Oakland Street Sighting - 1967 Ford Cortina Mk II 1600 Deluxe Wagon

It's been a long time since we looked at an English Ford here. Heck, it's been a long time since I last saw an English Ford on the street. As the Covid pandemic drags out ever longer, I haven't been out and about photographing cars quite as much as I once did. Years ago I visited a house in Oakland with an Anglia 105E and a Cortina sedan. We've looked at the others, now here's a rare Cortina wagon.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1967 Ford Cortina 1600 GT

Out of all the Ford products I've spotted in this state, this is easily one of the most obscure. It's a 1967 Ford Cortina (Mk II) 1600 GT. if you live in the US, you've probably never seen one, but Ford sold over 16,000 of them in the States in 1967. That was the year the Cortina became the best-selling car in its home market, the United Kingdom. That's right, the Cortina was a British Ford. It slotted below the compact Falcon in Ford's American lineup and was pretty much the only four-cylinder Ford available in America at the time. So why didn't it succeed here?

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1968 Volkswagen 1600TL

I've always thought there was something inherently cool about the Volkswagen Type 3. For one thing, it isn't a [Type 1] Beetle. I've seen just about every different variety of Beetle one can imagine, and it's just too generic for me. I'm not wild about the [Type 2] Microbus either, unless it's something rare like a late-50s 21-window model or a pickup. But the Type 3, with its 2-door "Squareback" wagon, fastback coupe and notchback sedan body styles, is the classic VW that holds my interest most. A sporty roadster, the Type 34 Karmann Ghia, was also based on the Type 3 platform.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1963 Hillman Minx Series IIIC

I don't pretend to know much about obscure little British cars. But this thing was funky. I'd never seen a Hillman Minx before, and haven't seen another one since. So when this 1961-63 Minx Series IIIC 1600 showed up parked on the street, I was pretty darn surprised. It hadn't been registered since 1972 and was only there for about a week during March 2007 before it disappeared forever. I'd love to find out what happened to it.