In other words, I'm not making any promises that this Firebird left the factory as one of the 3,196 Trans Ams built for the 1970 model year, given the widespread availability of aftermarket reproduction Trans Am body parts and decals. We might not even be looking at a '70 model here. But, really, who cares? It's a solid-looking 39-year-old Pontiac that still parks and drives on the street, and that's what we love about the Island That Rust Forgot.

The '70 Trans Am came with a 335-horse Pontiac V8, which gave the 3,550-pound car pretty impressive acceleration. Compare that to the 3,106-pound, 348-horsepower '64 GTO, however, and you can see how the inexorable process of Model Bloat requires ever-larger doses of horsepower just to tread water.

Look, the DOTS '66 Mustang lives on the same block, and the DOTS '65 GMC pickup lives nearby as well.

I was in a rush when I spotted this well-used classic, so I couldn't get many photos; since then it hasn't returned to this spot. My knowledge of vintage campers isn't so great, so we'll need to depend on our more knowledgeable readers to fill us in on just what we've got here.

Alameda seems well-stocked with Darts; in this series, we've seen this '64 Dart coupe, this '64 Dart wagon, this '66 Dart GT (which I shot just down the block from today's car), this '69 Dart GT convertible, another '69 Dart GT convertible, this '70 Dart with Buick hubcaps, and this Malaisetastic '75 Dart Swinger.

This street boasts quite a few DOTS honoress; that's the '59 Ford F-100 a few spaces down from the Dart.

This 3/4-ton hauler belongs to the Alameda Unified School District, and probably delivered the crates of pencils, gallon jugs of Elmer's Glue, and that terrible pulpy gray paper that I used in elementary school. Nobody notices a plain white cargo van; I've probably seen it hundreds of times and only now have I paid enough attention to photograph it.

It suffers from the usual Northern California top-down rust, which should eat through the metal in another decade or two.

I'm having a tough time figuring out the year of this 122S; the early-series yellow-on-black license plates mean it's no newer than '63 or '64, and the grille also suggests that era, but we'll need a real Amazon expert to tell us for sure.

This car appears to be in excellent original condition, and it's even a two-door!

I spotted this Volvo parked in front of a local Volvo shop, across the street from the '87 BMW L6 and parked in the exact same spot that gave us the '70 164. Check out the Bertone 262C in the background.

A parts car, destined to be picked clean and then discarded as scrap, or a project that just became too overwhelming and/or pissed off the landlord and/or wife to the point where the junkyard seemed like the only way out? Impossible to say. In any case, it appears that a few bits and pieces- including the engine and transmission- remain on this Olds.

Of course not! Yeah, I could have gone out and shot any one of the dozen or so VW T2 Transporters on the island that remain un-DOTS-ified, but that will have to wait for another weekend. I spotted this El Camino while checking for the supposedly-street-legal Dai Hard Daihatsu Charade LeMons car that lives nearby, in the same household as the '69 Morris Minor Traveller.

Dai Hard must have been in the garage, but it was worth the (two-block) walk to see this El Camino. I've always preferred the angular look of the '64-67 GM A-bodies to the more bulbous '68-72 models, and I think the Chevelle was the best-looking of The General's intermediates during this period. This Chevelle-with-a-truck-bed has a mean-looking coat of primer and cowl-induction hood scoop, and it appears to be a rust-free example of a fairly rare street-driven cartruck.

We've already seen Jesse's '66 Datsun 411, his '61 Austin Mini, his '70 Puma GT (now sold to a buyer in Denmark), and his '83 Toyota 4x4 truck. Now he's added this classic Detroit cartruck to his stable.

This El Camino is in very solid, rust-free original condition, and the original Tonawanda-built 2-barrel 350 still sounds fresh. Could this be the only '69 El Camino in the world that doesn't have headers and a Holley 750 double-pumper by now?

The one questionable modification that's been done to this machine might be the "vinyl top" made out of protective bed-liner coating. It looks OK and is likely impervious to meteorite damage, but just doesn't seem like a good idea.

I'm not enough of an El Camino expert to know whether the proper term for this one is "El Camino Malibu" or something else; the '69 El Camino being a Chevelle with a truck bed meant that the Chevelle's Malibu trim package was an available option. Any of you experts out there got an opinion on the subject?

Known as the Datsun 140J in Europe and the Nissan Violet in Japan, the Datsun 710 was priced between the sporty 610 and the bare-bones B210 in the North American market. You got a 100-horsepower L20 in your $3,469 2-door 710 in 1975, which was pretty steep compared to the $2,769 Pinto or the $2,786 Vega. In fact, $3,195 would have bought you a brand-new '75 Dodge Dart with a V8... but inflation and crazy gas prices were making the Datsuns look pretty good to car buyers back then.

It's always fun when I can get more than one DOTS car in a single photograph, as we see here with the '73 BMW 2002tii in the background.

