More Street Shots: From Decomposing Hippie Busses to a Fiat 1100

1940s Reo school bus, converted to motorhome. This bus appears to have been there for many years, and is slowly returning to the earth.

Close-up of Reo bus' front end. Notice that the bonnet has fallen off and the engine has been overtaken by blackberry vines.

Late 60s Chevrolet school bus, also returning to the earth. This bus has evidently been sitting in the same spot since the early 90s, and a pole thicket has grown up around it.

Front of Chevrolet school bus. For the record, I did not trespass onto the property, I just used my camera's zoom lens to take a closer look at the bus.

1961 Volvo 122S Amazon, front view. The originality of this vehicle is impressive, and it would be very well worth restoring.

Volvo Amazon 122S, side view. Notice the PV544-style hubcaps, which are original.

Inside of Volvo Amazon. Restoration is definitely in order, but everything looks good. Notice that the radio opening has not been cut out to install a modern sound system.

Rear view of Volvo Amazon.

Circa-1959 Fiat 1100. This was once a very nice-looking little car, but has suffered gross neglect and even a gunshot to the windshield.

West Eugene Street Sweep: Everything from a Pierce-Arrow to a Volkswagen Beetle

VW Bus high-top camper. Note the extremely rare original "sport" hubcaps.

1964-65? Ford Falcon and Ranchero. Both are in very rough condition.

Falcon and Ranchero, again. Notice extensive body damage on Ranchero.

 Very well-preserved Ford Pinto, likely a 1970 or '71 model judging from license-plate letter combination, hubcaps and slim bumpers.

Front view of above Pinto. You don't often see any kind of Pinto, especially not one in this good of condition.

1967 Dodge Dart. Very nicely restored.

1935 Pierce-Arrow. Never in my life would I have thought I'd find one of these in this state of neglect, on a gravel street, 75 years after it was made. The car next to it is a 1939 Buick touring sedan with added-on portholes.

Circa-1952 Cadillac sedan and 1966 Buick Riviera in the same carport as the Pierce-Arrow and 1939 Buick.

1935 Pierce-Arrow, viewed from the front. This must have been someone's pride and joy that they poured many hours and dollars into restoring, only to let it deteriorate in an exposed carport.

Look closely at this picture, and you will see a 1970s Jaguar XJ6-C inside the carport.

Derelict 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle Sun Bug edition.

1972 or '73 Fiat 124 Spider. The elderly owner of this car was gracious enough to let me into his carport, take pictures and even sit behind the wheel.

Fiat 124 Spider interior. You can see that some restoration is needed, but it's not to the point of needing to be gutted and completely redone. A good cleaning, new seat covers and new carpet would do this car a lot of good. The dashboard and console are in unusually good condition and are very original.

Front of Fiat 124 Spider. The grille badge is not correct (where there would be a circular red badge with "FIAT" written in the center and a gold laurel wreath encircling it, there is instead a badge from the vinyl top of a mid-70s Mercury Cougar.

Very nice Ford Mustang II hot rod.

 Equally nice Colonnade-body Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.

Early 1980s Toyota Celica coupe, in nicer condition than most others.

Dodge Route-Van camper conversion, circa 1955, and Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport, circa 1978.

1959 Chevrolet El Camino, in need of restoration.

Morris Minor 1000, circa 1959. This would be an excellent project car.

Ford Galaxie 500 coupe, late 1960s vintage.

Datsun 620 pickup, converted to utility trailer. Normally, just the bed is used to make a trailer, but here we have most of the cab as well.

Oldsmobile Cutlass hot rod, circa 1969.

Of Fiats and VWs

   On my latest sweep of my neighborhood, I intentionally went in the direction of the red-and-primer Fiat 850 Sport coupe that I saw last week, photographed and posted here: http://streetshots-streetshots.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-street-shots-import-edition.html, hoping to catch the owner of the car or a caretaker of the property. What I saw were two Basset Hounds roving the lawn, a youngish man with dark hair looking out the window at me, and a light green Fiat 850 Berlina (two-door sedan) in the carport along with the 850 sport coupe rusting next to the fence.

