 Microbuses unless they're in mint condition or at least visually interesting. Most of them bore me these days. The pickups, however, with their novel hinged bed sides, are an unusual footnote in truck history. Interestingly, this VW predates the "Chicken Tax" that served to curtail sales of imported light trucks to the US (and did, quite effectively in the case of later VW pickups).
This one is a 1960 double cab pickup, called a Doka by some (short for Doppelkabine). These trucks are hard to come by, and it appears they're even harder to customize because the last one I featured had the same lowered stance and 5-spoke EMPI wheels as this truck. This one's in better condition though, and more detailed with bumper guards and a large rack over the bed area and roof. It's not what I'd pick if I had to choose a work truck, but it surely has more character than a white F-150.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1970 Mini Cooper S

2012-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

What's this? Another classic Mini? I told you guys San Francisco was full of the little buggers. This time it's a Mark III Cooper S edition produced between 1969 and 1971. The Cooper S was the highest-performance Mini in its day, available with a 1275cc engine intended for circuit racing. If that badge is to be believed, this is one of only 1,570 Mk III Cooper Ss built. There is a problem though, in that this car looks awfully... sedate for a performance trim. No hood stripes, fender flares, foglights - and it's all one color. And it doesn't help that one can buy the Cooper S boot lid badge online for a little over £10 plus shipping. If it is a genuine Cooper S though (and it's RHD even), that makes it fairly special among the plethora of vintage (and not so vintage) Minis in town.
Sadly this one has not fared too well over the years. When I first found it in 2007 it was beaten but at least complete and intact. Three years later when I managed to track it down again the poor car was missing its right side mirror and its whole front bumper. And to add further insult, like so many classics I've found in the city, this car had a parking ticket on it. Is there some obscure law that every interesting old car is subject to a fine? Sheesh. Maybe the meter maids puttering around wearing bike helmets in their crappy three-wheeled Go-4 Interceptors are just jealous.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1972 Ford Ranchero

2012-02-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Last month we looked at a 1972 Ford Gran Torino coupe. Now let's look at the Torino-based pickup, the Ranchero. I happened to find this '72 Ranchero parked down the street from a small repair shop where at least three other feature vehicles have been spotted thus far (note the 1936 Ford pickup in the background of one of the photos). It's a somewhat scruffy part of town (I once had a homeless man con $10 out of me about one block from where I found this Ranchero, after he claimed to be a penniless refugee from New Orleans who just wanted to buy a meal for himself and his wife - and then skipped off right past the sandwich shop he told me he planned to go). The light was fading, so I didn't spend much time taking pictures.
Judging by the license plate, I'm guessing the owner is a mechanic, and his trucklet is in good shape with the exception of a big scrape on the quarter panel. I'm not certain if the color is Medium Lime or if it's a custom non-factory paint job, but I like it with the Ranchero GT-style side stripe, body color sport mirrors and chrome Magnum 500 wheels.
If I ever spot this pickup again, I'll definitely try to get better pictures.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1968 Dodge A108 Custom Sportsman

2012-02-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

The first vehicle I featured here on California Streets was a 1968 Dodge A100, so in a way we've come full circle. This is actually the third Dodge A-van we've seen here, and this time it's a '68 A108 Custom Sportsman. It's owned by a Mopar collector in San Francisco. The last A108 featured was a 1970 model in the same colors as this van, but in rougher condition. In retrospect, I wish I'd shot this one more in depth, but at the time it was merely another A-series van and I didn't see a reason. Oh well.
I don't have much to say about it other than to point out that paint work on older vehicles often wasn't on par with modern standards. Take a look at the masking job inside the grille where the secondary color was haphazardly masked off in plain view (visible above the "crosshairs" of the grille). If it were mine, I'd want to paint the inside of the grille black so it doesn't stand out. I'd also have the front bumper straightened and rechromed. It takes a special breed of person nowadays to respect and enjoy an old, primitively designed forward control van. I think that's cool.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1976 Mini 1000

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

When a car is built for many years with the same basic body it's easy to get the different models mixed up. The classic Mini is probably the best example of this, and probably the most easily interchangeable. Countless special editions and variants were released, and continuous improvements were made over the years. This car hails from the British Leyland years as evidenced by the fender badges, and is also badged as a Mini 1000, which if correct, makes it a 1976-77 model. It's also right-hand drive and bears a foreign license plate which resembles New Zealand. It wouldn't be the first NZ Mini I've seen in California.
Old Minis are surprisingly abundant in San Francisco, being one of history's great city cars. These were considered a small family car in their time, but are no longer suitable for many plus-sized people in America. Compare this pint-sized Mini to the contemporary Toyota Corolla in front of if for a real idea of what a "compact car" has become in this country. This one is in great shape aside from a little bit of bumper damage in front. I like that it isn't a cliched Cooper clone sitting on Minilite wheels, finished in red with white hood stripes and a white roof like so many others. Don't get me wrong, people do it because that's pretty much the quintessential Mini, but it does get rather dull when they all look like that. The simple light blue with steel wheels and shiny dog dish hubcaps looks just fine to me. Just don't expect to win the Monte Carlo Rally or escape the Turin Police with this one.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1967 Datsun 520 1300 Pickup

2012-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

Some of the least common old cars in this area seem to be old Datsuns - but not the cars, oddly enough. A large number of Z coupes and 510s have been saved because they were good cars despite being rust-prone. What doesn't seem to have survived, are the compact pickups Datsun fielded in the American market.
It's still easy to find old Toyota pickups on the West Coast, even with their own atrocious rust problems. These and Mazda's B-series trucks competed with the Datsuns and were popular with buyers who wanted a more economical choice than a full-size Ford F-Series, Chevy C/K or Dodge D-Series. The existence of the small imports forced the Big Three to rethink their game. Ford would respond in the '70s with the Mazda-based Courier, Chevy would field the Isuzu-based LUV, and Dodge brought over the Mitsubishi-based Ram D50.
This pickup is a 1967-68 520 model with the 1300 cc J13 engine making 67 horsepower. This body style was introduced in 1965 and gained quad headlights for '67. Condition is okay, with a small amount of body damage and a lot of surface rust in the bed area. It's fragile and basic and slow by today's standards, but I'm sure these little haulers worked hard in their day and saved a lot of dino juice for the rest of us.

Danville Street Sighting - 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII

2012-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

This is one from my archives, and it shows. My earlier photos, especially with my old camera, just aren't much to look at. The car, on the other hand, is quite the looker. It's an Austin-Healey 3000 Mk III, produced around 1965.
The 3000 has always been my favorite Healey roadster, and you don't often see one just parked on the street. Luckily this one was a spectator at a local car show, but parked his car on the street a few blocks away. Lighting wasn't the best, and if I'd had half a mind back in 2008 that several months later I'd be starting a blog, I'd have spent more time with it and taken more pictures.
The Mark III (1963-67) was the final incarnation of the 3000 and was also the most luxurious and powerful (both being relative as power translated to 150 horsepower and luxury meant a wood dash and roll-up windows.) I would also argue that the MkIII was the busiest looking, with all its federally mandated indicators and running lights and reflectors that stick out of the front and rear corners like so many warts. This particular car has a center high mount third brake light for added visibility to other drivers. Most of these cars that I've seen are painted in two-tone, but commonly with the darker color on top and a white lower tone. This reversal looks to be Old English White over Colorado Red with red interior, a walnut veneer dash and a Nardi wood-rimmed steering wheel. Looks like fun.

Best of the Rest: 1980s GM

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

1980 Chevrolet Citation, San Francisco
1983 Buick Century T-Type, San Francisco
1988 Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo, San Francisco
1989 Buick LeSabre T-Type, San Francisco
1989 Cadillac Allante, San Francisco

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1956 Packard Patrician

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

The story of Packard is a long one, but unfortunately it doesn't have a happy ending. The name Packard conjures up images of graceful 1930s luxury cars with tall, distinctive grilles and long hoods. The company itself was a pioneer of automobile design, with their first cars rolling off the line in 1899. The earliest models were true horseless carriages, some resembling the Olds Curved Dash Runabout. As time progressed, Packard became one of the recognized names in luxury, and persisted as a high-end marque even through the Depression. In the mid-thirties, though, Packard saw the need to diversify and offer less expensive "aspirational" cars to attract more buyers. These cars were something of a catch-22; they kept the doors open longer, but they also cheapened Packard's brand image.

Following World War II, almost all Packards looked the same, so a person driving an expensive model didn't stand out from someone driving the cheaper model - not a good thing if, say, you paid Cadillac money for something that looks like a Chevy. Coming into the 1950s, a Packard looked much like any other large American sedan, albeit with a loose interpretation of the Packard corporate grille shape and a comically oversized swan hood ornament. In 1951 the Packard Patrician came out, billed as their top model. The Patrician name comes from the Roman Empire and referred to elite citizens. It seems a snobbish name for a car that, with all its tacked-on chrome bits, might have more accurately been called the Packard Pretender.
For 1955, Richard Teague was tasked with redesigning the lineup using the same basic body as the 1951 model. Yes, the same Richard Teague who later did the AMC Gremlin. Considering that he had a limited budget, Teague didn't do too badly bringing the old car up to current design standards. Packard also introduced a new trim pattern which allowed up to three different colors to be used on a car with minimal masking effort. On the Patrician, a machined aluminum veneer was used as the second tone.

For 1956, the final year for true Packards, the Patrician got a new grille and unusual pointed fender extensions that hooded the headlights, giving the illusion that they were set deeper inside their coves. Only 3,375 Patricians were sold in their final year. For '57 and '58, Packards existed only as "Packardbakers", or superficially restyled Studebakers. Then Packard was gone.

This Patrician is the only one I recall ever seeing. I found out about it via Flickr and finally managed to locate it. San Francisco Packards are elusive and this is one of only a couple I've managed to find parked on the street. It looks good for its age, quite likely an unrestored original. There are some dents in places and the whole thing badly needs a wash and wax. As near as I can tell, the color is Mojave Tan with a Dover White secondary color. This car lives near a collector who owns a small fleet of Corvair Monzas, and may well belong to the same person. It makes sense that a person who likes an eclectic car such as the Corvair would appreciate the last true Packard. Maybe someday I'll be lucky enough to find it again, all clean and not parked under trees.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1963 Triumph TR4

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Fifth in my collection of San Francisco cars photographed and featured by both myself and by my friend Colin Stacy of The Automotive Way, is this early 1960s Triumph TR4 roadster.

Vintage Triumphs are cool little cars. Being British, they're the kind of vehicle you can chat with your friends about over a pint, sharing all your adventures ... in fixing it when it broke down.
Okay, that's unfair. The stereotype of unreliable British sports cars is partly earned thanks to the infamous Lucas electrics, leaking oil and later British Leyland corporate bungling and apathetic quality control, but when they do run I'm sure that a classic English roadster is a thrill to drive. It must be, if American soldiers returning from duty in Europe brought home thousands of them, and Mazda sought to copy the formula when it developed the MX-5 Miata in the late eighties.

