Nostalgia Day – Altamont Cruisers Living Large in Livermore
On a recent Fall weekend the streets of downtown Livermore, California were shut down for the giant Altamont Cruisers Nostalgia Day, an awesome community event celebrating the city, cool old cars and the local car club. There were easily over 500 cars filling the downtown streets, far too many for us to see every single one.
This is a good problem to have, especially on a clear and sunny California Sunday. We took our time wandering around downtown where we found all types of cars, old and new, and some that were way out there. There were vintage race-cars, a few late-model guys snuck in, and a handful of guys who shoved new motors into old steel.
Downtown wasn’t just packed with cars either, it seemed like every family in the area at least took a stroll through the show. Let’s get started with the standard, immaculate old-school goodness you’d expect to see here.
Meticulously restored muscle cars and pickups with amazing paint jobs, engine swaps, and anything you could possibly want surrounded us on every street. Just think of all the car washes that happened the Saturday before — it’s good that the drought in California is over!
A few late model swaps caught our eyes as well — in particular, this LS7 that found its way into a gorgeous ’69 Camaro. With the matching paint and attention to detail, this is how it’s done. All of the mess was eliminated resulting in a clean and simple engine bay.
A far less common replacement power plant, Ford’s Turbo 2.3L SVO engine, ended up in a sweet pair of Pinto Wagons. Definitely, a car that would have required some outside-the-box thinking to conceive of and complete. It’s awesome to see engines that are separated by the better part of a century at the same show — we’ve certainly come a long way.
As the day went on the streets became more and more packed, we waited a good ten minutes for a clear shot of the Rivera above. Despite the difficulties it presented photography-wise, it was great to see so many young kids running around the cars (and through the fountains) and finding their love for vintage muscle.
After all, what is not to love about these timeless machines? Especially the ones you can hop into, be it an old VW Bus or a vintage dragster. Of course there were plenty of puppies that wanted in on the action too!
Another setup we took particular note of was this bad-ass COE car-hauler with an equally stunning pickup riding out back. A pair of trucks to be envious of, for sure — it gathered tons of attention from everyone who passed.
You can’t help but notice a Batmobile when it’s on the street. We have to admit, we weren’t expecting an insane, million-dollar machine like this to turn up here. You never know what’s hiding at the Altamont Cruisers’ Nostalgia Day show. A nice seventies Z-car with a rare widebody kit snuck in too, and you never know what next year will bring.
Even if they weren’t the automotive star of any movies, each of these old automobiles has a story to tell. In fact, if this ’26 Nash could talk, we’re sure it would have plenty to tell us about the bootlegger who owned it nearly a century ago. We’ll leave you with a tiny peek at its beautifully restored front end and save that story for a future feature, so tune in again soon!
Of course, all good things must eventually come to an end. Hearing fuel injected and carbureted V8 after glorious V8 starting up and rumbling off into the aging day was as good as it always is. Downtown Livermore is no longer a cow town – it’s a vibrant city with a great vibe – the perfect backdrop for Nostalgia Day!