Let's take a look at the others before we admire today's street survivor:

First, this '72.

Another '72.

Yet another '72.

This '76.

This '77 Traveler.

And this final-year '80. OK, now on to today's truck!


This truck, built during the next-to-last year of Scout production, lives just around the corner from the super-clean '64 Galaxie 500 convertible we saw last weekend. It appears to be a daily driver. Who needs cup holders and faux wood dash trim?

Some might say that Alameda- which is quite urban, completely paved, snow-free, and lacking in any hills of any sort- isn't the kind of place where a Scout makes sense. We disagree, however; a Scout always makes sense!

The Galaxie 500 was the middle-of-the-road trim level for the full-sized Ford in 1964; much spiffier than the Custom but not quite as glitzed-out as the Galaxie 500XL. You got a 260-cubic-inch V8 as standard Galaxie 500 equipment, but a few bucks more would buy you the 289 or 390.

Detroit needs to bring back badging that looks like this! And I don't mean that faux-chrome plastic stuff- I mean genuine low-bidder peely-ass chrome and won't-stay-shiny-for-long aluminum, like in the old days!

Can you hurl a paint-splattered ladder into the bed of your truck from 20 feet away and not flinch when it hits? The owner of this fine American machine- which parks just a couple blocks from Chez Murilee- can do that!

Back in '59, a base half-ton Ford Styleside pickup would have run you $1,938, or about $14,500 in 2009 bucks. For that price you got a 223-cube I6 and a three-speed manual transmission. That's way cheaper than the least expensive Ford sedan, which was the $2,132 Custom 300 Six business coupe. What a deal!

We had our second-ever first-gen Camaro yesterday, and this Porsche- which happened to be parked less than a block away- is our second-ever 356 (after this '63 autocross veteran; this Speedster replica doesn't count, though it's still a cool car). What are the odds that both DOTS 356s would be green '63s?

Actually, I'm not 100% sure this is a '63; it's definitely a T6 Karmann-built 356B coupe, but it could be a '62 (though I'm pretty sure the engine lid badging on the Super didn't read "S" that year) or a '64-65 (but this car appears to have drum brakes, which were dumped after '63). Obviously, this is the sort of thing that must be correct, lest Porsche fanatics- who make Detroit muscle car worshipers seem like well-balanced, reasonable individuals, which is saying something- make me write "I WILL NOT ACCUSE FERDINAND PORSCHE OF RIPPING OFF HANS LEDWINKA EVER EVER AGAIN" 988 times (one for every year of the Thousand Year Reich that didn't happen) in every Porsche post I write in the future. Right. So, Porsche experts, is this really a '63?

Something that you Citroën fans might find disturbing is the fact that this car appears to have replaced the 1969 DS wagon; this Porsche lives at the same house and I haven't seen the Citroën for quite a while. Which would you prefer as your daily driver? Tough call for me, but I think I'm leaning more in the direction of the French wagon.

Well, that changes now, because we've got this spotless '67 RS convertible for you; it follows in the footsteps of this purple '69 coupe. I'd seen this car at the Park Street Car Show, but it was surrounded by a crowd of other early Camaros and didn't really jump out at me.

This car gets the Murilee Stamp-O-Approval™ because A) the original 327 is still there, B) the original Powerglide isn't still there (the owner ditched the Slip-N-Slide for a Tremec 5-speed, and I say good riddance to a transmission that sucks for any use other than drag racing and beer labels; if you purists think that's a crime, feel free to take a break from studying hose clamp date codes to scrawl a venomous tirade in the comments), C) it's not red or black, and D) it gets driven on the street. Not every day, obviously, and it doesn't sleep on the street, but I caught it while its owner was using it to run an errand to the hardware store. The same hardware store, incidentally, at which I photographed the 1937 London Cab.

The General was late to the party started by the Mustang (and Barracuda), but the snazzed-up crypto-Nova hit the showrooms running and sold like crazy. In 1967, you could get a base V8 Camaro convertible for $2,809 (the Rally Sport option package pushed the price up to $2,914), versus $2,806 for a '67 Mustang convertible with the base 289. Meanwhile, the '67 Plymouth Barracuda V8 convertible went for $2,860. The Chevy had the most powerful base engine (210 horsepower versus 200 for the Ford's 289 and 180 for the Plymouth's 273), but all three could have been stuffed with a monster big-block if the customer's wallet permitted.

Actually, you don't see many Alfas on the island, period; our last one was this '65 Giulia SS, which we saw last winter. Before that, we had this 164 L- a '91, just like today's car. What are the odds?

Alfa Romeo stopped selling cars in North America in 1995, and it was pretty clear to car shoppers that they'd be folding their tents for quite a while before that year. That means the original purchaser of this car loved the idea of a sporty Italian sedan so much that he or she didn't give a damn that the car would soon be an orphan, repairable only by cranky non-factory-authorized mechanics using parts shipped from Europe at fabulous expense. We can totally respect that decision.

