I have no time to blog suddenly, but I do have time to take pictures, so I’m sharing some pictures of cars today. Cars last forever in this climate, and there are plenty of cars I don’t have pictures of that are quite common: type I VW Beetles and first generation Mustangs, for instance. If you don’t believe cars can last that long, check out this 60-something-year-old beaut that lives in our own condo complex.

One of our recent visitors came from the east coast to visit two people in Santa Cruz. As it turns out, we live four blocks apart, so I went with him to meet the neighbors. Their next-door neighbor just bought this red car. I remember a similar car, really long, made of steel, tank-like, driven by one of my friends in Massachusetts in the 80s. It was old then. A lot of people I know really like cars from America’s golden age of autos.

We commonly see, and usually also hear, very old trucks that remind me of the snaggletooth truck in the movie Cars. I happened on an example while walking through the neighborhood, though since it was parked, I can’t comment on the engine noise. This one is not a perfect example of the type since it’s jacked up. Usually we see the ones that are on their last wheels, as it were, but still chugging along.

I also know some people who love Vanagons. Those are almost as popular here as Rav4s are in New England. When I took this picture, there was another, nearly identical one parked 20 yards away–same color.

What would a collection of classic cars be without a Woody? The Minivan of yesteryear, at least according to the Austin Lounge Lizards.

There are some great vehicles here that I did not get pictures of. One is a sort of dune buggy thing that people drive on the regular streets, a completely open vehicle sort of like this. This is a web picture, credit to i.ebayimg.com

Then there are the motorcycles. So many motorcycles. They are sacred in California; it is completely legal for them to drive between two lanes of moving cars, and they do so not only to avoid traffic slowdowns, but also at full speed on the highways. One quickly learns to stay centered in one’s lane and to look between lanes before changing.