I love seeing cars like this. Just this morning, on my way to work in the freezing sleet, I saw a '78 Buick Century sitting along side of the road, ostensiby for a funeral. You just don't see that many cars on the road like this up here in Rhode Island. If I had a digital camera, I would have taken a few pictures...alas, I didn't.

Which reminds me, during a bad snowstorm we had back in late December, I was driving through Fall River Mass, in probaly five inches of snow on the road. I was coming up behind a car that was rather odd...turns out it was a '65-'66 Studebaker chugging along. Now talk about a DOTS - how many times do you see a Stude on the road, let alone in a snowstorm? I was so impressed with the dude...my hats off to you!

I wonder if the old school alarm key hole on the side still works?

My second ever car was a '66 Mustang. Had 65 hubcaps though. The car had the 289 with a 2 barrel and the C4 automatic. It looked about the same condition as this one and got really shitty mileage.

That has so much more character than the fully restored or customized ones that you usually see nowadays....at least up here in the north where they haven't been in this beat up and rust free since the 70s

There should be a poll accompanying each DOTS car to determine what's under the hood.

@maxforrest32: This series has definitely made me a more alert observer of vintage transportation - like the GMC Amarillo Caballero out in the parking lot today.

@Parramore46: I've always been keen on seeing out of the ordinary or fascinating cars, but now I want to photograph them!

Over here in Newport, Rhode Island, we have the Naval War College, with a lot of folks from other countries. I'll never forget the day I walked out of a CVS and came face to face with a 2006 Ford Galaxy...the German fellow must have thought I was crazy for looking all over it...

Murilee - we love the beaters. They are honest, authentic and they have hung on way past their intended service life. Plus, they have the element of danger in them - will the brakes work? Will something vital break off? Is catastrophic failure just around the next corner? And they also bring back memories.

Keep the beaters alive. They belong on Jalopnik.

@maxforrest32: @Parramore46: This series has definitely been absorbed into my subconscious. While I've always been tuned in to what other people are driving, whenever I see a car that's out of the ordinary that's soldiering on as someones' daily driver, I now think: "There's a definite DOTS car."

In this morning's snowy Detroit commute, the DOTS car was a mid '80s Toyota Tercel 4wd Wagon.

By the way, a Detroit DOTS would be fun. There'd be way too many 1st gen Ford Escorts, though. And I'm also not getting out of my car to take pics of some dude's clapped out Regal in the more interesting neighborhoods I drive through.

Ah, the 1966 Mustang. The first car I drove... was driven.. in when I was 6 hours old, from the hospital to home... A brand new red convertible with black top and black leather interior...A year or so later my brother undid the roof while driving.. and that was the end of his driving experience in the Mustang. Before the red convertible we... well, "they".. had a 1964 blue coupe with white roof.

It's hard to imagine a current gen Mustang still rolling on 40 years from now.

Takes me back to the World's Fair, 1964!

@SundaySunday: I wish there were some way for us to post somewhere a DOTS for all of us...so we could snap camera phone pics or something. Hmm...maybe, with the permission of Jalopnik, I'll start a DOTS blog where we can all post pics of our DOTS's?

@maxforrest32: Send me your DOTS photos and (provided they're of an interesting car and at least semi-focused) I'll use them in a DOTS Bonus Edition.

Or you could start that blog and I'll post about it. Old cars on the street=good.

@Murilee Martin: Not that you guyes aren't doing a great job with the DOTS, but I figure sometimes the pics we could get might be one fuzzy camera phone one or something...not totally a Bonus edition worthy...but I think it'd be a neat idea.

@maxforrest32: @Murilee Martin: Hmm. Something to think about. Maybe something to make me haul out the digital camera and charge it up for. With spring coming, it'll probably bring some of the more interesting cars out.

For example, every day I pass a rundown house in detroit where parked under a huge blue tarp is a late 60's Thunderbird. I think it's a 2-door, but it's the same years as they made that wild suicide 4-door model. If the tarp comes off that, I'll definitely look to giving it the COTS coverage.

Those things would spin out on their own spit. Fun cars.

Drove my distressed looking 1968 Mustang to work today so I have my personal DOTS today.

@Murilee Martin: There's quite a few cool rides in Costa Mesa. I'll definitely try to get out and capture them on some long weekend (i.e. next weekend?).

The six-banger in this car needs one of these heads:
[www.classicinlines.com]
High-performance sixes are always a Good Thing as far as I'm concerned.

I'm kind of digging how in the right-hand rear quarter shot, the shadow of the phone lines falling on the trunk lid resembles racing stripes (when I squint).

Given the resto-nostalgia madness going on, I'm elated to see beater Mustangs.

Rather see a junkyard 289 or 302 in there, but one can't be picky with beaters.

Hey, a Saab in DOTS.

Oh, and the Mustang is cool, I suppose.

I'm kinda Stang'd-out after Barret-Jackson...every other car was a damn Shelby. It got old.

If you can't afford real painted-on racing stripes... just park under some power lines in the sun! Puhfect.

@Murilee Martin: I've been saying it for ages, but I'm determined to get you some snaps of that Volvo 66 one of these days. There's a couple of old W123 Mercs and a Morris Minor saloon knocking about locally as well.

I've got something else in mind and it would be a definate departure for DOTS, but I'm keeping that to myself...for now.

This series is one of the best things about Jalopnik, no doubt about it.

Talk about fat and skinny, when people were comparing the new Challenger to its granddaddy--this mustang looks emaciated compared to its bulging grandchild.

I, too, have mentally incorporated DOTS, when I walk past cars on my way to the parking deck I check them off--nah, nah, maybe..nah--I get contrasts, a tiny hybrid paralleled right in front of a Ford Valdez, but the actual DOTS are rarer. There was an almost daily driver 60 chevy in a lot I used to park in and also, somedays, a 56 Savoy, both unrestored.