1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. One thing I've tried to do is keep Volkswagen Old Beetles from overwhelming the series; that's because there we've got more air-cooled Beetles than any other type of old car on the island- more, even, than Chrysler A bodies. This doesn't mean, however, that I should avoid them completely- I just need to space them carefully… and our last one was all the way back in June. So here we go- our first DOTS Super Beetle!
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1966 Jaguar E-Type, With Bonus British Car Poll

Those of you who read the Down On The Street FAQ over the weekend know that some of the machines we see in this series don't live on the street full-time. Most do, but every so often I'll find an obvious non-daily-driver that's just visiting, or maybe getting a rare exposure to the world outside of the garage. This immaculate E-Type is such a car; I spotted it parked in front of the island's most popular sports bar a while back and I haven't seen it since. More »

1969 Volkswagen Beetle

The old air-cooled Beetles have rusted to nothingness in much of the world, but they're still quite common in Alameda. So common, in fact, that I tend to think of them as normal "background cars" and have to remind myself to shoot one for this series when too many Beetle-free weeks go by. Since it's been almost three months since the last Beetle down on the Alameda street, we're due. More »

PCH, Power-To-Weight Edition: V8 Peugeot 403 or Blown Beetle?

The Dirtbag XJ-S pounded the Sepia 1940 Mopars like a Canadian carny pounding a case of Moosehead in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll, which was about what we expected. After all, a V12 Jaguar can beat most any PCH contender, up to (and perhaps including) a Citröen. We'll test that hypothesis later, but today we're going to try our hand at Hell Projects featuring lightweight vehicles with hoon-centric engine power. You see, you need to consider the possibility- however remote- that you might one day crawl out of the crater of boiling sulfur in your garage and actually finish a project. At that point, the hell must continue, as you careen out onto the public roads in a barely controllable deathtrap pawing and snorting at the ravaged pavement with ten times the horsepower its designers intended. More »

1969 Volkswagen Beetle, Before And After Mishap

Sometimes months can go by between my photographing of a DOTS car and posting those photographs. Today's car is a good example; I shot the original photos last August, but the island is overflowing with air-cooled Beetles and I have a glut of photos of such cars (yes, Beetle fans, I know I should be posting more of them... and I will, promise). But this particular exposed-engine Beetle, which I'm arbitrarily calling a '69 (though it could be from any year during the 68-72 span), got in some sort of messy collision in the meantime and then moved across town. At first, I thought I was looking at a different car, but checking plate numbers told the whole story. More »