Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. 18 months since the last Alameda big Pontiac? Much too long!

Fortunately, I spotted this very, very nice '64 Grand Prix parked at the beach not long ago, quite close to the home of the not-so-nice '71 VW Squareback. Don't worry about it being near the beach, because the San Francisco Bay's surf is measured in inches, not enough to kick up a bunch of Rust Monster-enabling salt on nearby parked cars.

You'd have paid $3,499 for this car back in 1964, and for that price you got the 306-horse 389 and way more style than the realtors in their Bonnevilles. A '64 Galaxie 500 coupe went for just $2,783, which may have left you enough money in your budget for a dealer-installed 425-horsepower Thunderbird Super High Performance 427 engine. Which would you have chosen?

Send an email to Murilee Martin, the author of this post, at murilee@jalopnik.com.