Triumph had some great and pretty unique little cars during their heyday, when the company wasn't forcing them to slap their badge on crap, usually rebadged versions of other mundane BMC or British Leyland products. They had the TR series of roadsters that lasted from the 1950s to the '70s, perhaps reaching its pinnacle with the TR6 and then promptly plummeting into a hole with the TR7. Triumph's last gasp was the Acclaim, a sedan which was a rebadged Honda Civic and probably sold in reasonable numbers because it ran. (That didn't stop the light Japanese steel from rusting in the UK's damp climate though...)
The TR4 sat pretty much smack in the middle of Triumph's roadster series. It was built between 1961 and '65, so I've split down the middle and called this one a '63. In late 1963 the dashboard design was changed to a mahogany veneer, but this one has the early style which was white with black trim. While not my favorite of their cars, The Michelotti-penned design has begun to grow on me. It's a cleanly designed little car that's probably the most fun to drive at low speeds on twisty roads. One of my high school classmates had a Miata with a license plate frame that read: "Happiness isn't around the corner; happiness IS the corner". And that is the mantra of the classic sports car. Unlike most American cars of the era which were made for cushy straight-line highway cruising or stoplight drag races, the TR4 has a small 2138cc 4-cylinder engine, a 4-speed manual gearbox and a chassis tuned for a hard ride and optimal cornering ability.
This one needs to be shown some love before the tin worms get into the body, but for an almost 50 year old roadster it looks pretty good. Maybe the owner fears that if it looks too nice, some vandal or thief will ruin it, or it will be too good to properly enjoy on the open road. And that would really be a shame.

You can read Colin's take on this car here.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1972 Citroën 2CV4

2012-01-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Fourth in my collection of San Francisco cars photographed and featured by both myself and by my friend Colin Stacy of The Automotive Way, is this 1972 Citroën 2CV4.

Regrettably, my knowledge of old European cars is sorely lacking. More often than not, when attempting to date an old Citroën I must lean heavily upon the crutch that is Cats-Citroën with their extensive resource of year-to-year design changes and production data. As close as I can tell, this car is post-1970, probably built before 1973. Three-point seat belts in the front make it a 1972 at the earliest unless they were added later by an owner; the 2CV4 badging on the rear is pre-'73. It's used as rolling advertising for Les Cent Culottes, a French lingerie store on Polk Street.

Conditionwise, the body is in fair shape aside from the crunched hood, a tweaked driver's door and a small crease in the left rear fender. My biggest concern is the bubbles of rust forming under the rear hatch. The paint job is certainly not original, judging by the foreign license plate on the front and the undercarriage which have both been sprayed over with red. A red-orange hue can be seen peeking through in places on the hood around the grille and license plate. Pictures of this car on Flickr from 2009 show a car with shiny paint, so it was probably a cheap paint job that has faded. The center high mount brake light is an interesting touch adopted by many classic car owners in the city, particularly those who drive tiny, lightly built cars with small brake lights mounted very low on the body. Given the presence of a pair of child safety seats in the back, the owner needs all the added visibility they can get to protect les bébés. Speaking of the interior, on this car it looks nearly new. I wonder if it's been cleaned up or reupholstered at some point.

I suppose if you're advertising a French clothing store, you can't get much more French than a 2CV. I just wish they'd fix it up and paint it properly.

You can read Colin's take on this car here.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1973 Volkswagen 412

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Third in my collection of San Francisco cars photographed and featured by both myself and by my friend Colin Stacy of The Automotive Way, is this 1973 Volkswagen 412.

The VW 412 is a strange animal. It was offered as both a fastback coupe and as a two-door station wagon, serving as a sort of interim replacement for the old Type 3 Fastback and Squareback. I've seen two 412 wagons in the city, but only this one coupe. It first entered my world when I was walking to class one day. There's an auto shop on Harrison that I liked to walk past, because they occasionally got some good cars in for service that made good feature material. This car was parked just inside the door for a couple of weeks, perhaps awaiting parts. Then one day it was parked outside, so of course I descended on it and got some photos. But alas, the light wasn't very good and I was generally disappointed with my pictures. Then it was gone and I figured that was the end of it.

Come January 2011, though, I was driving through town and happened to spot the exact same car completely at random. Granted, SF is a small city when compared to a place like Chicago or New York, but it's still fairly unusual to just stumble upon the same car you saw miles away, two months before.
Condition is rough, but the body appears solid and could probably just be painted (after some damage repair up front, of course) to be presentable again. Polish the wheels and chrome and have an interesting little air-cooled city runabout.

You can read Colin's take on this car here.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1972 Ford Gran Torino

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Second in my collection of San Francisco cars photographed and featured by both myself and by my friend Colin Stacy of The Automotive Way, is this 1972 Ford Gran Torino coupe.

I'd seen this car before in the city, incidentally just around the corner from the 1970 Galaxie XL coupe I featured some time ago. I took a couple of pictures then, but that was years ago, before I even thought of starting a blog to catalog my findings. Flash forward to January 2011, and here it was down by Fishermen's Wharf, parked around the corner from another 1970s Ford coupe. In this case it was the black '77 Granada I featured yesterday.

I make no secret of the fact that I really don't care for the look of these things. The '72 Torino was a totally new design after the generally successful 1970-71 model. The '72 dispensed with the long, low and wide look in favor of a stubbier body with the taillights in the rear bumper and a hexagonal eggcrate grille up front. To me it was a styling sin that wouldn't be properly remedied until the 1974 model year, when the facelift we all recognize as the "Starsky & Hutch" Torino was introduced. Interestingly, the Gran Torino was quite different from the homely-looking base Torino, and seems to have either vastly outsold it or nobody seems to have saved the base cars. Maybe both. Perhaps the main claim to fame for the '72 Torino for modern audiences was the Clint Eastwood film Gran Torino, in which a green Gran Torino Sportsroof (fastback) featured prominently.
While I may not like this car per se, I still respect it for standing the test of time in a tough town. It has its share of battle scars and a few bits of trim have been lost over the years. Provided it's taken care of, I'm sure it will continue to provide many more years of faithful, emissions-test-exempt service.

You can read Colin's take on this car here.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1977 Ford Granada coupe

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Last year my good friend Colin Stacy and I spent a day driving around San Francisco. I showed him the sights, and we both kept a look out for old and interesting parked cars to photograph. As some of my readers know, Colin operates The Automotive Way, his own blog about cars he finds mostly in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Owing to the general scarcity of rust-free old cars in Minnesota, he also features cars found in other places such as Kansas and Idaho, whereas I limit my focus to cars from my home state of California.
Since San Francisco is pretty much my back yard, you can figure I wanted to feature the cars we photographed, but Colin beat me to it. So enjoy our different takes on these vehicles. First up is a 1977 Ford Granada coupe.

The Granada, as previously discussed on the 1977 sedan feature a few months ago, was a car marketed as a near-luxury domestic alternative to the Mercedes-Benz. It had a big upright grille, a hood ornament, and could be had with a padded vinyl landau roof. Because landau tops equal luxury. Hey, it's a gimmick that worked for Chrysler into the 1990s.
Cutting to the chase, this is one of the cleanest Granadas I've seen in recent memory. It's rust free with minimal dents and no noticeable crash damage. All the badging is there and the bumpers are straight with good chrome. These coupes are notorious for developing severe rust around the quarter windows behind the doors; thankfully none seems to have plagued this car. It needs a new rub strip on the right rear bumper corner, and the front license plate could maybe stand to be straightened. Looks like it's had a run-in with a parking stop once or twice that bent it pretty well. And perhaps the hood could be checked for alignment, since it sticks up slightly on one side. Other than that, this is a very well kept example of a now uncommon coupe.

You can read Colin's take on this car here.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 2003 Wuling LZW 6360Bi1 Dragon

2012-01-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

As feature vehicles go, a white minivan typically doesn't earn a second glance from me. They're just not exciting. So why did I bother to photograph this thing?
All right, yes, I admit it. This is a pretty boring subject. At first I thought it was a Japanese 'kei' van like a Daihatsu Hijet, but it had "Marathon" badges and an alphabet soup emblem on the front - the latter a common practice with Chinese vehicles.
I don't know what part of the world you live in, but in the United States you don't find a whole lot of Chinese-built, Chinese-branded cars and trucks (I'm not counting anything GM built overseas). Chinese passenger cars will probably arrive on our shores sometime in the near future assuming they pass US safety standards, but for the past decade or two the only way you could get a Chinese vehicle in the US was to either buy an electric car reverse-engineered from a gas or diesel Chinese-market vehicle or buy a light truck imported via a US company like Marathon Motors.

Marathon is based in Alabama and used to distribute Wuling compact pickups, cargo and passenger vans through their website, www.littlewhitetruck.com. The Wuling 6360 Dragon (marketed as the Marathon Model 1115) is sort of like the Model T of utility vehicles: cheap, simple, and available in a variety of body styles but only one color. It's powered by a 0.8 liter four cylinder producing 38.8 horsepower, and weighs under 1800 lbs. The design is based on the Mitsubishi Minicab. You tend to see little trucks like this in parks and on college campuses where they can be driven on footpaths. Note the lack of interior trim on this van and the plain, basic seats. It doesn't look like something one would want to take a long trip in, yet this example has Oregon plates. So it had to drive about 300 miles to get down to San Francisco.
Despite being very small and very narrow and very slow, this van is also very tall so it probably can carry a lot of cargo to help offset its center of gravity when a crosswind threatens to blow it over. You don't want to crash in something like this. No airbags, a seating position on top of the front wheels and probably very little structural rigidity makes an accident a frightening prospect, especially with seven people aboard.
The owners seem to have tried to look on the bright side, cheering up their little motorized appliance with blue wheels and a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror. I don't suppose there's much point in commenting on its condition since it's not very old. If there's one thing I find interesting about this vehicle, it's that it has a locking fuel door that requires a key to open it, not unlike my 1985 Pontiac 6000 STE. I don't see that kind of thing anymore.
At any rate, this van gave me an opportunity to get practice taking impromptu long-exposure night shots in an urban environment. I'm satisfied with them, and I'd like to feature more cars in the future that were photographed at night.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1954 Pontiac Chieftain

2012-01-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

I have a reaction toward many pre-1955 General Motors cars that couldn't be called "love-hate". It's more of a "like-don't care" relationship. It's easy to accuse me of being a classic car snob because of statements like that, and perhaps you'd be right, so allow me to qualify my statement. Pre-1955 GM sedans and convertibles often appear much taller and stodgier than the all-new '55s, led by the standout Chevrolet Bel Air as the mainstream styling leader complete with its new small-block V8 engine. In 1949, GM finally replaced their pre-war designs with a plethora of brand-new cars. Since all they had to work with in the regular brands were old six- and eight-cylinder engines, styling was important to their success. It was GM's goal to be the styling leader of the Big Three and fight against the relatively dull but reliable straight-six Dodges and Plymouths and quick flathead V8-powered bulletnose Fords and slick Mercurys for sales superiority.
The 1949 GM bodies continued with gradual design improvements and styling changes until 1954. Some of these changes were made only to keep the car fresh and tell customers that it was a different model year. I like the look of the 1951 and '52 Chevys, for example, as well as the '54. I am largely apathetic toward the '49-50 and '53. It's nothing personal, I just don't care for their grille designs. But here I go talking about Chevy again. As you probably gathered already, this car is a Pontiac.

