I had a really strong feeling that when I decided to drop everything and take a meandering road trip down the Cabrillo Highway for my 30th birthday this week, I’d run across a fair number of delightful classics. Cayucos and company surely didn’t disappoint.
More than the Transit of Venus greeted me when I checked into my dockside hotel room in Morro Bay. This 1954 Pontiac Chieftain Station Wagon was right down the hill from my hotel room.
And then up the hill was this 1961 Rambler Classic Six sitting in front of a picket fence. Had it not been for the decidedly more modern motels in the background this could have been a seaside scene from the late 1960s.
Scrubbing the windshield of the Cruze LT I rented, I noted this late 60s Chevy truck ready for work or play near the highway.
Now onto things for sale. I caught this 1961 Tempest Safari out of the corner of my eye. I saw something shiny, wagony and kind of fancy looking as I pulled off the Freeway coming back from Cambria. Anyone with $9,995 and a desire to drive something with the notorious (some would say) “Trophy Four”, point yourself to Main and Quintara.
The Ford Woodie that’s at the top of this post wasn’t for sale, nor did Birthday Santa (as my friend Dave says) bring me the first generation Corvair I always wanted, so I had to settle for these magazine ads from 1963. I don’t know which one I want most, but oddly, the Monza sedan in what appears to be Azure Aqua is the one arousing me the most.
Another addition to the rarities files is what is possibly the first super-basic Biscayne I’ve seen since my childhood next-door neighbors finally got rid of their howling Blue-Flame Six powered ’62. But this one, obviously resto-modded with a V8 and a floor shifted manual, seems ready to shame a number of more flashy muscle cars.
We’ll finish my last night in Morro Bay with another for sale item, and a legendary car I’ve never seen outside of a museum. I’ve never felt how sharp the tips of a 1959 Cadillac tailfin is until this week. And I am so struck at how odd the “picture window” four-door hardtop roof lines up with the rest of this already ridiculous car. What totally works for the Oldsmobile and Buick versions of this roof goes remarkably awry at Cadillac. All yours for $8500!
Tomorrow brings Solvang, Santa Barbara and Pasadena, followed by Long Beach and Catalina this weekend before going back to my Curbside Crypt of classics, the Bay Area on Monday. May more classics reveal themselves to me as I continue on my travels. If I get a 1959 Mercury I can go home happy.
No offense intended, because you’re clearly a very good photographer, with an excellent sense of composition, but the effects are now reaching the point where the cars can’t be seen clearly.
I agree. I would like to encourage photographers to take and display clear sharp pictures. I want to see the cars.
There is more than one way to “see” a car; fortunately.
The past is like that. If you look closely at the Caddy, you see how beat up it is. This photo shows its dreamy shape and flash the way I like to imagine it.
Bright colorful photos are great too, I dig them all. Thanks, Laurence, and safe journeys.
I love the angle that Caddy was shot. Those preposterous fins and wraparound window are sublime!
Wow, would love to run across some of these on a daily basis.
But… Laurence is only 30! Happy Birthday man, the 30’s are the best! Ah, to be able to do my 30’s all over again….
Nice finds love the woody nearly never see those live the odd English model but very few US versions. Thats a real cheap Caddy I saw a 60? I think tother day with 20k on it and a long way from mint cond.Happy hatching day Lawrence
A 1960 Cadillac has the same basic body shape as the 59s, but with slightly lower fins and most dramatically, without the horizontal tail light clusters in the fins. Makes for a much cleaner look.
Solvang’s an interesting place, kind of my old stomping ground – although I never lived there, there was a time when I knew or was related to probably several hundred people there. My aunt was one of the prime movers in starting the Danish architecture tradition there in the late 1940’s, and Elna’s Dress Shop downtown still has her name on it. A drive on some of the back streets north of the main highway through town should easily yield some cars worthy of photographing for this blog. If you don’t find any, there’s a car lot on the Avenue of Flags in Buellton across the freeway from Pea Soup Andersen’s that usually has a few 1940’s to 1960’s cars on hand.
There’s a lot of money in Solvang nowadays…last time I was there a couple of years ago the Ford dealer had all Jaguars on the front row…the Chevy dealer mostly Tahoes, Suburbans, and long-cab long-box pickups.
To me Solvang means the annual Solvang Time Trial in the Amgen Tour of California. Which was last month.
i love california. thank you.
If you do find a 1959 Mercury, I’ll be happy, too. Particularly if it’s a Tomato Soup Red Montclair 2-door hardtop. That’s what my mother drove in the early 60s and that’s what she called the color.
I’m not sure which of these I love more. I will say that I’ve love to see more of the first Woody. superb car. The Star Chef and Biscayne are worthy of a hugeO CC in their own right.
Thanks for these, LJ.
The ’59 Caddy reminds me of the ’61 Catalina I had after inheriting it from my sister; Dad bought it from an elderly lady down the street from us to was forced to hang up her keys. The Catalina had some ‘cave in” creases as old Mrs. Wood was running into the garage backing out of it on a regular basis (on the passenger side). This Catalina had exactly TWO options; the Roto-Hydra-Matic (POS) and the heater. Rubber mat (matching blue color, though) bolster with carpet inserts for the floor; hounds-tooth checked pattern with vinyl bolsters for the upholstery. Did have a standard dome light and attractive vinyl covered cardboard door panels with a forward-thrusting pattern.
That Biscayne…my friend’s dad bought one just like it – a 1965 in 1969 – same color for a third vehicle the young drivers in his family could use.
Talk about a sleeper, it had an EducatorDan-approved 283 V8, but with a powerglide that my buddy promptly put in a shift kit or something that made that car absolutely scream! It was a real strippo, but had a radio. That Chevy wasn’t afraid of RoadRunners or just about anything else.
When in my first year in the air force, 1970, my friend’s brother and dad were in the car when it got T-boned by some idiot and was totaled. Nobody hurt, thankfully. A sad day, indeed.
We still talk about that car.
Curbside Classic Nirvana!
Did you go to the Madonna?
My Grandmother lived in Shell Beach, so I know the area well.
I went to the Madonna for Breakfast and a Massage, but didn’t think to splurge on a theme room.
Love both Poncho wagons.
Laurence, as I near the end of my thirties, I can tell you they beat the hell out of my twenties. Your mileage may vary, but anyway, enjoy your trip and many more.
That Tempest wagon looks like the Pontiac twin to the 61 Olds F-85 wagon that my parents owned and was the first family car I can remember. Right down to the whitewalls and dog dish hubcaps. Same colors and everything. I would hate to try and find a replacement taillight for that car, there must be all of 9 of them in existance today.
And a happy birthday, Laurence. The 30s are indeed great years. But I guess with the proper outlook, they all are. 🙂
I was obsessing on that Tempest and its wild taillight. I keep wondering if the lens at least might have been “borrowed” from something else.
The lens looks like the standard sedan lens turned vertical instead of horizontal , but with a super elaborate bezel.
I love old compact wagons like this Tempest. It is remarkably restrained in its styling and trim, even compared to the F-85 of the same year.
In Pasadena, find your way to La Loma Rd, and see if the ’48 Hudson is parked out front near La Loma and Arroyo. (Sometimes there are two!)
Oh, and there’s a ’65 or so Country Squire woody wagon that lives in South Pasadena, although I don’t know where it’s usually parked–I just see it being driven and enjoyed frequently.
It was a wonderful weekend on the Central California Coast (the Aptos motel we stayed at, shown here)
ah well, guess there are size limits on the uploads … some other time 🙂