Danville Street Sighting - "1929" CMC Gazelle

Here we are again on Halloween. After the horror show that 2020 has been, Halloween seems a bit lackluster. My good friend suggested that my Halloween feature should be a car disguised as something it's not. We figured a kit car would fit the bill perfectly. Here is a 1929 Mercedes SSK roadster -- I mean, a Classic Motor Carriages Gazelle.

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.

Oakland Street Sighting - 1964 Mercedes-Benz Unimog 404S

Today is Halloween. With the current zombie craze in popular culture, everybody likes to fantasize about how they'd survive the zombie apocalypse. Well, here you go. A Mercedes-Benz Unimog is a military-grade four-wheel-drive truck known for its off-road prowess and durability. It might also do well for running down hordes of zombies.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1968 Mercedes-Benz 250SL

Mercedes-Benz is known primarily for its luxury sedans, which tend to be rather big and heavy and built like a bank vault. Even the SL roadsters are usually on the weighty side despite their "Sport Leicht" (Sport Light) nomenclature. They weren't always uber-huge though. The name first came about in 1954 with the introduction of the 190 and 300SL roadster and "Gullwing" coupe. They really were pretty lightweight in their own right, especially the coupe with aluminum sheetmetal. In 1963 an all-new SL was introduced, codenamed W113. It featured a 2.3 liter inline-six engine and was called the 230SL.