Curbside Finds: a Variety of Shapes, Sizes and Colors on the Streets of Santa Cruz

Walking and biking the streets of my California hometown continues to reveal an unending variety of curbside finds. In the past, I’ve looked for themes of commonality, or contrast, but today I’ll just document the variety. All of these photos were taken in the past year, and most just a short unpowered distance from my house.

We’ll start off with a pair of Honda Elite scooters, from the mid- or late-1980’s. Until then, most scooters echoed the curvy styling of the Italian Vespa and Lambretta designs, but Honda aimed for what they called a 21st Century look, fifteen years ahead of the new millennium. With water-cooled 4 stroke engines, they certainly were cleaner and quieter than the more typical two stroke scooters of the time.

Just around the corner, though not on the same day, I found this patina’ed Chevy pickup still working for a living. I think it’s a 1965 or ‘66, based on the A pillar shape. The truck’s owner was indeed whacking weeds in the rental property yard. The steel rear bumper bears the name Redus Chevrolet, in Dilley Texas. As near as I can tell, Dilley is famous for watermelons but no longer has a Chevy dealership. I’ve seen this truck a few more times on the job in town.

Quite a different shape, and a lot smaller and brighter in color, is this Triumph Spitfire. With Overdrive! And owned by a member of the Santa Cruz British Motorcar Club. Not the only red sports car we’ll see on our travels around town.

Not red, not British – but with a link to the UK, in its Aston Martin Cygnet version – is this Scion iQ. Not a common car here, far outnumbered (still) by the Smart Car.

Just as I pocketed my phone after taking the picture of this Australian Capri, a young woman came out of a nearby house and got in and drove away. No smoke, no rattles, no oil puddle left behind, this Mazda-based car will probably give good service for a long time, probably better than the Spitfire. But not as well proportioned as the Triumph, nor as distinctive as the iQ. I’ll take a pass on this red sports car. Or maybe that’s really just “sporty car”.

Two Fords, both grayish in color, but that’s where the similarity ends. I’ve had a few rental 1st gen Escapes and they were surprisingly enjoyable to drive. I’ve never driven a CRV or a RAV4 but if they’re anything like the Escape I guess I can see why crossovers are popular. I’m not especially a fan of the retro TBird, but compared to the Australian Capri, it has aged quite well.

Taking a turn in a more utilitarian direction, here’s a vehicle which is a rarity on our streets, and perhaps anywhere that they weren’t used as taxis. The MV-1 was built by AM General, of Humvee and other military vehicle fame, as a taxi and “civilian” version optimized for wheelchair transport. They were built in the early to mid-2010’s with Ford powertrains, both 4.6 liter modular V8 and 3.7 V6.

OK, enough gray. Let’s go back to red sports cars. This Mitsubishi 3000GT looked pretty stunning on a sunny Spring day.


Not so stunning, and back to gray, is this Coda EV. If I’m not mistaken, we briefly had a Coda dealership in town … and I guess they sold at least one car here. A total of 117 were sold in all of California, the only US market, in 2012-2013. It was a 100% Chinese product, manufactured by Hafei and in turn based on the Mitsubishi Lancer.

A bit more colorful, and a very rare find, was this Ford Model T which I saw, and heard, pulling into a gas station surrounded by 100 year newer cars. Definitely a four cylinder, based on sound, and no front brakes, but when the fill up was done and the driver got back in to leave, it fired up with an electric starter. I’m not a T expert, but I believe this taller, rounded hood and radiator tank suggest it’s a 1923 or newer model. But I’m sure at this point it’s a hybrid of parts from many years. Older than our usual fare here at CC, but probably the most distinctive sighting I’ve made in years.

Although this gas station is close to my house, I’d never seen this T before, nor have I seen it since. But on a bike ride a few months earlier, I had seen two Model A’s, several miles apart, both on the road keeping up with suburban traffic. No pictures unfortunately. Otherwise, the oldest vehicles I see driving in town on a fairly regular basis are GM Advance Design pickups.

More in the vein of the Capri or even TBird on the sports car spectrum, is this Bricklin. Not a fan of the styling but the white over black color scheme doesn’t look too bad. I’ve seen this car a few more times in various parts of town so it is getting some use.

This VW based dune buggy looked sad sitting out in the rain. The number 43 reminds me of stock car racing great Richard Petty but I doubt there’s any connection. I didn’t see any brand identification but I don’t think it’s a Meyers Manx, perhaps the best known of the many dune buggies that appeared in the 1960’s, and just as quickly faded away.

I first thought this was just the owner’s tasteful rebadging of an International truck with Cat (Caterpillar) logos. But in fact it’s an actual Caterpillar CT660 truck, the product of a brief joint venture between Cat and Navistar, called NC2 Global.  Started up in 2009, it lasted just a few years.

There are a handful of Toyota 40 series Land Cruisers getting driven around town, and this nice red one hauling a modern Santa Cruz (brand) mountain bike was parked outside a local coffee shop. All of the 40’s sold in the US were FJ40’s, powered by gasoline inline six engines, though other countries got BJ40’s with diesel power. A lot of FJ40’s here have received small-block Chevy transplants, but judging from the single tailpipe this could very well still have a Toyota six under the hood.

Here’s a car which is a rarer sight here than a 40 series Land Cruiser, a bustleback Seville. This one shares its driveway with a late model AMG Mercedes SUV. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but at my current stage of life I prefer the Cadillac to the Mercedes. I’ve never seen this one under power but it’s not always in the driveway and other times it’s parked over to the left, making room for the Benz, so presumably its mechanical condition matches its cosmetics.

I’ll wrap up with another FJ40 [correction, BJ, or at least diesel-badged], paired with its polar opposite in the Costco parking lot. Thanks for joining me on an automotive tour of my hometown.