Danville Street Sighting - 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

I wanted to do something special for the holidays this year, but lacking anything Christmas-themed I decided to dig into my archives for a subject I really enjoyed documenting. It's a 1971 Chevy Camaro Z28.

Livermore Street Sighting - 1971 Opel 1900 Rallye Coupe

This one is a really old shoot, from 2014, but I haven't seen one of these since. It's an Opel Manta Rallye.

Emeryville Street Sighting - 1971 AMC Hornet

One of my favorite annual traditions on this blog is Independents' Week. Not coincidentally, it falls on the week of July 4th, America's Independence Day.

It's an opportunity to look at some classic American cars not produced by Detroit's Big Three, Ford, General Motors or Chrysler. First up this week is a 1971 AMC Hornet sedan.

I've featured a few Hornets previously, including one four-door sedan, a hatchback coupe and a two-door sedan. This one is an early model, one of the oldest Hornets I've seen. I love the AMC Hornet and this is a refreshingly simple, honest example in factory stock form. There is a utilitarian look and feel to the Hornet, particularly on non-SST base models such as this one, featuring dog dish hubcaps and a single side mirror. The styling is so Spartan, the cool tri-color contrasting pinstripe seems almost like an extravagance. I like the detailed bee emblems on the front fenders and the fuel filler cap, the former of which was dropped on 1972 models presumably to cut costs.

Condition is decent, not mint by any means but a good solid daily driver. I'd expect a 3.8 liter straight-six under the hood and either a three-speed manual or the three-speed Shift-Command automatic. I actually really like it with the black steel wheels and stainless/chrome dog dishes. It gives the car a sort of 1970s government fleet look. At this point, a lot of the low-spec basic family cars that were prevalent on the roads decades ago have gone by the wayside, so it's great to see a basic Hornet sedan that hasn't gone to Pick 'n Pull.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Ford LTD Country Squire

I often find myself becoming nostalgic for the days of the traditional American station wagon. They're big, spacious and to me they just look cool. Of course, I never had to ride in one on a family road trip, frying my backside on hot vinyl seats through untinted windows, getting carsick on the highway while choking on exhaust fumes sucked in through the open tailgate window. My parents both owned at least one compact station wagon each years ago, including a Chevy Vega Kammback, Ford Escort and Chevy Cavalier RS. But that was before I was born, and neither of them ever had a monster barge like a '71 Ford LTD Country Squire.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Fiat 500L

This is the third classic Fiat 500 we've looked at here, and the third to have been photographed on the streets of San Francisco. This one is fairly interesting, since it participates in the annual California Melee road rally and other events.

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.

Danville Street Sighting - 1971 Datsun 510

The toughest calls on what qualifies as a street sighting are usually those belonging to car show spectators. Even more difficult is when those cars are across the street, around the corner or down the block from the car show itself. Here is one such vehicle that really spoke to me, a 1971 Datsun 510 sedan which, at the time I photographed it, was an unrestored two-owner car with 63,000 miles.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Volkswagen 411 Wagon

I've been doing features recently that correspond to certain odd-numbered milestones, such as street sighting features #403 and 404, which looked at a Peugeot 403 and 404, respectively. So as this is feature number 411, let's look at a 1971 Volkswagen 411 Wagon.

Santa Cruz Street Sighting - 1971 Volvo 1800E

I still see a fair number of old Volvos. In fact, Volvos made before 1990 are extremely common, mainly the 240 series cars - to the point that I don't pay attention to them. To a lesser extent, the 140 series and 164 are also still out there. The older Amazon and PV544 can still be found, as can the sporty P1800.
I've previously featured a P1800, and even did a Best of the Rest post as proof that these stylish coupes have survived in decent numbers. This car in fact made that post, and upon seeing it in better light I decided to photograph it again.

Danville Street Sighting - 1971 Ford Bronco Sport

The Ford Bronco is one of history's great off-roaders. It came from humble beginnings as a small, six-cylinder truck with just enough amenities to make it more civilized and conventional than your average Jeep CJ. The beauty of it was its customizability and simplicity. It used F-100 and Falcon technology, basic construction and offered an extensive options list. Whatever didn't come from the factory could be added or modified. A V8 engine was offered, initially a 289 but later enlarged to a 302. Ford got an impressive 11 years out of the first generation Bronco, with hardly any substantial body changes.

