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.

Livermore Street Sighting - 1969 AMC Javelin SST

Today is Easter, a holiday associated with a number of various symbols depending on how you observe it. Sometimes I like to tie in the most appropriate car I can find for holiday features, so here is a robin's-egg blue 1969 AMC Javelin SST. It has nothing to do with bunnies, marshmallow Peeps or the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is a rare car in a good spring color on a holiday known for seeking out hidden pastel eggs. And if you really, really want to associate a javelin with Easter time, read the Bible verses (specifically John 19:34) about what happened on Good Friday, three days before Easter Sunday. Beyond that, this is a car blog and it's not my place to lecture my readers on religion.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1994 Dodge Grand Caravan Art Car

It's April Fools Day, and this is probably the only time you'll ever see a '94 Dodge Caravan as a feature post here. It's an art car, a Burning Man creation, and there's not a whole lot more I can say about it. It has toilet seats on the windows.

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.

Danville Street Sighting - 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback

I've held off on featuring this car for a long time, because it's a dark green Ford Mustang fastback. Why? Because it's March 24, and that's Steve McQueen's birthday. He would have been 85 this year.

Livermore Street Sighting - 1956 Chevrolet Two-Ten Sedan

California Streets has been on a sort of hiatus for the past month, owing to real-life responsibilities and a lack of motivation to write. So I employed my rule of "When in doubt, Tri-Five Chevy". Here's a 1956 Chevrolet Two-Ten (or 210) pillared sedan.

Alameda Street Sighting - 1973 Pontiac Le Mans Sport Coupe

For most car brands, 1973 wasn't a banner year. It's memorable mainly for bad things, like the OPEC oil crisis and the beginning of federal 5-mph bumper standards. A lot of cars that year were retreads of 1970 or '71 models. For General Motors, 1973 brought the introduction of the midsize A platform's all-new "Colonnade" body. Colonnade refers to the style of roof pillars GM employed to allow frameless door glass without building a traditional hardtop. This was intended to allow the car to perform better in a rollover crash. The change was sort of a big deal since it meant a new Chevelle, new Olds Cutlass, new Buick Century and new Pontiac Le Mans. All of these models were huge volume sellers so getting them right was important. All mainstream Pontiac midsize models were now badged as Le Mans, with such option packages and styles as Luxury Le Mans, Le Mans Sport, Le Mans Safari (wagons), and for more adventurous buyers a GTO or new "European-styled" Grand Am could be specified. The Grand Prix luxury coupe was also based on the Le Mans this year.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1989 Nissan S-Cargo

Some people go nuts for Japanese culture and "JDM" everything. JDM refers to Japanese Domestic Market, a Japanese car made to be sold in the Japanese islands and comply with Japanese road laws. That usually means right-hand-drive, different styles of lights, sometimes unique sheetmetal, trim packages and sometimes unique models entirely. This is one such Japan-only model, the Nissan S-Cargo.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1952 Ford F-1 Pickup

Some of the most interesting vehicles turn up when I'm not actively carspotting. I was with a friend in San Francisco, searching for parking near the Cable Car Museum when we happened upon this '52 Ford pickup. Ultimately we did find street parking and managed to visit the museum, but not before I took a moment to shoot the old truck.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Citroën DS 19

All right, I may have cheated some.
Last year a relative invited me to a meeting of his car club, the Arcane Auto Society, in San Francisco. This was what I found parked on the street outside the garage where the members met. It's a 1965 Citroën DS 19. It was not the only club member vehicle I photographed on the street that morning and I'll be happy to share the others with you at a later date. The club meeting functioned as an unofficial indoor car show and was a fascinating assemblage of everything from a right-hand-drive Reliant Regal three-wheeler with UK plates to a Peel Trident bubble car. Regrettably, those were off the street and within the boundaries of a car show and not eligible for blog features at the time, even though they were awesome. Even here, we have rules...