I wish I was a kid again and these trucks were still new. Life seemed much simpler back then.

Car chase scene from The Streets of San Francisco with Leslie Nielsen - YouTube

 

I wish I was a kid again, too, but not because life was comparatively simpler. Ever ask yourself how you did things in the past without Google.

The Streets of San Francisco, my father used to like to watch that show. I was a teenager and had other interests besides TV.

 

awesome !!

I'm sure I'd end up on my side (with a dead partner in a pile of fiberglass) if I tried that in mine

 

I guess I'm old fashioned. I still have a dictionary. We used to have a set of encyclopedias back then too. The hard copy version of Google.

 

Cool clip! Thanks Earthquake! I'm sure Ford offered up the cars and the fine dent side as product placement. I love those old LTD police interceptors too, I think they had 429's for the 74-75 model year. Someone can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong. Sure did sound good as the LTD passed by the camera.

I used to watch the Streets of San Francisco when I was much younger. I loved cop shows. All the street shots I recognize to this day except the rail road tracks with the hillside in the background, I'm having a tough time placing that location. The 3erd street bridge is a famous location for many movies and TV shows.

 

Thanks Earthquake! Who wouldda thunk a 2WD longbed dentside with a camper could handle like that??!!

FYI... Where the clip shows the the 3rd Street Bridge with a building emblazoned with "China Basin" to its left, the right side of the scene is now occupied by the right field tier of AT&T Park.

No longer is the area referred to as China Basin either. The China Basin, a warehouse district, is now called "SOMA" or South of Market Area (prolly to be politically correct). Catellus Development (a large developer) agreed with the City of SF to give large tracts of land to the University of California school system for the new Mission Bay Medical Research Campus (about 30 or so large buildings) in exchange for entitlements to develop dense residential, retail, and office projects.

 

Cool! Except for the part where they crashed the Fairlane.

I remember my dad watching that show when I was a kid. Occasionally he'd let me stay up past my bedtime to see one of the car chases.

 

Cool video. I have never seen that particular show. I have been watching Emergency! on Netflix though. Same era, but not many Fords in that one, but still love seeing the old vehicles.

 

In the first couple seconds there's a Karmann Ghia. My wife has one of those, so it was funny to see both of our dream vehicles in one scene.

Just for giggles, how old are you Alan?

 

I'm a very old 39. My dad didn't like kids, so I had to grow up fast. I started turning wrenches when I was 5. I knew the difference between a hemi head and a wedge head at 5 also. I built my first hotrod when I was 12. Started driving at 13, etc, etc.

 

It must have been difficult to drive in San Fran back in the 60's/70's with all the car chases filmed there. from Bullitt, to the Dirty harry flicks, and Leslie neilsen chasing the bad guys.

Oh, that, and all those hippies jaywalking...

 

From what I understand it wasn't that bad... the TV shoots cordoned off section of the city which weren't traveled very much. I mean, it's not like they shot all the chase scenes in one run. Recently, Don Johnson's show "Nash Bridges" was shot all over SF. However, the set was on Treasure Island, a former Navy base in the middle of the day.

Driving in SF is worse nowadays... pedestrians and bicyclists think the own the road instead of having to 'share the road'. Some tend to be oblivious to traffic and take for granted that vehicles will actually stop and quite a few have been killed or hurt while talking on the cell phone, listening to their Ipod, or just being complacent. Me? I walk defensively and verify that vehicles actually stop or make eye contact with the approaching driver before I step off the curb. I almost ended up as a head ornament a couple of weeks ago.. I was almost across the street when a woman was approaching and making a right turn to me . I slammed my fist on her hood (yes it was that close!) and yelled for her to "get a brain!".

I might come off like sounding like Ted Kaczynski but automotive technology is dumbing-down people. NHTSA recently mandated all vehicles for the 2014 model year have to be equipped with back up cameras! Sheez... how hard is it to check your mirrors and turn your head?

 

The big SUVs have got substantial blind spots, and more than one small child has been run over and killed while backing.

 

Not just the SUV's, I've heard reports of numerous new cars having blind spots as well. Sacrificing visibility for styling.

 

Cause it was