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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're overdue for a Ford F series pickup; the last one was nearly three months ago. How about this no-frills F100 I found parked a little ways down from the '62 Falcon ? This thing is just concentrated essence of truck. Oh, sure, the original buyer splurged on the optional chrome side moldings, but we can assume the standard 240-cube inline six engine is present; why pour money down the drain for the 300 six or the 360/390 V8s? Or carpeting, air conditioning, AM radio, or anything else. This country is getting soft , by damn, when pickup trucks are seen as comfy commuter appliances! You should be able to spill a five-gallon bucket of paint in your truck's bed and not care! OK, requisite 2000s truck rant over with. Back in '69, the price tag on this truck, with no options, was $2,393. That was about...
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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. Even though we had a GM A-Body here just last week , I liked the look of this Skylark so much that I just can't wait to share it. This could mean that Chrysler A-Body fans might feel slighted (yes, nearly a month has gone by since our last one ), but not to worry- there's a Valiant in the queue now! When you go to car shows full of Detroit machinery, you'll probably see more of the Buick GS than you will of the regular Skylark, much as you do with the GTO-versus-LeMans situation. Here's a Skylark owner who took the best-looking feature of the GS (the hood) and kept the rest of the Skylark badging and trim, which I think works pretty well. This car isn't perfect by any means- in fact, it's a little battered- but it's in excellent shape for what it is: a nearly 40-year-old car that parks in a busy downtown urban area and...
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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. Dodge Darts are very common on the Alameda street; we've seen a '64 coupe, a '64 wagon , a '69 convertible , another '69 convertible , a '70 sedan , and a '75 Swinger so far, and that's not even counting the Valiant siblings. By comparison, Falcons and Novas are quite rare. Clearly, that Slant Six is an engine to be reckoned with! I found this car parked between the '69 Olds Cutlass convertible and the '56 Morris (all three cars are owned by the same person), and right across the street from the '54 Ford and '47 Plymouth . Yes, it's that kind of block. Two doors, vinyl top, original black plates- great to see this car still going strong. While it most likely has a Slant Six, it was possible to buy this car new with a 383 or 440 big-block and experience the joys of zero header clearance. galleryPost...
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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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For those of you who thought the last '69 Dart GT convertible we saw in this series was just too nice , here's one that's taken a much rougher route during its nearly 40 years. Looks like it already had quite a bit of Bondo-centric rear bodywork when it took some sort of impact above the left rear wheel and went from "slightly rough" to "beater" just like that. Still, it's a convertible and the top still looks intact, so it will stay on the road. Perhaps some ambitious owner will get the bodywork done at some point... or use it as a parts car for a nicer Dart convertible. The "GT" badging means this was the top trim level for the Dart in '69; the GT came standard with a Slant Six, though the dual exhausts on this example suggest the presence of a V8 under the hood. The '69 Dart GT with optional 273-inch V8 listed for $2,976 new. That was 39 bucks more than the 302-equipped '69 Mustang convertible and $330 more than the '69 Corvair...
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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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1969 was a great year for Cadillac sales (and 1970 was better still), so it's no surprise that we're now looking at the third '69 Cadillac in this series. That's as good a reason as any to have a poll to determine the readers' favorite street-parked Alameda Cad on this fine Friday morning. I found this '69 parked just down the street from the Checker Marathon , and it has the look of a low-mileage original-owner car: solid, some rough spots but overall pretty nice. This may well be one of those old cars that only rarely ventures off the island. High sales figures or not, at $5,924 the '69 Sedan de Ville wasn't cheap. In fact, for just $3,776 the big-car buyer could pick up a '69 Impala sedan with the 425-horse 427 and 4-speed manual transmission. So let's say it's 1969, you're an up-and-coming strip-club owner in Dallas, and you're car shopping. Do you get the Cadillac with 375 horsepower or the cheaper Impala with 425 horsepower and a...
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Alameda has quite a few 1960s Mustangs on the street, but our last one was months ago. This '69 always parks on the street (not far from the '60 Studebaker Lark ), though it's usually under a car cover. However, it does get regular driving use, as I learned when I talked to the owner (who says he gets offers on the car from other drivers at stoplights). And no wonder- this car is very clean and sounds great. It's not an obsessively restored show car, but about as nice an example as you're going to find living outdoors and driving frequently. Scoops all over the place. It must be fast! Actually, with the optional 351 under the hood, it is fast. The standard engine on the '69 Mustang was the 200 six-cylinder, and most buyers went with the 302 V8. By hacking the car all to hell, Ford managed to fit the monstrous Boss 429 in the cramped confines of the Mustang engine compartment. Hey, if they can put a man on the moon... galleryPost('DOTS69MustangFastback', 21...
