Danville Street Sighting - 1950 Mercury Eight Coupe

It's been fun exploring what began as a silly holiday gimmick, "All I Want For Christmas is 'U'." If you're just joining us, every feature this month is a vehicle from a brand with the letter U in its name. Our world tour comes full circle where it started, back in America, with a gorgeous black 1950 Mercury coupe.

Danville Street Sighting - 1949 Packard Standard Eight

This is Independents' Week, a recurring feature here on California Streets around the 4th of July, celebrating cars from independent American manufacturers. That means no Big Three cars from Ford, General Motors or Chrysler. This is a 1949 Packard Standard Eight Touring Sedan.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1951 Pontiac Chieftain DeLuxe Eight

I mentioned a couple of years ago that Bernal Heights is an unusual area full of unusual old cars, and that curiously it seems to be home to a lot of vintage Pontiacs. I've found a rat-rod '51 sedan and a beautifully restored '54 Chieftain there, and most recently this unrestored survivor '51 Chieftain DeLuxe.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1929 Packard Model 640 Custom Eight Roadster

I've posted a couple of times previously about a collector in my area with a nice assortment of pre-war classics. His '40 Buick and '32 Cadillac have been featured here, and there are numerous others that end up in his garage from time to time. It should be noted that as of this writing I have never once asked him to pull a car out of the garage for me to shoot as a "street sighting". Sometimes I just get lucky! Today we're looking at what I believe to be a 1929 Packard Model 640 Custom Eight roadster.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1948 Buick Super Sedanet

It's been a long time since the full-size two-door fastback was a competitive player in the marketplace. Probably not since the 1970s has anyone seriously pursued that style as a mainstream model, usually more as a niche performance model. Earlier than that, domestic manufacturers took advantage of the public's interest in sleek, streamlined forms and produced a unique body style known as the sedanet (or sedanette depending on who you ask). Buick produced Sedanets from around 1940 until 1952, available on certain years of Specials, Supers and Roadmasters.

Danville Street Sighting - 1948 Pontiac DeLuxe Torpedo Convertible

This was easily one of my favorite cars to photograph so far this year. Which is funny, given that the 1948 Pontiacs have never been on my short list of favorite cars. There are just so many cool Art Deco details on this beast, I couldn't help myself.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1951 Pontiac Eight sedan

For some reason the neighborhood of Bernal Heights is a haven for circa-1950 Pontiacs. I know of at least three of them in the compact area. The first one I found was a stock 1954 Chieftain sedan, followed by this apparently rat-rodded 1951 sedan which almost looks like it was a police car decades ago. A 1949 Pontiac sedan exists as well, but I haven't had the opportunity to find it yet.