It has a GTO hood and grille emblem, but a Tempest grille and column-shifted automatic. Even though you could a '68 GTO with the chrome grille instead of the sledgehammer-proof Endura snout, hardly any buyers did so. As for the column shifter, I'm pretty sure the Hurst dual-gate was standard issue on automatic GTOs and Pontiac stopped installing Powerglides in GTOs after 1966… but I betcha there's some guy out there with a PhD in Tedious General Motors Facts who can cite chapter and verse about the 18 1968 GTOs that got chrome grilles and column-shifted Turbo 400s via some renegade dealership in Alaska. Fine. I'm still going to say that we're looking at a '68 Tempest or LeMans with some GTO parts bolted on.

Or, hell, maybe it's a '69 Cutlass with some Tempest sheet metal welded in; that might explain the Oldsmobile Rally Wheels. You can see where this game will drive you nuts in a hurry, and it's one of the reasons I avoid most classic muscle car shows. Anyway, who cares what DNA this car has? It's a cool-looking GM A-body that lives on the street and gets regular real-world driving action, while most of its siblings have been crushed or turned into coddled garage queens. I suspect that its owner is the same person who once owned this 1966 Mustang, since it parks in the same spot once occupied by the Ford. Perhaps he or she celebrated the date on the car's "Bush's Last Day" bumper sticker by upgrading to a bigger, more powerful Detroit classic.

I found this cartruck parked outside Alameda's Tiki Overload Headquarters a couple months back. The bar was having a small pseudo-car-show, and this Chevy was parked just behind the '51 Dodge Wayfarer we saw a while back.

A base, six-cylinder 1959 El Camino listed at $2,352 new, or about $400 more than a half-ton stepside Chevrolet pickup. For those extra bucks you got a car-like ride and those snazzy fins, though cargo-hauling ability wasn't quite up to serious truck standards. Which would you have chosen?

In North America, the Ford Capri was branded simply "Capri" and sold in Mercury dealerships; the later Mustang-clone Fox Capri had Mercury emblems on the car. I think sufficient time has passed since the Early Malaise Era to permit us to call this car a Ford.

This is only the second Alameda DOTS Capri, after this '72; beloved as these cars were (and are) in Europe, they never really hit it big on our side of the Atlantic. You could buy a new 1974 Capri with the 2.8 liter V6 for $3,807. Compare that to the $3,081 price tag on a 5.0 liter V8-powered '74 Grabber Maverick. Sure, the Capri handled better, but less car for more money?

I've been saving a lot of street-parked Mustangs in reserve for this series, but the island has so many of them that I'm going to try to knock out the years we haven't seen yet: 1964-1/2, 1970, 1971, and 1972.

This car is owned by an Alameda High School classmate of mine, and it serves as his daily driver; he was a little concerned that it should get a bath before being photographed, but I explained that the whole point of DOTS is that these are real-world cars, not spotless trailer queens. You'll find it parked out in front of his shop, Royal Auto Repair, where it no doubt serves as an advertisement to the many original owners of 60s cars on the island.

For the 1,750-pound '81 Rabbit Diesel, Volkswagen felt that 48 horsepower was plenty; in fact, the Rabbit Diesel had a better power-to-weight ratio than the 1,724-pound/53-horsepower '69 Beetle, and diesel torque should have made it feel even quicker. That was not the case, however; I've driven both cars (in fact, I did my driver training classes in a dual-brake-pedal Rabbit Diesel), and the Beetle feels slightly zippy while the Rabbit Diesel feels dangerously slow. Perception? Reality?
Still, these things sip that costly oil through a cocktail straw, giving Rabbit Diesel owners the right to sneer at those resource-depleters in thirsty Priuses. Most of the survivors seem to be the Rabbit pickups, but I was able to find this sedan parked by the Bay, quite close to the '88 Peugeot 505 Turbo.

Just click on the thumbnail image of any of the cars below to jump to the original post, complete with photo gallery. Not sure what's going on? Head on over to the Down On The Street FAQ!