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Sometimes months can go by between my photographing of a DOTS car and posting those photographs. Today's car is a good example; I shot the original photos last August, but the island is overflowing with air-cooled Beetles and I have a glut of photos of such cars (yes, Beetle fans, I know I should be posting more of them... and I will, promise). But this particular exposed-engine Beetle, which I'm arbitrarily calling a '69 (though it could be from any year during the 68-72 span), got in some sort of messy collision in the meantime and then moved across town. At first, I thought I was looking at a different car, but checking plate numbers told the whole story. So what we have here is your standard mildly hot-rodded late-60s/early-70s Beetle, with exposed engine but retaining the factory wheels and hubcaps. This could easily be the original engine, or the 15th, and the displacement could be anything from 1200cc all the way up to a stroked "How much money you got?" mill...
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Not long ago, we saw our third DOTS Oldsmobile . With 170 cars so far in the series, you'd think Olds would be better represented... and now I've just realized that Buick has a mere three cars as well (the '70 Skylark , the '71 LeSabre , and the '76 Skyhawk . We've got plenty of examples of Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Cadillac here, so the question is: Do Alameda residents have a bias against the #2 and #3 most prestigious marques in the old GM hierarchy? Bias or not, I've found another old Buick on the island, bringing the total tally to four. One of the best things about 60s GM cars is the treatment of the rear marker lights; while this one doesn't have the rocket shape of the Olds light or the arrowhead shape of the Pontiac, its shield logo is still pretty snazzy. Speaking of snazz, remember when American carmakers didn't try to emulate "classy" European cars via the use of cheapo plastic interior components? In the 60s, Detroit added class to...
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While the "entry-level" Cadillac 2-door for '69, the Calais, was pretty slick, the one we saw in this series has clearly seen better days. But when you're talking serious Cadillac sporty luxury for 1969, you really need to think more in terms of the Coupe de Ville convertible. This example, spotted mere yards from the very rough '69 Volvo 144 , is in very nice condition, which is impressive for a convertible that parks on the street every day. Although Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was set in 1971, it's possible that the Great White Whale Cadillac rented by Raoul Duke and his 300 Pound Samoan Attorney was in fact a '69 just like this one. I should have checked the power windows to see if they jumped like frogs in a dynamite pond. I could tell that the tires were too soft just by looking at them- the fronts are supposed to be tight as snare drums. All the Iggy Pop ads in the world can't make up for the fact that GM no longer gives that special Cadillac...
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Since we had a Plymouth yesterday, we need to have an Oldsmobile today. I dug through my stash of DOTS car photos and could find only one Olds ready to go (and we've only seen two of them prior to today: a '64 Jetstar 88 and a '77 Custom Cruiser wagon ). Does Alameda have an anti-Oldsmobile bias? Such are the mysteries of the Island That Time Forgot. Anyway, here's a 1968 (or maybe it's a 1969- damn if I can tell the difference; Olds experts, please tell us what we have here) Cutlass convertible, to bring our total count of Alameda Oldsmobiles up to three. I found this Cutlass on the same block as the 1954 Ford Mainline and the 1947 Plymouth (and, yes, that's an old Dart parked behind the Olds). This East End block features two old-car aficionados living across the street from each other, each with quite the impressive stable of street-parked classics. This Cutlass doesn't seem to move much, but at least the shady trees keep damage to the convertible top to a...
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DOTS Truck Monday has worn enough of a groove in our routine to become sort of a tradition, but so far we've just seen pickups. What about vans? It's been half a year since we saw our last DOTS van , so this nice specimen of a forward-control Dodge fully deserves its day of glory. This Tradesman is Job Rated! With a Slant Six under the hood next to the driver, you know this van really can get the job done. I have a friend who drove one of these (which cost him $100) from Los Angeles to Guatemala and back, and the only problem he had was a sidewall puncture caused by a huge thorn. Surfers like these vans, too, because the engine cover makes a nice warm seat when you're all cold and wet. The forward-control Econoline gets all the press, but I've always liked the A100 just as much. Looks like this van's owner uses it to haul motorcycles, if we are to judge by the stickers. galleryPost('DOTS69DodgeA100', 15, '1969 Dodge A100 Van Down On The Street'); First...
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Since 78% of you voted pro-Beetle a while back, it's time for us to look at a few of the numerous late-60s/early-70s examples I've photographed on the island. This one doesn't look so different from the '59 Beetle we saw a week ago , but plenty of changes took place under that 30s-style skin during the decade. Most important, the old rollover-friendly swingaxle rear suspension was replaced with a proper IRS unit for '69. The '69 Beetle came with a 53-horsepower 1500, close to double the power of the engine in the '59, and a 12-volt electrical system had been standard for a few years by that point. This Bug is pretty rough, but it reminds us of an era in which beater VWs filled the niche in the Cheap-Ass Old Car ecosystem now occupied by the 80s Toyota Corolla. You can still get these things pretty cheap, but the days of $100 daily-driver-ready Bugs have sputtered off into the sunset. I've owned a few of these cars, and I really liked them (in spite of the...
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