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Spotted: Red & White Vehicles for Christmas!
I have been trying to find a theme in our last week's car spotting collection of photos... then I realized, perhaps a subliminal choice, that we had a vast majority of vehicles that were Red and White - perfect for Christmas.
Continuing around the beach area, we found this Camaro that has seen better days, but it was glowing in Redness:
Powerdome hood, in blacked-out style, with nice mags.
Across the road up near my house was this fine Mustang.
The black tuxedo top gives it a formal, yet still sporty air.
This is a Cadillac Eldorado when it was a contender for Champion Luxury Car of the world.
500 cubic inch V8 power, convertible top, 19 foot long 2-door barge saying "Gas crisis? We don't care about no stinking' gas crisis".
The Rolls was the other leader in the competition, in my opinion. But once the gas crisis DID hit us, and people stopped buying big cruisers, Cadillac completely gave up their honor and produced these pieces of crapola! May I present the new, downsized Eldorado:
Sigh. Perfect for the Eldorado owner who has moved out of his/her house into a mid-priced, nice neighborhood, La Jolla apartment block.
And here's the 4-door version, known as the Seville. Sheesh. What an embarrassment. With a pseudo-Rolls grill cover.
At least we did not see a Cadillac Cimarron, which was even more downmarket ...
Very expensive to buy and run, but a fabulous car, in my experience.
Alternating some Red in the mix, I came across this American Motors Eagle AWD wagon. The godfather of the Subaru Outback, with some nifty wheels
I couldn't resist this "Winter in San Diego" photo. Car, gardener, bay, sunshine, and in the rear view mirror, wacky old man taking his dog over for a pee at the park. In clogs and shorts.
Another beach favorite is a Volkswagen Thing. I am sure this is one of the nicest left on the planet.
No apparent rust.
This Toyota Land Cruiser was spotted down at "America's Cup Harbor" which is the current name of a small inlet in the bay where some of the sailboats hang out.
We had to grab this shot on the fly as he was off on a job.
As I was panning the camera I saw another Land Cruiser in the background. We went over and inspected this:
A bit scruffy, with windows open and that most effective of theft deterrent devices, a pile of old laundry and underwear on the front seat - yuck!
Continuing along the road, we walked past the Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare Center, and saw this through the fence:
The outrageous raspberry color caught my eye, and the license plate frame stated "My Man is a Navy Pilot" which I hope implies that this is a girl's car.
I've never seen rims like these. Removable, paintable trim pieces to match your car's color scheme. Nice. In a garish sort of way.
Then we dropped down the automotive food chain a few steps and located this sad Buick Regal GS, reclining peacefully under a liquid amber tree (planted by Easterners to remind themselves of winter).
Having worked a lot with Buick in the 90's, I suppose this is the Mid-West American equivalent of a sporty BMW coupe. Looking a bit below its best at the moment.
Now, here you can see SoCal Santa who is a vegetarian and has lost a lot of weight. Below him is a great Ford Galaxie convertible. I've known of this car for about 10 years. He lives below a friend of mine's house.
It's a great car and the color plus the fine wheels and flared haunches give it a menacing look, especially when seen in the rear view mirror.
We'll end with this Mercury Marauder (?) which appeared Red when I took the photos, although now the paint has an orange tinge to it.
I hope you enjoyed today's Cars and Trucks, and I hope you have been good this year.
But I couldn't leave out this Jeep Cherokee which someone turned into an open Jeep. No doors, no top, skid plates, roll bars, etc. Then I noticed that under the blacked out trim (more or less) there was RED paint. And I noticed that the Red painted folding windscreen had been snatched of a CJ and pasted onto this vehicle!
Continuing around the beach area, we found this Camaro that has seen better days, but it was glowing in Redness:
Powerdome hood, in blacked-out style, with nice mags.
Across the road up near my house was this fine Mustang.
The black tuxedo top gives it a formal, yet still sporty air.
This is a Cadillac Eldorado when it was a contender for Champion Luxury Car of the world.
500 cubic inch V8 power, convertible top, 19 foot long 2-door barge saying "Gas crisis? We don't care about no stinking' gas crisis".
