San Francisco Street Sighting - 1958 Hillman Husky Series I

This week we're having a look at some cars produced by the Rootes Group in England. Rootes is known in large part for the Sunbeam Alpine sports car, but the company also built a lot of down-to-earth family cars and utility vehicles. This is a late-1950s Hillman Husky van, produced in 1958 or '59.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Sunbeam Alpine 1725 Roadster

One of the more intriguing car companies for me is the Rootes Group from Britain, manufacturer of such vehicles as Talbot, Commer, Humber, Sunbeam, Hillman and Singer. The company actually began as a dealership network in 1913, and over the next few decades it grew to purchase a series of British automobile manufacturers. Rootes subscribed, more or less, to the General Motors school of thought: a brand for every purse and purpose, and clearly defined model ranges to fit each application and niche. Rootes was an early adopter of badge-engineering, another GM favorite, and was also an interesting early producer of compact luxury cars.

Rootes operated in various markets around the world with varying levels of success, in Europe, Australia, North America, South America and even the Middle East (the latter by local factories under license). In the late 1960s, Chrysler took an interest in Rootes, both as a captive import for the US market and to get itself a foothold in Europe where Chrysler's American-oriented cars were not marketable. Around this time Chrysler took over Rootes and French carmaker Simca, and made a fine mess of it over the next decade. What little was left when Chrysler was done with it was sold to Peugeot in 1978. In 2007 Rootes ended where it began 94 years earlier, as nothing more than a name on a UK car dealership.

This week we're taking a look at an assortment of Rootes Group cars. First of these is one of the best-known Rootes cars in America, the Sunbeam Alpine sports roadster.

Pleasanton Street Sighting - 1968 Chevrolet Van

I must say this is a new one on me.

General Motors turned out a fair number of Chevrolet and GMC vans in the 1960s to compete with Ford's Econoline and Dodge's A100. They followed the same formula: forward-control design with the engine located under or between the front passengers, rear-wheel-drive usually, and two wheelbase lengths. A cargo or passenger variant was always available. But I don't think the factory ever turned out anything like this.

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 Francisco Street Sighting - 1990 BMW M3

It seems crazy to me that for 2015 the storied BMW M3 coupe will no longer exist. Yes, the M3 will still be offered as a sedan, and the M3 coupe has just changed its name to M4, reflecting BMW's new naming strategy of using even numbers for coupes. Whatever. It's all marketing. What the car does is what's important.

Collector's Corner - Welly 2001 Chevrolet Suburban

Some years ago I ran across a diecast website called Uncle Chester's Toy Trucks. They offered a black 1:18 scale Chevy Suburban, allegedly from ERTL with four opening doors. Now, ERTL did make a Suburban 2500 4x4 with four opening doors. The 4x4 was offered primarily in promotional series for Matco Tools, Outdoor Sportsman and Thomas Kinkade, and a metallic grey one with auxiliary lights and bullbars. They also made a lowrider version in their Fast and the Furious series. When ERTL was done with the casting, they sold or licensed the tooling to Welly, a brand known for producing good-quality budget diecasts often with old tooling from other companies. I never did get Uncle Chester's Suburban, as the mythical black truck sold out quickly. However, I did manage to pick up this blue Welly Suburban on the old GoMotorBids.com for $8 plus shipping.

Pleasanton Street Sighting - 1972 Ford Galaxie 500 Coupe

It's taken a long time, but here it is. Street Sighting number 500. To celebrate, I picked a car with that number in its name. Here's a 1972 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1964 Buick Riviera

Of all the Rivieras I've come across in my travels thus far, I think this one's the best. It's really tough to beat an early Riv in classic black on five-spoke Buick mags, and just enough whitewall to add a touch of formality without ruining the sporty-car image. You can see why these cars were called the banker's hot rod.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1952 Kaiser Manhattan

When you're the little guy, you have to stand out or you disappear. By "disappear", either you end up blending in or you fail in your endeavor completely. Such is the case among independent car manufacturers and even the mainstream ones. The Chevy-Ford rivalry is well-known for decades as each takes turns trying to outdo the other with styling, interior or powertrain changes depending on how much money is available for the updates at any given time. GM and Ford usually have a lot of cash at their disposal for developing new cars, though. A small company like Kaiser-Frazer was on a shoestring budget and relied heavily on proven technology and a highly skilled styling team.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1966 Chrysler 300 Convertible

One of my very first street sighting posts on this blog, #6, was a 1966 Chrysler 300 two-door hardtop in San Francisco. Now we're approaching five hundred. Here's another '66 Chrysler 300 in San Francisco, but this time it's a drop-top.