Drive-By Shootings In Oakridge, Oregon

On a recent lunch stop in Oakridge, I stumbled into the Peugeot 505 I wrote up here. Rather than hit the road home, I decided to drive around a bit and shoot on-the-go, in the main residential area. Oakridge is located on Hwy 58, and is something of a gateway to the Cascades. It was once a booming lumber and railroad town, but fell on hard times in the 1980s when the mills closed up.

There’s been a bit of an uptick, thanks to being in the heart of a popular mountain biking area, and now sports a pub and other amenities. But driving around, it’s pretty obvious that many residents are still driving genuine curbside classics, starting with this old Chevy “box” pickup.

 

A VW lover lives here.

This is the back lot of the little Oakridge History Museum. There’s an old fire truck back there.

I got a better shot of it from here; it’s a Ward LaFrance Series 700 from about 1950 or so.

 

I shot and posted this Mack FN log hauler before. But in case you missed it, here it is again. The Hines Lumber Company was the one that had a huge mill in nearby Westfir.

A painted Tracker two door. Obviously, I’ve started noticing Trackers and Suzuki Grand Vitaras more now.

There’s a 1970 or 1971 VW Beetle back there.

 

Can anyone ID what this started out to be? Metro?

The second gen1 Odyssey. Same color, even.

A Riviera hiding behind the fence. These have gotten so rare now.

Gen1 Ford Probes have become quite rare too.

Now you know what driveways in small town Oregon look like—the 1980s and 1990s, for the most part.