San Jose Street Sighting - 1971 Chrysler Newport Royal

For a long time now I've had a "Fuselage" bodied Chrysler product on my list of vehicles to look for. I had one in mind: a beautiful copper New Yorker coupe with a black vinyl top that I once saw at a red light in San Francisco. I've never been able to catch it parked, so I will take what I can get.

Culver City Street Sighting - 1970 Saab Sonett III

The Saab Sonett is something of a mythical beast among Saab enthusiasts. It began as a lightweight two-seater open sports car with a 3-cylinder two-stroke engine producing 57.5 horsepower, primarily for racing, but rules changed and only six were built. The name Sonett refers not to the poetic form popularized by Shakespeare (spelled 'sonnet') but rather is based on a Swedish phrase meaning "so neat they are" or more loosely, "how cool is that?".

Danville Street Sighting - 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SL

I'm still a bit ambivalent toward Mercedes-Benz. They are a brand revered the world over for reliable, well-engineered and safe cars. Many consider them the de facto inventors of the automobile. And yet, the vast majority of Mercedes-Benz products do absolutely nothing whatsoever for me. In fact, only a handful have made it onto California Streets, mainly because mainstream Mercedes cars are a dime a dozen in California and they bore me. The cities and suburbs are still crawling with old clattering diesel W123s and even the older sedans can still be found in moderate quantities. But then there is the matter of the SL-Class.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1971 Plymouth Duster

There aren't a whole lot of good cars in my town. Actually, there are, but most are stored in garages or parked in driveways and thus are off-limits. You can actually credit my friend who was visiting from Canada for finding this one. He drove down here from Alberta and not five minutes after arriving at my house said "Hey, I saw an old Duster on the street." So away we went. I snagged this original '71 Duster just before the sun went down.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Ford Maverick

It's interesting how certain car models become icons. The Ford Mustang, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Corvette. Meanwhile, in the United States the Ford Maverick has nearly reached the realm of obscurity. It's the nondescript old beater on the corner with the missing hubcaps, or a budget V8 muscle car for people who can't afford a Mustang. I've seen them kicked around, daily driven, junked, restored, preserved, even one with a Toyota Supra turbo powertrain set up for autocross. The fact is, though, the Maverick was always considered sort of an economy car in North America, the replacement for the Falcon, and it always played second fiddle to the Mustang as a performance option.
In Brazil, though, there are very, very few Mustangs. Locally built Volkswagen Gols and Fiat Unos rule the streets. In that part of the world, the Maverick is a muscle car. And one of the most sought-after Mavericks in Brazil is the 302 GT.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1971 Pontiac Grand Ville convertible

Imagine you're a General Motors marketing executive circa 1970. You're planning a new model for the Pontiac division, one that will be a full size car even more luxurious than the top-line Bonneville. Naming a car after a large dry lakebed worked great, but it didn't sound especially luxurious. "Ville" is a good start, it's French and that sounds fancy. And if something is fancy it's "grand", so someone came up with the name Grand Ville. I suppose it translates to "large town", which makes sense given the amount of real estate this car takes up.
The Pontiac Grand Ville was sold from 1971 to 1975 and had a longer wheelbase and unique design differences that set it apart from its corporate siblings and lesser stablemates. Early Grand Villes came standard with a big honking 455 V8 under that long hood.

Petaluma Street Sighting - 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle wagon

By 1971 the Chevelle wagon was beginning to show its age. The same body shell dated to 1968 with few changes except an updated front clip and some revisions to the lights and interior, namely a new dash and a dual-action tailgate that could hinge down over the bumper or swing out to the left side. The '71 Chevelle lost the 1970's handsome four-light front in favor of two larger round lamps with amber and white turn signals installed in the squared-off corners.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 BMW 3.0 CSi

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.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super

Rounding out this week's Alfa series is a Giulia Super sedan. I'll admit it, this is one of the most baffling cars I've ever tried to date, aside from the Citroen Traction Avant. Produced from 1962 to 1978, the Alfa Romeo Giulia used to be common as dirt in Italy. Even in San Francisco where old import cars number in the dozens, you can still find one every now and then. I got lucky while walking to one of my classes one day, and found this tan Giulia Super parked in front of a bike shop.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Ford Ranchero

There are some vehicles I've been hesitant to feature here on California Streets. Some are just not that rare, not particularly photogenic, or maybe I just don't get enough pictures for an exciting feature. I have an informal name for stuff like that: "Quick Takes". It usually applies to cars that are interesting but I have fewer than five pictures of them. In this case, I have six.