Berkeley Street Sighting - 1961 Porsche 356B Sunroof Coupe

There haven't been a lot of vintage Porsches featured on California Streets. Why? Because old 911s are still pretty common, and the earlier 356s are now expensive collectibles that are almost always garaged when not in use. This one has the most awesome patina of any 356 I've seen since the crash-damaged 1954 356 Speedster displayed in time-capsule state in a plexiglass box at the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum in Germany.

Berkeley Street Sighting - 1961 Rambler Classic Cross Country Custom Wagon

We're coming up on the Fourth of July again, Independence Day. And as is my custom, I'm featuring an assortment of cars from American manufacturers not affiliated with Detroit's Big Three. Welcome to Independents' Week.

It's summer in America, and summer is the best time for the American road trip. And traditionally, the American road trip takes place in a station wagon. And what's more American than an American Motors station wagon?

Los Gatos Street Sighting - 1961 International Harvester Scout 80

I get a little tired of the joke that a rusted International Scout is its natural state. Maybe it's the result of living in California my entire life, but in my experience the Scout and other Internationals are still alive and kicking in decent numbers. On the other hand, in many other parts of the country the vintage International Harvester is nearly extinct. Scouts were tough trucks in their time but unfortunately quite rust-prone. If we're honest, though, most cars and trucks built in the past weren't rustproofed or sealed well and began to corrode after a short time, particularly in climate zones with salt air or harsh winters and road salt. Even an owner's washing habits and paint maintenance made a huge difference in an older vehicle's survival. Internationals were trucks and off-road vehicles, likely put away dirty and wet and having to work out in the elements year-round.

El Segundo Street Sighting - 1961 Austin-Healey Sprite

I've long been a purist about cars. Heavy modifications in my opinion usually ruin a classic car's looks, even if they improve its performance. This can range from simple wheel and paint choices to ridiculous engine swaps and severe cutting of the frame and/or body. The rarer the car, the more it bothers me. In the case of this Austin-Healey Sprite, I'm amused. The Sprite began as the Bugeye/Frogeye, a funny little roadster with round headlights that stuck up out of the hood and a happy-looking grille. The second-generation 1961 Sprite used much of the same body and underpinnings, but styling was more modern and conventional. A nearly identical MG Midget model was also offered, and soon handily outsold the Healey that spawned it.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1961 Ford Falcon

It seems like there's something about Ford Falcons and Dodge Darts/Plymouth Valiants that makes them nigh unkillable. It's a testament to the simple, basic economy car of the 1960s, a reliable six-cylinder engine and no-frills packaging based on solid platform engineering. The end result is a car that doesn't look like much and isn't fast but it won't die. Basically this was in 1961 what the Toyota Corolla is now. Except that unlike the current Corolla which still heavily resembles the 2003 model, the Falcon was still fresh in 1961, its second year of production.

Alameda Street Sighting - 1961 Ford Thunderbird

It breaks my heart sometimes to see a classic car being kicked around. At some point it ceases to be a beautiful machine and metastisizes into that ugly old car everyone avoids in parking lots and curses on the highway (you know, the vehicle everybody blames the bad smell on whether it's at fault or not). There's only so much a car can take before it becomes cost-prohibitive to repair. This is typical of cars from the 1970s onward, the big boats that aren't worth very much and thus make no economic sense to restore after a wreck. Those cars usually end up unceremoniously dropped off at a junkyard when their owners decide it's better to take the scrap value and run rather than invest another dime in their old jalopy.

Santa Cruz Street Sighting - 1961 Ford Galaxie Sunliner convertible

There are a lot of banner years for car styling, but 1961 is not usually considered one of them. At least not on the level of, say, 1957. To me, 1961 is generally classified as the final year for tail fins on a lot of Detroit's cars. Ever since their pinnacle in '59 on the Cadillacs, fins were falling out of favor and were gradually being phased out.

Point Reyes Station Street Sighting - 1961 Comet sedan

Oh dear, here we go again with another Falcon. Or is it? Nope, this is a Comet. We've already had a 1962, 1963, and 1964 Mercury Comet show up here, so why not an early one that predates the car's official association with Mercury? Originally devised as a baby Edsel for 1960, the Ford brass nixed the horsecollar grille in a hurry when the Edsel brand went down in flames and made the Comet a stand-alone economy brand for two years. Aside from some cosmetic touches, the Comet's Falcon roots are plainly evident. But hey, it was 1961 and you got four headlights AND tailfins on a compact car that was no less frugal than the bargain-basement six-cylinder Falcon.

Castro Valley Street Sighting - 1961 Volkswagen Type 2 Bus pickup

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.

Best of the Rest 1: San Francisco Corvairs

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

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1961 Cadillac Series 62

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

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1961 Chevrolet Corvair Monza 900

Name me a car available today with a rear-mounted engine, rear-wheel-drive, manual transmission and sporty performance.

You said Porsche, didn't you? Understandable. Now, let's add "available with four doors" to the criteria. Narrows things down a bit, doesn't it?

San Francisco Street Sighting: 1961 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight

One of the largest old cars I've seen in San Francisco (coincidentally on the same street as the '64 Porsche 356C in my previous feature) was this unrestored and mildly customized 1961 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight (98) four-door sedan. Sporting some tasteful orange pinstriping, this must have been a classy machine in its day. That day was a long time ago, though, and today it's faded and beat-up but keeps going. Every time I've seen it, it's been parked in a different spot.

The 98's story began in 1941 with the introduction of Oldsmobile's premium full-size model, the Series 90. The two models in the 90 series were the 96 (straight-six powered) and 98 (straight-eight powered). As V8 engines became more popular in the postwar years, the 98 continued production with a V8.
This '61 Ninety-Eight appears to be the Luxury Sedan body style, which has a roofline similar to a Cadillac six-window sedan of the same era. But there, the similarities to the Cadillac end. The Olds has an entirely differently sculpted and styled body devoid of exaggerated fins. Instead, the 98 has a pointed rear end with small round taillights and a body design that resembles a rocket. Nearly everything on the car is inspired by rockets, fighter jets, turbines, air intakes, what have you. This was the sixties, after all.