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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Hooray for old Detroit station wagons! You don't see many small Detroit wagons these days, since the Vista Cruisers and Country Squires sold in such greater numbers back in the pre-SUV era, so I was very happy to spot this bright yellow, Moon disc-equipped Chevy II (or maybe it's a Nova- hard to say with the emblems removed) parked downtown. You could get your little Chevy wagon with a 153-cubic-inch four-cylinder- whoa, a four -cylinder in a 60s Detroit wagon? Call the HUAC! You could also get a 194-cube six-cylinder; sorry, V8 fans, you had to wait until '64 for an optional 283 in your Chevy II. Even though this wagon's owner is clearly a salt-flat-crazed hot rod hoodlum, the single exhaust suggests that he or she has kept the four or six under the hood. Parts runnner? Daily driver? galleryPost('DOTS63NovaWagon', 17, '1963...
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This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition , where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot . I just got back from Denver, where I photographed a few cool old cars parked on the street, including a very nice early Mini… but you don't get to see that today. Instead, you get something even better! Denver-based Kitt and EJacobs continue to send in good stuff found in their neighborhoods (south and northwest Denver, respectively), and today we'll be admiring a trio of vintage Detroit wagons that continue to remind us that SUVs didn't always reign supreme in the family-hauling department. Make the jump for many, many photos. galleryPost('DOTSBEDenverWagonsTop', 6, 'Vintage Detroit Wagons Down On The Denver Street Part 1'); The Olds and Plymouth wagons were shot by Kitt . galleryPost('DOTSBEDenverWagonsOlds', 29, '1966 Oldsmobile Wagon Down On The Denver Street'); galleryPost('DOTSBEDenverWagonsPly'...
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This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition , where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot . Key West, Florida, gave us the excellent Trusty Justy , and now has photographed a pair of VW Transporter competitors that still work for a living. Jump away to see all the photos and read his description. galleryPost('DOTSBEKeyWestFCVans', 6, 'Forward Control Vans Down On The Florida Street'); Hey man, Down in Key West I found two classic, American forward-control vans still rolling daily and parked on the street. You can find the photos attached.It's a GMC Handivan and a Corvair Greenbrier, two classic examples of America combating the Volkwagen Type 2. I saw the Greenbrier cruise past me the next day, driven by a woman no less. Cool! P.S: I also included a pic of the very...interesting...Key West Bible Class official van, which is very, very professional. DOTS FAQ
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newVideoPlayer("/63_Chevrolets_494.flv", 506, 423,""); Who in September 1963 would have predicted the crazy shit that was about to go down in this country, starting with Dallas in November, continuing through all the riots and wars and madness, and culminating in the 1910 Fruitgum Company becoming one of the most popular acts in the country? Not this wholesome stick-figure couple, who express themselves via 1890s-snake-oil-ad fonts as they enthuse over the idea of camping out at their local Chevy dealership in hopes of seeing the new Corvair.
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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. It's Truck Monday again, and we might as well make it Chevy Truck Monday while we're at it! I found this work truck parked on a busy East End street, quite close to the '65 Thunderbird , and it's still earning its keep well into its fifth decade on the planet. There's something so right about a camper shell on a truck like this, though all the paint buckets and ladders I often see in the bed indicate that Travels With Charley style adventures aren't in the offing for this camper. Would anyone have imagined, back in '66, that this truck would still be relevant more than 40 years in the future, with its lack of nuclear reactor? Back then, a 42-year-old truck would have been a 1924 model- ancient! Of course, with its gas-swilling I6 or V8 powerplant, this truck's relevance may finally meet a challenge it can't surmount...
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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Today we're going to look at an example of the kind of car that dominated my early gearhead experiences on the island: a beat-to-hell big-block 60s muscle car! There was once a time when primered-out Chevelles, Satellites, Fairlanes, and the like (along with hooned-up Beetles and 510s) could be found lowering property values on just about every block of Alameda… but most of those cars have been hooned into nothingness or restored to gilded-cage, car-show-only condition by now. Just a few survivors, like this '69 Chevelle, remain. First, let's get in the right frame of mind by listening to a song that captures the wholesome appeal of the SS396: Well, maybe this car is a little more menacing than what those Wonder Bread-eating boys had in mind when they wrote that song. I talked to the owner's father, who verifies that it is indeed a...
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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. The island has several old Suburbans still racking up the miles; we've seen this '63 GMC Carryall and today we'll be looking at an equally weathered '65 Chevy. This truck parks about a half-block from the '65 Thunderbird and just around the corner from the '87 Mercedes-Benz 560SL , with at least a dozen Alameda DOTS cars living within a couple blocks. Sometimes you need to do a little Field Expedient Engineering to keep your doors shut, once you've turned over the odometer a few times. This truck has plenty of harmless surface rust, with every indication being that it's still about as solid as it was when LBJ was president (though the interior was a lot nicer back then). Why did this truck's original buyer decide to go with The General's two-door rather than International Harvester's four-door , in spite...
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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Today we're going to take a look at a car that was once everywhere , selling in numbers so vast that Ford and Chrysler execs could only shake their heads in envy. Yes, the early-60s full-sized Chevy… and where are they now? Well, the nice ones are mostly locked away in garages and get trailered to car shows, cruise nights, and lowrider events. The beaters mostly got wrapped around telephone poles or plowed into drainage ditches by generations of small-block-powered hoons, and the rest just sort of rusted to nothingness. Yet in Alameda, a down-but-not-out '63 Bel Air sedan still sees regular driving duty! How many of these things were made? The Standard Catalog figures have a lot of confusing overlaps between all the model variations, but my calculations seem to indicate that an incredible 2,602,830 full-sized 1963 Chevrolets were sold, including...
