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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. Since it's DOTS Truck Monday , let's have an old Ford! I found this '60 parked just across the street from the '70 Dodge Challenger and the '57 Cadillac , and it's one sharp-looking work truck. This truck is clearly a work truck, one of several associated with a Victorian under serious renovation, but it also appears to be in mid-restoration. Let's hope it doesn't stop going to work once it's fixed up. Check out this beautiful dash layout, with its Space Age decorative touches! The column-shift manual! I'm pretty sure this is an F-100, but the body emblems appear to have been removed for the new paint job. galleryPost('DOTS60FordTruck', 16, '1960 Ford Truck Down On The Street'); DOTS FAQ
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The other day I caught a glimpse of a dark blue Volvo Amazon parked just down the street from the '42 Pontiac Torpedo . I didn't have time to photograph it, but since we've had only one Amazon so far in this series, I made a mental note to get back and shoot this rare Swedish gem as soon as I could. Today I returned with my camera, and... holy crap! That's not an Amazon- it's a Peugeot 403! Yes, mere weeks after providing a Citroën GS for us, Alameda has produced another vintage French car for our enjoyment. My research indicates that 1960 was the last year for this style of hood emblem on the 403, and the turn signal lights suggest that it's a 1958-1960 car. Of course, this could be a rare Tahiti- or Ivory Coast-built car, in which case all bets are off (though the yellow-on-black plate and early letter combo indicates 1963 or 1964 as the first year this car was registered in California). You Peugeot experts are invited to help us out here. The California sun has...
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One thing that's hard about this series is the glut of air-cooled Volkswagens on the island; I could easily do nothing but 60s Beetles and Transporters for a month straight and still not run out. These VWs are survivors and fully deserving of recognition, of course, but it wouldn't do to have them shove aside all the other cool machinery in this series. Rationing has been necessary, but it's been a while since our last Transporter (so far we've seen a '56 , a '57 , a '62 , a '63 , a '67 , and a '70 ), so let's look at a very nice 48-year-old example today. And, what the heck- let's have a poll! This '60 parks very close to the 1960 Studebaker Lark and the 1955 Plymouth Savoy . Vintage VW Type 2 owners will spend the rest of eternity screaming about how they're not hippies. Hell, real hippies haven't been able to afford these things for many years- they're driving 20-year-old Tercels now. These vintage travel stickers are great...
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What's better than a regular station wagon? Why, a pink four-door hardtop station wagon with about 800 pounds of chrome, of course! I'm actually pretty familiar with this car, because I've known the owner for many years (and in fact was with him on the day a few years back when he bought it from the original owner). This Commuter was bought new at a dealership in Oakland and has lived its entire life in Alameda; I'm pretty sure it's only been off the island a handful of times in the last 48 years. This wagon is insanely ornate even by 1960 standards. Fins, emblems, wraparound glass, the works. And, of course, the four-door hardtopness is the icing on the cake. The word "original" might be a bit mild when describing this wagon; it's a freakin' time capsule . The original receipts from the dealer are still in the glovebox. Of course, it wouldn't win any shows in its current condition, for two reasons: A) Nobody knows what the hell a Mercury Commuter...
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Since I couldn't find a DOTS car in Christmas-centric red and green, here's a solid red car to admire on our hard-earned day off from The Man's salt mines. We saw a somewhat rougher '60 Cadillac a while back, so I've been saving this car for a special occasion. Not only is it in excellent condition, it's the extra-slick two-door hardtop. Some folks like the convertible better, but I prefer the smoother lines of the hardtop; in fact, since 1960 is my favorite year for Cadillacs, the '60 2-door hardtop is my all-time favorite Cadillac (though I might select a more subdued color, were I shopping for my own). This car doesn't always park on the street, but it definitely lives on the island. It's so big and red that I figured I'd be able to see it from space; sure enough, when the Google Maps satellite passed overhead... parked outside that day! And, while we're in space, you can also see the gold '60 Cad from low earth orbit! Sometimes my favorite...
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It's doesn't come as a shock to find that Studebakers haven't made much of a showing in this series (so far we've had just an Avanti ), given that the Studes were never all that common even back in the day. But hey, at least the Studebaker Pines are still standing tall, and so is this quasi-rat-rodded '60 Lark VIII! The Lark was Studebaker's last-ditch attempt to regain some sort of toehold in the American car marketplace, and it didn't sell too badly. That wasn't enough to prevent Studebaker from abandoning ship in '63, (though they limped along a few years longer in Canada). The "VII" emblem means this car has the V8 engine, though in '60 that could have been either the 259 or the longer-stroke 289. With its primer black paint and somewhat de-trimmed state, it's hard to tell whether this Lark is on its way to fresh paint or a more rodent-like appearance. It's definitely showing some East Bay pride with its big 510 emblem, either...
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