1919 Ford	1924 Ford	1932 Ford	1937 Cadillac
1937 Beardmore	1939 Chevrolet	1941 Chevrolet	1942 Pontiac
1943 IHC	1945 Ford	1946 Chevrolet	1947 Plymouth
1948 IHC	1949 Chevrolet	1950 Dodge	1950 Ford
1950 Ford	1950 Plymouth	1950 Pontiac	1951 Dodge
1951 Willys	1951 Dodge	1952 Dodge	1953 GMC
1952 Dodge	1953 Packard	1953 Chevrolet	1953 Citroën
1953 MG	1954 Chevrolet	1954 Ford	1955 Mercury
1955 Chevrolet	1955 Plymouth	1956 Chevrolet	1956 Imperial
1956 Lincoln	1956 Volkswagen	1956 Morris	1956 Willys
1956 Ford	1957 Volkswagen	1957 Cadillac	1957 Chevrolet
1957 Chrysler	1957 Pontiac	1958 Willys	1958 Mercedes-Benz
1959 Porsche	1959 Morris	1959 Volkswagen	1959 Volkswagen
1960 Cadillac	1960 Triumph	1960 Cadillac	1960 Cadillac
1960 Peugeot	1960 Mercury	1960 Ford	1960 Studebaker
1960 Chevrolet	1960 Rambler	1960 Volkswagen	1961 Plymouth
1961 Morris	1961 Rambler	1961 Chevrolet	1961 Ford
1961 Plymouth	1962 Chrysler	1962 Chevrolet	1962 Chevrolet
1962 Chevrolet	1962 Dodge	1962 Ford	1962 Chrysler
1962 Volkswagen	1963 Chevrolet	1963 Land Rover	1963 Ford
1963 Volvo	1963 Ford	1963 Chevrolet	1963 Chevrolet
1963 Chevrolet	1963 GMC	1963 Porsche	1964 Pontiac
1964 Volkswagen	1964 Chevrolet	1964 Chevrolet	1964 Studebaker
1964 Volkswagen	1964 Checker	1964 Chrysler	1964 Ford
1964 Imperial	1964 Mercury	1964 Chevrolet	1964 Dodge
1964 Ford	1964 Jeep	1964 Chevrolet	1964 Chevrolet
1964 Oldsmobile	1964 Dodge	1965 Austin Cooper S	1965 Volkswagen
1965 Chevrolet	1965 Mercury	1965 Volkswagen	1965 Plymouth
1965 Chevrolet	1965 Volkswagen	1965 Chevrolet	1965 Ford
1965 Plymouth	1965 Alfa Romeo	1965 Ford	1965 IHC
1965 Volkswagen	1965 Chevrolet	1965 Chevrolet	1965 Mercury
1965 Plymouth	1965 Chevrolet	1965 Dodge	1965 Ford
1965 Chevrolet	1965 Chevrolet	1965 Ford	1965 Rambler
1965 Ford	1965 Ford	1965 Ford	1966 Lincoln
1966 Ford	1966 Ford	1966 Ford	1966 Ford
1966 Dodge	1966 Volvo	1966 Dodge	1965 Mercedes-Benz
1966 Pontiac	1966 Porsche	1966 Dodge	1966 Ford
1966 Datsun	1966 GMC	1966 Jaguar	1966 Lancia
1966 Plymouth	1966 Volkswagen	1966 Mercedes-Benz	1966 Chevrolet
1966 Ford	1966 Cadillac	1966 Mercedes-Benz	1966 Ford
1966 Buick	1966 Volkswagen	1966 Volvo	1967 Ford
1967 Mercury	1967 Chevrolet	1967 Ford	1967 Chevrolet
1967 Plymouth	1967 Porsche	1967 Imperial	1967 Galaxie
1967 Volkswagen	1967 Buick	1967 Porsche	1967 Plymouth
1967 Oldsmobile	1968 GMC	1968 Plymouth	1968 Mercury
1968 Mercedes-Benz	1968 Mercedes-Benz	1968 Ford	1968 GMC
1968 Pontiac	1968 Ford	1968 Porsche	1968 Chevrolet
1968 Ford	1968 Buick	1969 Dodge	1969 AMC
1969 Chevrolet	1969 Volkswagen	1969 Volkswagen	1969 Mercury
1969 Chevrolet	1969 Ford	1969 Cadillac	1969 Ford
1969 Buick	1969 Volkswagen	1969 Chevrolet	1969 Cadillac
1969 Cadillac	1969 Mercury	1969 Chevrolet	1969 Lincoln
1969 Oldsmobile	1969 Dodge	1969 Dodge	1969 Datsun
1969 AMC	1969 Ford	1969 Morris	1969 Ford
1969 Buick	1969 MG	1969 Ford	1969 Citroën
1969 Chevrolet	1969 Cadillac	1969 Volvo	1969 Volvo
1970 Ford	1970 Chevrolet	1970 Ford	1970 Chrysler
1970 Cadillac	1970 Dodge	1970 Chevrolet	1970 Chevrolet
1970 Chevrolet	1970 Lincoln	1970 Dodge	1970 Volkswagen
1970 Ford	1970 Ford	1970 Chevrolet	1970 Datsun
1970 Datsun	1970 Chevrolet	1970 Porsche	1970 Dodge
1970 Chevrolet	1970 Puma	1970 Buick	1970 Volvo
