Minneapolis Street Sightings: Ford F-250

Headed down what seemed a deserted alleyway in a bad part of Minneapolis, I noticed an older pickup. As I got closer, I realized it wasn't any old pickup, it was a vintage Ford. I've seen unibodies, F-1s, F-100s, Rangers, and some old Broncos here and there, but I've honestly never seen one of this vintage I don't think. This example was really sweet. It had a workhorse patina that came off exceedingly well; it's not trying to be something it isn't. It's a simple work truck that does its duty well. Even better, all four hubcaps are different, but they are all shiny; that sorta drags the attitude of the truck down a notch. Other than that, though, this was a clean, if not well used vintage Ford. The only gripe I have is that's too shiny. It needs to be either dirty beyond belief, or it needs to be restored. If this was 1983, I could understand, but in 2009, either fix it or leave it in its patina state. Don't do both.

Minneapolis Street Sightings: Opel Omega

I usually don't snap modern cars--for one, 99% of them are boring, and for two, I could care less about the mundane vehicles that clutter the streets of America. You know which mundane vehicles I'm talking about, too. Vehicles such as Toyota Corollas, Honda Civics, Pontiac Grand Ams and Vibes, Nissan Sentras, Ford Tauruses, Chevy Impalas, etc., that we see by the hundreds on any given Sunday. In Europe, vehicles fitting that criteria would fall under the names of Ford Fiesta, Renault Clio and Megane, Opel Omega--wait--stop the presses. Opel Omega? Why that's what we have here! If you're thinking "hmm this looks familiar to me", you'd be right. We got the Opel Omega here the Catera, Cadillac's first real entry level luxury vehicle. Introduced in 1996 as a 1997 model, it was put up to the task of competing with cars such as Toyota's Lexus ES300 line and BMW's E36 3 series line. In its years on the US market, it and its near twin, the Opel Omega recieved cosmetic upates in order to keep the vehicle fresh in showrooms. In 2000, a Sport model was introduced with body colored grille, larger and more stylish wheels and received a new taillamp treatment. Judging by the wheels and the post-199 taillights, I would say this particular example is a 2000 or 2001 model. Due to slow sales (only 95,000 sold in its 5 year production run) and a quick dissolving marketing campaign, the Catera left the US market in 2001, oniy to be replaced by the CTS a year later.Ironically, the only other car sold in the US that shared the Cateramegas's platform was also a sales flop: The Pontiac GTO, which was a Holden Monaro. Part of the reason for the sales flop was marketing and MSRP. Both cars started at $35,000 or thereabouts; for more expensive than competitors.

Whoa.. It's been awhile..

Yeah...it has been awhile. Anyways, yes I have been shooting, but I've been hanging out with people too. I haven't had much time to upload recent pics.. but I will post the ones I have uploaded. I go to a different school now, more close to home. So, not only is this good because I spend less time going to and from home, I can do so more frequently, and easily. This means, while I will focus on schoolwork, I can have ample time to go car hunting too. :) Get ready for some sightings from my home neighborhood(s). In the meantime I present you with an impressive list of cars and trucks I've seen recently.

Ford Falcon Panel van
Oldsmobile Delta 88 convertible
Datsun Maxima
Mercury Cougar sedan
Dodge Challenger/Plymouth Sapporo
Ford Econoline pickup
Dodge Dart/330 wagon
VW Rabbit Diesel
Mazda GLC