San Rafael old car parade thing

[Barrett.in.the.USA]

Okay. I went to the annual San Rafael old car parade thingy on Saturday. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect from an American car show, a mix of rodded and modded 20s-70s cars and super shiny restored cla**ics. I was dying to see some more less than pristine cars when they were all parked up, but after a few hours they all drove the length of 4th street and back again, and the noise they made in doing so more than made up for the lack of shite. Even better was the fact that I was in the pub at this point so could stand outside in the sun and breathe some petrol fumes and then retire inside to finish my pints. Lovely!

 

okay here goes...

DSCN0933 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0934 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Great line up of these things, which were built in the early 60s in San Rafael. Less than 300 made and presumably very few left

DSCN0939 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN0940 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0941 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0943 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

The chap who owns this had driven 900 miles to be there in his V4 95 - he has a two stroke 96 back home too.

DSCN0945 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0949 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0953 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0958 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0963 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0965 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0968 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Lots of this sort of thing. The 'massively oversized engine sticking through a hole in the hood' look obviously never died in California

DSCN0970 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Possibly my favourite American car EVAH. Had the pistol grip shifter and everything. Perfect

DSCN0971 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN0975 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0976 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN0977 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

This was very cool..

DSCN0978 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0981 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

These look great as gassers

DSCN0982 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0987 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN0989 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Rodded Vega.....

DSCN0990 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0991 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0992 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0993 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Millionaire motors..

DSCN0995 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN0996 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN0998 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0999 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

This was mega cute

DSCN1000 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN1001 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1003 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1005 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

'70 Riviera is a rare sight

DSCN1006 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1008 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

I'm sure this is ultra rare, 'cameo' bedon a Chevy truck

DSCN1012 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN1010 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Car of the show without a doubt

DSCN1013 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN1015 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN1016 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1018 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

This looked cool....

DSCN1022 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

....But what the hell is going on here??!!

DSCN1023 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1026 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1029 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1032 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

4mpg, according to a sign in the window...

DSCN1034 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1036 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1038 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

DSCN1040 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Yay! A tatty car!

DSCN1044 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1045 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Took me a while to figure out what this was...

DSCN1048 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1050 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Check this dude out!

DSCN1051 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Beetle used to be owned by someone from Journey

DSCN1053 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1055 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN1056 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

The fag-end of the parade

DSCN1064 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

All in all a good day out. There was a record shop on the same street which distracted me for an hour or so and thinned out my wallet a bit, and then some bird gave me her number in the pub afterwards. Get in!

[Tayne]

.

[michiel]

Brown Cord... yum.

[seth]

Stonking cars and photos Barrett

 

You'd have thought the Saab owner could have found an event nearer to home. The (Mopar) engine in that rod is wearing a cross ram manifold. I don't know if Ford or Chevy ever did them but it was a way of getting really long intake ports under the standard hood for high RPM use during the '60s drag race battles. Here's one from flickr, in its natural habitat, a '60 Dodge Polara

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Yum, I'll have this please:

 

 

But there are lots of other goodies there too.

[AeroNautiCal]

That Datsun was a honey!

[eddyramrod]

 

DSCN0963 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

These look great as gassers

DSCN0982 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

DSCN0987 by SanFranBarrett, on Flickr

 

Looks like a brilliant day out, thanks for posting! Now if you'd just crate up any one of these (above) and send it over....

[Barrett.in.the.USA]

You'd have thought the Saab owner could have found an event nearer to home. The (Mopar) engine in that rod is wearing a cross ram manifold. I don't know if Ford or Chevy ever did them but it was a way of getting really long intake ports under the standard hood for high RPM use during the '60s drag race battles. Here's one from flickr, in its natural habitat, a '60 Dodge Polara

 

I think the Saab guy made the effort for the Trailorboat display, there were about 6 of them there and I doubt there are many Trailorboat meetings outside San Rafael.

 

Thanks for the engine explaination, as you know I'm a mechanical dunce but considering the late 60s Dodge 440s are some of my favourite cars I really should've known that....