Pontiac was positioned as a low-priced brand in the '50s, and Chieftain was their base model in 1954. Its Chevy roots are evident in the body shape, with little tailfin bumps (introduced in '53) serving to set it apart from contemporary Chevys and earlier Pontiacs. The '49 Pontiacs were relatively clean and inoffensively styled cars, with a simple grille design centered around a small red circle with a profile of Chief Pontiac. Over the years, the grilles became more complex but the center badge remained, until 1954 when the grille bar design was thrown out completely and replaced with an oblong chrome shape and wraparound turn signals on the corners. All Pontiacs of this era wore bright stainless steel trim on their hoods and trunks in keeping with the optimistic "Silver Streak" motif introduced in the 1930s. Unlike the entry-level Chevys, Pontiacs could be had with either a straight-six or a flathead straight-eight; I'd venture that this one is probably a six owing to the mid-range trim level and single exhaust tip. Fancier Star Chiefs had more chrome detailing and three four-pointed chrome stars on the outside of each tail fin in place of the embossed chief's head emblems. The Star Chief also would have an amber-colored translucent plastic Indian head hood ornament insert where on this Chieftain the entire ornament is steel. Interestingly, the "Silver Streak" down the middle of this car has been left as bare stainless; on many examples the spaces between each rib are painted body color. Perhaps this is to suit the taste of the young man who owns the car and who may have restored it himself. I'm not sure if it was an option to have them painted. The "baby moon" hubcaps are a custom touch, as are the curb feelers. The license plates, while possibly a legitimate registration, do not look like original period California plates and are most likely replicas.
Since the owner was present and kindly allowed me to photograph his baby, I didn't want to spend too much time poring over it, but there are very few defects that I could find. The taillight lenses are starting to discolor, but if they're original pieces then they've had impressive longevity. The paint job (San Marino Blue with Winter White roof) looks relatively fresh and displays well, and the body looks very straight with no visible rust and all trim present and intact. The door mirror appears to be an addition, which doesn't surprise me. On many cars of this era, you didn't get side mirrors as a standard feature; this car may not have been ordered with one originally.
As a Pontiac owner and enthusiast myself, it makes me happy to see someone enjoying a classic Pontiac, even if it isn't a rip-snorting GTO or Firebird. You don't always have to go fast to appreciate a cool car. Just get in and cruise.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Grumman-Olson Kurb Side

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Occasionally cars seem to take on a life of their own, or at least a purpose beyond their typical role as a transportation device. In the city, having a delivery van with big blank sides is an invitation to be tagged by graffiti artists ready to express themselves all over that huge canvas. Now, imagine you're a hip young person who thinks that graffiti looks wonderful and you just happen to own a vintage Grumman-Olson Kurb Side that you got for dirt cheap and it needs something to cover up those faded dairy or bread company logos. Well, being that hip young person, all of your friends are graffiti artists, right? Invite them over and go nuts!

Okay, I'm speculating, but that seems to be the case here. And it didn't happen just once, either. I suspect this vehicle undergoes the graffiti treatment often, if it's even still alive. I photographed it the first time in 2008, and again in 2009 when it had been completely re-sprayed with new tags. It had even lost its vintage California black plates, but gained a busted window covered in duct tape. Honestly, I felt sorry for this van. I Googled the heck out of Grumman's smallest delivery van offering and found that the Kurb Side started out around 1948 as one of many bodies offered on the Chevrolet 3742 Dubl Duti commercial van chassis. Early Kurb Sides had styling similar to the 1947-53 Chevy Advance Design series trucks, a design feature which continued well into the 1960s even after Grumman began using Ford chassis for some of their vans. Since I don't know which chassic underpins this van, I basically have to base my judgment on the two photos I've seen of Kurb Sides with the same windshield design seen on this example. One was a 1965 model and was produced near the end of the Kurb Side's production run; the other was labeled as a 1960. (Most Kurb Sides had a more rounded wraparound windshield instead of the squared-off, pillared corners seen here. I suspect the change may have been made to save money on production and repairs by using flat panes of glass instead of fancy curved windshields.) The W prefix on this van's 1960s black plates indicates a commercial vehicle for hire but tells us little about when it was built, since it might not have been the original plate. Unless a Grumman van guru can positively identify this truck as a particular model year, I think 1965 is a close enough ballpark estimate. Anything before 1963 would have yellow plates with black lettering.
The body was still in surprisingly good shape when I saw it the first time, though by 2009 it had suffered some light body damage on the right front. Having very rarely seen a Grumman of this vintage, I'd prefer to see it restored in the period colors of its original owner and operator. It would look great at a car show next to, say, a Divco milk truck or an International Harvester Metro. Not enough old commercial vehicles are rescued and restored anymore, which is sad, given that they make people nostalgic and are a big hit when they do appear at shows.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1970 Fiat 500L

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

One of the very first cars I started photographing in depth when I started going to university was this 1970 Fiat 500L. It helped that the car was often parked one block from the building where most of my classes were held, and the fact it's the color of macaroni and cheese also helped the diminutive Fiat stand out. Where would one find the quintessential Italian city car? Why, in front of an Italian restaurant, of course! This car was featured by Murilee Martin on Jalopnik's Down on the Street series a few years ago and was described as belonging to the owner of the Umbria restaurant on the corner of Second and Howard Streets in San Francisco. He purchased the car for $500 in Italy and had it shipped over and registered with the custom license plate "FOLIGNO". Foligno is a city in Italy, which fittingly is located in the Umbria region.
Being a 500L, this car has carpet and a few other touches which qualify it as the "luxury" model. That should be a clue that the regular Cinquecento was a very Spartan little runabout indeed. This example features a roll-back cloth sunroof for enjoying those days when the city isn't fogged over. It also appears to have had a center high mounted brake light installed in the rear window. Although it adds nothing to the car's looks, in today's world of large truck-based SUVs battling for first place in the daily commute, it is a very wise addition for prolonging the car's (and the owner's) life. Take a look at the picture with the Range Rover parked behind it for an idea of just how small and vulnerable a Fiat 500 is.
Notice that, unlike many of my street sightings, this car was often parked in the same place when I came across it because it was a daily driver which also served as an eye catcher for passersby. Parking an authentic vintage Italian car outside an authentic Italian restaurant also lends the eatery that European sidewalk cafe feel - at least as much as it can while still being located next to a yoga clinic. I saw this car several times and photographed it on the street on at least four different occasions. It's a very clean, nicely detailed little car with far more charm than the Fiat 'Nuova' 500 will ever have.

Game Review: Driver San Francisco

2012-01-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

I know this is a major departure from what I usually do on California Streets, but I thought since it's a game that takes place entirely on the streets of the city where 4 out of 5 of my street sightings come from, and features a number of historically notable vehicles, it might be appropriate to do a review.

I received the PC version of Ubisoft/Reflections' Driver San Francisco as a Christmas gift from a good friend. Having watched the Internet Game Car Database's page on Driver SF in the months before its release, I was thrilled to see their list of over 120 licensed cars and a huge city that I could actually relate to.

The Driver franchise was groundbreaking back in 1999 when the Reflections studio released its first driving game. Playing as an undercover cop, you performed driving tasks in four cities: Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. It had vastly better graphics than the contemporary sprite-based, top-down driving game Grand Theft Auto - and if you could live without the pre-rendered cutscenes, it even worked without a CD! On the surface, Driver seemed simpler than GTA: You exist only as the driver of whatever car you're assigned for whatever task to take down gangs and baddies you never meet except in cutscenes and car chases. Pedestrians aren't an obstacle because they run out of the way when you come close, and can't be hit or killed like in the Grand Theft Auto series. If you smash your car, you can't just hop out of the smoldering wreck and commandeer a new vehicle, you must restart the mission. The cars' limited handling abilities ensured lots of movie-style skidding, tail-happy power slides and bouncing hubcaps. And like in most movie car chases, the cars don't usually go very fast. In fact, most of the cars in the game can't top 100 mph unless you enable a "Super Fast Cars" cheat.

Over the years, the Driver series became more like GTA, and with the advent of GTA III, that series became more like Driver with full-3D graphics. Driver 2 allowed players to get out of the car and jack another one. Driv3r was almost universally panned by critics who hated its emphasis on on-foot action and shooting, which to some degree was rightfully earned. Tanner could run, jump and swim (the latter something you couldn't do in GTA Vice City and Reflections wanted you to remember that - one of the game's Easter Eggs was an overly tanned, machine-gun-wielding character in a Hawaiian shirt named Timmy Vermicelli, who wore inflatable water wings as a symbol of his inability to swim) but his animations outside the car were poor and robotic at best. At its heart, Driv3r wasn't a terrible game and for years was on my short list of favorite driving games because it had some good cars and enjoyable driving. Its sequel, Driver Parallel Lines, had its own plusses and minuses. You don't play as Tanner, rather as a cocky kid named T.K. but the plot is slightly less convoluted than in earlier Driver releases and becomes a fairly simple revenge trip on the game's antagonists after they set you up for a murder and you serve 28 years in prison (rather than Driv3r's mission of recovering 40 stolen cars and killing several hundred nameless henchmen, bystanders and cops in the process).

Parallel Lines was a refreshing change, with two eras to play with, 1978 and 2006. Each era of New York City has its own flavor and distinct differences in the pedestrians, cars and police behavior. But if anything the cars were less realistic in their handling, and by God did I hate the on-foot action. For one thing, your character can no longer jump or swim at all. It seems that one constant with the Driver franchise is that if the studio cannot do something right in one game, they stop trying altogether. All the more reason why the arrival of Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008 blew Parallel Lines clean out of the water. Suddenly you had an interesting protagonist, tons of stuff to do, more cars, and a sandbox city that was fully interactive.

So after all that, we arrive at Driver San Francisco. I popped the DVD in and installed it, and was so excited to play the game I anticipated for so long. Immediately I noticed that it was more like the original Driver I grew up playing. Everything you do is in the car, except for very nicely rendered cutscenes in which John Tanner (holy crap, he has a full name!) and his cop partner Jones try to foil the crimes of Charles Jericho. The player acts out the "prologue" in which you learn how to control the car and then Tanner has a nasty accident that puts him in a coma. Thus begins the most controversial part of the game, the "Shift" mechanic. This is what makes or breaks the game for most people. If you're used to getting out of the car and stealing another one, it will seem strange to zoom out of the roof of a car and float above the roadway, able to choose pretty much any car at will and possess its driver to do whatever you need or want to do. Some players hate it; I got used to it pretty quickly.

Driver SF is an entertaining game for people who enjoy car chase movies and stunts. A lot of the missions involve pursuits, police or otherwise, and you collect movie tokens hidden throughout the city to unlock challenges inspired by famous movies. The city is stupid fun to drive in, kind of a loose interpretation of San Francisco optimized for stunts and fast driving. The streets are wider, almost every light is green, and the streets no one cares about are re-routed or omitted completely. In real life, Lombard Street is one of the longest roads in the city and begins at the top of Telegraph Hill and ends at the eastern edge of the Presidio. In Microsoft's Midtown Madness 2 (released in 2000), you could build up momentum for several blocks with the right car and launch over the famed crooked portion of Lombard. In Driver SF, Lombard Street is two blocks long and there is no jumping of the curvy bit (which itself is about 3 times larger and wider than it should be). Likewise, the bridges are too wide, especially the Bay Bridge which in real life is a double decker span with one-way traffic on each level. I suppose I can forgive things like this because the game is still fun to play without being totally true to life, and it makes battling traffic easier.

I think the greatest strength of this game is its cars. There are over 120 licensed vehicles and about a dozen more unlicensed trucks and buses. There's even an AMC Pacer. Yes, Parallel Lines had a Pacer knock-off called the Rhapsody and GTA IV: The Lost and Damned also had a Pacer knock-off which was also called the Rhapsody, but this is an honest-to-God licensed AMC Pacer. It's a terrible car but IT. IS. THERE. Likewise, normal cars like the perennially understeering FWD Cadillac DTS and dreary Chevy Impala and Dodge Caravan lend credibility (yes Virginia, the real world is full of boring cars). The chase favorites you see every drunk, car thief and redneck drive on World's Wildest Police Videos like the rollover-prone Chevy Blazer 2-door and GMC Sierra pickup are also included. The variety of supercars and classic muscle cars are also excellent, with a good range of past and present vehicles represented in beautifully rendered detail. And there's a dash view! There's something wonderful about seeing Tanner's hands gripping the steering wheel and shifting gears while you watch the door mirror flap about from your last scrape.

