Jalopnik: hayward

General Paint Chevy Truck Still On The Job In Hayward

Murilee Martin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Hayward, California, is an interesting place; a one-time farm town, it was zoned for blight immediately after World War II and balkanized with weird islands of Alameda County unincorporated areas. There were dirt roads in some parts of Hayward until the mid-80s, which is pretty wild for an urban-core city right on the Bay. These days it's a mix of quaint downtown, vast industrial parks that seem to specialize in radioactive dioxin production, generic suburbia, drive-by-shooting gangland turf, and cool vehicles on the street. Especially the latter. Not only do you get every possible variety of original Detroit classic, bewinged Nipponese street racer, jacked-up meth-enhanced primer musclecar, street-sign-shootin' tall truck, old-school lowrider, and diamond-encrusted donk, you get ancient work trucks that have logged millions of miles at an average speed of 14 MPH. Trucks like this painter's work vehicle, which proud Hayward resident Casadelshawn shot for us.

This Cadillac's Security System Is Positively Riveting!

Murilee Martin — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:30:26 EDT

Roaming the rows of my favorite self-service junkyard in scintillating Hayward, California, I caught sight of an 80s Caddy with hasps and padlocks on the driver's side doors. Now, that's something you see from time to time, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw on the other side of the car...

Yes, long steel straps riveted over both doors! With cable locks string through the window openings to boot! We must assume the trunk has a bear trap ready to snap its rusty jaws shut on would-be intruders.

Each of this Cad's four doors features its own hasp-and-lock rig. The owner, no doubt a man of steely resolve when it comes to resisting the forces of lawlessness that have us locked in a slow-motion collapse of civilization, et freakin' cetera, realized that The Scum might be equipped with bolt-cutters. So, really, this isn't overkill- it's a rational response to one's environment. So back the hell off before I have to split your dome with this tire iron!

I'm pretty sure this car's former owner has guns strapped all over his body, Travis Bickle style, and he's not happy that The Man towed his car. No, he's not.

You Can Never Be Too Rich or Too Corinthian!

Murilee Martin — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:15:32 EDT

Alameda isn't the only East Bay city with interesting machines down on the street; on a recent trip to a junkyard in lovely Hayward, I spotted this customized '78 Cordoba in the parking lot. I'm pretty sure Ricardo Montalban himself would be proud to ease back in this car's fine Corinthian Leather driver's seat and cruise Hesperian Boulevard in Cordoba Style!

The great thing about this car is that all the customizing touches work perfectly. The Cordoba begs for such treatment.

With its plastic "golden" medallion insignia and execrable downward-spiral-era Chrysler build quality, the Cordoba rolled off the assembly line as something of a joke.

But give it some pinstriping, the right wheels, and a continental kit...

...and you've got the Cordoba that Chrysler really wanted to build!

Hmm... not so sure the Screaming Chicken decals work here, though.