Down On The Alameda Street: Murilee's 9 Favorite Finds From '09

The pace of Down On The Street slowed down quite a bit when I switched to the weekends-only gig early in 2009, but the year gave us more than 100 interesting Alameda vehicles. How about an end-of-the-year roundup deal?

I went through all the Alameda DOTS cars of 2009 and selected the ones that I recalled being most excited about spotting on the street at the time. It was tough getting the list down to a mere nine, but I endured the pain and did the cutting. Here we go, in order of appearance in the series:

1964 Jeep Wagoneer
You don't see many early Wagoneers that look as nice as this '64 and still get regular street duty.

1969 Citroën DS
Owned by the same guy who has the '63 Porsche 356 S Coupe and the the '67 Citroën DS21 Pallas, this Citroën DS wagon was the first DS to appear in the Down On The Street series (though not the first Citroën; we had this Traction-Avant and GS 1220 Club in '08).

1937 Beardmore Taxi
Not only is this London cab 73 years old and a Blitz survivor, it's a daily driver!

1969 AMC AMX
A real AMX! Total red-letter day in DOTS history.

1972 Triumph Stag
Would you believe that Stags still roam the earth, 17-foot timing chain and all? This one does!

1962 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier
I photographed two '64 Corvair Monzas on the Alameda street in '09, which was cool, but a Greenbrier is an all-time DOTS score.

1976 Sebring-Vanguard Citicar
Who cares that the Citicar's top speed is only 35 MPH? Getting a ride in one totally made my day!

1967 Buick LeSabre
I have a soft spot for mean-looking Detroit survivors like this waterfront Buick, which gets my 2009 Ominous Property-Value-Lowering Car Of The Year award.

1974 Mercedes-Benz 280C
You don't see old Mercedes-Benz coupes on the street every day, but the real reason this '74 made my Top 9 is the way this pretty beige-on-beige photograph came out.