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down on the street bonus edition
German Beaters Colonize The Streets Of Berkeley, France Considers Emergency Citroën Airlift
This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot. In addition to being a four time DOTS honoree and Volvo race driver, WhatWouldJesseDo is also a devoted DOTSBE hunter. This time his travels have taken him to Berkeley (which may rival nearby Alameda in terms of Cool Old Cars Per Square Mile, People's Republic or not), where he's found three vintage German chariots parked in the same neighborhood. Apparently that wretched-looking 356 is an everyday commuter and logs hundreds of miles each week. Jump away for many photos.
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down on the street
1964 Volkswagen 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. As I keep saying, the air-cooled VW Beetle is the most common type of old vehicle I see on the streets of the island. By far the most common. As an former (and probably future) Type I owner, I like the clattery little beasts- unadjusted valves, crazy handling, and all- but it would drive just about everyone crazy if we had the two DOTS Beetles a week that their numbers dictate. Since it's been almost a month since the last one, however, today is Beetle Friday!
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project car hell
PCH, Ticket To The Afterlife Edition: WRX-Powered Beetle or Granada Hearse?
Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Not very surprisingly, the Bristol 408 walloped the Beetle Limo last time, so it seems only right to give another Beetle a shot at PCH glory. Since we're coming up on Halloween, let's have a couple of scary cars; scary for different reasons, yet both with the Grim Reaper riding shotgun.
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project car hell
Project Car Hell, King Of LeMons Edition: Bristol 408 or Beetle Limo?
Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Yesterday, the "get out of jail free" supercharged Beretta edged out the "must stand 100 feet back to take the photo" Mazda Millenia in the Choose Your Eternity poll, in a 54:46 split vote. For today, we're going with a couple of cars suggested by 24 Hours Of LeMons-loving readers who were inspired by the Corvair and Peugeot 505 Turbo racers to look for even better LeMons entries…
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24 hours of lemons
Racing In Effect, Parts Breakage At Record Levels
We're a couple hours into the race now, and I can't tell you who's winning. That's because I've been so busy punishing miscreants for lousy driving. We've already dished out the Ozzy Osbourne Inertia Penalty Horn and Billy Gibbons punishments (more on those later). Meanwhile, as the penalty box fills up, the pits are abuzz with the sound of Sawzalls and aclank with the sound of wrenches; so far two Hondas are gone (the Reefermobile blew the head gasket and the Altamont-vet CRX threw a rod), plus we've got an assortment of bad BMW computers, overheating Detroit V8s, lunched Supra oil pumps, and so on. The guys with the really scary Baja Bug has their clutch disintegrate about two laps into the race, which took out the bearing and pressure plate, and now they're running up to Houston for fresh VW parts. We'd really like to see how this fine swingaxle machine performs out there, so let's hope they get it back together soon! -
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2010 VW Beetle
2010 VW Beetle More "Manly" In Speculative Rendering
It seems that people at Volkswagen are planning to bring back the Beetle, again, and not just for commercials. AutoExpress has learned that the new new Beetle is planned for 2010 and, unlike the previous generation, this one isn't going to be quite so feminine. Volkswagen is going to do things slightly differently in order to compete with the likes of the new Mini and the new Fiat 500. More » -
offbeat news
VW Beetle Nailed For 115 MPH Ticket, Year Not Given
How can the news outlets trumpeting this as a story not include the year of this VW Beetle ticketed for 115 MPH on Colorado's I-25 freeway? This is central to the story here because a '49 split window has a much lower chance hitting triple digits than a 2006 sporting a fake daisy in the vase and an 'I heart Puppies' bumper sticker. If a vintage Bug is hitting 115 MPH on even a downhill stretch of highway, that's HUGE news, ticket be damned. If it's a new one though, who cares? Is it too much to ask for precision from the mainstream media? [Channel 7 News] -
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found on ebay
Berwyn Car Spindle Up For Sale!
We were all quite sad when we learned that the Cermak Plaza Shopping Center overlords had decided to remove the legendary Berwyn Car Spindle from their property. But now the Berwyn Spindle may be relocated... to your front yard! Yes, it's up for sale on eBay, with a starting bid of $50,000 (and a shipping cost of double that, so you'll probably elect to go pick it up yourself. Make the jump for some video of the Spindle. [eBay] More » -
down on the street
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.
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