1970 Volkswagen	1971 Datsun	1971 Volvo	1971 Datsun
1971 Oldsmobile	1971 Chevrolet	1971 Chevrolet	1971 Chrysler
1971 Imperial	1971 Chrysler	1971 Chevrolet	1971 Datsun
1971 Chevrolet	1971 Ford	1971 GMC	1971 Volkswagen
1971 Volkswagen	1971 Toyota	1971 Volkswagen	1971 Buick
1971 Chevrolet	1971 MG	1971 Plymouth	1971 Plymouth
1971 Volkswagen	1971 Plymouth	1971 Plymouth	1972 Mercedes-Benz
1972 BMW	1972 Volkswagen	1972 BMW	1972 IHC
1972 IHC	1972 Volkswagen	1972 Datsun	1972 Porsche
1972 IHC	1972 Chevrolet	1972 Triumph	1972 Plymouth
1972 Lincoln	1972 Mercury	1972 Steyr	1973 BMW
1973 Volkswagen	1973 Chevrolet	1973 Mercury	1973 Opel
1973 Chevrolet	1973 Buick	1973 Chevrolet	1973 Volvo
1973 Capri	1973 Chevrolet	1973 Chevrolet	1973 Mercury
1973 Datsun	1973 Buick	1973 Ford	1973 Pontiac
1973 Dodge	1973 Mercedes-Benz	1973 Datsun	1973 MG
1973 Ford	1973 Ford	1973 Buick	1973 Plymouth
1973 Chevrolet	1973 Volkswagen	1973 Volkswagen	1973 Volkswagen
1973 BMW	1974 Buick	1974 Chevrolet	1974 Volkswagen
1974 Chevrolet	1974 BMW	1974 BMW	1974 Chevrolet
1974 Datsun	1974 Mercedes-Benz	1974 Ford	1974 Ford
1974 Apollo	1974 Porsche	1974 Porsche	1974 Plymouth
1974 Volkswagen	1974 Jensen-Healey	1974 Ford	1975 BMW
1975 Datsun	1975 Ford	1975 Toyota	1975 Citroën
1975 Mercury	1975 Chevrolet	1975 MG	1975 Pontiac
1975 Chevrolet	1975 BMW	1975 Dodge	1976 BMW
1976 BMW	1976 Ford	1976 AMC	1976 Buick
1975 Unimog	1976 Honda	1976 Cadillac	1976 IHC
1976 Buick	1977 Ford	1977 Chevrolet	1977 Plymouth
1977 Honda	1977 Chevrolet	1977 Cadillac	1977 Chevrolet
1977 Toyota	1977 Toyota	1977 Lincoln	1977 Ford
1977 Fiat	1977 Ford	1977 IHC	1977 Mercedes-Benz
1977 Chevrolet	1977 Oldsmobile	1977 Oldsmobile	1977 Volvo
1978 Datsun	1978 Chrysler	1978 Dodge	1978 Honda
1978 Pontiac	1978 Dodge	1978 Dodge	1978 Dodge
1978 Cadillac	1978 Chevrolet	1978 Jaguar	1978 Saab
1978 Pontiac	1978 Chevrolet	1979 Mercedes-Benz	1979 Porsche
1979 Porsche	1979 Chevrolet	1979 Datsun	1979 Honda
1979 Ford	1979 Chevrolet	1979 Ford	1979 Cadillac
1979 Shay	1980 Porsche	1980 Plymouth	1980 Datsun
1980 Honda	1980 Datsun	1980 Plymouth	1980 IHC
1980 Volvo	1981 Datsun	1981 Toyota	1981 Volkswagen
1981 Datsun	1981 Mazda	1981 Fiat	1982 Mercedes-Benz
1982 Datsun	1982 Mercedes-Benz	1982 Mercedes-Benz	1982 BMW
1982 Honda	1982 Mazda	1982 Volkswagen	1982 Toyota
1982 Fiat	1983 Honda	1983 BMW	1983 Toyota
1983 BMW	1983 BMW	1983 Jeep	1983 Volkswagen
1983 Nissan	1983 Toyota	1984 Porsche	1984 Toyota
1984 Cadillac	1984 Toyota	1984 Jeep	1984 BMW
1984 Toyota	1984 Jaguar	1984 Toyota	1984 Toyota
1984 Buick	1984 Plymouth	1985 Alfa Romeo	1985 Toyota
1985 Cadillac	1985 Mazda	1985 Pontiac	1985 Volkswagen
1985 Saab	1985 Toyota	1985 Toyota	1985 Toyota
1985 Peugeot	1985 Porsche	1986 Dodge	1986 BMW
1986 Toyota	1986 Toyota	1986 Ford	1986 Jaguar
1986 Toyota	1986 Dodge	1986 Honda	1986 Pontiac
1986 Ford	1987 Porsche	1987 BMW	1987 Mercedes-Benz
1987 Volkswagen	1987 BMW	1987 BMW	1987 Honda
1987 Toyota	1987 Merkur	1987 Mitsubishi	1987 Subaru
1988 Porsche	1988 CMC	1988 Renault	1988 Peugeot
1988 Mitsubishi	1989 Ferrari	1989 Alfa Romeo	1989 Subaru
1989 Chevrolet	1989 Volkswagen	1990 Buick	1990 Chrysler
1991 Peugeot	1991 Alfa Romeo	1991 Rolls-Royce	2000 Fieroborghini