Where Driver SF falls flat is it's too easy in all the wrong places. Tanner's missions, while varied and having an interesting narrative in which he hunts down Jericho and his assistant (hint: it's not Calita, the associate we spent so much time dealing with in Driv3r), are too short. You do some unusual things like controlling your own car remotely from the driver seat of a different vehicle following behind, but it's all over too quickly. Even the side missions, which are often silly like deliberately scaring the crap out of a driving instructor, are over too soon. I beat the story missions - all of them - in three days. The small stunt challenges, however, are sometimes maddeningly difficult (as is the "Blast From the Past" challenge which emulates the original "Interview" from the first Driver. The Interview, consisting of a number of driving maneuvers that had to be completed in 60 seconds, was so hard for me I had to edit the game's mission ladder file to bypass it just so I could play the game's Undercover mode. Call it my Kobayashi Maru, if you know what I mean.)

There is another side to Driver SF though, and that's the other challenges located throughout the city. Races, "speed dares", "stunt dares", checkpoint challenges and loathsome "smash routes" are ways to earn "willpower", the game's version of currency. They've kept me busy longer than the story. Mind you, GTA IV took me 34 hours of playing time to beat the first time I played it through. I've since replayed the story and gotten it down to about 27 hours. It's said that Driver San Francisco's story takes anywhere from 7 to 20 hours of play to complete.

And then there's Tanner himself. Yes, the game mostly takes place inside his head, so the things you do don't affect real people. Tanner is a cop. During the course of the game this cop stops street racers by possessing soccer moms in minivans and ramming them headlong into the racers to disable their cars. And yet when you "Shift" into a cop car he lectures other cops on how to act to avoid hurting innocents. In races (what? Tanner street racing?) you have the option of cheating by crushing your opponents with big rigs instead of racing fairly. It's not very sporting, and you don't have to do it, but it calls into question some of Tanner's motives as a servant and protector of the public! But then again, it's all in his head, so nobody gets hurt. Right.

Tanner is sort of a lovable bastard, because he makes some genuinely funny sarcastic quips to people and there are some good exchanges with car passengers (especially when he warps into someone's body in the middle of an awkward conversation, like one in which a female cop reveals that she's a tranny and talks about having once slept with the partner who was driving). One of my favorites is a woman who talks about committing an insurance scam and actually wants the vehicle to be destroyed, all the while "practicing" how to fake injuries until Tanner offers to hit her for real.

It's easy to tell that this game was made for fun rather than the seriousness of the earlier Driver games. Nobody gets hurt or dies in this game except a poor cameraman who gets dropped out of a helicopter during an introductory cutscene, and we never find out who he was or really even care. All right, there's one other guy who gets blown up in a car bomb, that's about it. Because very few of the game's events are actually happening outside of Tanner's head, there are rarely actual consequences to consider, and maybe that cheapens the experience. I must admit I was a little disappointed when the credits rolled, but I imagine that the developers expected players to spend more time doing online multiplayer games with their friends. I haven't even tried that yet.

So far, despite its flaws, I'm enjoying Driver San Francisco. We'll see if it has the staying power of other games like GTA IV.

The Good:

Awesome cars, and lots of them.
Beautiful graphics.
Excellent driving views with a fully rendered, accurately modeled interior for each vehicle complete with shifting animations for manual cars.
Much better crash 'debris' than in past Driver games.
Fun while the story lasts, still fun to chase and be chased through afterward.
San Francisco isn't perfect but is big enough to explore for a long time and is very drivable.
You get to explore parts of Marin and Alameda County as well as San Francisco.
Shift is useful and gives you some options you don't normally have in a driving game, like the ability to warp across town if you don't feel like driving.
In free roam, you have almost unlimited freedom to drive the way you want, provided you stay on the roads.
Film Director is back and allows you to record, edit and publish your driving exploits. (Driv3r had this too, but it apparently decided you didn't need to be able to publish them and forced players to use a third-party program like Fraps to rip their videos from the game.)
Traffic and police AI is vastly improved.
Music in the movie challenges is tailored almost perfectly to the mood and style of the films that inspired them. For example, the jazzy background music of the Mustang and Charger chase inspired by Bullitt is reminiscent of Lalo Schifrin's original soundtrack.
Different times of day are represented, as are different moods, depending on the challenge or stage in the story.

The Bad:

The story is too short and not very gratfiying.
Oakland and Emeryville, Yerba Buena and Treasure Island are included, but can't be driven through except on the highway.
Players are limited to roads, plazas and alleys, lacking much of the sandbox feel of the GTA series. Think more like Need For Speed, with invisible walls and such. Shifting can be a pain on highways unless you zoom out.
I hate smash routes with a passion.
Completing missions unlocks cars and abilities, however you still have to spend your willpower credits to actually buy them.
You cannot modify cars owned in your garage, not even to choose the paint color. You get a random color each time you use it.
No day/night cycle or weather during free roam.
"Thrill Cam" sucks hard for driving. Rapidly (and randomly) changing viewing angles that diminish the player's forward visibility are what Film Director is for; don't even bother unless you like driving slowly or crashing a lot.
Pedestrians are silly and literally slide out of the way if you come in contact with them before they can complete an evasive animation. No ragdolling peds here for fans of GTA IV or even Garry's Mod. Parents may consider this a plus for younger players, and it helps account for the game's Teen rating in the US rather than Mature.
In free roam, cops only chase you if you hit them first.
The unlicensed "ASYM Dessayne" sedan and cop car, as well as the 1974 Dodge Monaco cop car, are unplayable.
Not enough variation in traffic (granted, that's asking a lot of a game that requires fewer system resources and much less disk space than GTA IV).
No cable cars! The original 1998 Driver had moving cable cars in San Francisco. This has the tracks present in the streets, but the famous cable cars and electric trolleys are missing.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1962 Ford Thunderbird

2012-01-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Rounding out "Where were you in '62?" week is a Blue Oval product, a 1962 Ford Thunderbird coupe. Third-generation Birds are becoming scarce on the roads, particularly as daily drivers. They're a guilty pleasure of mine, a car I like even though it's not particularly attractive. For a while I collected diecast '61-63 T-Birds, and was fascinated by them after seeing a cherry red '63 Thunderbird Sports Roadster in Disney's Flubber (pretty much the only saving grace in that film).
This one's rough around the edges but appears quite restorable. From across the street, it seems as though all it needs is a coat of paint, but up close I'm concerned that rust is starting in the rockers and the bottom front corner of the doors. Fords of the '60s tend to suffer from rust there.
I wish someone would show this T-Bird some love, some paint and some body work. It's all there, now finish it.

San Jose Street Sighting - 1962 Chevrolet Impala sedan

2012-01-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Second in my series of "Where were you in '62?" is this 1962 Chevy Impala sedan. Being an Impala, it's one of the more common American classics. This is due in no small part to the ridiculously large number of Impalas the General cranked out back in the day. They were fantastically popular cars with American car buyers.
I happened upon this example while going out to breakfast with a friend. The owner had parked it outside the restaurant in the hope of grabbing attention from passersby who might want to buy it. It certainly caught my attention. It's a V8 car that wears Super Sport spinner hubcaps, but appears to be a regular Impala since it doesn't have any other SS badging. I like the pale yellow color and the chrome is good. Really it looks like all the car needs is a good wash and a dent removal on the front of the hood. All in all, it looks like a fine daily-driver classic. I wonder what someone might trade for it.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1962 Chevrolet Chevy II 100 wagon

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

With a new year comes the realization that we're all getting older. This year let's celebrate the 50th birthday of some cars with a catchphrase from George Lucas's early film, American Graffiti. Where were you in '62?

First up is a 1962 Chevrolet Chevy II station wagon. I don't know what it is about these early Chevy IIs but I really like them. The simple, utilitarian lines of this base 100 series wagon appeal to me. In fact, there aren't many model years of the Chevy II (many refer to them interchangeably as Novas; the Nova name was used on the top-level Chevy II until the name became official in 1968). Most pre-1965 Novas rolled out of the factory with six-cylinder engines and I'm sure a fair number were low-trim cars like this one.
I like the dog dish hubcaps and thin whitewalls, and heck, I even like the plain metallic grey color. Not every old car has to be hotted up with flashy colors and decorations. If it were mine, I'd massage that big dent out of the rear tailgate, reinstall all the stainless trim that's been removed (probably for paint) and chrome the rear bumper.

Livermore Street Sighting - 1996 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's time to have a look at another car spotted near a car show, this time a modern classic: a 1996 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport. I don't normally photograph C4 generation Corvettes in depth, but the Grand Sport special edition stands out from the rest. By 1996 the C4 body shell was getting very long in the tooth despite all the facelifting done over twelve years of production. Chevy chose to wind down the final model year of the C4 with this blue bullet, of which only 1000 copies were built. It came with the optional 330 hp LT4 V8 and a six-speed manual transmission.

Visually, the Grand Sport is not everyone's cup of tea, with a bold white "skunk" stripe, black rims and a pair of red fender accent stripes that Dodge has recently seen fit to copy. The whole package was inspired by the original Grand Sport race cars of the early 1960s. Love it or hate it, I suppose one makes a statement by driving it. It's a far cry from the 2010-2011 Corvette Grand Sport, which incorporates some of the body modifications of the Z06 without all of the Z06's performance upgrades (granted, it does make 430 hp which should be enough for most people). The new one has similar (optional) fender stripes and special dark-colored wheels, but to be honest the new car does nothing for me. I drove one several months ago and it didn't stir my soul the way I imagined a Corvette would. If only GM's Main Street In Motion high-performance course had been longer, maybe I would have enjoyed the car more...
If you're looking for a sporty C4 Corvette, a '96 Grand Sport might fit the bill. If speed and subtlety are what you want, though, look for a 1990-95 ZR1. It looks just like a regular 'Vette, but makes over 400 hp and will top 180 mph.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1987 Nissan Sentra GXE wagon

2011-12-29T13:25:00.000-08:00

Not every rare vehicle is exciting. Many are humble and unassuming, perhaps unpopular variants or editions of mainstream nameplates. Such is the case of this 1987 Nissan Sentra GXE wagon. Of all the cars I've photographed in depth, this is the one that I debated the most (and probably the longest, over two years). Is it notable? The guys who run OldParkedCars would have posted it, for what that's worth. Why feature this while turning up my nose at a lot of older, cooler cars? In a town full of old and unusual cars, an old Beetle or Mustang typically doesn't evoke a reaction from me anymore. For some reason, this relatively straight example of a rarely seen late 1980s Japanese station wagon just spoke to me. What do you think? Milquetoast '80s econobox or interesting automotive footnote?

Best of the Rest: Circle The Wagons

2011-12-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

1958 Ford Ranch Wagon, San Francisco

1963 Studebaker Lark Wagonaire Daytona, San Francisco

1966 Dodge Monaco, Santa Cruz

1968 Ford Country Sedan, San Francisco

1971-73 Chevrolet Vega Kammback, San Francisco

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1968 Ford Galaxie 500

2011-12-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

With space at a premium, city dwellers often choose vehicles that are easy to park and will fit in small spaces. Not so the owner of this fantastic maroon 1968 Ford Galaxie 500 sedan, a car that probably has enough steel in it to build two Smart Fortwos and another four Vespa scooters. But screw those. San Francisco already has too many Smart cars and Vespas. Big boats are a dying breed and few of them are as straight and clean as this. Most are beaters that earn their keep until the day when their owners send them to an unceremonious death at Schnitzer Steel. This one looks like a car the owner is proud of and wants to drive, and has been shown the love a classic deserves.