   Not wanting to be accused of casing the neighborhood, I went on my way, taking many more photos and chatting with neighbors and car owners alike, and en route to my house, I saw the man who was looking out the window at me moving his 850 Berlina out of the carport so that he could get to his workshop. I asked him if I could possibly photograph the Berlina for this website, and not only did he say yes, but he moved it out into the driveway into a more level position so that I could take a nicer picture, repeating the kindness of the man with the $400 Fiero.

   Once I got behind the chain-link fence, I saw that the 850 Berlina was an unfinished restoration, with an Abarth-style steering wheel and maroon vinyl characterizing the partially-disassembled interior and some minor damage to the front. The little car also had very nice Panasport 8-spoke alloy wheels and some expensive high-performance tires, and we had a nice conversation lasting about 15 minutes, largely about Fiats. I looked closer at the 850 coupe, and I discovered that the interior was largely complete but with all upholstery and soft trim in poor condition and that it had some very expensive Fondmetal alloy wheels, two of which I learned were in the car's boot.

  Between the glass, the metal and wood trim, much of the sheetmetal, and the wheels, there were easily $2,000 in parts there. Also, the owner of the 850 Berlina (the coupe was stored there by a friend of his) told me that his friend had two early-70s 850 Spiders, and I asked him if by any chance they came from Scott & Sons Auto Wrecking (a long-established Eugene-area junkyard that is largely if not completely liquidated at the time of writing), and he said yes.

   Regarding Scott & Sons, I had tried for years to extract a weathered but very restorable and complete 1978 Dodge Magnum, a 1950 Ford 1 1/2-ton truck and a 1947 Citroen 11CV restoration project from the (now deceased) owner's grasp, and more recently a 1965 Hillman Imp, only to find that all four were sold and that I had no money or garage space for any of them.

   Back on the topic of the Fiats and the owner/caretaker, I was told that one good 850 Spider would be built out of the two Scott & Sons cars, and I noticed that there were assorted parts belonging to water-cooled Volkswagens and rear-engined Fiats (mostly 850s, but there was a rusty US-market 500 Nuova add-on headlight shell serving as a dog-food dish on the porch and a few pieces appearing to be from 600s or possibly even 126s in the carport), there was a disassembled VW Rabbit in the workshop and assorted random items in the shop as well as the carport. I bade the Fiat and VW owner goodbye and thanked him for his time and generosity, and headed home.

850 Berlina, from the side.

Rear view of 850 Berlina.

A closer look at the 850 Sport coupe.

(Sorry, no pictures are available of the Rabbit or the two 850 Spiders.)

More Street Shots: Import Edition

Late-60s Fiat 850 sport coupe. This design was one of Fiat's most attractive sub-1000cc car designs, and was done in-house by Mario Boano, formerly of Carrozzeria Boano. This appears to be an abandoned or partially finished project.

Same Fiat, different view. You can see the surface rust taking over the grey primer, and the overall neglect of the yard and house.

Rear view of Fiat 850. It's a shame that this car has to sit in that neglected yard like it does.

Datsun Roadster and 510. Both in very nice condition from what I could see, and just a few houses away to the right of these cars, there was a neglected brick house with a long driveway leading to a Honda N600, a mid-60s Buick Wildcat and numerous 30s-40s-era cars and trucks behind them. I didn't want to commit trespassing, so I'll just be patient and wait until I can find an owner or caretaker of the property so that I can look at and photograph the cars and trucks legally.

Split-window-era Volkswagen Microbus. This bus appears to be rusty but restorable, and I've heard of all kinds of cars, from VWs to Bugattis, in far worse shape than this being restored.

Volkswagen Rabbit, circa 1979. This car doesn't appear to have moved from its current spot in years, but is still appealing with its dealer-applied decal package and weathered esthetics.

Model Car Coverage: Yat Ming Road Signature 1/18 Scale '61 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato

Our inaugural model-car feature is a pretty special one: a combination of British engineering and Italian styling, made in Hong Kong by a company that built replicas that were mediocre at best until only about 5 years ago.  This is the Yat Ming Road Signature 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, in an attractive light metallic green over black color scheme. 

Front view, close-up. 

Interior view. Almost looks real, doesn't it?

Rear close-up. California "black plate" added by owner.
Left 3/4 view.
Side view.

This replica, as well as many other styles of Aston Martins and other marques, is available from an online store called Diecast Direct (http://www.diecastdirect.com)