And we're not talking about some lame-o golf cart or even a Tesla- this is a highway-legal, 3.5 horsepower Citicar, one of the lone bright spots of the Malaise Era. Most of the time, I can't find the owner when I'm shooting a cool street-parked Alameda car, but I spotted this car just as its owner, Tom, was getting ready to run some errands around town. He was happy to show off his commuter's features, and even took me for a little drive around Alameda's downtown. Alameda High was just getting out for the day, and this Citicar got more attention from teenage girls than all the Lamborghinis in the world put together- take note, high school dudes looking for a project car that will help you score with the ladeeze! You can learn more about this car here.

The car has pretty decent acceleration and is surprisingly comfortable (at least, when the weather is nice). While the top speed is only about 36 MPH, that's just about perfect for getting around Alameda; most of the island has a 25 MPH speed limit, and parking is often tough for big cars.

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?

That's not really true, because I find them in junkyards with depressing regularity, but Alameda still has plenty of nice examples. I thought I'd go shoot this one in the neighborhood in which I grew up.

I could probably find a dozen of these things on the island in one afternoon, if that ever seemed necessary, and most of them would be in pretty good shape. In 1977, your new 450SL came with a 180-horsepower 4.5 liter V8- exactly the same power as the '77 Corvette's 350. The Benz weighed 3,670 pounds versus the Corvette's 3,448 pounds and cost $21,943 (about 78 grand in 2009 dollars) against the Vette's $8,648 ($30K today). I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Mercedes-Benz probably had the edge in the build quality and technical sophistication departments, but would you rather have had two Corvettes (with bonus Camaro) or one R107 back then?


Of course, no discussion of a 1977 Mercedes-Benz 450SL is complete without watching Marshal Lucky blow it to kingdom come! Yessir!

We've seen this beautifully vile 1970 Skylark and this Energy Crisis-defying 1973 Electra, and today we're adding this waterfront LeSabre. This car lives in an industrial neighborhood on the Oakland Estuary, and it appears to be a replacement for the '64 Oldsmobile Jetstar that once parked on this block.

The standard engine for the '67 LeSabre was the 220-horse 340-cubic-inch V8. A 3-on-the-tree manual transmission was standard, but we're betting that just about every LeSabre had an automatic.

You'd better approve! V8-powered Chrysler A bodies are fine, but a hot-rodded Slant Six car just seems cooler. I spotted this car in my neighborhood, just across the street from the '66 Ford Ranchero and down the block from the '83 Sentra wagon.
The owner happened to be with the car, so I was able to get its story. This thing is pretty much original, except for the upgrade from 3-on-the-tree to 4-on-the floor and the Offenhauser dual-carb setup. And it's for sale! If you want to work out a deal with the owner (I have no idea how much he wants for it), email him and start makin' some deals!

This all started when I got an email from the captain of the Dai Hard 24 Hours Of LeMons team, who will be bringing the first-ever LeMons Daihatsu Charade to Thunderhill in a couple of months. He'd just bought a '69 Morris Minor woody wagon and had it shipped over here, and he lives a few blocks from me. Did I want to come check it out?
It's not really supposed to be on the street quite yet, what with the utter lack of California-legal paperwork, but what the hell- we put it on the street for this photo session. He's already into the Kafkaesque ordeal of the California DMV Experience, but feels confident that it should be fully legit in the near future. The car is very solid, with hardly any rust (though some of the rotted woodwork will need replacing). And hey, check out the Lucas battery!

We're going to fix that problem right now! I've finally found a genuine late-70s Chevy Van with authentic stripes and bubble windows. Let's get in the mood to appreciate this fine vehicle with the appropriate song:


Hmmm... that was actually kind of horrible. I was too young to drive back then, but I'm pretty sure Sammy Johns wouldn't have been my choice for custom-van soundtracks. See, that's what happened with Generation X and our damn cynicism and irony- we couldn't appreciate the simple pleasures of purple shag carpeting and CB radio. Anyway, it's good to see this battered but still recognizable Custom Van Era survivor still moving around under its own power.

The thing about the W114 and this series is that the old indestructible Mercedes-Benzes have been part of the scenery for so long that they don't really catch my eye on the street. When I see a not-so-old SL, I'll usually shoot it, but a W114 sedan? Maybe next time- it'll still be around in 20 years, so no rush. A coupe, however- that's a different story! I thought the beige car against a beige background looked pretty cool, too.
Even with the Malaise Era 5 MPH crash bumpers, this 35-year-old machine is a real beauty. And with the big 2.8 liter M110 engine it's probably pretty quick as well.

We saw this Greenbrier a couple months back, and this '64 Monza earlier in the year. Prior to that, we'd seen only this Corvair painter's van in the series, making 2009 The Year Of The DOTS Corvair!
I shot this car quite close to the spot in which the '71 Plymouth Valiant once lived, and just down the block from this '62 Chevy Nova. As far as I can tell, it's a '64… but I could be wrong. Corvair experts?