We've already seen a '68 Galaxie fastback coupe here on California Streets, so a sedan is a nice complement to it. Both are powered by the venerable 390 V8, the engine that also propelled Steve McQueen's Mustang over the city's famous hills in Bullitt. I really like this car, because it's such a throwback to the car chase movies and police dramas that took place in and around San Francisco back in the day. I can imagine Dirty Harry driving this car, the whitewalls knuckling over and howling as the barge understeers wildly into a corner, or the rear end kicking out in true Hollywood fashion as he pursues the baddies, one chrome dog dish hubcap separating from the wheel and bouncing down the street away from the car. Or maybe Ponch from CHiPs could pursue crooks on his police bike as they flee a bank robbery in this car. I can only imagine how many of these plain-colored, low-trim V8 sedans were destroyed filming those kinds of scenes over the years. Thankfully this one has survived.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Volkswagen Type 3 1600 Notchback

2011-12-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

I've never understood Volkswagen tuners. It seems like most VeeDubs have one or two preferred "looks" with little variation among them. Most modern customized VWs I see are slammed to the ground, rolling on BBS lace wheels with stretched tires, negative camber and smoked light lenses. Many are debadged, sporting roof racks and fart can mufflers. For some reason a recent trend seems to be a rusted hood on an otherwise shiny car.

Vintage VWs also get dropped down low, but they offer a little more variation. This mid-1960s (let's say 1965) Type 3 Notchback is a refreshing change from your average Beetle. It doesn't stray far from the classic VW tuner's rule book: EMPI 5-spoke wheels, low stance, a clean body and some accessory lamps. However, the trunk badges are missing (possibly soon to have their mounting holes filled and painted over for a smoother look) and the hood appears to be on its way toward the rusted look. However, it's entirely possible the owner bought a replacement hood and hadn't gotten it painted yet at the time I found it.

What really made this car stand out to me was the fact that the Type 3 Notchback was never part of Volkswagen's US lineup. We got the Squareback and the lesser-known Fastback (the car whose engine Dustin Hoffman famously couldn't find in the TV ads), but the Notchback wasn't offered here. So the only way to get one is to import one from Canada or Europe or some other market where the Notchback was originally sold. Being the same basic car as the other Type 3s, and old enough to be exempt from emissions testing, it shouldn't be too hard to certify in the States.
I've always liked Type 3s, and despite my love for station wagons, the Fastback and Notchback are my favorite body styles. The Notch has an airy greenhouse design with good visibility, and the engine's air vents beneath the rear window are subtle enough that it doesn't scream, "I'm a rear-engined, air cooled car!" If you took the badges off, I bet a lot of people would never know it was a Volkswagen. I like the EMPI wheels on this one, and the stance is fine. I'd keep the trunk badging and paint the hood. A car this clean and straight really should be one color and complete. Amusingly, the owner has made an effort to enhance the vintage look of his car by painting the mid 2000s-issue license plate to look like a California "black plate" issued between 1963 and 1969. It's a nice touch, but black plates were six digits with "ABC 123" pattern. The current plate numbering system ("1ABC123") is similar except for the seventh prefix digit, 5 in the case of this car. To a casual observer unfamiliar with California plates of 45 years ago, it's convincing enough.
Nice car, Volks tuner. Keep it clean.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1964 Studebaker Daytona

2011-12-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm totally a sucker for Studebakers, even the ones I don't like that much. Maybe it's the amusing-sounding name, maybe it's the fact they were solid domestic cars not built in Detroit, maybe it's just the fact they have a unique flavor not found in a Ford or a Chevy or a Dodge.

This car presents an interesting question: When is a Lark not a Lark? Some readers may remember the red 1963 Lark Daytona S2 convertible featured during Independents Week back in July. This is a Daytona too, and it's a facelift of the Lark body, but it's not badged as a Lark. And like the red Daytona, it has a V8, but it's not supercharged. How very confusing. Everywhere you look, particularly in the profile, it's not hard to see the Daytona's pedestrian Lark roots. By 1963, the Lark's faux-Mercedes grille and little round taillights were becoming dated and a refresh was in order. The results of that refresh, while perhaps not the most handsome car, gave it a more modern look without outright copying the competition.

As this car belongs to the collector I commonly refer to as Stude Guy, it has been modified to suit his taste. The chrome hood ornament is added, as are the polished American Racing Torq Thrust wheels (A-R rims of various kinds are a customary addition to his cars), custom tailpipes and the Studebaker Drivers Club license plate frame. I was surprised that this car doesn't wear the Frost & French Studebaker dealer plate frames most of his other cars have. Luckily the interior has been left largely stock and looks quite lovely. it seems to be a dark blue leather or vinyl that goes great with the vibrant metallic blue body. I've never been a big fan of the later Studebakers, but this one is growing on me the more I look at it.
I actually met Stude Guy once, very briefly, and since he was busy and had to leave right away I never learned his name. Just from what I've seen, he has an impressive collection of these rare and fascinating cars that get driven on a daily basis, and I can't wait to find and document all of them someday.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1957 Chrysler Windsor

2011-12-12T21:55:00.000-08:00

There is something wonderful about a classic car that gets driven. I can appreciate a low-mileage car as much as the next guy, but there comes a point where one wonders, why did I never drive this thing? It almost seems like a waste to have a nice car and not use it for its intended purpose.

This 1957 Chrysler Windsor is no trailer queen. It's yet another member of Fifties Guy's fleet, and it gets around. In fact, my good friend Colin Stacy over at The Automotive Way saw this car before I did. And not in the Bay Area, where it lives, but driving through Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two thousand miles away. Nothing like a little road trip to clean out the engine and test the suspension, eh?

The Windsor, in keeping with Chrysler's 1950s naming scheme of giving their cars the monikers of luxury hotels regardless of their place in the lineup, was the base full-size trim line in 1957. It was the first year for true implementation of Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" design for the Chrysler line and this example looks almost European in its lack of body ornamentation. For the mid-to-late 1950s, this is remarkably restrained design. Of course, swankier Chryslers had more gingerbread. Still, the Windsor bought you V8 power and enough room for six, so why complain?
I'll be honest, 1957 isn't my favorite year for any Chrysler product. They were still getting things ironed out with an all-new car, and it was the first year the feds allowed four headlamps on new cars. The Forward Look Mopars were designed for four lights, but this cheaper Windsor came with only two large sealed beams, mounted in the middle of a bezel wide enough to hold four smaller units.
The front end styling is what always got me about these cars. I'm not particularly fond of it, though I love the rest of the car. (Not everyone will agree with me, but I think the styling pinnacle of the Forward Look was the 1958 Plymouth line, and I'm also a fan of the '58 and '59 DeSotos.)

I like the various items on this car that hint at its history. It has a vintage dealer plate frame from Saratoga, in the South Bay. The parking permit on the rear bumper is from Berkeley, in the East Bay. If it lives in San Francisco (the West Bay?) why not spend some time up in Marin County and get something from the North Bay to complete the set?
Condition isn't concours, but from what I hear, Fifties Guy is more interested in keeping his cars in good mechanical shape. I can understand that, given how many nice-looking cars I've seen broken down on the side of the road. And really, this isn't that bad. There are rock chips on the front end and dents on the body, and the last "R" in "Chrysler" on the hood is missing, but all the other trim and body pieces are present and intact. The paint may well be original, and if it is, it looks remarkable for its age. Much of the chrome looks like it would buff to a showroom shine. There are only two modifications I see that I don't approve of. One is the aftermarket speaker grilles in the back (however, I guess that AM radio coming out of blown-out cardboard speakers would get a little old on road trips). The second is the broken window on the right rear passenger door, likely courtesy of some stupid kid who thought he'd be a punk and throw a rock through a 50-year-old window. Someone did that to the 1956 Continental Mark II I featured about two years ago; they smashed the driver side window out and the owner had to park the car on the street with no window for the better part of a year or more. Do people have any clue how hard it is to find good replacement glass for these old cars?
At any rate, I'm happy to see a lower-trim Forward Look Chrysler in the hands of someone who cares about it. Not enough of the base models have been saved over the years, and I very rarely see Chryslers of this vintage in any condition.

Best of the Rest: The Brits

2011-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

1967(?) Rolls-Royce Phantom V James Young PV23 Limousine, La Jolla
1969 Austin America, San Francisco
1969 MG MGB GT, San Francisco
1969-70 Jensen Interceptor Mk II, San Francisco
1974 Triumph TR6, San Francisco

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1966 Ford Falcon Futura Sports Coupe

2011-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

This is one of those cars I wish I'd photographed more in depth. It's yet another Ford Falcon, but not an early one. The vast majority of Falcons one sees on American roads are 1960-65 cars. The 1966-70 generation seems to be much less common, and I don't think I've ever seen a 1970-1/2 Torino-based Falcon. It makes me wonder, where did all the later Falcons go? Well, I managed to catch one of them.

This is a 1966 Falcon Futura Sports Coupe, a compact, less expensive alternative to the Mustang. It has a 289 V8 engine and probably performs and handles similarly, but looks much more tame than its wild equine cousin. Unlike the '64-65 Falcon, the '66 isn't on the same chassis as the Mustang; instead it rides on a shortened Fairlane platform. I'd venture that insurance was cheaper on this car than a comparable Mustang, simply because it's a Falcon. As with the last Falcon featured here, the speakers on the rear package shelf are custom and the Mustang wheels with yellow accents look custom as well. I'm not wild about those details, but I like the green color and the light tan vinyl interior. It's a slightly dirty, but well kept example of a rarely seen car.

Bonus historical note: Visible in the background of the rear 3/4 angle of this car is Ellis Brooks Chevrolet, a dealership founded in 1939 which served San Francisco's General Motors distribution needs until 2009. Unfortunately they dropped their new-car franchise status and survived another two years in the historic building as a used-car dealership. First the Chrysler-Jeep franchise closed on South Van Ness, then the Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealer up the street went out of business, now Ellis Brooks has moved to a smaller, less interesting building next door on Bush Street. The Van Ness Avenue auto row seems to be slowly dying off. I wish I could have gotten the Pontiac neon sign off the building before they closed.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1959 Chevrolet El Camino

2011-12-06T00:00:00.001-08:00

For some reason I have a completely irrational love for the 1959 Chevy full-size car lineup. Coupes, sedans, wagons, all with fancy "bat wing" tail fins and cat-eye taillights. But perhaps the most ridiculous finned car Chevy built that year was a brand new variation on the theme: the El Camino coupe utility pickup.

The El Camino was a new approach to an old idea. The Australian ute had already been around for 25 years by the time Chevy introduced their own domestic version to the American market. It was a great idea and one which would make up a popular niche among people who needed truck utility in a car-sized package. One might call them the first crossover utility vehicles.

This matte black trucklet lives on Potrero Hill with a blue '59 Brookwood wagon and a light green '59 Impala coupe, apparently owned by an enthusiast who likes the '59 Chevy even better than I do. It's in pretty good shape with almost all its trim still intact. When I first learned about it on Flickr, it was painted red, so I went in search of a red El Camino. Instead, it turned out to be the black vehicle you see here. Honestly, I like it in combination with the white roof and fabric tonneau, and red and white interior. I'm not sure if the chrome bed rails are original. The vintage yellow and black plates though, are a great period touch.
If this were my El Camino, I'd source a hubcap for the left rear wheel and a grille 'bullet', clean up the whitewalls and remove those silly chrome half-circle headlight cover things. That's really about the extent of what I'd do to it, other than drive the heck out of it.

