Random snapshots March/April 2-month combo edition

I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the sunny weather that’s been gracing us lately. Here’s some stuff that’s caught my eye while walking around this lovely city:

Soooooo…. I thought this was a Kei car that had been imported, but apparently it’s a North American market model. This Suzuki X-90 was parked in the bizzare quasi-urban Cascade Station shopping area.

Sixth generation Country Squire in woody trim. First generation Panther platform cars are one of my guilty pleasures. I think I like them so much because to me they’re iconic of their time. When I think of the 70s or 80s my point of reference is movies and television, and these cars (along with the competing Chevrolet Caprice) were ubiquitous on film. Fleets of taxi and police liveried LTDs teemed through city scenes, meanwhile in the suburbs families were piling into the last American full size station wagons to grace the screen before their displacement by SUVs and the minivan.

Part of a collection of Nash and AMC cars that have been parked in the same vicinity for the entire time I’m lived in Portland.

Slap tags! I’m glad they’re popular here, usually way more visually interesting than marker or scratch tags.

Some terrible lazy sprayed tags. Only posting because the one on the right is the biggest example of that tag I’ve ever seen. Whoever does it usually sticks to street signs and such, working in marker. There used to be tons of smaller ones all around PSU. I’m assuming the maker got busted because they haven’t popped back up.

On the road in Portland

I’m far from an advocate of the automobile as a primary mode of transportation, but I still love me some vintage cars. Here’s some neat ones I’ve spotted in the wild.

T3 Volkswagen bus with a woody kit… As far as I know there wasn’t any kind of option for this (though you could get factory woody kits on American cars up into the 80s; there’s a factory turbocharged, woody kit, K-car wagon in one of the Portland Pick-n-pull lots). Someone put a lot of effort into this thing.

1951(pretty sure anyway) Chevrolet pickup with a utility bed. Digging the vintage visor.

Kinda doubt the bed is as old as the rest of the truck but the period tail lights are a nice touch.