San Francisco Street Sighting - 1967 Ford Falcon

This has to be one of the most visually interesting cars I photographed in 2015. The '67 Ford Falcon never set out to be exciting originally, just a basic economy car that lived in the shadow of the Mustang. Ford produced a car that checked the boxes for a car of the era: Four doors, two doors, station wagon; six or eight cylinders; automatic or manual, done. The body was conservatively styled and the chassis conservatively engineered. The colors it was offered in were generally conservative as well. Nothing about this car really stands out, but for the incredible patina it wears.

Collector's Corner - Maisto 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster

The story of how this model came to me is mildly interesting. It's no accident that I'm writing about toy cars so soon after Christmas, but this Maisto Porsche 911 Speedster was no gift. I was bored around 3:00 in the morning, browsing eBay for anything cheap in 1:18 scale. Someone had listed a black 1989 Speedster in a factory cardboard box and protective foam shell for under $10. Being the amateur speculator I thought I was at the time, I bid on it. I figured an auction ending in the early morning was unlikely to get much attention and I ended up owning the Porsche. My original plan was to turn around and try to sell it at a profit, but after taking a good look at the model I decided to keep it.

Merry Christmas from California Streets!

It's that time of year again! Wishing all my readers and their families a safe, warm and happy holiday season.

See you in 2016!

Danville Street Sighting - 1979 Ford Thunderbird Town Landau

In my previous feature we looked at a 1956 Ford Thunderbird, which debuted a few years after Elvis Presley got into the rock 'n roll scene. Now we look at a 1979 Thunderbird, a car that was built a couple of years after Elvis died. And much like Elvis, the Thunderbird was immensely popular from the start and they both got very fat around the same time. Unlike Elvis, though, the Thunderbird survived for another few decades thanks to a series of total reinventions.

Livermore Street Sighting - 1956 Ford Thunderbird

When I was a kid I had a fairly limited range of interest in cars and one of my favorites was the first-generation Ford Thunderbird. Children aren't the most sophistocated creatures so I guess the most iconic designs make the biggest impression. For me it was the '57 Bel Air, the '59 Cadillac, '70 Chevelle and various bedroom-poster fare such as the Viper RT/10, Ferrari F50 and Lamborghini Diablo. Take a look on eBay sometime at the most common diecast models for sale and you'll see what I mean about what appeals to kids. That said, the early T-Birds are very pretty cars. I always preferred the '57 when I was young but the '55 and '56 have their own merit and my interest in them has grown over the years.