San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Mini 1000 Automatic

I've sort of made a recurring thing posting classic Minis every so often. Here's another monthly Mini, if you will. It's our first factory-automatic one, a 1971 Mini 1000.

Malibu Street Sighting - 1956 Seagrave 70th Anniversary Series 1000-300 Fire Truck

It's not every day you see a car or truck with a name that's as long as the vehicle. But Seagrave Fire Apparatus didn't mess around when they came up with the name for this fire truck. Seagrave has been around for a long time, since 1881. In 1951 they celebrated their 70th year in the business with the 70th Anniversary Series. Apparently they were like Disneyland and never let a big anniversary go to waste, so the series continued in production for some 19 years. Seagrave prided itself on being the 'greatest name in fire apparatus' - and it says so on the side. As far as I can tell, power for a truck like this came from a gasoline V12 engine producing 300 horses, with a 4-speed manual transmission.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1970 Morris Minor 1000 Van

I've seen a number of unusual cars cruising down the streets of San Francisco over the years, and occasionally I've been lucky enough to turn on my camera and snap a picture or two as they drive by. Three years ago I was walking through the Haight and this Morris Minor van puttered past. Needless to say, I was excited, but after two photos I figured I'd never see the little van again. And for a while I didn't see it, until this April when it showed up parked on Nob Hill.