Berkeley Street Sighting - 1985 Mercedes-Benz 409D Trueblood RV

There are a lot of old motorhomes on California's streets and roads, and a fair number of them are fascinating machines from long-defunct manufacturers and conversion companies. Unfortunately, a lot of them are also decrepit, parked in terrible areas and/or serving as permanent shelter for people down on their luck. For that reason I tend not to shoot such vehicles. But this oddball conversion van intrigued me. It's a 1980s-vintage Mercedes 409D van built into a camper by Trueblood RV GmbH of Frankfurt, Germany.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1985 Subaru BRAT GL

In the world of coupe-utility pickups the names Ranchero and El Camino are well loved and widely known. Utes are a way of life in many countries, where the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore and even Fiats and Peugeots are offered in car-based pickup versions in certain markets. There is another ute that was sold in the US market which a lot of people forget - the Subaru BRAT.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1985 Mercury Grand Marquis LS coupe

On a normal day I don't even look twice at Ford Panther platform cars. They're a dime a dozen, they're reliable, unremarkable and nobody really cares much about them as they age. A friend of mine in Canada has owned four of the older square-bodied Crown Victorias, never paying more than a few hundred dollars for any of them. Then again, he's owned about 25 cars and rarely paid more than $500 for any of them. And that's just it: Ford sold hundreds of thousands of LTDs, Crown Victorias, Country Squires, Mercury Marquis, Grand Marquis and Colony Parks and Lincoln Town Cars between 1979 and 1991. And then they slapped a new body on the old chassis and kept selling the cars at a handsome profit until the last Crown Vic finally rolled off the line this year. They're so ubiquitous as the police car, taxi cab, fire chief's car and livery cab (not to mention the car of choice for thousands of senior citizens) that it's easy to find one as either cheap reliable transportation, a budget "fun car" (read: decommissioned P71 Police Interceptor), or a budget luxury car.