The automobile took over California in only 20 years, from 1920 to 1940. An era worth celebrating!

As World War I ended, most roads were still unpaved. The cars were open to the elements and bumped along at 20 or 30 miles per hour. Flat tires were a daily occurrence. Most families didn’t own a car yet.

By 1941 the state was tied together by a good system of paved roads – no interstates yet, but branded gas stations, early motels, called motor courts, were common, and the cars were enclosed, fast and reliable. They were easy to buy, and especially in California, a family necessity. Reliving this transformation, the old-time San Francisco-to-Santa Monica Open Road Race was revived earlier this year.

At the Fairmont Hotel starting line were a ’28 Stutz, three early Chrysler roadsters, two late ’20s Packards, a ’36 Ford, a British Rialton, a ’39 Chevrolet from Argentina, and a Buick (my car – the Roadmaster convertible I wrote about in the September NHG) and a LaSalle from 1940.

Driving two of the Chryslers were grandsons of early San Rafael Chrysler dealers – Jack Hunt, III, whose grandfather, Jack Hunt, Sr., started business in the early ’20s, and Ed Rossi. John Rossi, Sr., started out in 1923. Each generation of the two families has been friends, neighbors, and competitors.

During those years there were 30-40 new car dealers in San Francisco. The biggest ones, like Charles Howard, of Seabiscuit fame, who sold Buicks, had grand buildings on Van Ness. Packards were sold in the Bernard Maybeck-designed building at 901 Van Ness (now Kjell Qvale’s British Motors). Cadillacs were sold at 1000 Van Ness – you can still see a Cadillac crest over the main entrance. Look for the Pierce Arrow name in the façade on the northwest corner of Polk and Geary.

There were smaller establishments on Geary, in the Mission, in North Beach and in the Sunset.

Those old-time dealers had to prove their cars, so they engaged in hill climbs, endurance runs, and races like the San Francisco-to-Santa Monica event.

Our group took three days to reach Santa Monica, on little-traveled two-lane roads. We passed through Davenport, Moss Landing, Carmel Valley, King City, Estrella, Taft, Ojai and Malibu. Only about 20 of the 500 miles were on freeways. What a great way to see California as it was –ranches, missions, oilfields, orange groves.

Everyone won – because we all finished and enjoyed a Fairmont Santa Monica lunch as our reward.

The participants had such a good time that we agreed to do it again next year with one addition – we’re going to invite owners of early airplanes to fly along with us.

The New Car Scene

If you’re a little confused by the current new-car scene, no wonder! All the traditional rankings and relationships are gone. Top-quality rankings go to Toyota, Honda and Hyundai –- low-priced Asian brands. What happened to “old world quality”?

Pricing has been turned on its head, too. For example, $30,000 lets you look at a Ford, a Cadillac, a Toyota or a Mercedes.

One car that caught my eye recently as a tasteful, elegant, high-performance sedan is the 2005 Subaru Legacy GT. As I drove this under $30,000 rocket-ship, I kept asking myself how the European brand managers, charged with selling barely equivalent cars for 30-40-50 percent more, expect to keep their jobs.

With 250-horsepower, four-wheel drive, tasteful design inside and out, beautiful finish, and a sterling reliability record, what could you ask that this Subaru doesn’t deliver? Maybe a prestige name. But you’ll have to figure out for yourself if a mere name is worth what it’ll cost you when cars as good as this Subaru are so inexpensive.