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The San Onofre Surfing Club is legendary in the surfing world, and as a result, there’s a number of vintage snapshots that can readily be identified, thanks to its “shack”. This great shot from about 1964 gives a clear indication of how Californians were eclectic in their choice of vehicles.
Here’s one from the 1940s, with a Studebaker convertible as the centerfold.
Anther 1940s shot with a classic woodie wagon partly covered.
A quiet day with a woodie wagon with rooftop carrier bars in the parking lot.
A wider range of cars here .
This looks to be from at least 1959, with no less than two ’59 Ford wagons.
This from about 1965, and once again, an eclectic collection.
A nice aerial shot which includes an MG TC and an Austin A40, the best selling import at the time.
There’s quite the collection of buses, campers, vans and cars in this shot.
Looks like someone’s in the middle of changing, with a bathing suit around her knees.
More Vintage Photo Galleries here
*VERY* nice Paul ! .
Such an eclectic array of vehicles .
-Nate
Getting your surfboard to the beach in a VW Beetle must of been kind of tricky. But an MG-TC now that took some work. Then again the open top is an advantage.
I had surfboard racks for my VW. Clamped to the drip rails and held two boards.
Love those old longboards. Not a single try-fin thruster to be seen.
I have never seen a Studebaker convertible, look really nice.
Nice waves! Nice cars!
These pics do support the stereotype of what cars surfers preferred in this era, mostly
I gotta make it out to the beach this year. Here in the mid-Atlantic we only get decent waves for a few days each summer (if we’re lucky) usually late Aug/early Sept driven by offshore hurricanes. My old VW Mk5 Rabbit with the fold-down rear and front passenger seats was a good setup for carrying shorter boards.
I live in a surf town now and most surf rigs are modern SUV’s, crossovers, and the ubiquitous Toyota Tacoma with a shell, along with vans ranging from T2 VW’s and 40 year old Dodge B Series to $200K built out Sprinters. But there are some other vehicles which I often see with boards crammed in (rooftop mounting less common due to theft risk nowadays): Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe, Honda Fit, Jetta wagon, and yes, Tesla’s.
My only reference to San Onofre beach comes from hours spent with the Rand-McNally Road Atlas trying to figure out the locations of surfing spots that were called out by the Beach Boys in “Surfin’ USA”. And that particular beach was one of the most difficult to figure out, when (in the absence of printed lyrics) the word “Onofre” could sound like a lot of things.
Cars on beaches, used to be a big thing to do. Wasaga Beach, Ontario in the early 1960’s.
And the waters warmed just a little bit more by the nuclear plant 🙂
Love the shots! Reminds me of a shot I took ( with permission) from an Art Gallery on Nantucket. Best guess is it’s in Florida as the Falcon appears to have a Florida license plate.
The pic with the buses/campers looks to be about “1968ish”. I went right past that beach and never even knew it.
Great pics – first time I’ve seen an ACF-Brill IC41 turned into a camper/motor home. I wonder if they kept the big Hall-Scott gas six under the floor.
How many out there first learned of San Onofre from a BEACH BOYS song! 😄
So there is a kind of Nipa Hut at San Onofre. Well there was something similar in San Diego at a place called Marine Street. I remember sitting on top of it with friends Alex and his brother John drinking Tyrolia out of a half gallon jug around midnight. Just us and the sound of the ocean. Amazed it didn’t collapse since Alex was a 285 lb. offensive tackle at SDSU and brother John only at 220 lbs. I didn’t really care for Tyrolia but that is what Alex liked.
Just came in from feeding the chooks, my fingers tingling from working in 2C. Nice to warm up to Beachside Classics! Seeing the Austin A40s (not a particularly small car to me) on the beach made me realise how tiny it must have seemed to forties/fifties Americans.
Nobody needed 4WD to drive on sand back then, it was just something you learnt.
Very cool topic. Very cool post. This is part of what brings me here. TY!