Fellow Jalopnik writer Ben Wojdyla was in the Bay Area to hoon some Audis, and so he dropped by Alameda to get some lunch and see a bit of the legendary ITRF for himself. I figured I'd show him the pink '60 Mercury Commuter, or maybe the '66 Lancia Fulvia Berlina GT, both of which live in my neighborhood, but then we happened upon this elderly British immigrant. I tried to play it cool: "Yeah, Ben, MG TDs are as common as Nissan Sentras around here! Move along, nothing to see here!"

Actually, I was pretty excited about this jaw-droppingly awesome DOTS find, which beats out the '60 Triumph TR3A and the '56 Morris Minor for the Oldest Street-Parked British Car In Alameda Down On The Street History. We hung around for a few minutes, hoping the owner would show up and enable us to get the full story on this car, but eventually gave up in order to grab some Caldo Tlalpeño at La Piñata.

The '53 MG TD came with a 54.4 horsepower pushrod four-cylinder engine (yes, that extra 4/10th of a horse was so important that MG included it in the power rating) and was priced at $1,945. That was about $1,500 less than The General's new sports car, the '53 Corvette, but 200 bucks cheaper (and orders of magnitude better-looking) than the Triumph Mayflower. Budget-minded car shoppers who wanted to go a little less sporty could buy the bargain-basement '53 Ford coupe- which probably outperformed the prewar-technology MG TD in just about every category save parallel parking ability- for just $1,734.

This car is owned by the same guy who daily-drives this '77 Olds Custom Cruiser wagon. The Olds is for hauling the family around, and the Chevy is for hoonage! It's got a wicked-sounding 383 stroker, crazy gears, and a nice paint job is the next step. Personally, I think primer looks better, but to each his own!

Well, maybe not quite as numerous as Ford's station wagon replacement is today, but the full-size Ford wagon ruled the family-hauler world during the 1960s and 1970s. While my family had a Chevy van instead of a station wagon, any kid growing up in the 70s was going to spend at least some time in a Country Squire.

This may be the lower-end Country Sedan or Ranch Wagon, but it appears that it has the mounting holes for the high-zoot Squire side trim, and budget-minded Ford wagon shoppers would have been unlikely to spring for the big-block 352 engine instead of the standard 240-cube six or 289 V8. The 9-passenger '66 Country Squire listed at $3,372, nearly 600 bucks more than the six-cylinder Ranch Wagon and 900 bucks more than the little '66 Falcon wagon. Nine passengers and (I'm guessing) 12 highway MPG- that holds up pretty well next to, say, a new Expedition (which only seats eight, albeit in greater luxury).

The real question here is: do you prefer this '66 or the '65 Country Squire Woody?

That means that his tow vehicle, the blue '67 Belvedere II that has been to so many Oakland tailgate parties, is now back on the Alameda street… and thus it qualifies for Down On The Street! This car has a healthy 360 crate motor and serves as Adrian's daily driver (when he's not out in the Belvedere wagon, the Sawzall Convertible Belvedere, or the big-block Belvedere convertible).

Adrian picked up the homemade '58 Dodge pickup bed-based trailer for 75 bucks, after spotting it on a some guy's lawn in lovely planet-buster-nuke-designin' Livermore. I'm sure his new neighbors (in one of Alameda's more upscale tree-lined neighborhoods) love it as much as I do!

Just click on any of the thumbnail images below to jump to the original post about that car or truck.

1919 Ford	1924 Ford	1932 Ford	1945 Ford
1950 Ford	1950 Ford	1954 Ford	1955 Mercury
1956 Lincoln	1956 Ford	1960 Mercury	1960 Ford
1961 Ford	1962 Ford	1963 Ford	1963 Ford
1964 Ford	1964 Mercury	1964 Ford	1965 Mercury
1965 Ford	1965 Ford	1965 Mercury	1965 Ford
1965 Ford	1965 Ford	1965 Ford	1965 Ford
1966 Ford	1966 Lincoln	1966 Ford	1966 Ford
1966 Ford	1966 Ford	1966 Ford	1967 Ford
1967 Mercury	1967 Ford	1967 Ford	1968 Mercury
1968 Ford	1968 Ford </td	1968 Ford	1969 Mercury
1969 Ford	1969 Ford	1969 Lincoln	1969 Ford
1969 Mercury	1969 Ford	1969 Ford	1970 Ford
1970 Ford	1970 Lincoln	1970 Ford	1970 Ford
1971 Ford	1972 Lincoln	1972 Mercury	1973 Mercury
1973 Ford	1973 Ford	1973 Mercury	1973 Ford
1973 Ford	1974 Ford	1974 Ford	1974 Ford
1975 Ford	1975 Mercury	1976 Ford	1977 Ford
1977 Lincoln	1977 Ford	1977 Ford	1979 Ford
1979 Ford	1986 Ford	1986 Ford	1987 Merkur

When you're done here, you can follow the links below to see the rest of the Down On The Street 450 (actually more like 491 by now) celebration:

That was eight months ago, and I can think of at least a half-dozen unphotographed 1960s Mustangs around town, so let's take a look at this lil' red devil with the super-rare horseshoe bumper guards.