Castro Valley Street Sighting - 1961 Volkswagen Type 2 Bus pickup

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Very rarely in the United States will you find a Volkswagen Type 2 pickup. Thanks to the so-called "chicken tax" of 1963, which put heavy tariffs on light trucks imported to the US (because France and West Germany put a 25% tax on US chicken imports to their countries), vehicles such as the VW Bus/Transporter pickup and cargo van variants were rarely worth the trouble of importing since the cost was so high. The only alternative was to pass the cost on to the consumer, and people didn't want to pay 25% more for the same vehicle, so they simply bought an American-made truck or van instead. VW Kombi Buses were classified as passenger cars and marketed as station wagons, so they weren't subject to the chicken tax. The chicken tax is still in effect for any foreign-made light truck imported as a fully assembled vehicle.

Most VW trucks I've seen are early models from before the chicken tax was enacted. They were available with single or double cabs. This one's a 1961 model as indicated by the license plate frame. As is common with VWs, this one has a lower stance than stock and the EMPI BRM wheels are custom. It features a spotlight mounted on the left front corner, an addition I haven't seen on one of these before. The owner has a bit of an attitude about his truck, evidenced by the "Too slow? Too bad!" bumper sticker. This has the makings of a cool custom truck and would look great if the owner saved up for a quality paint job in the same white and blue two-tone and some new upholstery. Not that the Navajo blanket over tattered fabric look isn't a classic budget hot rodder's standby, but wouldn't some blue or black upholstery with white piping look better?
Yes, I know that since I photographed this outside of a fast food restaurant, and have seen it there many times, the owner probably works there and doesn't have much money to spend on his ride. A guy can have plans though, so I hope he manages to finish his VeeDub someday. I look forward to seeing it done.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Ford Falcon

2011-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Ah yes, time for another Ford Falcon. This time it's a 1965 Falcon sedan, the second one from that year I've featured. I like most Falcons, but the '64-'65 Falcon generation has special significance to me. A friend of my dad owned a 1964 Falcon Futura convertible when I was younger, and he trusted the car to my dad to do some repairs. For several weeks, the metallic blue ragtop with 260 ci V8 sat in our garage. When the work was done, it was of course time for a test drive, and I was allowed to come along. That ride cemented my love of the Falcon ever since.
This Falcon sedan is a base trim level, most likely powered by the 170ci six-cylinder and equipped with few options. It's in better condition than many of the Falcons I've come across in San Francisco, though it has its own share of problems. The grille is pretty rough but may be salvageable in the right hands with the right tools. The rear bumper has some damage as well. I'm not sure if that can be fixed, but there are companies that rescue old, mangled bumpers and then straighten and rechrome them. The owner has added aftermarket speakers, leading me to believe that the rear package shelf has been cut to fit them. The thin whitewall tires are a nice touch with the full chrome wheel covers. I also like the blue pinstriping on the body sculpting. And you have to admit those Falcon badges are just cool.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 BMW 3.0 CSi

2011-12-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

I've long been a big fan of the BMW E9 series coupes, so it's only natural that I fell in love with this beautiful ice blue 3.0 CSi. The kicker is, no matter how much research I do on these cars, I can never seem to pinpoint the exact model year of most of them. The reason for this is, in Europe they'd design a car once and make minor changes as necessary to get it right. So most E9s look alike except for small details. Of course, US-market cars can be told apart by Federal side markers and other "safety" modifications from the original pure Teutonic design (such as the ghastly giant rubber bumpers of the 1974-75 models), but this is a Euro-market car. The fuel-injected 3.0 CSi was apparently never officially sold in the States, but was sold from 1971 to 1975 in Europe. This one is also decked out with Alpina goodies, like the popular spoked wheels (which I absolutely love on this car) and an Alpina shift knob. I'm not sure how crazy I am about the steering wheel, which I assume is original. I've seen pictures on the web of these cars with a wood-rimmed Nardi-style steering wheel, and I'm not sure if that was an improvement or not.

Conditionwise, this car was about as nice as any E9 I've ever seen. Paint is in beautiful shape, as is the chrome and stainless trim. And just look at the interior! If I had to fault any part of the car, I guess you could say that the rub strip on the rear bumper's right corner is a little bit deformed, and the license plate mounting holes in the front bumper show a tiny, tiny amount of rust discoloration. But really, how anal-retentive is that? This is probably one of my top 10 favorite street sightings, at least of this year. Would I own one? Heck no! I can't afford the upkeep on a classic BMW. But I'm sure glad other people do so I can enjoy them from time to time.

Santa Cruz Street Sighting - 1947 Cadillac Series 60 Special Fleetwood

2011-12-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

In rural areas without sidewalks, sometimes it's difficult to tell what's public property and what's part of someone's yard. I try very hard not to trespass on private property or touch anyone's vehicle without permission when I go to photograph cars. In this case, while returning with two friends from the 'world famous' Mystery Spot tourist attraction in Santa Cruz, I had to pull over and snap this cool creamy yellow 1947 Cadillac Fleetwood. The owner's driveway opens out onto a road that began in town and runs out into the woods, and the paved area where the car was parked resembled an easement of sorts, guarded by a painted plywood stand-up of Batman. I know I'm nitpicking here, but I understand that watching a young man pull up, get out of a car with a camera and start photographing your classic car has to look slightly suspicious. For that reason, I do my best not to do anything that could be construed as illegal. I honestly hope I didn't trespass on the owner's property to obtain these photos. Because the car was located outside of a fenced yard, I treated the fence as the boundary between the property and the road.

At any rate, the 1947 Cadillac was the last postwar Cadillac before the advent of the first baby tailfins in 1948 (inspired by the twin boom tails on the Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane). The body still strongly resembled prewar Cadillacs but wore a restyled grille. The Series 60 Special Fleetwood sedan was a higher trim model than the standard, but still luxurious, Series 61 and 62. The only Cadillac fancier than the Series 60 was the Fleetwood Series 75, which was intended more as a limousine. All Caddies that year came with the 346 cubic inch L-head V8 engine. A Hydra-Matic automatic transmission was optional.

This one is in pretty good shape for its age, and could pass for an unrestored survivor. It's a little rough in the left front fender area, and all the chrome could stand to be either re-done or polished back to its original luster. The rear fender skirts are missing, which looks a little odd since the rear fenders have a notch designed into them at the bottom of the wheel arch where they meet the skirt. Without the skirt in place that notch resembles rust damage. I like that it's been kept stock with its original "Sombrero" wheelcovers (a $25 option) and not lowered or swapped onto ugly custom wheels, and the thick whitewall tires really make it. This is the kind of car you just can't put blackwalls on without it looking totally wrong. I also like the contrasting roof, though I wonder if it might possibly look better with the door window frames above the chrome beltline trim painted the same color as the roof.

Don't hurt me, Batman. I just like the car.

Danville Street Sighting - 1969 Ferrari 365 GT 2+2

2011-11-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

I wish I could say that my first classic Ferrari feature was a genuine case of catching Uncle Pennybags on a run to the shops for bread and milk, but alas, this car was parked near a car show. I spotted it parked on the street quite literally just around the corner from the Danville Concours d'Elegance last year. The d'Elegance is a fantastic charity car show put on every September to benefit Parkinson's research and usually attracts some well-heeled car owners, either to enter their cars in the show or to just stop by and check out what's on display.

The 1969 Ferrari 365GT 2+2 is a rare beast, one of only about 800 made, and one of only two I've ever seen. This one I'd seen before, when it appeared at the 2010 California Mille pre-race car show in San Francisco in April. Again, it was parked on the street. What sets this car apart from most vintage exotic cars is that it looks like it gets driven. It's also seen its share of expensive parking rash that almost makes me wonder if Ferris Bueller's friend Cameron wailed on the front end with his foot. (Yeah, I know it was a 250GT California replica used in that movie.) Aside from the two dents in the sheetmetal, the car looked immaculate. The smooth metallic champagne paint was another thing that set it apart from most Ferraris -- it's not red! The more subdued color helps to re-affirm that this four-seat Fezza is a grand tourer first and race car second, something that will get you and three of your friends to the wine tasting on time, every time.

I believe that I recently saw this same car, with the damage repaired, for sale at Cars Dawydiak of San Francisco, for $189,000. Think about that next time you try squeezing your car into a parking space in front of a classic Ferrari.

Petaluma Street Sighting - 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS

2011-11-28T20:45:00.000-08:00

I always told myself I'd try to avoid featuring "cliched" cars here at California Streets. You know which ones I mean: 1957 Chevy Bel Airs, 1965 Ford Mustangs, and especially 1964 Chevy Impalas. Why? Well, the "Six Fo" Impala is one of the quintessential cars associated with lowrider culture, and thus is often found rocking small wire wheels with spinner hubcaps, whitewall tires and featuring a bright color, pinstriping and/or airbrush work. Good thing I found one that .... looks exactly like that. Oh dear.

All right, to be fair, I've always liked the 1964 Impala. It's not a bad car at all, and it's loved by many, many people for a reason. They're big and relatively luxurious for their price point, good-looking and, thanks to collector and customizer interest, a lot of parts can be easily sourced for restorations. One might say that the Impala is a victim of its own success, then. I've seen so many customized '64 Impalas that they've ceased to be special to me anymore, and that's too bad. In fact, I'm starting to prefer all the other Impalas from 1958-65 better than the '64, because they all have their own merit and don't seem to be quite so stereotypical a choice for a big GM car. Not to mention the various comparable full-size offerings from Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac. Remember that over one million full-size Chevys were sold in 1964 alone, so there are still a lot of them running around. Other brands, not so much.

Okay, so we've covered the fact that this particular car isn't quite my cup of tea. But let's examine it closer. The owner has added a common custom touch in the form of chrome "eyelids" on the headlights, a modification I've never understood. While chrome has been added to the headlights, the stainless steel trim piece on the leading edge of the hood has gone missing. Some mild pinstriping accents the hood and some relatively tasteful gold airbrushing graces the silver roof. No extensive or irreversible modifications have been made. It strikes me as kind of a budget cruiser, as the body isn't laser-straight and the main body paint didn't look like the highest quality. I appreciate that it wears an early-issue black plate, which suggests that the car is an early-build 1964 model registered during calendar year 1963. It's a nice 20-foot car, meaning it looks fairly good from across the street. That, and it's nearly 20 feet long!
Cliched or not, it's good to see that this car's owner loves his baby enough to take good care of it, and that makes me happy.

Best of the Rest 2: Vantastic

2011-11-22T23:48:00.001-08:00

1963-67 Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus, Dublin

1965 Chevrolet Sportvan, San Francisco

1967 Dodge A108 Sportsman Family Wagon, San Francisco

1968-70 Chevrolet ChevyVan, San Francisco

1987 Nissan Van, San Ramon

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1984 Citroën 2CV Charleston

2011-11-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

It seems that people with Citroën 2CVs attract shutterbugs like myself. The 2CV with its cartoonish proportions and roll-back fabric sunroof, especially a later-model Charleston special edition with its deep red and black paint, separated by a cheeky swoosh, is a magnet for attention. Millions of the little cars were sold worldwide over four decades, but America was hardly Citroën's best market. I suppose that when you're pinning your hopes on the small and underpowered but very advanced DS as a luxury car in a market dominated by chrome-laden V8 boats, it doesn't do well for the company's upscale image to field a 2-cylinder garden shed on wheels in the same dealership. It was no secret that the 2CV was intended to be a peasant's car from the beginning. Citroën didn't even actively advertise the Deux Chevaux here, and a lot of the cars that exist in the USA were imported later.