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This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition , where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot . Today we're going to show that old GM cars don't always dissolve into reddish stains on the pavement, even in a damp climate like the Pacific Northwest. Zeet has photographed this pair of very solid-looking examples of The General's products for us; note that all eight hubcaps are still present! galleryPost('DOTSBEOlyGMs', 3, '1963 Pontiac Bonneville And 1974 Chevrolet Nova Down On The Olympia Street'); DOTS FAQ
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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Can you believe, with all the first-generation Camaros built, that we're on the 327th Alameda DOTS car and we're seeing our very first one? Are they just too valuable to be allowed on the street? Or did they all go out in blazes of hoonic glory back in the day? If either is true, why do we see so many early Mustangs still on the street? I found this car parked at a meter in front of Jim's Coffee House downtown. Realizing I didn't have time to run home and get my good camera, I decided to make do with the camera in my cellphone . The General made 235,151 Camaros for the '68 model year, compared to Ford's 317,068 Mustangs that year. A V8-equipped Camaro hardtop went for $2,727, versus $2,708 for a V8 Mustang hardtop. With both cars offering roughly similar performance (i.e., terrible handling and braking, decent acceleration...
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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Can you believe, with all the first-generation Camaros built, that we're on the 327th Alameda DOTS car and we're seeing our very first one? Are they just too valuable to be allowed on the street? Or did they all go out in blazes of hoonic glory back in the day? If either is true, why do we see so many early Mustangs still on the street? Note: Yes, I was off by a year on this one, which is what sometimes happens with cars I assume I know well enough to allow me to skip the reference books. Apologies to all you first-gen Camaro fans outraged by my mistake. I found this car parked at a meter in front of Jim's Coffee House downtown. Realizing I didn't have time to run home and get my good camera, I decided to make do with the camera in my cellphone . The General made 230,799 Camaros for the '69 model year, compared to Ford's 299...
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Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! In our last plunge into the Lake Of Fire, we saw the Alpine A310 stomp the Matra Murena like Napoleon pulverizing the Russians in the Battle of Austerlitz, with a decisive 70-30 split in the poll. Today we're going to go from PCH Édition Débâcle to something a little closer to home: Lowrider Project Hell! First, let's have the anthem! Before you go lining up your airbrush artist and gold-plating shop, you need to get a starting point. Since we're going old-school traditional here, the obvious choice would have to be the '64 Chevy Impala coupe. Now, you could find yourself a nice original '64, but have you priced them lately? You won't be able to afford that huge mural depicting La Noche Triste across the hood if you blow your entire roll on Day One, and it's simply unacceptable to get a four-door or even a Biscayne. We've got...
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We're going to stay in Orange County a while longer, heading from Costa Mesa to neighboring Huntington Beach. We'd mention that Huntington Beach is the official Surf City USA, only we'd probably get howls of outrage from Santa Cruz ; in any case, HB's climate is great for preserving old cars. ß®@ƒƒ spotted this unsafe-at-any-speed '61 in very nice shape- though not so sure those are the best-looking Corvair wheels we've ever seen- parked with the top down to facilitate photography. Do that jump thing to hear what ß®@ƒƒ has to say about his experience. galleryPost('DOTSBEHBCorvair', 8, '1961 Corvair Down On The Huntington Beach Street'); Saw this on the way home from the gym yesterday... which is pretty remarkable. Not the car, the fact that I went to the gym for the first time in 3 months and didn't pass out on the treadmill. Thanks, ß®@ƒƒ! Now let's listen to a catchy little tune from our favorite HB band:
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We're going to stay in Orange County a while longer, heading from Costa Mesa to neighboring Huntington Beach. We'd mention that Huntington Beach is the official Surf City USA, only we'd probably get howls of outrage from Santa Cruz ; in any case, HB's climate is great for preserving old cars. ß®@ƒƒ spotted this unsafe-at-any-speed '61 '64 in very nice shape- though not so sure those are the best-looking Corvair wheels we've ever seen- parked with the top down to facilitate photography. Do that jump thing to hear what ß®@ƒƒ has to say about his experience. galleryPost('DOTSBEHBCorvair', 8, '1964 Corvair Down On The Huntington Beach Street'); Saw this on the way home from the gym yesterday... which is pretty remarkable. Not the car, the fact that I went to the gym for the first time in 3 months and didn't pass out on the treadmill. Thanks, ß®@ƒƒ! Now let's listen to a catchy little tune from our favorite HB band:
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A few months have gone by since we had a Truck Monday featuring a Chevy truck of this era (by the way, Alameda native Belvedere Adrian is old friends with the owner of the '71 Chevy pickup, and he reports that a 454 lurks under its battered hood). For some reason, Alameda has many more mid-60s Chevy trucks than it has late-60s/early-70s examples, but I found this '69 still earning its keep, just down the block from the '63 Ford Falcon . The standard powerplant for the '69 C10 was the General's reliable 250-cube inline six, but you could get the added grunt of the mighty 292 or any of the usual small- and big-block Chevy V8s. We see another fine example of California-style rust here; it's taken nearly 40 years to get to this point. Most likely the cab interior smells like mildew during the rainy winter months, but so what? It still hauls stuff! Though one must wonder how expensive gas needs to get before all the 30- and 40-year-old Detroit-built work pickups are retired...
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