This is our third Alameda 1966 Mustang, after this beat-to-hell one and this pretty nice example.. At this point, Alameda has provided at least one example of each first-generation Mustang, with the exception of the '64-1/2 and 1970-72 models. I'll keep my eyes open for those, so we can complete the set.

In 1966, the base Mustang coupe cost $2,416; add a 289-cube V8 and you'd spend an extra $105 (for the 225-horse version) or $433 (for the 271-horse version). If you wanted the 390 from the factory, tough luck- that wasn't an option until '67. The base price on the '66 Ford Falcon coupe- under the skin, essentially the same car as the Mustang- was just $2,060, with the same 289 engine options available. Then consider this: for $2,183, 1966 car buyers could have picked up a Chevy II coupe with a 275-horsepower 327 (and anyone who knows how much the 350-horse L79 327 option cost, please let us know). Clearly, the Mustang's styling made it a huge cash machine for Ford, though this was the last year for zero serious competition from The General.

Given that Alameda is separated only by a 100-yard estuary from Oakland, Donk Capitol Of The Universe, you'd think that great big wheels would be a common sight on the island. Not so, partly because Alameda's car freaks are more likely to be into old-school musclecars and/or dorifto-type Japanese stuff… and partly because the APD is well known for its heavy hand with the ol' fixit-ticket pad.

I suspect that this Nova wagon- which features plenty of paint over body rust- is sort of an ironic donk, if such a thing is possible. It lives on the same block as the mean-looking '73 Electra, and I suspect the two cars share an owner with a sense a humor.

What do you think? Pretty funny or head-clutching abomination?

I'm not including the Dodge- and Plymouth-branded Mitsubishis here; you'll need to check out the 450 DOTS: The Japanese post for the Colts and Arrows.

1947 Plymouth	1950 Dodge	1950 Plymouth	1951 Dodge
1951 Dodge	1952 Dodge	1952 Dodge	1955 Plymouth
1956 Imperial	1957 Chrysler	1961 Plymouth	1961 Plymouth
1962 Dodge	1962 Chrysler	1962 Chrysler	1964 Imperial
1964 Dodge	1964 Dodge	1964 Chrysler	1965 Plymouth
1965 Plymouth	1965 Plymouth	1965 Dodge	1966 Dodge
1966 Dodge	1966 Dodge	1967 Plymouth	1967 Imperial
1968 Plymouth	1969 Dodge	1969 Dodge	1969 Dodge
1970 Chrysler	1970 Dodge	1970 Dodge	1970 Dodge
1971 Chrysler	1971 Plymouth	1971 Imperial	1971 Chrysler
1971 Plymouth	1971 Plymouth	1972 Plymouth	1973 Plymouth
1973 Dodge	1974 Plymouth	1975 Dodge	1977 Plymouth
1978 Chrysler	1978 Dodge	1978 Dodge	1984 Plymouth
1986 Dodge	1986 Dodge	1990 Chrysler

When you're done here, check out the rest of the 450 DOTS Celebration:

The seller is asking $6,000 for it, which might be the deal of the century… or it might be huge optimism on the part of the seller. These things are so rare that I just can't say. What do you think? Sorry, Graverobber, I'm repo-ing the Nice Price Or Crack Pipe series for the day- you can have it back tomorrow!

I've also received word that another DOTS honoree is up for sale: the 1965 Dodge D100 pickup, which needs a new clutch and can be yours for a mere $500. That's right, a Slant Six-powered, three-on-the-tree-equipped Dodge pickup for five Benjamins; anyone interested should email me and I'll put a note on it for you.

After all, I live in Alameda, just a few blocks from the easily identifiable neighborhood in the southeastern corner of the island in which so many of Bechtle's paintings are set, so all I had to do was perform a bit of detective work and a couple miles of walking. Not so for relentless French artist Philippe Agostini, who appears to have invested hundreds of hours of Google Street View time to locate the settings of several of Bechtle's best works.

Because of my fascination with Bechtle's work, my posts show up pretty high in search results for the painter's name, and so Mr. Agostini decided to contact me. My French is nonexistent- pretty much limited to transmission automatique- and Mr. Agostini's English has its limitations, but eventually he was able to make it clear that he wanted me to get him some photos of the setting for Bechtle's 2006 painting Six Houses On Mound Street. So I did.

Next thing I know, he's got what appears to be a heavy-duty analysis of Bechtle's work on his website, complete with cryptic diagrams.
[Appeau Vert]