San Ramon Street Sighting - 1967 Chevrolet Impala Wagon

Here's another old shoot from the archives. It's a 1967 Chevy Impala wagon with some pretty wild patina.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1967 Dodge Coronet Deluxe

When I was a kid I picked up a Johnny Lightning diecast of a blue 1967 Plymouth GTX. I loved that toy car. Since then I have been a fan of 1967 Mopar coupes and convertibles, particularly the Plymouth Belvedere, Satellite and GTX. The B-platform was shared with the Dodge Coronet and Charger, the latter of which I also had as a Hot Wheels toy. Coronet was one of Chrysler Corporation's most popular models for 1967, yet was never on my radar that much growing up.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1935 Plymouth PJ Deluxe Touring Sedan

Summer is winding down and I'm really feeling screwed out of car shows. Thanks to COVID, 2020 has literally been the year without car shows at least in my area. Every so often I get to see a private owner taking a vintage car out for errands or a weekend drive, but not since the 4th of July have I really seen a gathering of more than one classic at a time. And that was only two cars in a parking lot. So today we'll try to satisfy your appetite for classic American iron with this 1935 Plymouth I pulled out of the archives from 2017.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1973 Ford Econoline E-100

Many moons ago I used to enjoy going to K-B Toys at my local mall. I was a budding diecast collector who loved the Johnny Lightning brand of 1:64 scale collectibles but could rarely find or afford them. Luckily for me, K-B Toys used to put them on sale periodically at the unheard-of price of three cars for $5. This was around the time that JL produced their Boogie Vans series of 1970s custom vans. I picked up some good stuff for dirt cheap. I fell in love with a couple of the Boogie Vans, namely a metallic blue 1977 Dodge B-150 with American flag graphics, and a white 1977 Ford Econoline 150 decorated as a dealership parts chaser. My small assortment of diecast vans helped foster an appreciation of vintage custom vans as more than an old steel box full of dirty carpet left over from the disco era.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1939 Nash Lafayette

Welcome to another edition of Independents' Week, one of my favorite series of the year. It's where we commemorate the 4th of July with some automobiles produced by independent American automakers. That means nothing from Ford, General Motors or Chrysler.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1984 Ford Mustang SVO

If you like grey Foxbody Mustangs, you're in luck this week. After an '87 GT coupe, here's the second one, a 1984 Mustang SVO.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1972 International Harvester 1210 Travelette Pickup

I've heard a number of jokes about International Harvester trucks and rust. And I know that a lot of them really did succumb to rust. The 1970s IHC pickups are rare enough to start with, even before factoring in attrition from hard work and road salt and moisture. International always was kind of a niche player in the light-duty truck market, doing most of their business with heavy commercial trucks and the Scout SUV. Despite this, the Light Line pickups were offered in a wide range of styles, drivetrains and bed lengths.

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 - 1967 Ford Fairlane Ranchero

I love the '67 Ford Fairlane. I've been a big fan of them for about ten years now, and I also dig the Ranchero coupe utility pickup-car thingy produced from 1957 to 1979. So it figures that I like the 1967 Ranchero based on the Fairlane.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1932 Cadillac V-16 Dual Cowl Phaeton

There is something of a mythical quality about the Cadillac V-16. These were some of the greatest luxury cars in their time, comparable to contemporary Duesenbergs, Pierce-Arrows and Packards as ultimate symbols of wealth, power and opulence. They were always limited-production, built to order and built to specification for clients in a number of body styles. It is estimated that domestic GM affiliates Fleetwood and Fisher Body built as many as 70 different body variations on the V-16 chassis, and other coachbuilders produced their own around the world to order. The V-16 was offered for eleven model years from 1930 to 1940, and only 4,076 were built. More than half of these were made in the first year alone.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1948 Ford Super DeLuxe V8 Coupe

When I was a kid I loved 1940s Fords. Heck, I still do. The '40 and '48 were my favorites, then I discovered the '49 and fell in love with that too. I even like the '42 to some extent. Every kid is fascinated seeing the DeLorean time machine in action in Back to the Future, but I cringe every time I see how they abused Biff Tannen's black '46 Ford convertible.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1940 Buick Model 81C Limited Convertible Phaeton

Lately one of my favorite sources for street sightings is a quiet street within walking distance of my house. Most of the time I strike out, but when something's there, it's really good. This was the first one I found on the street, a 1940 Buick Limited convertible sedan.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1986 AMC Eagle 4WD Wagon

This is Independent's Week, a recurring annual series in honor of America's Independence Day. This time around, we're looking at American Motors station wagons. This one is a 1986 AMC Eagle.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1972 Porsche 914

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time playing Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed. For some reason I painted all of the Porsches in my collection yellow with red and black rocker stripe decals. I was pretty poor at driving digital 911s with their interesting rear-heavy weight balance, but I loved the 914.

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.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1972 Jeep Commando

A few years ago we looked at a 1972 Jeep Commando, hurriedly photographed on a rainy day in San Francisco. It was almost all factory stock and in very good condition, but I didn't have the time to do it justice. For this one, I had better weather and more time.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1963 Lincoln Continental Convertible

We've already looked at a few 1960s Lincoln Continentals here, but nearly all have been sedans and thus far, only two years have been represented: 1963 and 1968. This is yet another '63, but it's our first Continental convertible.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1977 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II

The Silver Shadow is still on my short list of favorite Rolls-Royce models. Really, it is a short list. Rolls hasn't made many cars that personally interest me in their illustrious 100-plus year history. Theirs is a reputation for quality, luxury, smoothness and silence. They build cars to a standard, not a price, and as a result the price is quite high - at least when new from the factory. Old Rollers are quite a bit cheaper.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1979 Honda Accord CVCC

In all my time publishing this blog I didn't think I'd get excited over a Honda Accord. It's that well-built, milquetoast family sedan that everybody and their brother, aunt, next-door neighbor and best friend will own at least one of in their lifetime. The average Accord performs its function with little drama, little character and is just... there. And yet, here's an Accord that has to be the cleanest one of its age I've seen in years. Most Accords give their owners a decade or two of reliable service, and then they have problems. And the owners frequently aren't car people, so when something breaks that's too expensive to fix, or the car is too old to be fashionable anymore, it goes to the junkyard.

San Ramon Street Sighting - 1992 GMC Typhoon

All-wheel-drive. Six cylinders. Boxy wagon styling. Turbocharged.
By that description alone it sounds like some kind of mythical Volvo. But it's actually a GMC Typhoon, and twenty years ago an SUV based on the Chevy S-10 pickup was one of the fastest performance vehicles on the market.