In the States, of course, the 2CV is a bit of an icon as a car for eccentric types. College professors and the like. Some owners in the city seem to have a sense of humor about their cars, and get custom license plates to express how silly and French their pride and joy is. This one's plate reads "POU BEL", which roughly translates to "Trash Can". The car itself is hardly a garbage receptacle though, quite to the contrary. It seems to be well looked-after, aside from a scuff on the right front fender. I found the beefed-up bumpers to be an interesting addition, probably a good idea with such a fragile-looking car in a tough city.
Charleston was one of many special editions Citroën offered over the years which added some flair to a loud, slow, Spartan little car. From what I can see, it was a paint package. Once again, Cats-Citroën comes to the rescue as a fantastic resource. Based on the site's extensive list of yearly, even monthly changes, my best guess is that it's an early 1984 model with the optional "Aventure" tubular bumpers. (Anyone who can offer a better approximation of the car's age would be appreciated.) I was initially surprised that it was so new. I'd previously seen it driving around town (and, as always seems to happen whenever I've headed toward the intersection of Lombard Street and Columbus Avenue in search of a certain green 1963 Mercury Meteor rumored to frequent the area, I found something entirely different - namely, this). It's not the first 2CV I've run across in San Francisco, nor will it be the last one you see here.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1977 Ford Granada

2011-11-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

There once was a time when Ford could get away with comparing their cars to a Mercedes-Benz based on the kind of looks and interior noise level you could get for a budget price. In fact, that's exactly how Ford advertised the Granada in the United States. You got a car that, if you squinted just right or were sufficiently intoxicated, you might be able to compare to a contemporary Mercedes. It had an upright rectangular grille with a hood ornament, and you could get it with various luxury features found on a Mercedes. It was advertised as having a ride and level of quietness on par with a Mercedes as well. Of course, those tests were conducted using the six-cylinder model instead of the available (and probably louder) V8. And if the Ford wasn't enough to convince buyers that it was a Benz-fighter, the Granada was also offered in fancier Mercury Monarch and Lincoln Versailles variants.

This is a 1977 Granada sedan. I wouldn't call it the most cherry example of the breed, but it's what I had in my archives. This car was almost always parked in the same general area down by the CalTrain station in S.F.'s South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood where I had a charcoal drawing class once a week. So, I photographed it on multiple occasions and now here it is. It was always in need of a wash and while the door was pretty banged up, the rest of the body was fairly straight and it never got worse while I saw it. I never took a close look at the interior, which looks to be maroon cloth which I imagine is in similar condition to the body. I'm not sure what the deal is with the odd orange rim around the rear window or the sickly green color the windows turn in certain light. An older tint job gone bad, maybe?
Over two million Granadas were built in a seven-year span, so there are probably a fair number like this one out there still. These cars don't seem to have a strong collector following yet, and prices are still generally low. I bet it wouldn't be too terribly difficult or expensive to get a new back passenger door from a wrecking yard.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1969 Buick Riviera

2011-11-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

The late 1960s were an interesting time for the personal luxury car in America. It was a time when cars in general were getting huge, engine displacements continued to grow, and these changes altered the entire personality of some of the personal luxury segment. The Buick Riviera, introduced for 1963 with a trim, cleanly designed body by Bill Mitchell, and a 401 or 425 ci Nailhead V8, was a banker's hot rod. It was called one of the most beautiful American cars ever built, by both Sergio Pininfarina and Raymond Loewy.
In 1966, things changed. The Riviera got a redesigned body and shared its chassis with Oldsmobile's Toronado and Cadillac's Eldorado - except for one crucial difference: the Riviera was still rear-wheel-drive as God intended (it would ultimately become FWD in 1979 though). The new Riv got bigger engines to motivate a bigger, heavier car with more seats, huge chrome bumpers and an available vinyl top.

In my opinion at least, this generation of Riviera was no prize to behold. It just can't get me excited the way a first-generation Riv or a 1971-73 "boattail" model can. They can be made to look all right, though, with the right color of paint and Buick Rally wheels. The little chrome wires with whitewall tires aren't really doing it for me, for a couple of reasons. In case you're the owner of this car and are reading this, please don't take it personally, but I don't think the lowrider look was meant for this car. The wheels and tires are just too small. Whitewalls might work with stock-sized rubber. I'd recommend a deep metallic burgundy, dark green or perhaps black for the body after some dent repair. I'm curious if the hideaway headlights still open and close. They're an interesting feature of this generation and the 1969 was the last model to have them.
There's still hope for this '69 Riv. Keep the rust away and that'll be good enough.

Best of the Rest 1: San Francisco Corvairs

2011-11-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

1961 Chevrolet Corvair sedan

1962 Chevrolet Corvair Monza coupe

1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza coupe

1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible

1966-67 Chevrolet Corvair 500 coupe

Best of the Rest

2011-11-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

For each car I feature with a full photo shoot here on California Streets, there are many others that, for one reason or another, don't get photographed in depth. Maybe it was because of traffic, lack of light, no tripod, not enough time, or the owner was present or inside the vehicle or working on it. Many of these coulda-woulda-shoulda vehicles were seen before I started California Streets, when I didn't often stop to shoot cars from all angles. All were photographed on public streets in California between 2006 and the present. I call them the Best of the Rest.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1974 Jensen-Healey Mk II convertible

2011-11-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Rounding out this week's group of red convertibles is an English import, a 1974 Jensen-Healey Mark II. Readers of this blog may remember the black 1973 Healey I featured last year. The '72-73 Healey had larger front turn signals than the later cars, but still had giant black bumpers that disfigured what could have been a trim little sports car. In 1974 the bumpers became even larger to satisfy US crash regulations and lost their chrome trim. A two-door "shooting brake" wagon version, called the Jensen GT, was built in limited numbers from 1975 to '76 until the company folded. It was an undignified end for Donald Healey's line of roadsters.
I saw this car one evening after exiting a class at my university in the Financial District. It was parked across the street and I immediately pulled out my camera and looked for solid surfaces to put it on for some longer-exposure night shots (I wasn't in the habit of carrying my little collapsible tripod with me). Although the United States was the Jensen-Healey's biggest market, these roadsters don't show up often in the city, or anywhere for that matter.
This car looks like it wears a cheap repaint judging by the overspray on the muffler. Aside from the minor quarter panel damage and a very ill-fitting convertible top (did they ever fit properly?) it seems pretty clean. I'm not sure I'd have painted the brake drums red. Why call attention to the fact you don't have four-wheel discs? I'm glad to see that the owner takes it to a qualified British car mechanic who hopefully keeps the mechanicals in tip-top shape. Now for a spot of body work and a new top.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible

2011-11-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Second in this week's trio of red convertibles is a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza drop-top. Most of the Corvairs I've spotted in the city have been first-generation models, so a second-generation example is a nice change. As far as I know, it belongs to the same collector who owns the green 1963 Corvair Monza coupe. It's one of only a few Corvair convertibles I've seen outside of car shows or museums.

The Corvair was redesigned for 1965 with a Coke-bottle shape as was fashionable at the time. The new design also did away with the notorious swing axle so criticized by Ralph Nader, and upped the power levels of the available engines.
This car has a "140" badge on the rear decklid, which I initially took to mean the engine's displacement (earlier Corvairs came with 140 ci flat sixes). It actually refers to the horsepower figure of the optional engine, taken from the higher-performance Corsa model. Unlike the Corsa, though, the Monza could be bought with a sedate two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission in place of a 3- or 4-speed manual. It's had the Corvair script badges removed from the hood and deck, but the Corvair badge was moved to the front "grille" area next to the driver side headlight in 1966 and would remain that way until 1969. The taillights are unusual and appear to be custom or modified lenses, as a stock Corvair has circular chrome center trim and white backup lights in the two inner lenses. Wheels are non-stock Chevy Rallies; they look all right to me. It needs a paint job, though. Judging by overspray and peeling on the 140 badge, this car's already been repainted, but the new coat was sprayed over the old paint and is already fading badly on the hood. The roof is in great shape, leading me to wonder if it's original or was replaced at some point.
This Corvair has a lot of potential and would look great with fresh paint, new chrome and some detailing.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible

2011-11-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is about convertibles and the color red, but they sure go together. This week we'll take a look at some.

First up is a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible, a full-size drop-top cruiser that dwarfs most anything parked nearby. That fact is proven even better by the fellow who parked a Smart Fortwo next to it.

The big 1964 Fords were, in a way, the last of a dying breed. Not that the 1965s weren't just as huge, but they were noticeably different on both ends. Namely, the four headlights would be stacked vertically, and the round taillight motif used since 1952 would be replaced by rectangular units. Engines for 1964 included some half dozen options ranging from a 223 ci straight six to a big honking 427 V8. Among the transmissions - reaffirming that this car is a cruiser - was the Cruise-O-Matic automatic. Galaxie 500 was the mid-range offering, below the 500 XL.
I always was more partial to the 1963 Galaxie, but the '64 is nice in its own ways, and this one is a fine example. It sports an interesting combination of Magnum 500 wheels with spinner hubcaps, and what appear to be Coker American Classic gold-line tires. They add some attitude to the car without sacrificing its classic looks the way modern wheels might have. I hate seeing otherwise stock vintage cars on oversized chrome blobs that have no character aside from the "ooh shiny" aspect. If it were mine, I'd consider trying it without the spinners.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1967 Nissan Patrol L60

2011-11-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Most compact personal 4x4 vehicles in the United States are probably Jeep CJs and Wranglers. For all intents and purposes the original Willys MB military Jeep was the first modern off-roader. (Some could argue that the German VW-based Kübelwagen came first, but it did not have 4-wheel-drive and a civilian variant didn't come until 1969 as the Type 181 "Thing".) The Jeep spawned a host of imitators in the years following World War II, including the Land Rover Series 1, Toyota Land Cruiser, International Scout, Ford Bronco and Nissan Patrol. Today we'll take a look at the Nissan Patrol L60.

The Patrol was marketed in the US from late 1960 until 1969. It was a tough little truck, utilitarian in all aspects. Cowboy celebrity Roy Rogers endorsed it. Unlike most vehicles of its time, the Patrol changed very little during its production run. At first glance, all Patrols will look pretty similar. On closer inspection though, it is possible to tell certain model years apart. I believe this example is a 1967 model, because it sports redesigned chrome door handles not found on the 1960-66 trucks (their handles were inset into the door itself), and 1967 was the final year for three opening air vents at the base of the windshield frame. In 1968 the design was changed to two vents, and in 1969 the Patrol gained side marker reflectors and revised turn signals on the front fenders. This truck has been customized with flashier wheels and off-road tires, modern seats and taillights apparently taken from a Jeep Wrangler. In general it appears to have benefitted from a restoration with newer paint and roof canvas.
I don't know how many Patrols were ultimately sold in the US, but there can't have been a whole lot. One resource states 2616 total vehicles of which approximately 975 were soft-top L60s. The same resource claims that Nissan failed to understand the US market, failed to meet demand and failed to market the truck adequately, all of which contributed to the low sales figures. Very few of these vehicles are left in original condition, as parts are extremely hard to find and more modern components are desired by owners who want their 40-plus-year-old trail rigs to hold together, or just keep from beating them up when they drive.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1959 Plymouth Savoy

2011-11-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's relatively uncommon to see custom cars on the streets of San Francisco, but this was an exception. In summer 2007 my friend and I took a day trip into the city which took us through the Mission District. We pulled over to check out this 1959 Plymouth Savoy, apparently made into a rat rod with rattlecan flat black paint, red steel wheels and outlined red flames.

Despite its fancy-sounding name, the Savoy was Plymouth's cheapest offering in 1959. All their full-size models except the Fury were named for luxury hotels. Replacing the now-defunct Plaza, it was a basic vehicle lacking the ornamentation and some of the equipment of the Belvedere or Fury. The body came with a simple chrome spear that ran from the taillights to the top of the front wheel arch (this example has apparently had that trim removed and the mounting holes filled, although some taxis did without the trim pieces from the start). Lower-grade Savoys came with six-cylinder engines, though V8s were available, even the Golden Commando engine from the upscale Fury if so desired. Three different transmissions were available and such conveniences as swivel seats and auto-dimming mirrors and lights could also be had. Savoys were evidently very popular for taxi duty, and a fair number were used in police fleets. Over 84,000 Savoy four-door sedans were sold in 1959.

