The traffic flow was not very swift yesterday…
Usually on a Friday afternoon, I-680 southbound out of Pleasanton and heading back home to the South Bay is a reverse commute with little to no traffic. But yesterday, no…
Thanks a lot, Taylor Swift.
Damned Swifties, GET OFFA MY HIGHWAY!! 
Yesterday I spotted a McLaren 750S Spider. It’s a gorgeous car. The one I saw was metallic slate gray
These are web pics. Not mine.
I saw a Shelby sports car. Couldn’t take picture, and I didn’t see anything diagnostic for a particular model.
I also saw an Oldsmobile Bravada. Looked like model year about 2000. Very generic looking SUV, but it was the Oldsmobile logo that caught mine eye.
This Chevy Advance Design truck seems to be a newcomer to my neighborhood.
No photo, but I saw a black Buick, probably a 1958 Special sedan. I know where it was parked so I may go back there to see if I can get a photo and nail down the model and year.
This Mustang that looked…firebird-y. Like, it seemed too long. But I didn’t get a very good look at it.
This Mustang 302 and but look at the wheels on the Suburban
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This Toyota caught my attention because it has an actual hood ornament (and white walls and some other mods)
That’s the tail-end of the first generation ('71 – '73).
Patina
Even the bright orange traffic cone is patina’d.
Two boondockers today in San Francisco, at the Great Highway.
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And these lights, I want them for my Jeep!
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When I saw this I felt very sorry for the owner…
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This Vanagon is a diesel. I used to own one and it was SOOOOO dog slow while also spewing out thick black sooty smoke.
Looks like the Toyota has winch cable in the front bumper, but doesn’t have a roller/fairlead. Maybe waiting for parts.
Had a friend that had a VW bus conversion camper. Or whatever they are. His license plate was ESC POD.
ESC POD is a really good plate to have. I’m going to see if BOONDOK is available. One thing I think that is cool is that the word originated in the Philippines, and then it became an English word.
About that diesel Vanagon, my dad bought one in San Francisco back in 1983. He hated the thing. It handled well and had plenty of interior room, but that engine was just so pathetically weak. It turns out that VW put the same engine that they used for the Rabbit and the Dasher, which, okay it was just barely adequate for, but they put it into the Vanagon which is much bigger, heavier, and as aerodynamic as a brick. Truly pathetic.
In my dad’s defense, and he passed away 9 years ago, I think the sales team had him test drive a gas Vanagon, and when he liked the concept they said, But wait! The diesel will get better gas mileage. We’ve got one on order and it’s arriving in 3 weeks if you can wait (while I think it was on their lot the entire time). And when it ‘arrived’ and he came in, they said, Hey you’ve already driven one and this is the same thing only with a more fuel efficient engine, he probably bought it without ever driving it. The sleazy sales team has to dump that POS and they found a sucker to buy it: my dad. Just a guess on my part but it makes complete sense.
Fast forward 10 years and the V has been sitting in his garage, unused (and unloved). I had a young family, wife and 3 kids, and was broke, so I resurrected the thing and started using it. My previous car was a 1984 Toyota Starlet, a great car but tiny, so upgrading to the V it was so much more room!
But man oh man it was a dog. I clocked it once, and 0-60 took over 75 seconds.
I shit you not. 75 seconds!
And then when I moved to the Santa Cruz Mountains, off of Summit Road where the summit was about 1,800’ high (which isn’t all that high), it was awful because of all the black sooty smoke spewing out as we climbed. Couple that black exhaust with the aerodynamics of a barn door, and that black smoke was a huge cloud behind us.
People passing us would give us dirty looks and plug their noses. Especially here in the environmentally conscious SFBA CA. It was embarrassing.
But I didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It was a free car and it was a great help to use for many years.
I should have changed its plate to GFT HORS. Either that or PIG PEN, like the Peanuts character.
Ahh, vehicle memories!
More about my Vanagon. After a few years I had a little more money and got a gas GTI engine from a pick and pull yard, and a friend helped me install it. The only key difference was the oil pan, since the V diesel engine laid down at an angle while the gas GTI engine had its cylinders upright.
That thing hauled ass!
Reminds me of a test drive Road & Track did as an April Fools’ joke one year. The only thing I recall about the test was the 0-60 time: NBL.*
*Not Bloody Likely
LOL!! 
So… I saw a Isuzu VehiCross. They were manufactured 1997-2001. These days, pretty rare. Even back then, to spot one in the SFBA CA was a rare event.
These are web pics. I couldn’t snap a pic.
Which engine? Which year? I loved, loved the gas turbo GTI engine.
Oh, it was so long ago that I don’t remember. This was over 20 years ago.
Interesting, the spare tire is enclosed in the lift gate. Maybe it swings instead of lifts? That’s gonna be heavy.
Yup.
The Rav4 was set up like that as well.
