There Is No Substitute For The Island That Rust Forgot

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

I photographed and posted a total of 578 old cars and trucks on the streets of Alameda, California, for the Down On The Street series before I moved to Denver and then left Jalopnik. Now I’m back in California for a LeMons race, and Alameda has been restocked with new examples of classic street-parked iron.

It’s hard not to love a car that looked like an antique when it was new; the prewar-looking 544 was built well into the 1960s (this example appears to be one of the later models, if we are to judge by the B18 emblem on the trunk lid). It’s beat up and grimy, but it’s still on the street!

The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the continent’s hotbeds of Citroënism, but this one (parked just a few blocks from the Volvo) is the first street-parked 2CV I’ve ever seen on the Island That Rust Forgot. Sure, I’ve shot a Traction-Avant, a couple of Goddesses, and even a GS, but it always irked me that I couldn’t find an example of the most iconic Citroën of all time. Finally!














Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Nick Nick on Dec 12, 2010

    Thanks for the tip...I will have to see if I can find some pics to see if they match with my memory.

  • 87CE 95PV Type 87CE 95PV Type on Jan 22, 2011

    New York is pretty lame when it comes to numerous nice cars. bit Colorado is better, and though I have never been to California the place looks great.

  • Syke Kinda liked the '57, hated the '58. Then again, I hated the entire '58 GM line except for the Chevrolet. Which I liked better than the '57's. Still remember dad's '58 Impala hardtop, in the silver blue that was used as the main advertising color.
  • Dartdude The bottom line is that in the new America coming the elites don't want you and me to own cars. They are going to make building cars so expensive that the will only be for the very rich and connected. You will eat bugs and ride the bus and live in a 500sq-ft. apartment and like it. HUD wants to quit giving federal for any development for single family homes and don't be surprised that FHA aren't going to give loans for single family homes in the very near future.
  • Ravenuer The rear view of the Eldo coupe makes it look fat!
  • FreedMike This is before Cadillac styling went full scale nutty...and not particularly attractive, in my opinion.
  • JTiberius1701 Middle of April here in NE Ohio. And that can still be shaky. Also on my Fiesta ST, I use Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires for the winter and Bridgestone Potenza for my summer tires. No issues at all.
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