After the initial sighting of this car in 2007, it disappeared from my life and I figured I'd never see it again. Then three years later it resurfaced, interestingly over by Fifties Guy's place. It made me wonder, was it another member of his collection or did it belong to one of his friends? It seemed fitting, as 1950s cars are otherwise exceedingly rare in the city. One month later I saw it again. This time the silly flames had been painted over and some of the spots had been touched up. It still wore a section "I" residential parking permit from the Mission. If it is indeed a vehicle belonging to Fifties Guy, I hope that it has received attention to make it presentable. I'd like to see it restored. He seems to be one of the few people who sees value in '50s-vintage four-door sedans, and for that I respect him.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1966 Chrysler Newport

2011-11-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

It was a gloomy, wet day when I drove three friends around San Francisco looking for filming locations from the atrocious Tommy Wiseau film "The Room". For whatever reason they love the movie, and came up from Los Angeles to see the places where certain scenes were filmed. One such building, a flower shop which appeared briefly in the film (the establishment is now a pizza parlor), was located in the Mission District. Some time before, I'd heard about a small collection of old Chrysler products in the area. I hoped that I'd be able to find them that same day. As it were, my friends and I drove right past the small alley where the cars reside.
Some time later, when the weather had improved, I took a walk in the Mission to try to find them again. This time I got lucky. Being that the alley is paved and has a name on a sign installed by the city, I assume that makes it a public street and therefore fair game. The first vehicle I saw from this collection, and possibly my favorite, was this Daffodil Yellow 1966 Chrysler Newport sedan.

Newport was Chrysler's entry level car for 1966, yet it was a large car with standard 383 ci V8 power, automatic transmission (with choice of column or floor shift) and a variety of available body styles. Nearly 75,000 of these pillared four-door sedans were built, by far the most popular Newport variant.
This car is a decent driver, with a good body mostly free of damage. There's a little bit of rust around the edges where the paint has come off or cracked, but from 20 feet away the car looks surprisingly clean. I'm particularly impressed by the condition of the bumpers and chrome trim. The only thing that bothers me is the unusual leopard-print back seat covering.
Expect to see other cars from this collection at a later date.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1966 Plymouth Valiant V-200

2011-11-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

I generally have several biases when it comes to selecting which cars are notable enough for inclusion on California Streets. One of these is a general resistance toward Dodge Darts and Plymouth Valiants. Why? The short answer is, they're kind of boring. This is where some readers will point out that I feature a lot of Ford Falcons (and Falcon-based cars like the Mercury Comet) simply because I like them. Mind you, the Dart/Valiant and Falcon/Comet were direct competitors in the cheap, practical compact-midsize segment in their day. The Dart and Valiant also soldiered on long after the Falcon had bloated into a base-model Torino and subsequently been replaced, by the Maverick and to a lesser extent, the Pinto (the latter of which may also have served as a replacement for the relatively unpopular imported English Fords such the Cortina). Basic platforms, tried-and-true powertrains and a simple utilitarianism were the Valiant's saving grace. It was a plain car, but it worked. The slant six would crank up in the morning and the automatic tranny would keep shifting. A V8 engine was available for those who felt they needed more power (honestly, the V8 badge was the coolest detail of this generation in my opinion).
So, we've covered my bias. What made me shoot this car? Well, it was parked down the street from the Alfa Romeo Giulia Super I featured during Alfa week and I figured since I was there, and it was there, I might as well photograph it. There's nothing "special" about it to the casual observer, just a mid-range six-cylinder Valiant V-200 with rusted and crinkled quarter panels, some dents and scratches. It's not even a coupe, just a plain-jane 4-door sedan, about as boring as these cars come unless you opted for the Valiant V-100, which lacked the bright metal spear trim on the side and had fewer features. This car has at least kept three of its four original metal wheelcovers.
The reason I respect this Valiant, is perhaps that it has lived up to its namesake. Restorers and collectors rescue the valuable examples of a breed, the coupes, hardtops, convertibles and high-performance versions. The rest, especially old economy cars, get used up and rust away or are crushed into so many soda cans. And then there are some, like this car, that are rough around the edges but still provide faithful service to their owners 45 years after they rolled off the assembly line. The slant six probably still runs like a sewing machine. I doubt my 2007 Ford Focus will still be running in 2052.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1995 Lotus Esprit S4s

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

Rounding out '90s Supercar Week is this 1995 Lotus Esprit S4s, an edition I didn't know existed until I saw it parked just around the corner from the 1973 AMC Gremlin I featured during '70s Economy Car Week. I've always been fond of the 1990s Esprits; from most angles they just look "right" to me. I know they're parts bin cars cobbled from other manufacturers' components, and the basic design dates back to the '70s when the Gremlin was still being built and Roger Moore was still James Bond. The Esprit is just a cool sports car.
The Esprit endured for nearly thirty years with surprisingly few redesigns. The most noticeable of which came in 1987 when Peter Stevens gave the car a much-needed update for the coming decade. It now featured taillights from a Toyota Corolla AE86 but otherwise stayed relatively close to Giugiaro's original lines, and improved performance, ergonomics and safety. This design was facelifted in 1993 and called the S4.
The Esprit S4s (the little S stands for Sport) was one of the last Esprits to be built exclusively with a four-cylinder engine. It displaced 2.2 liters but, thanks to numerous modifications and a healthy intercooled turbo, the S4s produced 300 hp and was good for 168 mph. At that kind of speed you need some downforce, so the S4s received a big wing out back from the Esprit 300 Sport. The S4s was built from 1995 to '96.
After 1996, 4-cylinder Esprits were still available, but were upstaged by a new twin-turbo V8 model. The new engine produced more power and had a higher top speed, but also tested the endurance of the Renault-sourced transaxle. The Esprit has been gone since 2004, and I miss it. I'm not wild about Lotus's plans to bring the name back on an all-new car for 2013, but I guess they know better than I do. I wish them well, and I hope the owner of this beautiful '95 Esprit enjoys his or her car for many years to come.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1995 Ferrari 456 GT

2011-11-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Long before I started California Streets, I occasionally found myself photographing cars from several angles and later came to the realization that I could use those pictures for car features. This 1995 Ferrari 456 GT is a curious creature. Ferrari in recent years has rarely been known for their front-engined offerings, except perhaps the 599 Fiorano. So many supercars are mid-engined, it seems the way to go if you want speed without sacrificing neutral handling. So what do you call this? Not only is it front-engined, but it has a back seat! Yes, a four-seater, "family" Ferrari - a formula not tried since the mid-engined V8 Mondial and front-engined V12 400i series of the eighties. Neither of those cars are considered among Ferrari's best offerings. The 456 is a proper V12 grand tourer with looks to match. Its design appears a bit dated now, as pop-up headlights are a bit passe (the 2003 456M GT was the last Ferrari to use pop-ups, and I still like them) and the 17-inch wheels look positively tiny by modern standards. But the 456 was one of my favorite cars in the Nintendo 64 game Cruisin' World and is still a good-looking car. I also am very fond of the metallic burgundy color, which I believe is called Rosso Rubino. The nicks in the paint are unfortunate, but I'm glad to see it's been driven and hopefully enjoyed as a V12 Ferrari should.
The 456 would later be facelifted into the 456M (Modificata), with a slightly different front fascia incorporating a pair of round foglights, no extra air intakes or hood vents, revised indicators (on this car, the foglamps are fitted in the same opening as the turn signals) and a larger Ferrari badge. Various other changes were made which simplified the interior and redesigned the seats. The spiritual successor to the 456 would be the 612 Scaglietti, a car which wins no beauty contests but is probably better all around - at least where performance is concerned. I'd still prefer the 456 based on how pretty it is. I can't afford the tickets so I might as well look good doing the speed limit!

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1999 Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster

2011-10-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

As a boy growing up in the 1990s, I had my share of supercar posters. Porsche 993, Ferrari F355. I collected models of my favorites as well, some of the more stratified exotics. Ferrari F50, Jaguar XJ220, Dodge Viper RT/10. But few came close to the Lamborghini Diablo in terms of insane performance, instant name recognition and sheer curb presence. It was to the schoolboy of the '90s what its older brother, the Countach, was to the kids of the '80s.

It's hard to believe that the Diablo came into being while Lamborghini was owned by Chrysler Corporation. (Almost as hard to believe as Chrysler now being owned by the company that owns Ferrari and Maserati, the latter of which once had a joint-venture with Chrysler in the form of the LeBaron-based TC by Maserati, but I digress.) Designer Marcello Gandini had clear plans for the new Lambo's design direction, but Chrysler executives made him soften the car's lines. It was, after all, a car for a different decade than the angular Countach. The end result was a slightly rounded, wedge-shaped, 200-mph supercar that looked fantastically modern, exotic from every angle and featured Countach-style scissor doors. Even today it's a stunning car.

If memory serves, I spotted this 1999 Diablo VT while on break from my evening class on Post Street near Union Square. I whipped out my camera and went crazy trying to capture every amazing detail of the car, fittingly parked in a loading zone which I assume was pole position for the valet stand at the fancy Farallon restaurant. It's not just an all-wheel-drive Diablo VT, it's a late-model with the exposed headlights (sourced from a Nissan 300ZX). Oh yeah, and it's a Roadster to boot. Fantastic. I always hated the driving dynamics of the rear-wheel-drive, more powerful Diablo SV in Need For Speed: High Stakes, and as I understand it the Diablo was never really built to handle as well as it drove in a straight line. It seems fitting to use the image and name of a fighting bull on a car that does its best to kill you. But God, just look at it.

Livermore Street Sighting - 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air

2011-10-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I put up a poll asking readers for input regarding cars photographed near, but not in, car shows. Most respondents said that any car parked on the street is fair game. Now, I could easily cheat and photograph every old car I see parked near the county fairgrounds when the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association puts on a show. Lots of people bring out their cars but are reluctant to pay Goodguys' entry fee to show their vehicles within the fairground gates. But likewise, I've long been reluctant to call those "street sightings" even though they technically are. Readers can expect to see more cars like this in the future, photographed near (but not in) car shows. To avoid diluting my collection of "legit" sightings, I'm figuring on limiting features like this to no more than one per month. Enjoy!

I came across this sharp 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air about a block away from a more localized car show, Livermore's annual Nostalgia Day. It's become one of my favorite local events over the last couple of years due to its large yet manageable size, informal feel and free admission. This car was, in all likelihood, a spectator's vehicle which stood out from the line of everyday cars at the curb like a sore thumb on fire. I couldn't help but document it. I blame my good friend at The Automotive Way, who got me hooked on '58 Chevys.

I used to be hit or miss on these cars, with their heavy body design dripping with chrome, unusual folded-over tail fins, and that huge toothy grille in the front. Over time, they've come to grow on me. The mid-range Bel Air lacks some of the gingerbread of the new-for-'58 Impala, which I like; but it also lacks the Impala's six taillights, which I prefer over the Bel Air's four. It was available with three engines, including the new 348 cubic inch big block V8 for plenty of grunt. Since this is a mild custom car, I have no way of knowing which engine it has, but if that hood once hid a 348 it's probably still there. If it were originally a six-cylinder car I wouldn't be surprised if the owner has retrofitted a chromed-out 348 or dropped in a modern GM small block crate V8. I'm really liking the vintage style chrome 5-spoke wheels and thin whitewall tires. There's really not much about this car I'd change.