Cazalea takes readers on an unexpected automotive tour through Imperial Beach, California, showcasing a diverse collection of classic and unique vehicles. This post highlights the enduring car culture in Southern California, offering a glimpse into the daily drivers and enthusiast vehicles found in a coastal community. His keen eye for interesting cars, from a vintage Ford Police Interceptor to a low-rider Cadillac, makes for a fascinating visual journey.
Imperial Beach is a city located at the very southwesterly corner of the US, next to Mexico. North of "the Wall" the Tijuana River Estuary separates the border from most of the population of the San Diego area. It's so separated in fact, that my wife had never been to Border Park, despite living within 15 miles of it for 50 years. Of course we go to Mexico frequently, but had never been to this park. So today we drove down there to give her some fresh air and variety from the living room couch where she's healing from a torn Achilles' tendon.
When we got there, we discovered the Border Park no longer accepts vehicles, because people might gather there and protest things. So you have to walk in about a mile. That wasn't going to work with her crutches, so we headed north and east away from the ocean. And I'm sure you can guess what we found - old cars and trucks.
The first was a Ford Police Interceptor, a bit worse for wear, but eyes wide awake and pointed south toward the border. Protecting the horses and riding corrals, no doubt.
Proceeding up towards the settled area of Imperial Beach, we came to relatively low cost housing, which is generally full of military families, renters, retired people and others who love cars.
The first nice spotting was this very nice 62 Chevy Nova. I've owned 4 of these (don't ask) and have a soft spot in my brain when one appears for sale ... a bit like Grand Seikos. It's 55 years old and a daily driver in a community only one mile from the salt-air-emitting Pacific Ocean.
From then on, the cars came Fast and Furious-ly (sorry). This low-rider Cadillac caught my eye from 2 blocks away.
As we rolled past the back of the Coupe deVille I spotted a much rarer Cadillac
The XLR was intended to knock the M-B SL off its perch, but failed. Its sharp-edged, sharp-looking body hides a Corvette powertrain (but the 4 pipes give it away). The roof folds away too, like a Ford Skyliner...
Rolling around the corner, I saw this nice-looking Chevy long-bed pickup, complete with painted fuel tank (nice thought, but it's like wearing socks with sandals. No!)
And that started a string of Yellow vehicles, from this BMW 2002 / Corvette duo ...
(Champagne Chevy pickup too)
to this pair of Camaros ...
We found a few El Caminos in decent condition today (are you watching Bill?)
And a pair of Impala SSs (separated by several blocks)
This is the rare black cherry color.
This one's black black.
About this time we stop, but we were on a roll and the cars and trucks kept coming! I was giddy there were so many cool cars - I can't remember the exact order was but I'll try to group them a bit more as we go forward.
I looked left as we passed through an intersection and saw this wrecker in a front driveway. I swung the car around and headed his way...
where we found a wrecked camper, an unfinished Rat Rod, the Chevy tow truck
and this blue hot rod in the front yard.
who could make up this sort of thing? I love America. It's already great! (as long as these nutty car collectors don't live near me)
As we spotted another over-populated driveway, with THREE International Harvester trucks,
my wife said "That guy's got 5 vehicles in this driveway, and probably more inside the garage!" to which I had to reply "And what is your point? since we have 5 in our drive and more inside .. but not so much foliage"
How long has it been since I've seen an International Harvester Truck? A long time. Now I've seen this driveway full and a few blocks later we saw this baby!
They don't come better than this one.
For a change of pace and to see if we have any PuristS from Japan watching, WHAT IS THIS TOYOTA?
I've never seen one this early, although I know San Diego was the site of the first Toyota dealer in the US. This might be 60's or very early 70's??
Next to a Rat Rod, just for fun.
As we continued with our "How To Lower Your Neighborhood Property Values/Tax Assessment" studies, we found Boat and Car
Old Chevy Truck
Another Old Chevy Truck with Beetle
1958 Ford 4-door Hardtop
Bullet wheel trim. I was 7 when this car came out. We had just bought the comparable Chevy model and I was already dimissing Fords as no good
I kinda like the look now.
Whoops! Face to Face with a Bronco.
Which has seen better days, but that motorhome was even worse. Why keep this crap? Because we love them, or kids were conceived in them, or whatever.
I think I better split this into two halves so's not to blow up the PuristS software.
Please read on in Part 2.
Cheers,
Cazalea
