Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: The Streets of San Francisco Continue reading the Original Blog Post
The 20s and early 30s cars really stand out...they're so boxy! compared to those sleek aerodynamic late 30s cars
I was watching that thinking about driving in SF with about 85 ponies or less, pre self-energizing drum brakes and 3 pedals. Man you had your hands full back then. I'll bet those folks gave the car in front of them some room at an uphill stoplight! Hopefully everyone's parking brake is adjusted up real good!
The last time I spent a few hours driving around San Fransicsco, it was in a stock 51 Hudson. Yeah, it's work!
Now I lay me down to sleep My Ford parked on this San Francisco street If it should roll before I wake I pray that someone will pull the brake.
This was a very cool video to watch. Lots of great project cars parked all over the streets! I would like to have seen a better picture of the three motorcycle's at the start of the video.
That was great Jive, saw the High Boy at 3:36 and that 34 Ford Borden's Milk truck with Elsie the Cow in the last shot was so cool.....Spent a lot of time there when I was a child and remember when the City looked like this.
So cool to travel back in time, thanks Jay. Hard to keep my eyes on just the vehicles. One thing that always stands out from back in the day is how few people you see compared to today. Man but just getting around in wheels or on foot was so much easier and pleasurable, us old folks have fond memories of much less congestion.
This one was the "green Volkswagen" of this film.....drove past it three times. Also loved the "Restricted Area - No Camera's Permitted" sign....with a camera filming the area.
I kept watching and waiting for Steve McQueen and the green Bullitt "M"-word car... and that bad A$$ black Dodge Charger to pop over the top of the hill in several scenes. Cool vid fer sure!! 6sally6
Notice how most people turned their wheels in hopes the curb would catch car in case the P-Brake failed. Probably standard procedure in San Francisco, even today! I’ve never been there but would love to go and ride the cable cars and just look around and ,of course , eat Rice A Roni!
The big black sedan in this photo reminded me of a road trip I made back in the mid 90's. I was taking care of a '38 Buick Century for an older brother, who had a home in Manila, Utah. One Friday afternoon, I decided to drive the old bugger up to Manila. Off I went, and the photo is just one of many stops along the way. The only glitch was broken fan belt just outside Lovelock, Nevada. Lot's a luck finding one. I went to the only parts store in town and asked the old geezer behind the counter if he had one. "Sure" he says and disappears among the aisles. Damned if he didn't come back with the right one, and insisted I put it on and drive around to make sure it was okay. Ya gotta love old car guys, and now I are one..... That stock old Buick would cruize down the freeway at 80 as smooth as any new car.....
Yeah, seems the old knowledgeable parts counter guys have gone the way of the buffalo.....our loss for damn sure.
I have recently upgraded to Smart TV and become a YouTube whore. Love all those old clips from the 20's through to 50's. I did put one recently from the 40's on Vintage Shots from Days Gone By thread that had a hot rod highboy roadster(A or 320 scoot through the picture for a few seconds) and other good stuff. Here it is again if you didn't see it on that thread
I lived there 50 years and bitched about no parking thinking there was parking at one time in the old days, wrong, lol.
Hello, We have almost grown up in our travels in San Francisco. Our dad took us up there in his 1949 Buick Roadmaster, for one of our family vacations. (in another trip with his 53 Buick 4 door sedan) My brother and I were amazed at how different the city was than Los Angeles or where we lived in Long Beach. We stayed for a couple of days (each time) and saw the sights like all good tourists. Of course, the main attraction was the Golden Gate Bridge. But we enjoyed the downhill, curvy, Lombard Street the most. Our dad was trying not to hit the curbs with the big Buick(s), going slowly downhill with the views everywhere. When my wife and I, later, visited San Francisco many times in our photo shooting days and just for travel up and down the coast, we also enjoyed the Lombard Street drive, as it never got old. In thinking back, my first car, a Flathead powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery was a cool form of surf transportation for me in So Cal. But, we had problems of having to downshift to lower gears every time we drove down the coast to San Diego area or when going north to Santa Barbara and wanting to come home on the freeway through L.A. not the coast. The Flathead just did not have the power to continue up those steep grades without downshifting. The Torrey Pines area Highway 1 was the absolute worst for shifting on the very steep, long hill grade going to San Diego. We never even tried to drive up the long and winding 101 Freeway South, uphill from Camarillo to downtown Los Angeles, as we knew the futility of the underpowered flathead motor. By 1965, I was in San Jose going to college and sometimes wished I had the Flathead sedan delivery for my surf trips to San Francisco or Santa Cruz. It would have been nice, but the sedan delivery got sold prior to moving up North. The Flathead would have caused nightmares on those steep San Francisco hills. But, I was good at “brake starts” of the LaSalle transmission and my sedan delivery never rolled back on any hill grade, steep or not. The steep grades in San Francisco and the traffic would have been a nightmare for the underpowered Flathead. Jnaki When my brother was in San Francisco to get some treatments at USF Medical School, I was given a 55 hp Geo Metro Convertible at the airport. I had enough of a time getting that little convertible to get up to speeds on the freeway leading into downtown San Francisco. On flat surface streets with no traffic, it was fine, just a tiny little convertible. With the top down, it felt like I was a moving target on those steep streets. Still, I had to downshift. On the way back to the airport after a week of treatments, my brother wanted to see the Fort Point Surf. So, we ventured down there to see the waves wrapping around the point, go under the Golden Gate Bridge and come blasting around curving shoreline. It brought a smile to his face when he saw the surfers and good point waves. When we were finished, we had two suitcases stuffed behind the seats and the hunt for the roads leading back to the freeway South. We tried to go up several steep roads to get back into the downtown area. It was 3rd gear, but instantly it had to be 2nd gear and by the top of the steep grade, I had to shift to first, to get over the top. There were two of those steep grades and that gave my brother a chuckle at my driving and the underpowered convertible with two big guys and suitcases. As far as parking, we saw all sorts of angles and styles of parking. The only way to park at the USF hospital campus was to go across the street to a special parking structure that took advantage of the steep hillside location. It must have taken three or four complete downhill circle driving turns to get to a flat area specifically for parking. That solved the problem of taking up street side parking or a giant parking lot for the valuable S.F. property locations. Have you ever tried backing out from an uphill parking space with a stick shift car of any size? If it is a straight, "get in the next lane and accelerate," there are some anxious moments. But, if there is any inclination of having to back up to get a good angle to get out of the space, patience/practice is a virtue. YRMV
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