First Corvair photo that is worthy of posting ! Real quality work ! Most of the others just repe***ive Vienna material.
Hello, So Cal did not rely on Ferries for transportation. Although there were large enough bodies of water that a smaller, single level ferry was/is used to transport people/cars in San Diego and the Long Beach/San Pedro Harbor. When we were in my wife’s station wagon, we were in the San Juan Islands on a vacation. Her station wagon had a factory motion sensor for part of the standard alarm system. In our early hot rod sedan days, there were folks that went to Pep Boys and bought a very early form of device that did the same. Those early days, it was a do-it-yourself installation. Some times it worked and other times, a “who set that #@*&% thing off?” But, back then, it was called a theft prevention alarm. When installed and set up, any jerking on the door handle, hitting the windows or trying to get into the hardtop gl*** window dividers set off the simple box alarm. It was some kind of a motion sensor of sorts. If a part of the alarm was jiggled to touch another part, the car’s horn started ringing, alerting others that something was not right. Those early ones were a little “touchy.” If and when a large diesel truck came close to the parked car in a narrow lane, the whiff of the wind made the parked car move slightly and set off those early alarms. As the industry developed better units, it was still the basic motion sensors that set off car alarms as a simple deterrent. Jnaki It was kind of a disheartening thing for those early simple alarm devices to set off the horns. So, we took them out and just found good nighttime parking places to try and deter theft. But, in the newer cars, the large two story car ferries in the San Juan Islands were powered with huge motors and where we were designated to park was on the side of the steel structure. Not only was it a side parking spot, but on a ramp to get more cars on the crowded ferry. The standard base level parking spots were also full and in order to use every allowable space, we were told to go up this ramp on the side of the steel structure and park. It was an interesting place to park, but we locked up and walked upstairs to the viewing deck on the top level. Soon as we were out in the middle of the waters, between island destinations, a loud speaker came on and asked if the owner of a silver small station wagon would go back to their car to meet a service technician. Well, I walked back and standing in front of our small station wagon, was the technician and our wagon’s horn, beeping loudly. The sound was over shadowed by the rumbling ferry motors, but still honking. I had to get in to shut off the built-in alarm and now, it was fine. So, as I locked the door again and took a few steps to the ramp/stairs to go back up, the horn started to ring again. The vibration and location to the ferry motors was causing it to honk as we were on this ramp parking spot. Not the main floor, but up along the side wall of the ferry. So, I told my wife I would sit in the station wagon with the alarm off and key in the ignition for the duration of the ferry ride to another San Juan Island to the North. The droning of the large motors put me to sleep within several minutes. And, there was no honking for the rest of the ride to the destination... YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