The Rolls was the other leader in the competition, in my opinion. But once the gas crisis DID hit us, and people stopped buying big cruisers, Cadillac completely gave up their honor and produced these pieces of crapola! May I present the new, downsized Eldorado:
Sigh. Perfect for the Eldorado owner who has moved out of his/her house into a mid-priced, nice neighborhood, La Jolla apartment block.
And here's the 4-door version, known as the Seville. Sheesh. What an embarrassment. With a pseudo-Rolls grill cover.
At least we did not see a Cadillac Cimarron, which was even more downmarket ...
Speaking of luxury barges, here's an S Class, a bit down on its luck.
Very expensive to buy and run, but a fabulous car, in my experience.
Alternating some Red in the mix, I came across this American Motors Eagle AWD wagon. The godfather of the Subaru Outback, with some nifty wheels
I couldn't resist this "Winter in San Diego" photo. Car, gardener, bay, sunshine, and in the rear view mirror, wacky old man taking his dog over for a pee at the park. In clogs and shorts.
Another beach favorite is a Volkswagen Thing. I am sure this is one of the nicest left on the planet.
No apparent rust.
This Toyota Land Cruiser was spotted down at "America's Cup Harbor" which is the current name of a small inlet in the bay where some of the sailboats hang out.
We had to grab this shot on the fly as he was off on a job.
As I was panning the camera I saw another Land Cruiser in the background. We went over and inspected this:
A bit scruffy, with windows open and that most effective of theft deterrent devices, a pile of old laundry and underwear on the front seat - yuck!
Continuing along the road, we walked past the Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare Center, and saw this through the fence:
The outrageous raspberry color caught my eye, and the license plate frame stated "My Man is a Navy Pilot" which I hope implies that this is a girl's car.
I've never seen rims like these. Removable, paintable trim pieces to match your car's color scheme. Nice. In a garish sort of way.
As I am a sucker for Imperials, I was thrilled to find this guy who allowed us to capture a series of his 1963 Imperial majestically parading around the parking lot. At the time, it was be a contender with the Cadillac and Rolls.
Then we dropped down the automotive food chain a few steps and located this sad Buick Regal GS, reclining peacefully under a liquid amber tree (planted by Easterners to remind themselves of winter).
Having worked a lot with Buick in the 90's, I suppose this is the Mid-West American equivalent of a sporty BMW coupe. Looking a bit below its best at the moment.
Now, here you can see SoCal Santa who is a vegetarian and has lost a lot of weight. Below him is a great Ford Galaxie convertible. I've known of this car for about 10 years. He lives below a friend of mine's house.
It's a great car and the color plus the fine wheels and flared haunches give it a menacing look, especially when seen in the rear view mirror.
Here's a slightly older Galaxie Convertible in white, which has a straight body line over the rear fenders, and is clean-looking, but less striking.
Same sort of wheels, I can see now.
We seem to have run low on Red cars, but continue to find plenty of White ones. Here's a very old Jaguar XJ6
The roofline looks quite delicate, the wheels and tires look big, and the whole thing appears much shorter than my XJ8.
Same sort of wheels, I can see now.
We seem to have run low on Red cars, but continue to find plenty of White ones. Here's a very old Jaguar XJ6
The roofline looks quite delicate, the wheels and tires look big, and the whole thing appears much shorter than my XJ8.
And finally, if you need to haul the family around during the holidays (and don't mind the school bus or prison bus look) here is a vehicle for you.
I suspect it might annoy the neighbors though, if you park in front of their house.
I hope you enjoyed today's Cars and Trucks, and I hope you have been good this year.
If we are lucky, Santa might bring each of us a red car for Christmas...
Mercury Marauder?! Now, that's . . .
. . . a find! Hardly remember them at all, but not for lack of brain cells - they just weren't that popular. There's an earlier model in my neighborhood that probably belongs to Richard Carpenter, whose car restoration and storage facility was on the same block where I worked. He had many rare birds, including a red '62 Plymouth convertible.
Getting to see all manner of collectible American cars was a fringe benefit of being employed. There was a classic T-bird, a '71 Roadrunner, a Stude Avanti . . . just tons classic steel cruising around Newbury Park.
Art
Getting to see all manner of collectible American cars was a fringe benefit of being employed. There was a classic T-bird, a '71 Roadrunner, a Stude Avanti . . . just tons classic steel cruising around Newbury Park.
Art