About This Site
Once a year, the Seal Beach City puts on a show for older model cars. We visit the car show every year and have done so for almost 18 years. We see people we know and take a gander at the cars and people and of course, dogs!
It seems funny now to look at cars that are considered vintage when they were new when Paul was a kid... Am I vintage??
Seal Beach
Seal Beach encompasses the Leisure World retirement gated community with roughly 9,000 residents. This was the first major planned retirement community of its type in the U.S. The small gated community of Surfside Colony southwest of the Weapons Station is also part of Seal Beach.
Seal Beach Pier At Sunset. The United States Navy's Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach was originally developed during World War II for loading, unloading, and storing of ammunition for the Pacific Fleet, and especially those US Navy warships home-ported in Long Beach. With closure of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, the Weapons Station has become more involved in the research and development of missiles, torpedoes and conventional ammunition. Although the US Navy declines to comment on the issue, the common rumor is that nuclear weapons have been among the munitions stored in the bunkers on the base.
The Show
The Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge is located on part of the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach. Much of the refuge's 911 acres is the remnant of the saltwater marsh in the Anaheim Bay estuary (the rest of the marsh became the bayside community of Huntington Harbor, which is part of Huntington Beach). Three endangered species, the light-footed Clapper Rail, the California Least Tern, and the Belding's Savannah Sparrow, can be found nesting in the refuge. With the loss and degradation of coastal wetlands in California, the remaining habitat, including the Bolsa Chica Lagoon in Huntington Beach and Upper Newport Bay in Newport Beach, has become much more important for migrating and wintering shorebirds, waterfowl, and seabirds. Although the refuge is a great place for bird watching, because it is part of the weapons station, access is limited and usually restricted to once-a-month tours.
Auto Memories
The Pontiac Chieftan
The 1953 Pontiac - Sue and I remember when the Pontiac Chieftan had a lighted hood ornament of an Indian Chief. It was generally yellow/amber in color and really looked neat at night!
Holes in The Buick
We bought a 1955 Buick Special but Paul wanted it to have FOUR holes, not just three. The Century, Super and Roadmaster had four holes along the side... a very important performance feature!
Brownie's Hudson
I didn't know the Hudson Hornet was such a hot car until CARS, the movie, came out. Well, our next door neighbor had a 1954 Hudson Hornet and it was a mover! When he got it, Dad went next door to do the "inspection". I remember they talked for hours about that car!
The '65 Pontiac
Dad was a hot rodder at heart and when the 1965 Pontiac came out with the 421 tri-carb, we bought it on-site, That car was the fastest thing I'd ever seen. I drove it to Texas one day and never had the speedometer under 90 miles per hour... and it was just loafing!